From the Diaspora…BAD HABITS OF GUYANESE AT HOME

Sep 22, 2013 News

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By Ralph Seeram
I could not believe what I was seeing, the woman opened a large handbag and packed three boxes of the food in her handbag. I am not sure if I was shocked or surprised but I was about to tell her she was only entitled to take one box. Then I thought better of it and let it go. I will soon discover she was not the only one and that such a behavior is one of the bad habits of Guyanese at home.
During my recent trip to Guyana I made it a point to observe people’s behavior. I mentally tried to compare their behaviour back to the days before I left Guyana. You would be surprised how the society has changed, or I should say deteriorated.
Let’s take the incident I mentioned in my opening paragraph. The occasion was the dedication of the playground equipment at the New Amsterdam Special Needs school a few weeks ago. Food and refreshments were catered for the invited guests. The food was in prepared food containers while the water and soft drinks and bottled water were in a cooler. They were placed in way so people can serve themselves. Big mistake; people went taking multiple boxes and refreshments, they did not even form a decent line, there were no consideration for the next person. It was me, and me and I later discovered, family.
Not even during the food shortage of the 70s did people behave like that. People waited patiently for hours for a little supply of cooking oil etc.
I asked my friend, Mara, to state what was responsible for this behavior. He said that they have to take food home for their children, husband, sister, brother etc.  This behaviour however is not limited to food. I attended a wedding earlier this year in Georgetown, a rather classy wedding, by any standard. Favors/gifts were placed on the tables for guests as a memento for the wedding. Some adults were sending their children to pick up the favors off the tables, and were placing them in a shopping bag. I had to tell the kids to return them  to the tables.
We all know of the garbage situation in Guyana, the filth can be seen be seen everywhere, foam boxes and plastic bottles in every drain, trench, or on streets. I would be very embarrassed to take a friend to Guyana to see the filth. I might have to bypass Georgetown and fly straight to Kaieteur Falls, the interior and back.
Guyanese tend to blame the government for the garbage mess. It’s not the government that throws garbage in the streets and drains. It is true the government has a responsibility for garbage pick-up, but it is people that litter the place. If I throw a piece of paper in the street in Orlando I am subjected to USD$100 fine. If you transport those same Guyanese to Florida, they will not litter the streets.
On my recent visit, my friends and I were “hanging out” in front a popular New Amsterdam restaurant around 11pm. There was this young lady who after finishing eating, threw the foam container on the ground in front of her. My friend, who is in the environmental business, approached her and asked her to explain why she threw the container on the ground.
She couldn’t say why, could not give an answer, she just felt it was okay to litter, and that’s the problem, you have. The other side of the coin is the business that sells the products; it would seem that most of the businesses especially the food vendors don’t feel they have a responsibility to keep the environment clean. Check all the stores in Guyana see how many have a garbage can for their customers or the public.
While my friend was questioning the young lady about being irresponsible, I pointed out to him that there were no garbage cans in sight in front of any of the business, so in a way she had no alternative.
It should be made compulsory for all business to provide garbage containers inside and outside their premises. You can’t ask people to keep the environment clean without providing containers for garbage. I discovered another bad habit— the begging mentality. One of my friends was a former mayor of New Amsterdam, so while we were having some beers, I heard someone greet him, then another and still another approached him.
I am saying to myself that my friend is still popular, until I saw him giving them money. One wanted a “food”, the other beers and the other “a blessing”. I am told this is the trend among young people. They feel that other people are supposed to give them something. This also fits in with the corruption in various Government agencies where employees feel they are entitled to a “lunch money” before they can do the job they are being paid to do.
Guyana seems to me as being “one big party”, everybody having a good time. Bars, rum shops and restaurants are at every street corner doing well. The people only want “brand name products’ and all things “foreign”.
A word for those in the Diaspora, careful with that phone call you get from your family or friend from Guyana asking for money. Most of the time it is not for what they tell you. They will give you a “deh bad story” but most of the time it is to support a lavish life they want to live.
Sitting next to me on the plane to Guyana was a musician going to perform in Guyana. He told me they love to perform in Guyana. While they may get an audience of a few hundred or a thousand or so fans at a performances abroad, in Guyana the crowd is in the thousands. They make good money in Guyana. Then I come to hear loans are available for persons to purchase tickets and clothes for these shows. You wonder where the priority of the Guyanese youth these days is. I tell you Forbes Burnham must be very uncomfortable in his grave.
In Orlando we have not bought peppers for the last five years; it’s all from our garden. I go to Guyana and see people with large yards buying “greens” which they can plant. They are the ones that cry out “how ting bad”.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email [email protected]

 

 

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