There is a Guyanese organisation in Toronto called the St. Stanislaus College Alumni Association which has done stellar work over the years raising funds to help maintain the school. Knowing I went to Saints, Chris Fernandes, Chairman of the Board of Governors here for a long spell, asked me to write a few words for a magazine celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Canadian Saints group. The magazine came out two weeks ago in Toronto, but since the circulation is limited, I’m reproducing the few words below.
My father, Joseph Francis Martins, was a struggling Pomeroon farmer (in the space of 10 years, he was wiped out twice by the river’s flooding) and couldn’t afford the fees to send his son to Saints. However, as the Portuguese student with the highest graduating marks in my year at Sacred Heart School in Main Street, I should have received the Portuguese Association’s St Stanislaus Scholarship. For some reason – perhaps because my family did not belong to the Association – that didn’t happen. We were shocked to learn
