Features – Page 70 – Guyana Times International

Pilot with Pomeroon roots aims to serve his homeland

June 16, 2017 TIMES INT'L

While Guyana is noted for its brain drain, 23-year-old Michael Yearwood is one of the few young people who is enthusiastic about returning to live and work in his homeland. Pursuing his commercial pilot license in Trinidad, Yearwood, who is also an award-winning University of the West Indies (UWI) graduate, is already looking for opportunities in Guyana. “I love Guyana and I have always planned on coming back someday,” Yearwood stated in an interview with Sunday Times Magazine, emphasizing his desire to significantly contribute to his homeland, instead of pursuing…

International artiste is inspired by her Guyanese heritage

June 16, 2017June 16, 2017 TIMES INT'L

Alisha Hamid, popularly known by her stage name ‘Sasha Melody’, is an international recording artiste who hails from a musical background. Her passion for music began since she was just three years old. Alisha is the first in her family to be born in the U.S. She credits her parents, natives from Guyana, as her influence for pursuing music at an early age. Her father, who liked to DJ in his spare time, would play soca music from renowned artistes such as Byron Lee, Arrow and Sparrow, which is how…

A different kind of care

June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

Not only is US-based Guyanese Obstetrician/Gynecologist Dr. Yvette Westford focused on self-development, but through her practice she aims to improve the lives of women. Dr. Yvette Westford is a board-certified Obstetrician/Gynecologist with a pending board certification in Laser Medicine. She specializes in Cosmetic Gynecology and Aesthetics. Westford was raised in Guyana, but migrated to the United States after high school to attend college in New York. She received her AAS in Physical Therapy from Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York; and her BS in Biology from Pace University…

Our National Songs

June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

In the grip of the desire for independence from colonial rule and a fervour for a national identity beginning perhaps from the 1940s, a proliferation of patriotic poetry flowed from the pens of a group of men and women, over the years leading up to and just after Guyana’s eventual independence, that was made into music. Few young people are aware of a genre in the country’s musical heritage known as national or patriotic songs, excluding the national anthem; and even fewer can be said to be familiar with the…

A story of hardship and triumph

June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

By Isahak Basir A tragic scenario of a second migration of more than 50 indentured Indian families, all of whom hailed from several abandoned sugar estates. This took place between the period 1860 and 1940, when they had no alternative but to migrate to the uninhabited and desolated Pomeroon River district. It was their only chance of survival, and hence abandoned all hopes of returning to India as promised by the colonial owners. Similarly, in Jamaica, the Africans made an appeal to the colonial government to have “coolies” sent back…

An artistic legacy

June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

Richard Gui Pennington Sharples, better known as R. G. Sharples, was a man of extraordinary ability who demonstrated a wealth of talents. Alongside his legal career, Sharples is recognised equally for his artistic legacy and his contribution to the development of a ‘local style’ in the history of fine art in Guyana. Sharples was born in Georgetown on May 1, 1906. He was the youngest son of Mary Johanna (née Scott) and John Bradshaw Sharples, the famous architect and builder. He began his early education at the Ursuline Convent and…

Those That Be In Bondage (1917-2017)

June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

Days of the sahib are over, or should be, now that our land is free of the overlord’s yoke Rajkumari Singh The novel “Those That Be In Bondage: A Tale of Indian Indenture and Sunlit Western Waters” written by A. R. F. Webber was published in 1917, the same year in which the indentureship scheme, that kept “those that be in bondage”, was abolished. So there are two noticeable anniversaries here to commemorate: the centennial end to indentureship and the centennial publication year of the novel. The third celebration (hitherto…

The History of Parliament at Independence

June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

The Parliament of Guyana was created by the 1966 Constitution of Guyana. The Guyana Independence Act was passed on May 12, 1966 and came into force May 26, 1966. The First sitting of the National Assembly of the First Parliament of the Guyana Parliament was held May 26, 1966. However, according to parliament.gov.gy, strictly speaking, Guyana’s parliamentary system was not created at Independence. In 1831, the three colonies of Demerara, Essequibo and Berbice were united, and the colony of British Guiana was formed. From the years 1831 to 1928, the…

The Labouring Population of Guyana (1917-2017)

June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

Indentureship formally ended in the year 1917. Indian indentureship started in 1838 (May 5 – Indian Arrival Day) while enslaved Africans were being granted emancipation (August 1 – Emancipation Day). The abolition of indentureship came about through sustained struggle on the foreign front and through sustained resistance in the local vanguard. The local resistance was later harnessed into organisations fighting against the exploitation of the labouring population with the intention of securing better wages and working conditions. According to Ashton Chase in his well-documented, well-presented and well-written book, A History…

A mission to impact lives

June 9, 2017June 9, 2017 TIMES INT'L

By Ashraf Dabie US-based Guyanese autism specialist Dr. Sharla Madho-Khargi has embarked on the first phase of her initiative to assess the needs and provide resources for those caring for those who are differently abled. Following 15 years of working with people with disabilities, Madho-Khargi journeyed home on May 14 to continue an initiative which began during her undergraduate studies. The clinical psychologist, during her one week visit to Guyana, accumulated data from research conducted at various institutions from across the country, after which she returned to the U.S. to…