Category: Features

By Vanessa Deosaran Over the past years, numerous organisations have been developing and implementing initiatives to empower Guyanese women and assist them in gaining an independent status, while developing the community in general. The mission to empower women is assiduously pursued by the Wowetta Women’s Group (WWG) located in North Rupununi in Region Nine. About Wowetta Wowetta is surrounded by the Pakaraima Mountains and the Makarapan Mountain to the eastern range of the Kanuku Mountains that divide the Rupununi savannahs into two halves, namely the North Rupununi Savannahs that are…

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By Venessa Deosaran A pyrographic artist specialises in burning design onto wood or leather. And for more than a decade, Irene Bacchus-Holder has been perfecting this art form in creating functional pieces for the home using Guyana’s natural woods. Nominated as one of the ten finalists in the inaugural UNCTAD/EMPRETEC International Women in Business Award 2008, Irene began her business by doing pyrography on functional items such as jewellery boxes and kitchen wares. Her first efforts, given as gifts to personal friends and family members, were well received, and this…

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By Venessa Deosaran The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), founded in 1993, has had a very busy UN International Year for People of African Descent (IYPAD) with many exciting activities for everyone, emphasising the significance for people of African descent. The UN General Assembly proclaimed the Year in December 2009 in a resolution citing the need to strengthen national actions and regional and international cooperation to ensure that people of African descent fully enjoy economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights; to advance their integration into all political, economic,…

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Guyana is among 38 countries that could miss the fifth Millennium Development Goal target if it does not train more midwives, a new report by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and partners has found. The report said that 38 of 58 countries surveyed during the study could miss their MDG target to achieve 95 per cent coverage of births by skilled attendants by 2015 without a total of 112,000 more midwives. Globally, 350,000 midwives are still lacking. The study, released on Monday by the local UNFPA office, revealed that…

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Many have heard the tales of El Dorado, the tales of a famous king dressed in gold by the shores of a beautiful and mysterious lake. How often have you heard stories of El Dorado and not flirted with the feelings of wonder and possibility that the legend holds? For centuries, many have set out for El Dorado in the hope of striking it rich, but we set out to the Rupununi and El Dorado with a different goal in mind. Seven of us are here, three Americans, two Canadians,…

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By Venessa Deosaran Dr Ivan Van Sertima is a celebrated Guyanese-British historian, linguist and anthropologist noted for his Afrocentric theory of pre- Columbian contact between Africa and the Americas. He is also renowned for his bravery and advocacy against allegations falsely made by colleagues regarding African history. He was born on January 26, 1935 in Kitty, Georgetown, Guyana, and was one of the most brilliant scholars and historians to hail from Guyana. He belonged on the same podium as the late Guyanese scholar and union organizer Dr Walter Rodney, and…

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Yupukari Butterfly Farm to benefit By Venessa Deosaran Rupukari Wildlife Club was awarded a 2011 Disney Friends for Change grant to support its efforts towards the development of a community butterfly farm in the village. The grant was awarded via a proposal that was written and submitted by Yupukari Wildlife Club members Harnaman Dorrick, Rosita Roberts and Shamir Khan, with the assistance of a volunteer from Rupununi Learners Incorporated. Funds acquired from the Disney Friends for Change grant were used to support activities related to Global Youth Service Day (GYSD),…

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US-based Guyanese Marc Gomes finds himself being actor, director, writer in the world of Hollywood Born and raised in Guyana until the age of eleven, Marc Gomes migrated to Canada and attended high school and university in Toronto. In an interview with the writer, director and actor, Gomes stated that he grew up in Subryanville, Georgetown and did not know the life he is living now was imminent. “I was 11 when I left Guyana with my parents in 1971. I wasn’t in any kind of artistic field. I was…

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Many traditional Indian kitchen utensils remain in use today as traditional Indian recipes generally remain the same. Some are variations of other well-known kitchen tools, while others are uniquely Indian.

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