How was the curfew for you?

Jul 25, 2020 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The COVID-curfew has presented some difficulties for persons and families. A great many persons simply found it difficult to not go out at nights or be outdoors in the company of others.
One person said that having to be under lockdown with his family was one of the more terrifying experiences he has ever had. Another said that not being able to go outside was like living in a prison.
Such statements would not have been made forty years ago. Back in the day, people went home after work and stayed him. The weekends would be time for visiting family and going to the cinema but not many people left their homes after sunset.
Long before television came to Guyana, families would spend quality time together after the sundown. In my home, everyone, young or old, had to be in the house by 6:30pm. This was the rule. You could not be seen outdoors. You know that after the ballgame was over, you had to return home by 6:30pm so that everyone could sit down to dinner.
As late as the early 1970s, when night fell, dinner consumed and the children having completed their homework, members of the household would usually sit either in the sitting room or on the verandah and discuss various matters, but mainly the events of the day.
In those days, there was no television and for news, we relied upon the radio. But that was not the only source of information.
Those members of the household who worked would return with their own stories and the titbits of information they had picked up. Even the housewives who went to the market would also return with stories they had heard.
At nights, families would sit together and share these stories. They would also find some time to read or play cards before retiring. These activities tended to bond the household and provided an environment in which everyone looked out for his or her own family.
Sometimes while chatting on the verandah, you would look over and see your neighbour and his family doing the same. And you would exchange greetings and even discuss matters without having to leave your home.
That was one of the benefits of living in a traditional society. Everyone within a street knew each other.
And within the home, there were hardly any secrets and even when there was the odd dispute, there was no shortage of people to bring the two disputants together. There was also a great deal of communal support.
In most villages, everyone got to know the other. Even within the towns, it was unusual for a resident to not know the households on the streets in which he lived. Thus, if someone had a problem, he could always appeal to his neighbours for support, which was almost always forthcoming. Such, also, were the benefits of living in a traditional society.
There are many reasons why Guyanese survived the hard times of the late seventies and eighties. One of those reasons was due to the free exchange of information that took place within communities. If for example, the then Guyana Stores would be selling cooking oil, the following day and someone in the street got wind of this, that person would not keep this information to himself but would pass it on to their neighbour.
And if one member was short of a scarce commodity and another had, you could bet the latter would share with the person in need.
The curfew over the past three months was an opportunity for families to spend that quality time together, talking, playing a card game, doing some work around the house, cooking together, sharing a meal together without the distractions which are now part of modern day living.
Sadly, many people found staying indoors a terrifying experience. What about you?

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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