Guyanese Women In The Diaspora
Herstory
From a girl too shy to raise her hands in the classroom to a woman who is raising her hands, through words, to make a positive difference in her country. According to Joy Persaud that shyness paid off because as an adult she realised “those years spent listening had helped her to develop the skills to read between the lines – to glean what people didn’t say.”
Joy was born in Northwest London, Britain to a Guyanese father, which means under Guyana’s law she is automatically Guyanese following the process of acquisition. Hers is a story of being born in Britain to East Indian parentage and of 100 percent East Indian ancestry. But rather than be allowed to be who she – a person of East Indian heritage, born in Britain to a father who migrated from Guyana-at times she is asked to represent and defend her heritage and identity. According to Joy while her “Guyanese heritage seems to mystify people, [she] couldn’t be prouder.”
Her father was among the wave of West Indians who emigrated from their countries, in the 1950s and 60s, during the independence struggles with Great Britain. There Joy was born but raised in a household to identify with her father’s culture growing up in Guyana, eating West Indian/Caribbean food and incorporating these experiences in her daily life that is not devoid of having to confront bigotry and intolerance for the so-called other.
She recounted, in an article she wrote in The Telegraph (November 6, 2020), of encountering a bigoted stranger in the Post Office who told her to “post [herself] back home” when the only home she knows is Britain. Joy said she felt hurt by the person’s remark and cried in exasperation.
Achievements
Joy has a degree in Psychology, graduating with honours. She is editor, author, editorial coach, award-winning journalist, ghost writer, copywriter and freelancer. She has written for prestigious British media houses such as The Telegraph, The Independent on Sunday, Daily Mail. She is the author of “Where are you really from?”
Confronting dialectics of race in heritage and place of birth
Joy’s is a story of evident determination to confront bigotry by exposing its evilness, and influencing an understanding and respect for others by allowing them to tell their stories and make known their contributions, to the very society that seeks to spurn them. She shares her own experiences of struggling with the fusion of her identity, being made to feel alienated from her racial ancestry and country she was born in. In that Telegraph’s story she recalled: “I am British but not British enough (for certain people). I have Indian heritage – 100 per cent according to Ancestry – yet I am not ‘a proper Indian’, as a self-pronounced ‘proper’ Indian former friend once said, while she sniffed at my Indian-Guyanese heritage.”
She has partnered with a classmate, Dr Chetan Trivedy, consultant Accident and Emergency, the National Health Service (NHS) on a project, “Who are you really?” According to Joy, this project aims “to raise funds to produce a book that celebrates the diversity of the NHS, which is the country’s largest employer. All profits will go to NHS charities that assist staff working for the service. The book will tell the stories of people whose families are from all corners of the globe and give readers an insight into those whose voices aren’t often heard.”
According to Joy the NHS employs more than 1.4 million workers. Of that amount about 20 percent is from the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups and the project, “Where are you really from?” has been formed to honour the ethnic diversity of those who offer their skills to the NHS. Persons are supposedly being invited to tell their stories and “positive BAME role models [would be identified] to inspire and encourage future generations to consider careers within the NHS.”
In The Telegraph story, Joy shared information of a similar project being undertaken by Naomi Ventour, a Londoner of British African-Caribbean heritage, who is on a mission to “share history that is overlooked.” As per Joy, “Thanks partly to [Naomi’s] helpfulness, her children’s primary school now includes Black history in its curriculum year-round not just in Black History Month.” She goes further to empathise with the commonality of Naomi’s question, which is: “How can we expect progress to be made if we do not have open, honest inclusive conversation?…It’s time to be okay with being uncomfortable and, to be frank, be willing to fail in order to win. It is important that all questions are asked, and even the wrong ones.”
Sometimes all that is needed to make a big difference in the world is merely some small action. Joy is making this difference by taking on a project that requires telling the stories of BAME groups in order that the United Kingdom, and the world by extension, would know who these people really are and the positive contributions they are making in their adopted or birth land.
Sources– The Telegraph, whereareyoureallyfrom.org, storyterrace.com & joypersaud.co.uk
