Family Life in Guyana

We all know there is no place like home and it’s my firm opinion that Guyana is my home as well as my birth country. Hence, it is very difficult for me to uproot myself. Although my memories are tinged with some sadness, my reflections of my childhood days are very memorable and happy ones.

We are the descendants of three brothers and one sister, namely Ramroop, Siew, Deonarine and Chandrowtie. And as far back as I can remember, Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years Day were always spent at the homes of the four above mentioned every year. Very fond memories were those spent with Chan Aunty’s family both at Wismar and New Amsterdam during the August holidays.

Firmly embedded in my head also is the yearly “Katha” (religious ceremony) held every year by my parents. Besides these, I remember on the occasion of Phagwah, we will visit the houses of family members, who will join us and we would all end up at the Bel Air family, singing “chowtals” and Phagwah songs, even though we, the younger ones did not even know the words, but we hummed along. Weddings and Birthdays were also the highlight of our family’s festivities. A Hindu wedding is a four day affair, starting on Friday and ending on Monday. Camp Street, which was the family home of the Ramroop clan, hosted many such weddings, the first of which was Lena’s, then Shaney’s, mine,

Selis’, Indra’s, Premi’s and my own daughter, Tara’s. Of course, there were many more such weddings of our cousins, which were just as large and colourful, and full of merriment. It was the days of Tassa drums and everyone, men, women and children would all start dancing at the first beat of the Tassa drums. On a sad note, Anoop who was the first male to be married at Camp Street did not do so because the house unfortunately had perished in flames.

Even when our parents passed on, Camp Street was still known for family gatherings hosted by Sundat Bhiah and Bhowgie and to this day I can remember the many family gatherings and parties held there especially my 21st and my mom’s 70th Birthdays.

Today, most of our families have migrated abroad and only a handful of us remain in Guyana. My fear is that in years to come there may not be any family left here because the younger generation might also want to migrate. What would be sad too is that our younger generation may not even know their cousins when they see or meet each other. That is very possible because at the 1994 Family Reunion, some of the older folks did not know the younger ones and visa versa, even with the name tags.

These are my thoughts and reflections of a memorable and wonderful family life spent in the Land of Many Waters ~ GUYANA.

Doris Naraine