There are Guyanese everywhere on this planet

Mar 20, 2010 Letters

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Dear Editor,
It appears that there are Guyanese everywhere on this planet. I have come across Guyanese and other West Indians in almost every place I travel and I do move around a lot for ethnographic research. I enjoy studying and writing about the Guyanese Diaspora.
I just returned from Honolulu, Hawaii, where it is the last place I expected to find Guyanese and other West Indians.
When I last visited Hawaii eight years ago, I did not meet any Guyanese or West Indian. But on this trip, some have settled in the only US island state and they seem to be doing quite well thousands of miles away from NY, where the bulk of Guyanese are settled.
I met a Guyanese “hustling” in the tourism industry and there is a Guyanese serving as an ISKCON (Hare Krishna) priest in a Hare Krishna movement that has some of the same features as the one in Guyana. And there are West Indian tourists like me enjoying the beaches. Some Guyanese are serving as military personnel of the US armed forces and enjoying the islands.
The Hawaiian Islands are beautiful and exotic and great for a vacation for people who love the beach. The economy centers on tourism and agriculture (growing sugar cane, pineapple and other tropical fruits) with very little natural resources. Tourists are excited about farm life, paying big bucks to see boys climb coconut trees, peel a dry coconut, crack a dry coconut, grate a coconut, make milk from the grated coconut, make sugar cake, visit a pineapple farm, cook with a wood stove, taste and purchase tropical fruit jam (like cherries, guava, dongs, etc).
These things I did, in addition to making oil, as a youngster and never thought I had to pay a lot of money to see it done and witnessed people cheering loudly. Coconut oil is packaged as organic and sold for US$15 for half a pint.
The Japanese, Koreans, and Taiwanese buy large quantities of oil to take back to their homelands. So tourism is not only beaches but visits to farms, plantations, and shows featuring local life (culture).
It is something we in Guyana should emulate to lure tourists because we sure have better tropics than Hawaii.
In terms of Hawaiian beaches, I prefer the beaches of Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua, Turks and Caicos, and other Caribbean islands although standard of living on Hawaii is a lot better than in the Caribbean and easy going and it is probably a reason why some West Indians are attracted to these Pacific islands. Cost of living is very high as most products are imported from the mainland US or from Asia.
In terms of development, the Hawaiian Islands have undergone rapid transformation and progress since my last visit. But as in the rest of the US, the slumping economy has taken a serious toll on development. Many projects have been left unfinished with rising unemployment. Government workers are furloughed.
A Trini chap who works with the state government told me he is rested once a week and has received a 20% cut in salary.
The young Afro-Guyanese I met trying to lure me to a vacation sale presentation did not seem unhappy although he complained of declining sale commissions since the slump began two years ago.
It is impossible to get a traditional West Indian meal with both the Guyanese and the Trini craving for a roti and curry goat or mutton. There are no West Indian restaurants but Indian restaurants are available.
The Hawaiian culture has some similarities with Guyana’s. The natives are very friendly and refer to each other as brother or sister as we do and to elders as “Uncle” and “Aunty”.
The same vegetables found in Guyana are in Hawaii. There is a lot of bora, saijan bhajji, karaila, mango grown in people’s yards, and other vegetables we have in Guyana. The people are very religious and hard working like Guyanese.
There are virtually no native beggars or panhandlers and they do not seem to depend on government for handouts as in the mainland US. The local people are hard working and productive as we are in Guyana. The local Polynesian Hawaiian culture is preserved and revered by tourists and extremely beautiful.
The music is beautiful with soft lyrics about local life. The local language is taught in the schools.
There are several NY-based Guyanese who served in the US armed forces, posted in Korea and other parts of Asia, who spent time in Hawaii.
Several told me they were based in Honolulu, the state’s capital during the 1970s and during their breaks from duty they would “hang out” on the popular Waikiki beach.
Today, there are still Guyanese and other West Indians who are on the military base near Honolulu and who do come to Waikiki beach during their break from duties.
Yes, they do miss their roti, and curry and all the traditional delicacies of our mother country.
But they do enjoy their time on the island although unlike us in NY, they are not making their mark on the state in terms of a community presence because of their small numbers.
Vishnu Bisram

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