Author: Nowrang Persaud
Items Summary
This is an attempt to briefly record my long life story as a Guyanese who evolved from a broken parental home and the pits of poverty in colonial British Guiana to become, first a successful school teacher and an unconventional school administrator. I then won a coveted Cadetship offered by the expatriate firm of Bookers Sugar Estates Ltd., which owned and operated the sugar industry in the colony. This was the catalyst that provided the springboard for my launching into the field of Human Resource Management initially in the sugar industry in Guyana, then in Canada, followed by exciting assignments literally across the world with the United Nations Children Fund, a field based agency of the United Nations, before ending with a return to base in Guyana.
Nowrang Persaud was born on 2nd April 1937 at #47 Village, Corentyne, Berbice, Guyana. Shortly after his birth, his parents separated and he, together with his elder brother Mohan and sister Chitrekha, moved with their mother Kiritdai, to live with their grandparents at Nigg in front of Albion Estate on the Corentyne coast. After a few years at Nigg, his mother got married to Mr Hansram, a threetime widower with children from each of his previous marriages, namely; Daniel, Doris, Mamalin, Paisee, Motie, Sheila and Baby; eventually four other children: Neil, Ruby, Sukhdeo and Savitree from the Hansram/Kiritdai marriage were added to the already large and mixed family. It was a stroke of good luck and unimaginable open-hearted, wise and loving leadership that this mixed collection finally emerged as one big happy family, despite the harshly difficult socioeconomic conditions of life in what has been characterized by Dr. Cheddi Jaga as “Bitter-Sugar” for decades until the late 1960’s-70’s when bold reformists like Dr. Jagan and Sir Jock/Lord Campbell transformed it to at least a ‘bitter-sweet’ state as described by Prof. Clem Seecharran in his masterpiece titled: “Sweetening Bitter Sugar”— a process in which Nowrang Persaud happily participated for his own benefit and that of his contemporaries.