Up until now, little if anything has been said in the media here about Guyana’s planned hosting of the Caribbean Association of Home Economists (CAHE) 22nd Biennial Conference in March/April next year. The event will bring to Guyana Home Economists from the English speaking Caribbean, Puerto Rico, the United States and Australia, among other countries. Local participants will include, primarily, Guyanese Home Economists who either serve in or are retired from the education system.
Not a great deal is known at this stage about the agenda for the forum though it is apposite to note that the forum is coinciding with a period during which the relevance of Home Economics as a professional pursuit and an academic discipline is changing in interesting ways.
Whereas Home Economics might have been seen in earlier times as an option for young people, girls particularly, who were either unwilling or unable to cope with the rigours of alternative academic pursuits, it has come to be seen increasingly as a professional discipline that has a critical bearing on economic and national development.
The delivery of standards in the hospitality sector, including food preparation, presentation, nutrition and safety and health standards is among the key preoccupations of the health, tourism, restaurant and hotel sectors at the moment. Home Economists, therefore, may well be poised to play a more central role in the enhancement of those sectors, that is, of course, if both the government and the private sector, recognise that our trained and experienced Home Economists represent a resource that goes way beyond simply providing formal instructions in cooking and home-making. The role of the Carnegie School of Home Economics in making available to local hotels and restaurants trained staff who have raised standards in those institutions, is largely unsung. And it is perhaps the best local example of the role that Home Economists can play in creating jobs and raising standards in some key sectors of the economy. Beyond that, there is really no reason why the Guyana Association of Home Economists (GAHE) and its members cannot have a greater say – perhaps even in a consultancy capacity – in, for example, the delivery of state banquets and other occasions that allow our professionals to parade their skills in the preparation and presentation of food. Nor would it do any harm if these professionals are given scope to lead the way in the popularisation of local cuisine as a means of attracting visitors (some travellers are known to visit countries largely for the food) much the same way as South Korea is doing at this time.
These professionals might be able to bring even more of their creative imagination to the various facets of the hospitality sector to say nothing of the impetus that they may add to a tourism sector that clearly needs some sort of push start.
It is, however, in the day-to-day arenas of nutrition, food safety standards, housekeeping and dining protocols in both the public and private sectors that the skills of our Home Economists might be most sorely needed. Over time, we have allowed standards in these areas to drift. Truth be told, those areas are desperately in need of a greater measure of professional attention.
It has to be said too that if we do more, much more than we are doing at this time to place a spotlight on the role of the Home Economist, that would go a far way towards enhancing enthusiasm for the discipline at the school level since there would then be a greater guarantee of professional and, hopefully, lucrative openings in both the public and private sectors for qualified Home Economists. All of this, of course, will redound to the benefit of Guyana and its economy.
