Dear Editor,
One early morning, I saw my dream taking shape on the horizon. That was one month after the doctor told me that my 100-year-old house was making me ill – compromised lungs and heart. And that was when I decided to reach for my lifelong dream of living in a round house.
The carpenter/mason/contractor who had worked with the family for many years said he could demolish the top flat to make way for my dream.
Demolition went well until the northern wall was pulled down. There was a mighty crack and a beam broke, a concrete pillar cracked and leaned outwards along with the adjoining wall of the ground floor. The contractor had not known that old buildings used mortise and tenon joints which require a different demolition method.
‘No problem’, said the contractor, ‘we’ll just push the pillar back upright’. This he did, sledge-hammered a secondary wooden post back into place, and proceeded to lay a concrete cap that would act as the floor for my round house.
Four days later, when the rains came in the night, I didn’t worry; the concrete slab was in place, after all. When I got up to go to the bathroom at 4:00 am, I stepped into floodwaters inches deep. Consider my dismay then. But it is only now, one-and-a-half months later, that I fully understand the consequences of a contractor who got things seriously wrong.
It turns out that there is no failsafe solution for stopping the rainwater that now floods the ground floor from several entry points on the slab including an old concrete/new concrete seam. And, according to the structural engineer who examined the place, concrete is three times heavier than wood and should never have been laid on wooden beams; the concrete cap is too heavy for the foundation. The recommendation was that the concrete cap be demolished as well as the remaining structure on the top floor which is sinking more under the weight of the slab. At this time, the concrete on the ground floor is already cracking, and according to one construction professional, the ground floor is now ‘uninhabitable’ and must also be demolished. I am a pensioner. I have lost a great deal of money and my home, and now I have to figure out where do I live? How do I live?
My story is not unique. Too many Guyanese find themselves in similar situations, and their voices need to be heard.
For this specific issue, people need their government to use the power and authority of that office to put strong, effective measures in place to make sure that no one encounters a situation like this ever again.
But this story is bigger than the individuals portrayed here. It is a story that is happening here in Guyana and around the world, and at its root, is a disregard for each other that manifests in several ways. There is no need to list those ways here because we each can sense what has gone wrong in our communities.
We can all see around us today the fractured nature of our interactions with each other that is producing unhappiness and suffering of all kinds. And the only way to change this is to remember that we are one human family, and find practical ways of returning to harmony. We have to now consciously infuse the soul of our shared humanity with what has always been there: caring connection, compassion and a safe place to fall. Archbishop Desmond Tutu speaks of Ubuntu, a South African word that has no direct English translation, but has a power beyond words once understood.
He says: “Ubuntu is the essence of being human. Ubuntu says, my humanity is bound up in yours. You cannot be human on your own. A person is a person through other persons. We need this communal harmony if we are going to survive at all. And, anger and revenge and bitterness are corrosive of this harmony. When you forgive, you’re actually being nice to yourself. Forgiving is good for your health.”
We need to return to that understanding of how to live together and reconnect in ways that are beautiful and empowering.
Although it doesn’t appear so outwardly, we are actually in the Age of Ubuntu. Let’s live it!
There is a simple place to start. Be kind. This can be challenging sometimes but doable; we are living in times that call us to be our best selves.
We each have the capacity to reach deep within and live courageously with integrity and compassion. Each moment that we do this, we powerfully transform ourselves and our community to a higher, happier and more fulfilling state of being.