Category: Features

US-based Guyanese singer Jerry Elcock By Venessa Deosaran For more than 25 years, internationally renowned jazz and R&B artiste Jerry ‘Jhayee’ Elcock has been pursuing his passion for music, and promoting his beloved country of birth, Guyana. As a child growing up, Jhayee –his stage name – was destined for a career in the music world. Born in Vergenoegen, Jerry spent most of his earliest childhood on the West Bank. Raised in a musical family, his father, a guitar player and music teacher, the house was always full of musicians.…

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For high achievers with limited means Scholarship for Advanced Guyanese Education (SAGE) was officially founded in 2007 by seven returned ‘WorldTeach Guyana’ volunteers.  SAGE identifies secondary students with high academic potential but limited financial means, and provides these students with scholarships to help fulfil their academic achievements. Each board member of SAGE, all US-based, has taught in secondary schools in Mabaruma, Port Kaituma, Kwakwani, Soesdyke, and further afield. The president of the organisation, Alicia Wilson, joined WorldTeach Guyana for the 2006-2007 academic year. She taught biology and integrated science at…

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By Venessa Deosaran When faced with challenges, designer and craftswoman Esther Benjamin knows the remedy: determination and being proactive are what she knows. Benjamin, originally from Georgetown, moved to Linden with her family at age 7. She worked with a bauxite mining company for more than two decades in Linden, but after she was laid off, Benjamin was confronted with how she would now make a livelihood. She had to find a means of survival, and so she was prompted to take classes in catering, tie-dye and batik. Developing herself…

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Queen Elizabeth II celebrates six decades in the supreme role of British sovereign “By the sudden death of my dear father I am called to assume the duties and responsibilities of sovereignty. My heart is too full for me to say more to you today than I shall always work, as my father did throughout his reign, to advance the happiness and prosperity of my peoples, spread as they are all the world over.” With this statement to the Lords of the Council for the formal Accession ceremony held Feb.…

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By Venessa Deosaran In November 2010, former President Jagdeo created a small grant to stimulate a film making industry in Guyana. He appointed Dr Paloma Mohamed, director of the Centre for Communication Studies at the University of Guyana, to manage the project, which was named ‘The President’s Film Endowment Project 2011’. Between January and July 2011, the experimental project has grown exponentially in its reach and potential through the collaboration of several other formal and informal partners – HED, USAID, Ohio University, the University of Guyana, The Theatre Guild of…

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Resolute in being the best By Venessa Deosaran Artist, designer, teacher and photographer, Lori Ann Jacobs has proven to be a determined and versatile woman in fulfilling her goals and pursuing what she is most passionate about: art. Jacobs graduated from the Cyril Potter College of Education in 2001 after studying for three years to become a trained teacher. That same year she began teaching at Annandale Secondary School. In 2008, after studying for an additional four years, Jacobs graduated from the University of Guyana with a bachelors degree in…

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By Venessa Deosaran US-based Guyanese writer and director, Mason Richards’ deftness, combined with his talent as a storyteller, has contributed to his push to someday becoming a world renowned filmmaker, and at the same time promote his beautiful country of birth. In an interview with Guyana Times Sunday Magazine, Richards said he was born and grew up in Georgetown. His fondest memories are playing cricket as a child at Redeemer Primary School, going to the seawall on Sundays with his family, going to the Starlight Drive-In cinema on the East…

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The Royal Geographical Society of London entrusted Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk with conducting an expedition of exploration of British Guiana in 1835; his work, it is claimed, led to the successful Venezuela and Brazil boundary arbitrations for Guyana, then British Guiana. Schomburgk was born June 5, 1804 in the town of Freyburg on the River Unstrut, in Germany. The eldest of five siblings, he showed an early interest in nature, and in the 1820s, while living with his uncle, he learned botany from a professor. Later, after several years of…

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  By Dr Odeen Ishmael Throughout the early part of 1966, preparations for Guyana’s independence celebrations went in full swing. A special committee appointed by the government designed the new coat of arms and selected the Canje pheasant as the national bird. The design and colours of the new flag, appropriately called “The Golden Arrowhead”, had already been chosen during the period of the PPP government from entries submitted through an international competition. The winning five-coloured design was submitted by an American, Whitney Smith. The name chosen for the independent…

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By Venessa Deosaran Seven final-year architecture degree students of the University of Guyana, and their lecturer, left Georgetown on a road journey of about 1,452 kilometres (902 miles) that lasted for nearly thirty-four hours. Their destination was Manaus, the capital city of the State of Amazonas in Brazil, our southern neighbour.  The purpose of their visit was to learn, first hand, of the state of conservation of historic buildings in Brazil, using Manaus as a case study. The group arrived in Manaus around 6:00 hrs Saturday, April 7, on the…

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