As I had mentioned sometime ago, my nephew is in Guyana completing his High School Thesis on the life and times of the Guyana Sugar Worker! He has been in the fields with cane cutters, in the factory and in the homes and villages.
Anyway, his father (my brother) is with him and went around meeting and observing villagers and sent me this feedback. These were his words:
"I was able to meet the manager and spend some time with him.
I encouraged him to cut back on the plastic packaging and use paper with maybe a plastic window so consumers can see the golden crystals in the bag. Also, on the bag to introduce a bio of the people and culture who work on the fields to produce this product. Maybe even a cane cutter working in the field. To put a small Guyana flag or Guyana May on the upper corner of the bag.
He was very interested with our input.
Very surprising, the village where the cane cutter lives is a very tight group of people. The have small houses but very well kept. They all live like a big family. Black and Indians are very close. There are more things uniting these people than dividing them.
Most cane cutters in this village work 6-7 days a week. They are all married with kids. All the kids are in school and many go into university or post secondary school training.
The village has limited garbage collection but unlike many parts of Guyana this village is very clean. They organize their own cleaning crew and weed the side walk.
They truly value their families. Wives are very supportive and wake up very early to prepare meals for their husbands who has to be in the field by 430-5am. It’s an hour long commute by truck.
It’s a really sad state the hear their stories. They carry a smile on their faces when you talk to they. Black and Indians are in the field cutting. I saw them working, almost military discipline. They work very fast and non-stop.
Interesting all the NEW supervisors are Blacks. The managers I met are all Blacks, not Indians, in a industry which is almost 80% Indians.
For these people, they believe they have been failed by every one successive govt and the union. They do not blame the current Govt, they understand the issue and the economics which forced the closures. They believe the industry was mismanaged for decades and why it is today.
One thing is certain, they are strong and united. They work hard and are not looking for handouts. They are all hopeful that they will come out of this present crisis with their pride and dignity intact. “They can wield a good cutlass and chop good”
Just looking at them I do have hope as they have survived worst in the past and are still very proud of who they are.
Please encourage everyone to buy Demerara gold sugar so we can help secure the live hood of our beautiful people".
