By Anu Dev
Well it’s November again, and apart from being the month of my birth, November is also chockfull of other such important events. It’s Remembrance Day on Monday and I remember at QC there’s the Remembrance Day Ceremony where the Youngest Boy and Girl have to march down the aisle to lay wreaths in honour of those who have died for our freedom.
All too often, we forget that nations are built on the sacrifices of the generations who preceded us. And it’s for this reason I’ve always been quite teed off by Guyanese, especially fellow students, who’ve benefited from those sacrifices, yet so casually emigrate and forget their native land.
In Guyana, November is also set aside as “Tourism Month”. Living all my life in Guyana, I guess I’ve never been as appreciative of all the natural beauty and fantastic sights that we have in Guyana as I probably should have been. But to be fair, it’s a little hard to walk around in perpetual awe over the beauty of your surroundings when the person walking right in front of you just dropped their empty Corn Curls bag right onto the street. We really need to cut down on littering – it really is pretty disgraceful – not to mention unhealthy.
But nonetheless, we have a beautiful country. I remember on our fifth form Geography trip down to Lethem. All of us were awestruck by the mountains, the freshness of the air and the all-round good feeling we had just being there. If the Kanuku Mountains left me speechless, then the sunrise in Lethem took my breath away completely. Sure we had to ‘rough it’ and toughen up a bit, but it was worthwhile – I couldn’t ask for a better set of people to endure the 18-hour trip with!
And on my flight back to Trinidad on Monday, looking out of the window, I was awed by how Guyana looked just spread out below us, with its rivers just winding through the forested land. But also how fragile the coast was, protected as it was from the tumultuous Atlantic just by mangrove and that sliver of sea wall.
Guyana has so many beautiful sights to see and places to be – the land itself has done half of the work, all we Guyanese have to do is to market the beauty! Every year my family took a vacation in another part of Guyana.
Also, being abroad has given me a greater appreciation for Guyanese cooking. We really do have some of the best food in Guyana. And that’s something we really need to emphasise when persons visit Guyana. I do think we should stress our local foods much more – but surely our chefs can be a bit more creative.
We might have to pander a bit to some unadventurous taste buds but I’m sure most tourists really want to experience authentic Guyanese culture. Then, of course, we’d be perking up our local farmers.
Being away from home has made me miss it of course, and it also allowed me to view Guyana through new eyes when I visit. I’m looking for the changes, for the improvements, I’m more appreciative of this country that I grew up in. And imagine I’ve only been away for two months! I can only imagine what the feeling must be like for Guyanese that visit Guyana after living abroad for years.
After his first visit in seven years, my father kissed the ground on deplaning.
We have a glorious country, full of rich heritage and wonder. So let’s remember that this November, and this Tourism Month, maybe we can do a bit of touring and visit parts of our country that we’ve never visited before.
Happy November!