Migrants have historically played a very important role to the societies in which they settle. Bringing with them skills, knowledge and innovative ideas, they often aid in the growth of their new and old social economies. As the world around us continues to fall into dysfunction due to enmeshed environmental and political disasters, the rates of migrants seeking better pastures has continued to climb. Our ways in dealing with migrants and the systems set up to support them however has remained woefully inadequate.
In Guyana, our attitudes and treatments towards migrants have been tepid at best and discriminatory at worst. On the cusp of major economic change, our country is seen as having greener pastures for settlement. Thousands of Haitians and Venezuelans have been entering Guyana over the years to settle or to use it as a transit point to other countries. Our unpreparedness for the large growth of migrants has been apparent, but it also brought to the fore our still largely undealt issue of racism.
