From the Diaspora…ROBBING A “WAKE”! CAN IT GET ANY LOWER FOR GUYANA?

Apr 20, 2014 News

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By Ralph Seeram

I could not believe what I was reading – bandits holding up a wake and robbing the mourners in Georgetown. I had to read the article in detail to be sure it was not a joke. At a most traumatic moment of their lives people had to suffer at the hands of these heartless bandits.
Crime has sunk to a new low. What next? It won’t surprise me if you read that bandits rob a funeral procession on its way to the cemetery. Nothing seems sacred anymore from criminals in Guyana. Robbing a wake? My God.
The significance of this crime has escaped the Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee as well as the Guyana Police Force. This is a sign of how far crime has escalated, or some may say the level to which it has descended; a sign that criminals have no respect or fear of the law. They have no morality; they are more brazen now and its “open season”. Nothing is safe or sacred.
My article on crime last week drew a lot of responses and suggestions. One suggestion is that anyone convicted of robbery with a weapon is jailed for 10 years on first offence; 20 years for second offence and life for third offence, something that is implemented in some States in the US.
The problem is that there are too many guns floating around in Guyana, and the penalty for gun crimes is not severe enough to serve as a deterrent.
Forbes Burnham had the right idea (though for the wrong reasons) when he confiscated guns. A collateral effect was there were very little gun crimes.
The most serious crime against a person then, was “choke and rob”. Today it’s murder, kidnap, robbing mourners.
Speaking about mourners, wakes these days in Guyana are not what they used to be. They are not a coffee and biscuit affair anymore.
I recall in the “good old days” in New Amsterdam there were some characters who would attend every wake. In fact everyone was welcome to the wake. But there were some “professional mourners” who would be at every wake.
There was Simon (Sio) on his flute, LaRose on his trumpet and an old Lady Canty, incidentally my neighbour then, who would lead the mourners in signing hymns.
They were actually welcomed at every wake; their only unwritten rule was having some “likka” for them.
Speaking of rum, my neighbour, Miss Ethel’s brother died, and she decided to host the wake. Now let me tell you that Miss Ethel and her brother did not speak to each other, for maybe more than 20 years. When the brother died she quickly grabbed hold of the body. You see, her brother had a lot of properties. She felt that if she buried the body she would inherit the properties.
Anyway, Miss Ethel had the wake; food and liquor were in ample supply; lots of singing, but at some point the singing died down as the mourners became more focused on the liquor.
An angry Miss Ethel shouted, “Tek away all de likka from dem”. Believe me the chorus started up once again and you could have heard “Rock of Ages” a mile away.
A few years ago we returned to Guyana for the funeral of a relative on the Corentyne. I was shocked to see what a wake was transformed into.
As we were making a budget for the funeral I was expecting to see four food items, coffee, biscuit, tea and sugar.
Instead, it was a food list like a wedding, then you had to hire a band to play at the wake. This was new for me; apparently no more volunteer singers, you had to get professional singers and band.
I don’t know how widespread it was but it certainly seems to be a Corentyne thing.
Funerals these days also seemed like a fashion event for the ladies, wearing the latest styles. I went to a funeral, and I thought some of the ladies were going to a party after the funeral, judging from the way they were dressed.
The way one was dressed you could, in Dave Martins words, “see Arizona”.
A wake is when friends and relatives who have not seen each other for a long time meet, and the ladies “catch up” on their gossip. It’s a time when warring families call a truce, at least temporarily; sometimes old grudges and scores are settled at wakes in a show of respect for the dead.
Persons who have not been talking for years to each other can be seen hugging and crying in solidarity. Wakes had their good points and served as a uniting moment, the least we need is some bandit interceding with a gun.
As you read this I am surprising my Pastor by attending Easter Service (I have been slacking).
So on this Easter morning as we celebrate Christ arisen from the dead, I wish all my readers and friends a very happy Easter, especially families of Mara, Gregory, Adam, Errol, Claire, the Corentyne crew and Facebook friends.
Ralph Seeram can be reached at email: [email protected]

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