Dear Editor,
I write as one who has been personally affected, and I declare an interest in this matter.
I commend your rather restrained editorial (‘A better life’) in SN of Thursday, July 7, 2011, but feel that you could have mentioned a few positives also. I note that you refer to the persons as ‘immigrants’ rather than ‘emigrants.’ But never mind.
I think, however, that in listing and commenting on the reasons for migration, you have neglected to mention one reason that is at or near the very top of the list: the security situation. I know of no one – repeat, no one – who feels personally secure all the time in this country. And some of my friends who migrated lived in grilled houses and were the legitimate holders of firearm licences!
You claim that “with the exception of the retired, few are even willing to consider returning home.” So, what about those “few” who not only are “willing to consider returning home” but who actually do return home? I think that you have neglected to mention and give credit to the “few” who, though they could have stayed somewhat longer in the greener pastures, have decided to come back home, even if only, perhaps, to give this country another try. Surely, those who are in this group deserve some measure of commendation in your editorial?
Guyana used to exercise a pull on the Guyanese heartstrings that our better writers recognized in songs such as Way Down Demerara and My Native Land. That pull is still present today, even though, in the changed political and socio-economic circumstances, it may not be as effective as I knew it to be more than three score years ago.
Yours faithfully,
George N Cave
