Altruism? No Way! Not enough to make them stay

Dec 06, 2014 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
I read with a troubled heart the impassioned plea of Vishnu Bisram (Kaieteur News, December 5, 2014) that the carjacking and robbery of Sukra and Indira Singh should not deter us from giving, especially in the spirit of the festive season. Rest assured that I am in full accord with Mr. Bisram, but at the selfsame wish to unhesitatingly state that his plea may be falling on deaf ears.
As is noted, the Singhs returned to their adopted homeland the very next day, despite the added expenditure accompanying such a move. Their reaction to the robbery can certainly be viewed as being symbolic of their level of disgust, frustration, hurt and anger. Call it what you may, but they didn’t want to stay. Having no money certainly wasn’t funny.
Currently in Guyana, the criminals regardless of level seem to be running rampant and running things. Only in Guyana can some barefaced criminal acts be perpetrated on a continuous basis, even in glaring daylight, and the perpetrators being able to elude the long arm of the law.
Granted the Singhs were religious, good-hearted people, but they were not robbed on account of their moral standings or religious stance, but instead because they had what the thieves desired. This incidentally was one robbery that need not have happened if the measures designed to protect overseas residents, who seem to fall easy prey to carjackings and armed attacks once they depart the airport, were instituted as previously promised/recommended.
Do not for one moment become myopic or amnesic, for the robbery became just one of the many such incidents evolving around overseas residents who become easy prey once they have cleared their baggage and have left the confines of Cheddi Jagan International Airport, so few hours after touching down and setting foot once again on their native soil.
Perhaps, at this juncture it is timely to alert Mr. Bisram to the strange but true fact that although resident overseas, many Guyanese still keep en courant with happenings in their homeland. Please check the recent Government of Canada travel advisory on their website, for people travelling to Guyana. It reads thus: GUYANA – Exercise a high degree of caution: There is no nationwide advisory in effect for Guyana. However, you should exercise a high degree of caution due to high crime rates.
For some overseas residents, returning to Guyana for even the briefest of time calls for the summoning of mental and emotional fortitude, from the onset of the very thought. While there has been evident economic and social progress in Guyana, yet there are so many occurrences, especially the lifestyle and the crime rate, which force a serious rethinking, and expression of gratitude to the Almighty for our absence from it all. Remember the old adage “nobody runs from good”, and “only fools rush in”.
When the legal system in Guyana starts the much needed remedial measures towards curbing the crime situation, especially for returning natives, by sending loud, clear and strong messages, viz: restitution of money stolen, lengthy prison sentences with hard labour etc., all intended to serve as deterrents to any and all other likely perpetrators, then and only then would the feeling of caring and sharing translate into yearning and returning.
For many of us natives currently residing overseas, we are merely existing on the pleasant memories we once had when Guyana was Guyana, our home and native land, the only English-speaking country on the mainland of South America. So let me make a statement—-while the land is being healed, laws are being put in place to correct the flaws, over here we will stay and pray that in Guyana a change is not too out of range. To be patriotic should not be idiotic. Certainly God on Guyana is looking down hopefully with a smile and not a frown.
Yvonne Sam

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