My Journey, Unplanned (eBook)

Joan Seymour (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2022 | 1. Auflage
212 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-6678-6851-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Family life in a colony during the last days of colonial system; social and educational aspects, travel and study in countries in Europe; diplomatic relations and international affairs; music and other personal interests.

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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.

Textauszug

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...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.9.2022
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• ISBN-10: 1-6678-6851-9 / 1667868519
• ISBN-13: 978-1-6678-6851-6 / 9781667868516