Arrival Day 2024: East Indian immigrants who settled in Region 2 remembered

The pivotal contributions of the East Indian immigrants who settled in Region Two, (Pomeroon-Supenaam) were celebrated on Saturday during an enlightening and colourful cultural programme.
The event, which was held at Cotton Field village, where they had settled, was organised by the Regional Democratic Council’s event committee.
The programme featured bhajans, hymns, poems, dances, reflections and qaseedas. The Guyana and Indian flags were hoisted in the section where the East Indian Settlement Monument was erected to remember them.
Retired headmaster and educator, Maydha Persaud, in reflecting on the rich history of the settlement, told the gathering that he lived on a logie with his parents for eleven years.

“I thanked God for that home because that is where I became the best reader and good in literature. That was my first teacher and you know how it is when my mother used to get newspaper and paste it on the wall and there I used to lie on my belly and read.” Sir Persaud said
Meanwhile, Head of Chancery and second secretary of the Indian High Commission in Guyana, Saman Singh, the said that the programme is important since it’s a reminder of ancestors who came from India and left their legacy.
Additionally, on behalf of the High Commissioner of India and the people of India, Singh extends a Happy Arrival Day to the people of Region Two.
Also attending the cultural programme were Regional Chairperson, Vilma De Silva, Regional Executive Officer, Susannah Saywack, and Police Commander of Region Two, Superintendent Khemraj Shivbaran among others.
A monument was recommissioned in 2021 in commemoration of the first group of East Indian immigrants who arrived in the region.