What’s…the day?

Your Eyewitness has gotten used to the powers-that-be keeping us posted on some of these “days” that have been set aside to observe one or another matter of significance to us common folks. So, he was a tad surprised when not a word was uttered about “World Malaria Day” – which had been identified by the UN to be commemorated on April 25!! Now, your Eyewitness remembers from his grandparents’ stories when malaria was a scourge in our country – not just in the “interior” where it’s still a problem – but all across the coast!! During WWII, DDT’s insecticidal properties were discovered, and it was used to protect the troops from malaria and typhus – spread by mosquitos and fleas, respectively – and its use was introduced in Guyana.
Your Eyewitness can still remember those khaki-clad men with their DDT tanks on their backs and nozzles spraying the mist around the houses in his village. Since then, they’ve discovered that DDT is carcinogenic and causes several medical problems, so it was banned in many locales!! But what he remembers even more vividly is his mother administering quinine “tea” – made by boiling the bark of the said tree! – to him and his siblings. She lined them up from big to small – so that by the time his big brother got his dose, the rest were reduced to bawling, quivering masses of hysteria!! Your Eyewitness was informed that nowadays they’ve got vaccines and the drug artemisinin to fight the scourge – which still kills over 600,000 globally every year!!
Bill Gates – of Microsoft fame (and money) – and his wife Melinda’s foundation has spent millions – if not billions – to fund programmes to fight malaria – which is still massive in parts of Africa like Tanzania. Vaccines and bed nets impregnated with insect repellent, etc., are only some of their interests. With the salacious scandals still emanating from le affaire Epstein, you, Dear Reader might’ve noticed that Bill’s name was “called”!! Melinda – who divorced Bill in 2021 – said she was filled with “unbelievable sadness”, and her ex oughta explain. Bill denied any improprieties – and your Eyewitness, while not pronouncing on his guilt – hopes he continues to fund the anti-malarial projects!! Even if to staunch his reputational bleeding!!
Anyhow, back here on Mudland’s coast, with the rains increasing and our drainage degrading after the closure of our sugar plantations and concreting of yards, villages and towns, your Eyewitness thinks we oughta remember World Malaria Day!! Let’s heed its cautions and keep up with that pesky single-cell beast and its mosquito transmitter by educating ourselves about how it’s developing resistance to the drugs we create – as fast as we create them!!
The fight against malaria has to continue!!

…with the surveillance state
For decades, a standard trope in the entertainment world has been the wild-eyed “conspiracy theorists” who believe the Government’s out to “get them” and is listening to their every word – if not thought! In real life, many of them have retreated into the American wilderness, where they’ve cut off every communication with the rest of the world!! They were caricatured as wrapping their heads with aluminium foil to protect their “brain waves”!!
Well, your Eyewitness gotta admit (sheepishly) that he’s always snickered at these “kooks”!! But with the development of technology that can listen in on every conversation we have – through the ubiquitous (and ironically-named) smart-phone and so many other devices plugged into the internet – he ain’t rolling his eyes at the conspiracy theorists no mo!!
As we become more and more plugged into the cyber-world – which is now facilitated by AI that we are increasingly relying on to do our thinking – we gotta start wondering how much “agency” we have after fighting off slavery and indentureship!!

…with Suriname
Suriname continues its disrespect towards us. After signalling it was rethinking the draconian fees it imposed on Guyanese crafts traversing the Corentyne, it now says, “No relaxation of fees!!”
Your Eyewitness already advised cancelling our participation in the Corentyne Bridge!!