Category: Features

United to effect change in their communities and develop themselves as well-rounded individuals are the aims of the vibrant youth group, Youths in Unison, an arm of Roadside Baptist Skills Training Centre located in Berbice. Youths in Unison is a group of young peer educators who are working towards positive changes in their communities. These vibrant youths are involved in awareness sessions in communities and religious groups on gender based violence, HIV/AIDS Education and other related social issues. According to Roadside, the group will be officially launched on December 2,…

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By Petamber Persaud   (Extract of an interview with Cassia Alphonso, October 2013, Georgetown, Guyana. Alphonso won the 2012 Guyana Prize for Literature in the category of poetry, a shared-prize with Dr Ian McDonald)   PP  Guide us through this phrase – winning the Guyana Prize for Literature in the category of poetry with your manuscript “Black Cake Mix” which captured people and places from the Pomeroon to Cuffy Monument… CA  (Delightful giggle) PP  There you go –conjuring images you have created in your poetry. And there are some exceptional…

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It is commendable when Guyanese who have left their homeland years ago return to give back to their communities. One such notable person is Ganesh Ramraj, who was born, and grew up in, Independence Boulevard in La Penitence. Ganesh migrated to Canada when he was 23 years old. After much soul searching as an adult,  and overcoming a few of life’s challenges, Ganesh decided it was time to return home to give back to his childhood community. In an interview with  Guyana Times Sunday Magazine, the philanthropist said his initiative,…

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By Deomattie Seeram   The village of Enmore, known during the 19th century as Plantation Enmore, plays an integral part in the history of Guyana. Located in Region Four, on the East Coast of Demerara, it is about two square miles, 16 miles away from the capital city Georgetown, and comprises about 3,000 residents. Enmore, in the 19th Century, was primarily a cotton and sugar plantation, owned by Henry Porter. The estate became a community sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s when villagers were granted plots of land.…

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In recent times the more than 140-year-old New Amsterdam Town Hall has seen some refurbishment and renovations in that have also included the removal of most of its historic tower which once rose some 75 feet over the main entrance. Constructed in the 1860s, the New Amsterdam Town Hall was an imposing Tudor timber building which once supported what has been described as a majestic tower capped by a single storey smaller tower encircled by a widow’s walk (also called “widow’s watch” which is a railed rooftop platform often with…

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The World’s most renowned and respected Muslim scholar, Maulana Shaykh, Dr Hisham Kabbani will soon be visiting Guyana as part of activities organised by the local Muslim community in observance of the Islamic New Year. The local Muslim community, through The Anna Catherina Islamic Complex and The Guyana United Sadr Islamic Anjuman will host a series of programmes in observance of the commencement of the Islamic New Year 1435AH. The distinguished scholar will visit Guyana from November 27-29, (after visiting neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago). Maulana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani has dedicated…

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By Professor Daizal Samad   This new weekly column is meant to explore issues that concern Berbice and Guyana. While we shall focus on specific topical issues in Guyana, readers are assured that the topics shall be interesting and shall relate to all of the citizens of our nation. For what affects one citizen affects all citizens. I also promise that my language shall be clear and simple, like all good language should be. My opinions will not be guided by self-interest nor governed by a bloated ego. This column…

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It was a wide, flat and abandoned rice field when, in the late 1950s, real estate developer Hari Prashad purchased just over 76 acres put up for sale by then British Guiana conglomerate Bookers, in an area called Bel Air, which was then mainly rice fields owned by Bel Air Estates Ltd. The land, known then as “area H”, was bordered by Bel Voir Court to the north; a reserve between the land and Campbelville to the west, by Sophia to the east, and Cummings Canal to the south. It…

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Over the years, the Tourism Ministry has been placing a lot of emphasis on domestic tourism, and in this regard, it has implemented several initiatives such as the ‘Wakenaam Nite’, ‘Essequibo Nite’, and several expos. In expanding on the ‘Nite’ initiative, the ministry last week launched the ‘Leguan Nite’, to allow individuals to visit and explore the island and see what it has to offer. At the ceremony at the Tourism Ministry’s South Road Office, Director of the Guyana Tourism Authority (GTA), Indranauth Haralsingh said the event, which is expected…

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