Dear Editor,
Although this May Indians would have been in Guyana for 186 years (starting on May 5, 1838), documents relating to their arrival and oppressive conditions, perseverance and survival as well as death on the plantations have not been preserved and protected. Their history is not widely known or properly documented. There is no official archival cataloguing, storage and preservation of those documents in Guyana. Successive governments in Guyana failed to take measures to preserve and/or digitize documents not only those relating to Indians but other groups as well (Africans, Chinese, Portuguese, and native Amerindians). So documents have been left in ruins, becoming ‘powderized’ and pulverized or flaked into bits as they are not properly stored in conditions conducive to preservation in hot, humid conditions. The Indian and African working class virtually built then-Guiana, laying the groundwork for the future Guyana after independence. Documents relating to them must be preserved. Preserving one’s history is paramount to one’s existence and future as generations to come will have access to knowledge about the history of their ancestors.
There were almost 240,000 indentured labourers who came with thousands more who died aboard the ships. Each shipload of Indian indentured labourers carried detailed emigration passes which were deposited in Georgetown upon each ship’s arrival. These and other documents related to the indentured were well kept by the colonial government. They were handed over to the Government of Guyana upon attainment of independence in 1966. Preservation of Indian documents were not a priority of the government.
Multiple efforts by private groups and individuals, including by this writer, going back decades, to digitize documents of all ethnic groups, including Africans, Portuguese, Chinese, Amerindians, using our own non-governmental funds were rebuffed. I and other Indian Guyanese approached government officials offering assistance to protect the documents relating to the history of Indians. There were no takers. Successive governments rejected requests for permission to access the archives in order to digitize the documents although they requested money which was not wisely or efficiently used. For inexplicable reasons, even Indian-based governments were not supportive of digitalization of Indian documents. I was advised that private funds, not sufficient to complete the project, were given to the government as a goodwill gesture to commence the project some years ago but hardly any digitization work was done. It is not clear who raised the money and who received the funds or how it was spent. The results were and remain disappointing. Money is plentiful now with oil revenues, but will digitization of archives be carried and to completion.
Indians, as indeed all groups, created history in their labour and other activities. And they preserved their identity and culture amidst difficult conditions. Their presence and history are sparsely documented and not widely known. It has not been properly recorded and most certainly not written from their perspective or narrative. Funding for such recording of history has not been forthcoming from expected sources. Researchers depended on our own personal funds and support of concerned philanthropists to document the history of the indentured Indians.
Several scholars have been consistently vocal and proactive in seeking to write about and/or preserve the history of the indentured labourers and to instill uplifting discussions and dialogue in the Indian community to know about their identity, history, sacrifice, struggle, culture and achievements. It has been a struggle to preserve and/or digitize the documents of the ancestors of Indians from India in Guyana. Funding has not been forthcoming and government has not been supportive. A foundation is needed to urgently address this challenge.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
