That… Christmas barrel

If it is November – for Guyanese in NYC they must be shopping at the discount “cheap” stores on 14th St, Liberty Ave and Jamaica Ave to stuff that barrels for the folks “back home”!! For decades, the barrel travelled in one direction – New York and to a lesser extent Toronto – to Guyana!! Inside came shirts, sneakers, bedsheets and enough “slightly” oversized clothing to ensure that little Roy and Rajin could grow into America over the next seven years!!
The barrel was our family welfare ministry from furrin – Auntie worked overtime caring for sick Americans, Uncle packed grocery shelves – and just before Christmas – relatives in Guyana inhaled that unmistakable smell of foreign detergent and upward mobility!! The traffic in barrels even helped Laparkan turn the arrangement into a shipping institution!!
But from what your Eyewitness been observing, times changing, bai – Guyana gat oil while New York gat rent, high gas and grocery prices! Perhaps the moment has arrived to reverse the direction barrel trade?? Especially when the relative who once announced, “There’s nothing back home for me,” suddenly discovers an urgent attachment to the motherland around cash-grant time!! Such moving patriotism! Apparently, belonging can be renewed with a passport and a collection date!!
There’s also pensions, of course, which have residence requirements and locals are all being requested for Cousin Shirley to stay for a week to collect that letter she mailed to your address to prove “residence”!! So, let’s show compassion, shall we?? Our New York families got all the bills mentioned above – plus heating at this time of the year to contend with!! Being paid in American dollars loses some glamour when everybody demanding payment from our New Yorkers also want American dollars!!
So your Eyewitness suggests that we Guyanese should therefore launch “Operation Barrel Back” since we don’t like to oye debts!! Let’s pack rice, dried katahar, coconut oil, and some salt-soap – not forgetting our outgrown clothes with a little note: “Try these on – if they too big, tek them in…we know things hard everywhere with the war in iran and all that!!”
For authenticity, include one spectacularly unsuitable garment. Remember how we endured winter jackets in tropical Guyana?? Well somebody in Queens can receive a short-sleeved shirt in February! And naturally, we gotta must telephone repeatedly – “Yuh get the barrel? Everything fit? Remember who looking after youm now! After decades of receiving those calls, surely we’ve earned the right to make a few!!
Oil wealth should mean something to ordinary families – and if prosperity finally reaches ours, we can honour the relatives who helped us through hard times!! But first, let them pose beside the barrel for a photograph!!
Development gotta be documented!!

…Jeffries slam-dunk?
Now that Democrats have swept the House, a key question is: Who should lead it? Lots of folks think that Hakeem Jeffries – who’s been waiting in the wings as the Minority Leader – is a cert to become the first Black Speaker of the House!! But is that really such a sure thing?? Already a petition to have someone else more palatable to Democratic values has already gained MORE THAN ONE MILLION SIGNATURES!!
Some of the reasons include – at a time when millions of Americans struggle with unaffordable health insurance, medical debt, and the threat of financial ruin from illness – Jeffries has distanced himself from one of the most important progressive reforms – Medicare for All!! Then there’s his refusal to brook any criticism of Israel – after their US$1.7M AIPAC contributions – much less breaking with Israel!! Then, of course, is his backroom dealings with Jared Kushner – Trump’s son-in-law!!
And blanking Medicare – he’s failed to champion major cuts to the obscene Pentagon budget!!

…Stabroek fire
Your Eyewitness was intrigued to learn that the building razed by fire near Big Market wasn’t insured. In our multireligious society let’s appreciate that insurance is haram for Muslims – since it involved interest, uncertainty and speculation – like gambling.