Migration, New York numbers and the rants of a Guyanese New Yorker.

The migration debate has been going on in Guyana for ages. People left and will continue to leave. The politicians would try to give us some sort of lucklustered explaination, but truth be told, they themselves have made preparation to leave in the event of all hell breaking out in Guyana. Many of the children of these politicain live here in New York. How can they convince the many that are here, living in a self impose exile, to return home when they fail to persuade their own kids. This seems a bit strange to me. For those who are here and would like to go back home, rest asured that better days are ahead. It will certainly not come with our present leaders but know that things are in the making. Keep pluged in for more updates.

The decision to emigrate is hard, people do it for better jobs and security, further study and to join family

Friday, April 29th 2005

I refer to the letter by Adam Lynch captioned "I graduated in 1998, myself and half my batchmates are working in the Caribbean" (27.4.2005). I would like to support Mr. Lynch, someone I had the pleasure of knowing for four years while I myself was a student at the University of Guyana, and to further advance the discussion. This issue is very serious and should be the subject of ongoing discussion and debate. It would be encouraging also to see members of the government join in the discourse so as to give their positions on this matter. Without a doubt, Guyanese who migrate continue to pay close attention to the situation at home and I am of the strongest conviction that we need to continue this conversation.

While the statistics of immigration patterns of Guyanese graduates living abroad may be accurate, it fails to fully address the underlying reasons graduates choose to leave. Mr. Geoff DaSilva in his position as Director of Go-Invest, an agency charged with the responsibility of attracting and fostering development in Guyana, should have exercised more care in his assertion that 'the migration of skilled Guyanese should be no cause of alarm.' Mr. DaSilva, you should know that skilled human resources are a country's best resource and if you don't understand that basic principle, today would be a good time to submit your resignation because you have failed to comprehend the fundamentals of development.

Migration from one's country, community, home, is never an easy or capricious decision. It involves much contemplation and planning. The psychosomatic preparedness it takes to leave your immediate family, loved ones, friends, community members, and a lifestyle you have grown accustomed to, is heart-wrenching and painful. However, this decision becomes easier when the prospect of a more fulfilled life, which may be had through the immigration process, is considered.

Humans were always on the move from the beginning of time. Whether emigrating or migrating, these processes have always been built on push and pull factors. Push factors such as job security and satisfaction, remuneration/salary and living wage incomes, proper housing availability and affordability, and most importantly, the personal security of oneself and family through effective and efficient law enforcement institutions are of paramount importance when considering the process of migration.

Opposite of push factors are the pull factors that attract future migrants to host countries. There it is perceived and most often reinforced by family members, friends or acquaintances, are the opportunities that wait in terms of fulfilling the void created from living in Guyana.

Apart from this fundamental and basic concept of migration, there lie yet other reasons why Guyanese graduates would decide to leave. Upon completion of your first degree from the University of Guyana, sad to say, your only choice, many graduates seek to move on to more advanced degrees and specialisations. This process of fulfilling one's academic desires can only be had by first securing oneself a space at a university abroad. It is at this juncture that for many Guyanese the immigration process begins. After one has immersed oneself into living and studying abroad, most times in societies that are democratic, liberal and cosmopolitan, it becomes hard to return to Guyana where the continuation of this lifestyle will not be sustained.

Family reunification has also played a vital and unquestionable role also in fostering migration patterns of Guyanese graduates. In the United States of America, the Immigration and Nationality Act Amendments of 1965 have been instrumental in aiding the immigration of Guyanese. The 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Naturalization Act were passed in the shadow of the civil rights movement, when an admission system based on national origins seemed out of step with national values. The 1965 Act took one of the elements of the previous system, the admission of nuclear family members, and made it the centerpiece of a new system whose goal was the reunification of extended family members. Legal Residents and Naturalized Citizens of Guyanese heritage refuse to allow remaining family members to live in Guyana, where the push factors of migration abound, while they have the opportunity to bring them here.

A recent report by the New York City Department of City Planning, The Newest New Yorkers, reports that over 51,439 Guyanese that have been admitted to the United States as a result of the above discussed immigration law within the period of 1990-1999, now reside in the New York metropolitan region. Apart from immigration through family reunification, 12,346 Guyanese have become legal residents of the United Sates and reside in New York as a result of marriage to U.S citizens and there is an estimated 5,000 persons or more who live in the region illegally.

These figures represent a Guyanese population who left Guyana not because of lack of nationalistic values, but who seek a more fulfilling lifestyle that Guyana fails to offer them and their family.

In Canada, an immigration policy that allows professional Guyanese to sponsor themselves and immediate family members without having to have ties in Canada has without a doubt aided in the flight of Guyanese professionals to that country. Canada, a progressively democratic, cosmopolitan society, that provides for its citizens and residents a lifestyle that was rated the best in the world several times by the United Nations, has no problem in attracting professional Guyanese. Again, moving to this society provides for its newcomers the opportunities missed in their "sending" countries. Thus, with such an immigration policy, Canada has no problem attracting Guyanese graduates who otherwise would never be exposed to the sort of living standards Canada offers had they decided to continue living in Guyana.

What I am getting at is the fact that development in its holistic nature has failed to materialize in Guyana; to furnish the securities and opportunities sought by its citizens and most of all, its University trained professionals, who would have been exposed through their various tenures at the University of Guyana to the true meaning of development. Not having the facilities needed to offer this level of comfort, coupled with working in environments where your professionalism and academic attainment are not respected and appreciated only add to the desire to migrate.

Who should we blame? Should we blame graduates for moving because of the numerous push factors in Guyana or should the blame fall on the shoulders of the Guyanese government who refuse to stop being blinded by their own ineptness and shortsightedness? This is a government that fails to responsibly foster development that is prudent and cognizant of the needs of the Guyanese people.

Until such time as the government of Guyana really examines its fiscal and social developmental policies, and protective law enforcement programes and realize that political rhetoric solves no problem, but that practical, sound and determined development strategies that attract and retain their subsidized trained graduates do, the current immigration patterns will not cease.

I would only hope the government of Guyana realizes, and does so urgently, that failure to adopt the countless recommendations offered in this area of development - the retention of Guyana's qualified and skilled human resources - will mean that all of their future prospects for Guyana will never materialize because the labour force that would be needed would have already migrated.

Christopher A Watson