My Journey, Unplanned

By Joan Seymour

Describes the author's years growing up in British Guiana, during the period prior to that country's independence in 1966. Her hopes to attend university in England but instead going to the University College of the West Indies in Jamaica. The effect of her father's career changes on her prospective job in the National Library in Georgetown; different future resulting from her move to France as a language assistant. Her return to Georgetown just prior to independence and her appointment to the Foreign Service. Description of her postings to major capitals, London, Ottawa and Caracas and to the UN General Assembly for two sessions.
Depicts her life as a political analyst in the United Nations Secretariat, NY during her twenty five year career and associated travels. Shows her love for languages and travel and music, especially opera.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 30, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667868516

Book preview

1.

DESCRIPTION OF COLONIAL GEORGETOWN

Georgetown is a coastal city on the Atlantic coast of South America, lying six feet below sea level. In the late eighteenth century when the Napoleonic wars were taking place in Europe, the area making up British Guiana passed hands between the warring powers frequently. During French control of Demerara, the design of the capital, known then as Longchamps was established and laid out on a grid. Later, when the county of Demerara passed to them, the Dutch designed the canals and kokers {sluices} as they were familiar with this type of low-lying land which is prevalent in Holland. The canals were designed mainly for drainage and later for the provision of clean water to homes. The brown water of the canals sparkled in the sunlight, giving the city a truly attractive appearance. It was in 1831 that the British gained control of all three counties - Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo - and consolidated them as British Guiana with its capital named Georgetown rather than the Dutch name of Stabroek.

The names of places, plantations and streets reflected this diverse heritage such as the cemetery- Le Repentir; Bourda market; Vlissingen Road; Chateau Margot. Le Resouvenir; Schoon Ord; Plantations Uitvlugt and Beterverwagting, Blairmont, Rose-hall, Enmore and Port Mourant, most of the latter sugar estates.

When I was growing up in British Guiana, in the 1940s -1950’s, the city of Georgetown was known as The Garden City of the Caribbean. There was lush vegetation, flowering trees and shrubs along many streets, and the white painted houses and buildings gave it a distinctive appearance. Drainage was essential to the survival of the city, so the canals all drained out to the sea when the tide was out, through a system of kokers (the Dutch name). Stretching along the Atlantic coast is the iconic Sea Wall built for flood control and to keep out the sea but used for relaxation and other purposes by the general population. At Easter it is where most families go to fly their kites. I recall that the seawall was about twenty-five feet wide and above the shoreline there were creeping plants like Morning Glory, stretching a few feet outwards. At times when the rainfall is too heavy or too continuous, flooding results in many parts of the city since the kokers can only be opened when the tide is going out.

Going inland from the coastal settlements, the land was divided up into the plantations growing sugar and rice, with the drainage canals outlining the fields, leaving narrow strips of land to allow access to all the areas. But, while the canals helped in populating the coastlands and promoting agricultural production, there were serious disadvantages to the system. Among these were the waterborne diseases to which we were subject; there was a high incidence of malaria, yellow fever, and dengue or break-bone fever and diarrhea and dysentery from unclean water.

To anyone visiting in the dry season, the whole city would appear to be a garden and the red and yellow flowers falling from the trees would carpet the pedestrian pathways and streets. Overhanging the white painted fences of many houses would be flowering plants, red hibiscus, buttercups, pink oleander, pink and white queen-of-flower, bougainvillea and yellow flowering cassia. During this period almost all the houses were wooden, as timber was in great supply, the white-painted houses had green trim, and were raised up on stilts to avoid the flooding.

The Town Hall, the Woodbine Hotel, the Victoria Law Courts and St. George’s Cathedral - the largest wooden-structured building in the world- are outstanding examples of the architecture of the time, as also Government House. The houses were built in a style known as West Indian plantation or Georgian style. They had verandahs, Demerara shutters to provide ventilation, jalousies and fretwork panels over the doors, windows and the galleries. The access was generally from outside stairs with wooden balustrades, leading up to the verandah. Eventually, many householders began to enclose the space under the house for further living space.

During the late 1950s, in newly opened residential areas, construction in concrete became widespread. These concrete houses tend to be flat on the ground and without the ventilation afforded by the jalousies and Demerara shutters in the wooden houses. Present day Georgetown is now a mishmash of types of architecture, with heavy influences from the Middle East and India with construction using concrete blocks. In recent years, some of the larger wooden buildings, previously homes of large families, were converted into offices for Government ministries or the Non-Governmental Organizations from abroad, yet remnants of the original architecture can be discerned under the changes made for their new uses.

Our house on North Road faced canals separating our street from the one opposite - Church Street. There was a very wide canal in the middle and on each side of that, two smaller ones which we called trenches. The large central canal carried water to the Lamaha reservoir where it would be purified to serve the houses, and the smaller canals were for drainage. We could sit on our veranda and see the water sparkling in the sun off the large canal, while in the trenches boys would try to catch the tadpoles or other fish with rudimentary fishing lines. Over the past forty years, many of the canals have been filled in and used as pedestrian malls or marketplaces, with the result that there is no longer adequate drainage to cope with heavy rainfall. The blocked trenches and canals are now filled with garbage or overgrown with eddo plants and lilies. In addition, not enough attention is paid to clearing the remaining trenches and gutters, resulting in a very untidy and unhealthy place.

In the Colonial times, the streets and hedges along the trenches and the drainage gutters would be well maintained by workers, often released from prison, who would cut the grass and shape the verges of the drains. Sometimes workers made bundles of the cut grass to take home for their animals. Around Government House, workers could be seen painting a white band on the trunks of large palm trees that lined the grounds, for decorative purposes I assume. Malaria was a major problem so there were employees of the Ministry of Health who went around the city to check out and spray places where there was standing water. He wore a metal canister on his back and sprayed the areas in your yard and in the gutters where mosquitoes were likely to be found. During those years, DDT was the pesticide of choice, and it made a major impact on the incidence of malaria! Now of course DDT is recognized as a very dangerous and toxic chemical and is no longer in use. As a result, malaria has made a resurgence in the country.

During the long rainy season when flooding occurred, there were times when we would not be able to go out or go to school although some adults would have to make every effort to get to their offices. The water might be at least two feet high at the high tide but when the kokers were opened as the tide was going out, the run-off would reduce the depth to about six inches. A car with a low chassis was of no help on these occasions. Those riding bicycles could not use them, and it was not unusual to see boats ferrying people to work. Those with tall galoshes often helped to guide the boats and so make a little extra money that way. At these times of heavy rainfall, we could be confined to the house for more than two days.

There were two public gardens in the city, the extensive Botanical Gardens which also housed a zoo, and the Promenade Gardens between Middle and New Market Streets. At both these gardens and on the seawall, there were bandstands where the Police Band would rotate and play once a week for the enjoyment of all. Moving around the city, there were green open spaces and sport club grounds where people could be seen playing tennis, cricket, or other ball games, or just working out. Usually, the players would be wearing the correct attire, tennis whites and white flannels for cricket. Kite flying was a major activity and there was a large grassy area opposite the seawall near to Kitty - Thomas Lands -where everyone went to fly their kites at Easter time. On Easter Monday, a public holiday, crowds came to engage in kite flying and there would be rivalry to see who had the largest kite or the highest flying one and a few times kites would be brought down by razors on the tail of a competitor’s kite.

Despite what one would expect, swimming was not an activity that many people engaged in. Swimming pools then only existed at Atkinson Field, [the American airbase outside of the city], at the bauxite company at Mackenzie and at the homes of some senior managers at the foreign banks. Daring boys and young men would launch themselves from the jetties stretching out from the seawall to risk their lives trying to swim in the Atlantic Ocean; but the water could be very rough and didn’t look too enticing as it was very dark brown. We were told that this color was due to all the mud and vegetation from the Amazon River in Brazil, whose strong currents pushed this along the coast. So, despite the long coastline and many rivers, many Guyanese didn’t learn to swim.

Visiting Guyana in recent years, the country that one sees today barely resembles the place where I spent my formative years. There are no longer well-maintained footpaths, cleared canals and trenches, no defined residential areas, for even on the former residential streets, there are shops and car-repair yards next door to residences and houses of worship of various religions.

When British Guiana was under colonial rule, the people in positions of authority were English, as were the big business owners, the managers and overseers on the sugar and rice estates and the senior staff in the civil service. Similarly, most of the clergy of the Church of England and other major Christian denominations - Methodist, Lutheran, Scots Church and Catholic -came from overseas as did the teachers in the best girls’ and boys’ schools. This no longer is the situation today. All positions are filled by Guyanese or other Caribbean nationals and one can find doctors and consultants from India and other Commonwealth countries. In fact, Guyana has suffered from the brain drain of the nineteen sixties as those who went abroad to study often remained in those places.

Our society was multi-ethnic because the colonial powers - Dutch, French and English, had not only imported slaves to produce the crops that brought prosperity to their countries, but brought in Chinese, Portuguese and Indian laborers to substitute for the slaves that were freed in 1832. My generation and previous ones developed friendships with others of all races and religions both at school and outside. The indigenous people, the Amerindians, were generally not participants in the activity on the coastlands and continued to lead their lives, peacefully I presume, in the interior areas far from the coastal plains. However, they did not receive the benefits of the development taking place on the coastlands.

Following World War II, there were movements in many British and French territories /dominions seeking a greater role in governing themselves. This struggle for self-determination led to the independence of many countries in Africa and Asia, though not always through peaceful means. For Guyana, independence became a reality in May 1966, later than some of the other Caribbean countries, owing to electoral and representational concerns that brought out political/racial tensions and delayed the process.

2.

HOW WE LIVED THEN. SCENES FROM FAMILY LIFE.

Guyana lies just North of the Equator, a tropical country facing the Atlantic Ocean with the capital city, Georgetown lying six feet below sea level. In the light of that location, you would imagine that homes in the capital city would be furnished with light and airy furniture, but up to today, the furnishings seem more suited to a temperate climate. Mahogany furniture, Morris-style chairs, carpets and window curtains. Like so many other aspects of life this is a legacy of the colonial period.

Houses were built on stilts at least 7 feet high above the ground. This was to keep one safe from flooding which happened frequently. Our house, like so many other homes, was decorated with furniture made of mahogany or other hard woods, found in our forests and which were said to be able to withstand the hot, humid climate with its two heavy rainy seasons. Furniture made of those woods called for regular stripping of varnish and re-varnishing usually at Christmas times. We had a mahogany dining table that easily accommodated 12 people given to us by a family friend whose children had all grown and moved away. By today’s standards the table seems low for those seated at it, as I noticed when I sat at this same table at Guy’s home. I didn’t notice this before so maybe the chairs we used at home had lower seats and so they worked with the table.

The wooden dining chairs had caned seats as did some of the furniture in the living room; as an example, a settee, rocking chairs and a corner chair that could seat two persons. Most people had a Berbice chair sometimes called a planter’s chair made of wood with arms that could swing out in front so that one’s feet could rest on them. The fabric for the seat was generally carpet which gave a good support but could make you warm. This was the chair that Daddy and so many of his contemporaries would relax in before they returned to office after lunch. Dad usually would read a few pages from one of the books he had on a side-table, then would have a quick nap before dressing to return to work. The other furniture in the living room were two easy or Morris chairs with cushions of fabric rather like today’s sofas, and on the backs of the chairs were doilies placed where your head would rest. On the floor was an oriental carpet but I doubt that it was really genuine.

The floors were also of mahogany and had to be kept well-polished. The gardener, an old Indian woman, would apply the floor polish while on her hands and knees, but we children would help with the heavy polisher to get it to shine. This polisher was a metal block covered with green felt like that covering a billiards table and must have weighed a good 8-10 pounds. It took a lot of effort to push it along the floorboards to bring up the shine. It made a clanking sound as the handle shifted in its holder as it was pushed back and forth. I think that the polishing only took place every few weeks or so and in between the daily sweeping and dusting kept it looking shined. Around the room would be tables with various knick-knacks, and brass ornaments, also on lace doilies and on the floor some large brass flower-holders about 36 inches high. These were said to be casings from shells from the war, and they also needed a lot of work to maintain their shine. In my younger days, there were a few paintings on the living room walls but after Dad became Director of Culture many more pieces of artwork came his way and eventually the whole living room looked like an art gallery.

The front of the house had Demerara windows and jalousies, which helped to keep the air flowing through the room, and shutters that could be opened out and closed. To the side of the house, were glass sash-windows where Mummy would hang curtains, but Dad couldn’t stand the curtains so you would find a knot made of the lower half of the curtain as Daddy’s way of letting the breezes come inside.

There was no tv in British Guiana until the 1960’s so radio was the only medium of entertainment, information, instruction for school children and as a social outlet. Every morning at about 6 am. the local stations would start their day by playing hymns or some Indian music before getting to the local news and then the all-important BBC World News. In our home, only Daddy was allowed to tune the radio, and it was placed high up on a shelf on the wall so that we children could not easily change the station. The radio was tuned to the station that brought the BBC World News and local programs from the Government Information Services. Whenever calypsos, steel band music or suggestive songs were played, we were not allowed to