Each week we post an article or paper submitted by a member or "silent participant" of Guyana Caribbean Network. The featured article runs from Monday to Sunday each week. To submit an article for feature of the week contact us at admin@guyanacaribbeannetwork.com This week's feature is brought to you by "Allison Skeete".

A Transitioning Journey
by "Allison Skeete"

I have always been fascinated by the past. What's in the background is too often overshadowed by the foreground; though, most of the time the past is not necessarily a nice place to be. I want to share with you what the background means to me with this story; it has become my way of overcoming and understanding; of turning resentment into appreciation.

I was born in British Guiana, a country set on the northeastern tip of the South American Continent. It is the only English-speaking nation on that continent. Upon gaining Independence the spelling of its name was changed the "i" became a "y" and today it is called GUY - ANA; people often call nationals of Guyana West Indians, Guyanese share cultural customs and foods common to the West Indies but are South American as per the geographic location.

Transitions and journeys to me mean growth and reflections. It meant learning experiences, growth opportunities, changes and finding myself. Some years ago, I got involved in creating a family tree and website. We were able to trace our family name back to 7th century Dutch origin and our ancestry to many continents. It prompted me to inspect my own shadowy branch. What I learned was extensive and exciting, I now know that inspirations in my daily living may have resulted from blood links that span centuries. My parents are of multi-cultural descent; my father has roots from Ghana, Africa and the Netherlands on his paternal side and African, Amerindian and German European roots on his maternal side; my mother is of Chinese and Portuguese descent.

I resented coming to the United States; my parents migrated here in the 1970's but the reality of the changes coming in our lives were not fathomable thoughts to my sister and me. As a parent now, I can't imagine making such a major decision without my son's input. I don't want him to be resentful at me uprooting his life just as he gets to a critical point of maturity. When I left home I was a teenager with two years left to finish high school; I was popular and active in sports; I only saw my losses and didn't like the reality of what leaving Guyana spelt out; but I could never tell my parents how I felt. My resentment grew even more when I started school here; I was put in the 7th grade, no one told my parents that they could have had me tested and put into high school. I found myself doing work that I'd completed three years earlier and hating it; I hated the ridicule and taunting of classmates who too were resentful at a new student taking the spotlight. I gained respect to a point one day, after the constant bullying and taunting by three boys in my class, I complained to the teacher but that only incited them more, I complained again but this time when I came back to sit down one of them pulled the chair away and I fell to the floor. That did it. I chased him across the classroom and cornered him behind the teacher's desk, James was his name and he wound up with a bloodied face and laughed at by his two friends. I lost a button off the cuff of my blouse. This incident added more to my resentment; I didn't fight back home, that would've been shameful. I blamed my parents for what happened but I never told them about the incident.

The first friend I made here, Reasa Linton helped me to adjust, and we've been friends for 27 years now. My memories kept me entrenched in the world I came from. I held fast to my dialect, cultural customs and knowing current events in Guyana. I made sure I inserted bits and pieces of my past to anyone who'd ask me about my accent or differences they'd notice.

Transitions in overcoming my resentments began when I noticed that I changed as I learned more about my own background and my new home. I wound up learning that though a strange new world might be unwelcome; it is the root of all of us. Natives and immigrants from all over the world built the United States. In hindsight today, I thank my parents, their foresight was best; I achieved my childhood goal of journalistic study and more, and as I get involved in adult literacy I wonder whom my story could help or inspire to overcome uncertainty and begin their success.

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