Year: 2013

First Guyanese female civil engineer of East Indian descent, Jean Ramkhelawan, looks back at her career Civil engineers have one of the world’s most important jobs: with creativity and technical skill, civil engineers plan, design, construct facilities essential to modern life, ranging from roads, bridges, to highway systems and are responsible for shaping our country’s infrastructure. Jean Ramkhelawan holds not only the title of civil engineer, but the coveted title of the first female civil engineer of Indian descent in Guyana. With determination and resiliency demanded by this taxing profession,…

Former British Guiana plantation owners benefitted – and their descendants still do – from Britain’s compensation policies for slave owners The true scale of Britain’s involvement in the slave trade has been laid bare in documents revealing how the country’s wealthiest families received the modern equivalent of billions of pounds in compensation after slavery was abolished. The previously unseen records show exactly who received what in payouts from the government when slave ownership was abolished by Britain – much to the potential embarrassment of their descendants. Dr Nick Draper from…

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,…

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…

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,…