By Ariel Sam – Young Guyanese Woman in the Diaspora
Special to Village Voice News
My parents left Guyana more than three decades ago, but Guyana has never left them and therefore, despite being born in the United States, Guyana is also inside of me. Every morning before work, I scroll through the local newspapers, reading the headlines, the political debates, the community updates, the human stories that remind me of home. I read because I care. Because no matter where life has taken me, Guyana remains the center of my heart.
I want to come home. I want to bring my skills, my energy, and my passion to help develop the country that raised my parents. I want to believe that we can build a modern Guyana, one that gives opportunity to every child, respects every citizen, and rewards talent and hard work. But the truth is, the more I read, the more afraid I become.
I see division everywhere, subtle, corrosive, and often racial. I see politicians fueling tensions for their own gain, and ordinary citizens repeating the same dangerous words that tore our parents’ and grandparents’ generations apart. It breaks my heart. We can’t keep doing this.
I grew up believing that Guyana was a place where “all ah we” mattered, where our differences made us beautiful, not enemies. But lately, I feel like we’re forgetting that. We’re letting greed, tribalism, and mistrust define who gets a chance and who gets left behind.
To my brothers and sisters back home, Afro-Guyanese, Indo-Guyanese, Amerindian, Chinese, Portuguese, Mixed; please, don’t let politicians divide you. Don’t let propaganda make you forget the humanity in each other. It is a dangerous thing when a nation begins to see its citizens as “us” and “them.” That’s not politics anymore. That’s a slow unraveling of who we are.
Guyana is standing on a knife’s edge, rich with oil and promise, yet fragile with resentment. This is the moment for courage, compassion, and unity, not for tribalism and hate. Those of us in the diaspora still dream of coming home to a Guyana that belongs to all its children. But we can only do that if we protect the spirit of “One Guyana” not as a slogan, but as a lived reality.
I love Guyana deeply. I ache for her peace. I want to come home to help build her. But first, we must stop destroying one another. Only then will Guyana truly rise.
