Reflections of a Guyanese in Ghana

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I learned more about myself and what it means to be “Guyanese” when I left home, more than I had while I lived in Guyana. This is a sentiment to which I’m sure many persons who live outside of their ‘home’ can relate. My sisters and I were the first Guyanese students to attend the Ghana International School.  It was the first time in my life that I ever had to explain where Guyana is geographically located. At first, I began saying we were in South America, but that takes you down the rabbit hole of now having to explain why you don’t speak Spanish. I remember going up to the board in a geography class to show Guyana on the world map because I had a friend who didn’t believe there was an ‘English speaking country in South America that’s part of the Caribbean, but not an island’. 

Learning the right clues to help people figure out where Guyana is, it's probably a right of passage for most migrants - especially from small countries in the Global South. I was lucky in two aspects: firstly that Ghana has a large population of Indian nationals and secondly that Rita Marley’s house was in Ghana.  When I met my Indian best friend’s father for the first time he knew exactly where Guyana was saying “That’s where the West Indies Team is from! Clive Lloyd and Shivnarine Chanderpaul are Guyanese.” After that, it clicked and became much easier to explain, at least to Indians, where Guyana is. And because Bob’s Marley’s wife’s house was in Ghana, my prompts became “you know Bob Marley, right? He’s from Jamaica, and Guyana is nearby” - a slight exaggeration but at that point, I preferred to make this cultural connection than to lead with the South American geographical marker.

This experience forced me to examine the complex question of what it means to say ‘I am Guyanese’ and how to explain it. These are lessons I’ve carried with me ever since and it makes explaining where Guyana is a whole lot easier. 

---By Hanan Lachmansingh


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