Dear Editor,
I want to stand with my Indian brothers and sisters as they are going through many struggles on a daily basis. I had visited the Mahaica area recently – a very calm and relaxed village. But it’s a village that has been left behind: the schools, the roads, just a few to list that need to be taken care of. Is it because the majority of the residents are of Indian decent? This is how the villagers feel: being neglected, their voice cannot be heard, many families are living in poverty just because of their ethnicity.
Many Indo-Guyanese in these rural areas depend mainly on farming, they are the very pillar of the sugar industry, many doing backbreaking cutting and fetching but with incomes that are embarrassing when compared to wages in the bauxite industry.
It is absolutely necessary that more jobs be created in these areas, so that it can be of some benefits to the residents. It is very hard to look at the children on the roadways, selling vegetables, to earn a living and sacrificing even their education due to the state of the economy.
In Ramayana baba Tulisadji says: “A king or a minister that neglects to perform his duty to his subjects, automatically his kingdom will fall.” And I don’t want this to happen ever to our country, but peace, love and harmony must always prevail.
By and large, rural Indo-Guyanese children have yet always consistently striven to do well with the CXC results we see this for ourselves. The children have proven to us that they are ready to take on the mantle of been leaders of tomorrow, but they are denied the rights to do so, due to the lack of jobs and opportunities.
And to be very frank, as a pandit I have noticed devout Hindus not being able to perform their Pujas (worship) to their deities as often as they used to because of the poor state of the economy and heavy crimes especially in the country area. Lord Ram says, “once you’re on the right path prescribed by your culture, fear no one, but always stand for what is correct.”
To my brothers and sisters, let your voices be heard, and try your utmost to fervently remain in your culture, now is time to pray and seek the grace of the almighty.
I’m hoping that something can be done, especially in these rural areas. I close by calling on the authorities to pay attention to the cries of the less fortunate.
Sincerely,
Surendranauth
Persaud Tiwari
