about today's photo essays - 1/5/11

It's 1 a.m. and I'm back at the hotel after a pleasant dinner with a Guyanese friend I hadn't seen in over 30 years. She made contact with a friend from Lethem and now I have a room booked in Lethem and someone to meet me and introduce me to the people and the place. I am excited. I bought my ticket and I leave on the bus at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday.

I followed my plan and took photos today. I want my photos to help to tell the stories of Guyana. I will share what's on my mind and I'm aware that you will read your own stories in these photos. Right now I'm too tired to organize them according to my stories, but I do believe you'll see what I'm saying. There are also very important questions in these photos.

On reality that hit me immediately is the expense it would take to upkeep/maintain the many, many wooden structures in Guyana. These buildings are not only government building, but they stand in numbers all over Georgetown. These buildings were Georgetown. I recognize two things - they state clearly the history of cultural domination and all the stories that go along with that. Yet, outside of that history there is the statement of the strength of the wood which could symbolize the strenght of Guyanese people - their strength, their resilience. I ask myself - who physically built these buildings? I should know that answer, but I don't. I do know that slave labor was used in Brazil - was that the case in Guyana?

Here are the topics of the stories I see:
The strength of pitch wood - I found out that the ants do not attack this wood
Guyana has an amazing kind of wealth in the wooden past
the collision of past and present
The death of colonialism
A time for new beginnings
the innovative and creative ideas of Guyanese
the expense of maintaining the old structures

Questions:
Should money be spent on the sentiment the old buildings present?
Could unity in the Caribbean and South America be a way to preserve Guyana's wooden structures? We provide food by developing our agricultural strength and a partner in the region provide the funds for maintenance of the buildings?
Should money be spent on this maintenance when there are so many other social issues that need money?