Anyone with even basic awareness must be conscious of the many difficulties we face dealing with daily life in Guyana. The examples abound across the board; yet another listing of them by me here would serve little purpose. However, almost every time I perform outside Guyana, as I did recently in Barbados, Toronto and Orlando, I find myself cornered by Guyanese living in such places who ask me in more or less the same words, “So how you coping with life in Guyana, boy?” Indeed, as I write this, it occurs to me that the question actually comes even more frequently from folks right here in the homeland than from the ones outside.
It’s a complex matter that can’t be treated properly in a short gaff, and it is probably true that I have slightly different responses to the question, depending on who’s asking, and who’s listening, but a common thread in my answers is that even though there is inarguably much evidence of gloom in our country, there are also bright lights, in various forms, in the mix, and noticing them helps you to cope. If we’re paying attention, such ‘bright lights’ are
