My mom died at the Georgetown Hospital, Mr. Vyfhuis

Mar 28, 2017 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

There is a letter in yesterday’s KN in which the writer, Rudy Vyfhuis, observed that like Adam Harris, I should use my pen to advance the growth of my country. He feels I have the capacity to do it but I am too negative about Guyana. I have to live with that criticism. I get it all the time. But I discovered that each time a person speaks to me about that, he/she appears to be in their fifties and sixties. I do not get that vibe from young people.
I wonder if Mr. Vyfhuis cares to comment on this generational difference in attitude. Later in the article, I will explain why. I could end this discussion right now and concentrate on another topic for this very column by pointing Mr. Vyfhuis to the editorial in the very issue that his letter was published. It is captioned; “Health Care Is Falling Apart.”
After 50 years of Independence, there is an editorial in the country’s leading newspaper and the most influential media house in the land with the title, “Health Care Is Falling Apart.”
My mother died at the Georgetown Public Hospital in 1985 because we didn’t have money for a private institution. If we did maybe she would have lived decades longer. When we took her to the hospital, they didn’t have porters to lift the stretcher to take her to the ward. Volunteers did it. That was thirty one years ago. Yet look in 2017 at the title of that Kaieteur News editorial. So I come now to answer the question as to why it is only people from age 50 onwards who enquire why I expatiate so negatively on Guyana’s biology.
Young people see no hope so they leave. They have anticipations and expectations and when those are dashed by the incompetence and lack of vision of their country’s institutional leaders, they migrate. I worked with young people for twenty-six consecutive years at UG teaching them. It was one of the most incredible things a human can behold when you hear them speak of how they dislike UG.
I say in all honesty, in the most sincere of ways, I did not meet even one student in those twenty-six years who was enamoured of UG; they just wanted to leave as soon as their last exam was completed.
From time immemorial, university student life is an enjoyable aspect of human existence. You love the ambience so much you don’t want to leave. But not at UG. Why? Because year after year, they saw the deterioration and they lost hope and just wanted to get their degree and get out. My contract was terminated in 2012 and there were pickets, protest and strikes. The demand back then was for more resources, better pay, better conditions, and better lecturers. Last week there were two days of picket-protest at UG and the demands were the same as in 2012. So you have to ask yourself, Mr. Vyfhuis, what changes for the better in our country?
I believe it is reasonable for people to wait for progress; it doesn’t come overnight. But I will tell you this, Mr. Vyfhuis; as you wait, no matter how long is the waiting and no matter how enormous is the patience, you have to see signs of movement. Where are those signs of movement, Mr. Vyfhuis?
I would be happy to polemicize with you if you can point to the small changes we detect on the coming horizon.
I grew up in a country, Mr. Vyfhuis, where before Independence, a court case in the High Court would hardly take more than two years to be completed (Mr. Ralph Ramkarran puts it at eighteen months.) Fifty years after Independence, a civil matter would hardly be completed within six years. Where is the justice for people after fifty years of Independence?
On a topic like this, Mr. Vyfhuis, one would never finish. I could give you literally hundreds and hundreds of examples where Guyana’s backward slide creates oceans of pessimism in its people. And pessimism normally gives rise to despair and depression.
All I was asking for when I stepped into that university room in 1974 as a freshman were to see the signs. I still do not see the signs, Mr. Vyfhuis. I spent over fifty years in activism and sacrificed so much but I am not seeing the signs, Mr. Vyfhuis. I am glad that you have seen them and you remain pessimistic. I can’t say the same for me. Thanks for the kinds words about my life.

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My mom died at the Georgetown Hospital, Mr. Vyfhuis

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