ACDA is playing its part in working towards African unity

Dear Editor,

In your Monday, November 18 letter to the editor section, you carried a letter written by Frank Fyffe entitled ‘ACDA Feast of the Year was not well attended by young people.’ On behalf of the Education Management Committee (EMC) of the African Cultural & Development Association (ACDA), I would like to very graciously thank Mr Fyffe for attending our annual Sikukuu-ya-Mwaka (Feast of the Year) event. His presence and his contribution towards the $5,000 ticket were truly appreciated.

In his letter, Mr Fyffe inquired, “Why at such a function held by ACDA was there such a scant presence of young Africans and a total absence of young males?” Mr Fyffe also lamented that “the occasion was pretty ok, though I thought attendance could have been much better.”

I would like to assure Mr Fyffe that ACDA does have many young people and young males in its organization. The main reason for their absence, and the general absence of young people from this particular event, is the price tag of $5,000. Young people and especially young Africans, cannot afford $5,000 for a dinner. Many are struggling to pay a one way fare of $100 to even travel to UG .

Secondly, all of the tickets were bought and especially by the African middle class. Herein lies the problem. It is historical and political. Many who support ACDA are afraid to be seen at an ACDA event such as this. True, they may attend our Emancipation Festival with its thousands, but the political climate in Guyana has dampened their attendance at other ACDA events, be it Kwanzaa or African Holocaust Day.

Such is the nature of things in Guyana.

The Feast of the Year is our annual fund-raiser for our school. Yes, ACDA has had a school for many years now. Today, this school is funded by low fees, donations and fund-raisers such as this one. Currently, ACDA’s school, the Centre of Learning & Afro-Centric Orientation (COLAACO),  has 51 students: 27 males and 24 females. Ages range from 2 years 6 months to 7 years. The cost of the event is $5,000 per person because ACDA subsidizes every student in the school. Fees at ACDA are outrageously low compared to what we see in the market. At ACDA, the Playgroup is $2,500 per month; Nursery (both levels) is $3,500 and our 23 Primary school classes are $5,000. Our market research has shown the school requiring $40, 000 per term plus $15,000 in other fees compared to ACDA’s maximum of $20,000 per four month term.

ACDA’s subsidies go far beyond fees. We have 51 students and 6 teachers who are paid market rates. The school has a 14 computer ICT laboratory; a Ronald Waddell Research and Reading Centre (a library); a farm attached to it for learning purposes and for the sustainability of the school; and a Clementine Marshall Culinary Centre for teaching purposes. Indeed, the dinner served at the Feast of the Year was made in this Culinary Centre.

Mr Fyffe was very direct in his statements about the state of Africans in Guyana. We thank and salute him for fearlessly speaking out on the topic of values and of directly speaking to the upper echelons of the African collective. We at ACDA hope his words will be heeded and that in the future those who buy tickets also grace us with their presence.  ACDA printed 86 tickets for this event of which 80 were bought.

ACDA also wants to sincerely thank Ms Coretta McDonald, President of the Guyana Teachers Union for not only accepting our invitation to be the keynote speaker but for her eloquence and her powerfully necessary message. We at ACDA totally support her message which needs repeating here. In Mr Fyffe’s words:  “She focused on the sad state of affairs in our society; its falling apart and with our young people being misdirected and lost in a warped materialistic world of nebulous values. Thus she posited that in an effort to correct and pull ourselves back from the brink we should revert to instilling old precious values in our children, spend quality time with them, know what they are into and their interests, and have steady dialogue. How can parents see their children sporting expensive blackberry phones, gadgets, wearing clothes and jewellery that they (parents) didn’t buy and can’t afford to buy and not question them, but instead are proud, elated and even boastful about it?  she asked. She bemoaned the fact that parents are treating children like adults ‒ nursery school babies are being dressed up, girls have their hair relaxed, and are outfitted with expensive garments and jewellery when attending graduation; the same is the case with the boys. She spoke of teachers wittingly or unwittingly fostering the disreputable things that go on in schools by their very conduct. Instead of being the students’ ‘parents’ and guardians giving guidance, they are behaving no differently from the loose young men/women in the streets, and want to be the students’ boyfriend and girlfriend ‒ a perfect recipe for  lawlessness.

“Then there are young men and women carrying on casual conversations laced with expletives and vulgar expressions which have become the norm. McDonald also admonished the gathering to stop

looking down on and disliking those who look like themselves while elevating those they long to be like and who often despise them.”

Mr Fyffe in his letter forgot to add that Ms Coretta McDonald, after describing the sad state of affairs in education in Guyana, praised and commended ACDA for the efforts at COLAACO to return to core values and of seeking to be a “centre of excellence” in the field of education.

The reasons Ms McDonald highlighted are exactly the reasons ACDA began its school COLAACO. Apart from the national curriculum, students at ACDA are exposed to very strong traditional values. They are also exposed to the great civilizations and people of African origin. These young men and women are being taught to be leaders, servant leaders. They are taught the value of a solid education, of how to treat all races equally, to be proud of themselves, to seek excellence and to seek humility.

Mr Fyffe is dead on the mark when he states Africans have difficulty showing unity. Our school has suffered from this in many ways. Parents see COLAACO as having a stigma: it is an African school. Yet these same parents do not stigmatize Hindu, Muslim and Christian schools. They believe their children will receive an inferior education at ACDA. To some extent, they believe their children will be discriminated against if they attend ACDA’s school. Some of this may be true. For example, ACDA constantly has hidden battles. Car Care offered to donate a school bus to ACDA since many parents have to walk their children to school. Although ACDA is 20 years old and registered under the Friendly Societies Act, our request of GRA for duty free status for the bus was turned down; hence the bus was not donated to us. Others would have been granted this concession.

Well the good news is ACDA is moving forward regardless of the barriers we daily confront. Our children are flourishing and we are proving naysayers wrong. ACDA sent 7 students to Grade 2 Assessment this year. Three received marks in the 90s. The school’s average was 85%. All of our students passed English and Mathematics. These results, combined with our low fees saw COLAACO grow from 28 to 51 students in a few months and we expect more in January after other parents have visited our facilities which promote learning, a strong value system, the 3 Rs, self-esteem and excellence. Our goal is to always have a 15 to 1 student teacher ratio and to give our students a well-rounded education. Our goal is to have Primary 4, 5 and 6 so that we prepare our students for National Grade 6 exams.

As regards young African males, we are also very mindful of Mr Fyffe’s observations for they are real. ACDA has taken steps to reach out to our youth. ACDA’s entire complex is now managed by 25-year-old Shamane Headley and her youthful team. Shamane is a graduate of the University of Guyana; a graduate of one the best private sector management programmes in Guyana; and a graduate of the IDB ACDA Leadership Programme of 2008. Her mission is to create architecture to “empower young people to empower themselves.” She currently oversees the school, library, farm, etc, under the guidance of Brother Cooke, Sister Violet Jean-Baptiste and our Administrator Penda Guyan.

Our youths are in crisis. Mr Fyffe and others concerned are aware of this. ACDA now has many programmes to offer assistance. Under Sister Best, ACDA has a committee that works with 30 young mothers and their children. The parents are taught self-awareness, African knowledge sharing and some livelihood skills. They also each receive a monthly hamper. The parents are urged to keep their children in school and are part of ACDA’s Saturday programme where with many other children, under the guidance of Sister Violet Jean-Baptiste, they are involved in African culture, storytelling, reading, drumming, dancing, and the dramatic arts.

African unity is necessary for the upliftment of Africans in Guyana. ACDA is playing its part. Other organizations are also playing different roles but are cash strapped.

Our youth needs special attention. Our schools need the support of parents. Our DJs and other media personalities need to understand they impact our youth with the music they play and the often non-English verbiage they speak.

Thanks, Frank, for your insightful letter. May those with ears, hear your plea.

Yours faithfully,
Eric Phillips
Member of ACDA
Steering Committee