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Looking back and giving back

Mar 20, 2012 Editorial

 

Increasingly, Guyanese who left these shores years ago are looking back. For many years now, there were those who kept sending money for their relatives because they believed that times were hard and that their relatives needed some measure of financial support. This may not have been the case because many of these relatives simply splurged with the extra cash they received.
There have also been those who were firm in their conviction to return home at the end of their productive years overseas. Where they had property either gifted to them or left by some relatives, they spent excessively to make the home a place of comfort.
This is particularly evident in the villages where there are large fashionable homes built with money from overseas by the people who recognize that it would be a much simpler life back in Guyana.
But there are the others who actually make solid contributions to national institutions. The many Old Students’ Associations keep helping to develop their alma mater. The largest of these are the Queen’s College and the Bishops’ High School alumni. These were among the first to establish computer laboratories in the schools. Recently, the Old Students’ Association of President’s College outfitted the school’s basketball team.
Nurses and doctors have not been dilatory in giving back to the various hospitals in Guyana. We have had nurses donating a variety of articles needed by hospitals. Included in this list would be linen, gloves, bandages and even some surgical equipment.
Last week, Dr Surendra Singh came home to preside over the commissioning of a state-of-the-art neonatal ward. There were many premature babies in the new incubators, each fitted with oxygen masks and other life supporting devices.
It certainly cost a fortune to outfit this department and it surely informed the government that there are things out there that would make what we have seem obsolete. Further, the group that oversaw the refurbishing of the neonatal unit also undertook to train local nurses to operate the modern equipment.
Many of these donations and presentations are done quietly. Sometimes the government simply sits idly by and would only show its appreciation by hosting a dinner or some social event for the people who brought the donation.
For example, in the not too distant past a group named Kids First Fund, with support from another overseas-based group named Three Rivers Foundation, gave many children a new lease on life. It packed up a number of children and took them to India for heart surgery. That programme seems to have dried up because there is simply not enough money to maintain it.
The health sector must be the largest beneficiary of support and help from overseas-based Guyanese. Guyana has two dialysis centres because of the contribution from overseas-based Guyanese and remigrants. The first one allowed people who would have never dreamed to come back because of the absence of a dialysis machine, to do so. Today there is a centre that has reduced the cost of dialysis. Every piece of equipment came from overseas support.
Had the government been called on to introduce dialysis it would have been some time before there could have been a centre. In fact, the government had at one time said that there was no need for a dialysis centre in Guyana since there were simply not enough cases. The then Minister of Health was sorely wrong. But then again she may have been seeking justification for the failure of the government to provide the service.
Over time we have been talking about the Diaspora. We have been critical of those who leave the country, accusing them of abandoning ship and of taking their skills away from a country that needs it. Today we talk about the Diaspora and how useful it is.
There is a lot to be had from those who left for one reason or the other.  What is interesting is that they are the ones who are saving lives in this poor Guyana, having left when they did.

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