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President David Granger’s tribute to former UNESCO chief, Carmen Jarvis
President David Granger was among the mourners at the memorial service for Ms. Carmen Jarvis on Friday. The service was held at Smith’s Memorial. Here is his tribute.
President David Granger and mourners at the memorial service on Friday.
The 1920s were a most extraordinary decade in Guyanese history. The number of outstanding persons who could be called ‘great’ Guyanese was astonishing.
The nominal roll of the decade’s ‘who’s who’ runs from Richard Allsopp, and includes Olga Bone, Forbes Burnham, Martin Carter, Enid Denbow, Rawle Farley, Gavin Kennard, Yesu Persaud, Bill Pilgrim, Shridath Ramphal, Balwant Singh and many others, each contributing a special talent and each occupying a special place in our annals.
It is a source of wonder that so much was achieved by so many in such a short period of time. The economic circumstances and pervasive poverty of the post-World War I distress which degenerated into the ‘Great Depression;’ the social segregation in colonial Guiana which was tantamount to ‘apartheid’; the political exclusion which denied the franchise to the majority of the population; the cultural domination which suppressed local creativity and ingenuity were notorious characteristics of colonial British Guiana.
Carmen Enid Jarvis, née Peterkin, born in 1924, was a child of the ‘twenties’ – a generation for whom hard work, sedulous study, moral rectitude, religious faith, strong social bonds and high standards of work mattered. She transmitted those values throughout her life. She was intolerant of mediocrity, mendacity and sloth. She would not countenance crassness or crudeness.
Challenged by adversity, the generation of the ‘Twenties’ set high standards of cultural and intellectual performance and made excellence look easy. This generation’s role in Guyana’s transition from a plantation society to an independent nation is often underestimated and overlooked.
It is when a close examination is made of the conditions in the colony nine decades ago that the distance we have covered could be appreciated.
It is when, also, we see the plight faced by other former colonies in adjusting to the challenge of independence that the role of that generation in transmitting the values and standards of public life becomes evident.
Former colonies have been torn apart by civil wars, genocidal massacres, mutinies, riots, partition and secession. Guyana fortunately, despite its difficulties and disturbances, was able to avoid catastrophe and was be guided by men and women of good sense.
Carmen, in private and public life, was no hot-headed revolutionary. She quietly, however, refused to be constrained by backward conventions which limited women’s achievement. She overcame those obstacles, driven by a calm but insatiable quest for knowledge and an irrepressible commitment to public service.
Carmen’s style qualified her for the role of cultural ambassador. Her service as the Secretary-General of the Guyana National Commission of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is a testimony of the national and personal cultural values she held dear.She has left an indelible imprint in Guyana’s social history.
The Holy Bible reminds us, at Genesis 8: 22: “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.”
One of her last acts before her time on earth expired was to write the story of her remarkable and accomplished life. I was happy that, last October 2016, I was able to attend the launch of her autobiography entitled From Seedtime to Harvest. Seedtime for the generation of the ‘Twenties’ has become the harvest of today’s generation.
Guyana honours the work and pays homage to the memory of Carmen Jarvis.
Guyana, today, needs many more Carmens. May her soul rest in eternal peace!
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