Miss Mabel
Miss Mabel is waiting to catch a car to Georgetown to visit her sister, who took in and was rushed to Mercy hospital. What's in her basket? A Creole fowl which will make a tasty metemgee for Gladys, and a Muscovy duck for curry.
Jasoda
Jasoda, my cover girl. She symbolises the backbreaking labour that many of my female ancestors and their fellow 'jahajin' (voyage mates), as well as their neighbours of other races, were obliged to do to make ends meet. Jasoda is part of the weeding gang at the sugar estate.
Indranie & Shanta
An annoyed Indranie yanks hard on her restless daughter’s hair to straighten her head. “Ants a bite yuh, Shanta? Stay straight! How yuh ears hard, chile. Yuh na want mih 'noint yuh head wid coc’nut oil. Now look louse get freedom! No play fuh you dis aftanoon. Yuh head gat fih clean good.”
Jessie
Jessie is an excellent washerwoman whose services are in great demand. She and her husband Baldeo have no children as yet. They are saving up to build an extension onto their modest cottage and Baldeo is always trying some get-rich-quick scheme or other.
Claudette
Claudette is fretting that her daughter Mavis did not return home immediately after school to assist her with chores. She suspects that Mavis has been liming and gyaafing with her friends, making her miss the drop-car home. Now she will have to cut up the bora herself and cook it before it swinges up in the heat. "Pickney nowadays, ah tell yuh...", she sighs…
Mrs. Bhagwattie Singh
This is Mrs. Bhagwattie Singh, wife of Mohan Singh who owns Singh’s Dry Goods and General Store. The shop is very prosperous, thanks to Mohan’s weekly deals of ‘buy one and get one free’. The wedding of their daughter Anjanie caused quite a stir in the village - and even abroad.
Mudder Melrose
Mudder Melrose sells fish at the market. She knows what it is like to have to make do with very little, so she often slips an extra cut of fish or a fat hassar into the baskets of those who struggle most. "Come get yuh fish!" she calls. "All fresh-fresh outta de wata!"
How Kiskadee Days started
One cold and dreary autumn day in Holland, the faint call of the kiskadee in my head started...
July 2018, Kiskadee Days was awarded the Godfrey Chin Prize for Heritage Journalism; "(....) Kiskadee Days embodies all of Godfrey's attributes and advances all the core values GCA considers when determining awards - origininality, scope, impact/influence, contribution to harmony, innovation and creativity."
Guyana Cultural Association of New York