Before I get off on the wrong foot here, let me start by saying that there are many causes for anxiety in Guyana – we all know the list very well – and each of us will find ourselves trying to cope with this or that aggravation from day to day, but the difficulty is that we can get so consumed with the negative that we often become blind to what I call “rays of hope” that shine out from the gloom.
Recently, for example, we saw the John Fernandes organization celebrating 50 years of continuous business in Guyana, having persevered across a range of regimes and social conditions, and building a business based on giving the consumer a fair shake and maintaining the “Honest John” reputation embedded by the company’s founder. To hear visiting executives in the shipping industry praise the efficiency and success of the John Fernandes sea cargo business here, as achieving the highest regional standard, is an example we can all draw encouragement from. Chris Fernandes says he believes in Guyana; it shows. It’s an expression of hope that translates into tangible results.
To live here again is to see that some businesses have managed to raise the bar in their operations. To walk into Spads Incorporated on Thomas Street, for example, is to find, from the entrance onwards, a spick and span operation – no disrepair; no indifferent sales people, products neatly displayed – and a general presentation that makes you feel, temporarily, that you’re in a first world country. Even if you don’t buy anything, seeing that operation is a lift.
There are several others.
Every time I drive by the Diamond Water operation at the southern end of town, I am struck by the immaculate condition of the premises. The people who run that place and the people who work there are clearly committed to making it the best it can be, and the results show. In a sometimes sorry landscape, it’s a ray of hope.
Whether you like hamburgers or not, you have to recognise JR Burgers as a well-run business, striving to keep standards high, and showing that good presentation can be achieved with a little effort.
Some time ago I wrote about a rude attendant at a GuyOil station on Sheriff Street. That kind of comment in Guyana will often produce nothing but a “stewps”, but the people at GuyOil took the trouble to find me, to apologise for the incident, and to let me know that they had made efforts to eliminate that behaviour and to treat the incident seriously. That’s another ray of hope – people who are looking to make things better.
Look at the operations of Gerry Gouveia in this country. You can see the attention to detail and the determination to generate a good product on every one of his businesses. No signs falling down; no fences needing painting; no doors hanging loose; no languid approach from employees.
In the music industry, one of the examples of excellence is a compilation CD of local artistes put out by Burchmore Simon of Krosskolor Studios. It’s today’s material, but it’s well recorded, with a variety of artistes, and, thank God, very little of the aping of Jamaican music. It’s local talent, in local gear – it’s called Kolor Revolution – and every track has merit.
The striking thing about these kinds of operations is the attitude of the owners. Over time, I have heard the managers of all the businesses mentioned above say, in almost identical words, “I believe in this country and want it to get better.”
And the rays of hope are there in small businesses as well. A favourite of mine is the Wheelers and Crawlers operation on Bentick Street. Okay, it’s in a very modest building, and not in the most appealing part of town, but the service inside there is top notch. The guys operating that business make you feel welcome before you buy anything, and those elusive hardware items you can’t seem to find anywhere else are somehow available, or become available, there. Guyanese ingenuity at work, banna.
And what is particularly warming is to see the everyday interactions you encounter around town. A month or so ago, coming home in the evening after buying some floor tiles from Lens on Sheriff Street, I realized I had left my cell phone in the store. It was 6 o’clock, too late to go back; ah well, that’s gone. The next morning, 9am, as I walk in the store to ask about the loss, a young man walks up to me with my phone in his hand. “You forgot this here yesterday, sir.”
Okay, there’s a lot of stealing, but honest people are about, too. Considering buying some pineapple by Bourda one day, the stall owner intervened: “Don’t bother with them; buy from this pile,” and indicating some smaller pines. Similarly, a mango vendor at Plaisance: “The mangoes, sweet?” She smiled, and shook her head. “Not really.” And here’s the amazing thing: that’s all she was selling; only mangoes. That’s an honest woman, a ray of hope.
I could go on with more examples. The point I’m making is that, like mankind everywhere, we become so caught up with the things wrong in our society – and God knows GT has a lot of things wrong – that some sort of hardening takes place and we either don’t see or don’t value the positive things. One would think that in the midst of all the waylay we would be even more inclined to recognise the bright spots and appreciate them, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
It would be nice if we began to notice those things more and mention them to other people. Yes, we have a lot of dudes who will go with your cell phone the minute you forget it some place, but there are many people, like the Lens examples, who are not like that.
Certainly the physical state of some business places in Guyana is embarrassing, but Spads and Gerry Gouveia and Diamond Water show you the opposite.
Guyana remains a poor country, people will steal. But there are folks, like the two fruit vendors, who will not look at you and lie to earn a dollar.
We should look at these examples as the rays of hope they are.
Before I go, let me mention a future one: the announcement from GT&T that more bandwith, at better rates, will shortly be here. That’s not just a ray; that’s a bandwith of hope.
