HOW MANY GUYANESE IN THE DIASPORA

Feb 06, 2011 News

From the Diaspora

By Ralph Seeram

This past week I received one of my greatest satisfactions since writing these articles. It came by way of an e-mail from a boyhood friend; a very close boyhood friend. We grew up together in Smythfield, New Amsterdam, shared our teenage adventurers together and drank our way into adulthood. Along the way Danny found God and I continued in my heathen ways.
Recently Kaieteur News has been averaging close to 100,000 hits per day on the internet. One of those online readers was Danny who saw my e-mail address in one of my articles. Why is this e-mail so special? Well since Danny and I departed Guyana we lost contact with each other for some thirty years. It took Kaieteur News and the power of the Internet to reunite our friendship.
One must give credit to the owner, editor and staff of this newspaper for producing such a hard hitting newspaper. One hundred thousand online readers is huge, it is testimony to the fact that Guyanese in the Diaspora is still keen on what’s happening in their homeland.
The quality and standard of this news publication far exceeds those of the other three local publications, this is reflected in the sale of Kaieteur News locally and it readership in the Diaspora.
I have received e-mails commenting on my articles from Guyanese living in various countries of the world– U.S., Canada, U.K. Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago just to name a few.
This brings me to the question of how many Guyanese are in the Diaspora. I am not sure if I have seen anyone attempting to quantify that number. Recently the subject of Guyana came up between my son and me, and he inquired about the population of Guyana.
I told him that it was somewhere around three quarters of a million people. It then dawned on me that back when I was in primary school that was the figure we were told by our teachers.
Now this was nearly a half a century ago, so by now that figure should have been doubled. Of course we all know that large scale migration is responsible for the stagnation of the Guyana’s population. We are scattered all over the globe.
The late great Guyanese folklorist, Wordsworth Mc Andrew, once told me that our migration reminded him of the Indian movie Waqt. Mack felt that this was a positive thing for Guyanese as the majority has improved their lives, especially in the field of higher education. Had they been at home they would still be in the “rumshop” drinking their life away.
At the time Burnham was in power and Mc Andrew felt that those in the Diaspora should be thankful to Burnham for helping them to improve their lives abroad. Of course we all know that while large scale migration started mainly in the seventies, it does not matter who is in power, Guyanese are leaving their country now under the PPP Government and probably more so than under the PNC.
As I said before, I am not sure if anyone attempted to put a number to Guyanese living abroad. I would guess that it would exceed three quarters of a million. One positive aspect of Guyanese living abroad is the remittances to Guyana.
A leading Guyanese politician once told me that without remittances the entire Guyanese economy would collapse. The present PPP Government benefited immensely from this flow of foreign exchange and I am sure the remittances far exceed those of the official figures.
Today through social networking on the internet Guyanese are reconnecting, finding long lost friends and relatives. It is a great medium that brings us together. I get e-mails forwarded to me, and in those e-mails I recognized friends whose names I have forgotten completely.
Now I can e-mail, chat and even use a webcam to keep in touch with friends and relatives in the Diaspora. The vast oceans and land mass that separate us are not obstacles anymore.
We Guyanese are as close as our computers. Still I wonder how may Guyanese are living abroad.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at e-mail [email protected]

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