Although this May Indians would have been in Guyana for 186 years (starting on May 5, 1838), documents relating to their arrival and oppressive conditions, perseverance and survival as well as death on the plantations of Indian indentured laborers from India have not been preserved and protected. Their history is not widely known. There is no official archival cataloguing, storage and preservation of those documents in Guyana. Successive governments in Guyana failed to take measures to preserve and/or digitize documents not only those relating to Indians but other groups as well (Africans, Chinese, Portuguese, and native Amerindians). So documents have been left in ruins, becoming ‘powderized’ and pulverized or flaked into bits as they are not properly stored in conditions conducive to preservation in hot, humid conditions. Indian and African working class virtually built then-Guiana, laying the groundwork for the future Guyana after independence. Documents relating them must be preserved.
Multiple efforts by private groups and individuals, including by this writer, going back decades, to digitize documents of all ethnic groups, including Africans, Portuguese, Chinese, Amerindians, using our own non-governmental funds were rebuffed. I and other Indian Guyanese approached government officials offering assistance to protect the documents relating to the history of Indians. There were no takers. Successive governments rejected requests for permission to access the archives in order to digitize the documents although they requested money which was not wisely or efficiently used. For inexplicable reasons, even Indian-based governments were not supportive of digitalization of Indian documents. I was advised that private funds, not sufficient to complete the project, were given to the government as a goodwill gesture to commence the project some years ago but hardly any digitization work was done. It is not clear who raised the money and who received the funds or how it was spent. The results were and remain disappointing. Money is plentiful now with oil revenues, but will digitization of archives be carried to completion.
Indians started coming to then British Guiana in May 1838. Recruitment of laborers ended in March 1917. Actual Indian indentureship ended on January 1, 1921 following a proclamation from The King of Great Britain. There were almost 240,000 indentured laborers who came with thousands more who died aboard the ships. Each ship load of Indian indentured labourers carried detailed emigration passes which were deposited in Georgetown upon each ship’s arrival. These and other documents related to the indentured were well kept by the colonial government. They were handed over to the Government of Guyana upon attainment of independence in 1966. Preservation of Indian documents were not a priority of the government.
Indians came as farm laborers on contracted servitude for five or ten years. They were duped into re-indenturing after the initial five years. They were of all ages including babies and children although 95% were adults. They were a skilled set that included farmers, artisans, artistes, carpenters, accountants, trade smiths, mechanics and many more with skills that shaped the history of Guiana. Records were kept on their arrival and their transfer to various estates as well as in their way of life, completion if indenture, return to India, and death. Many reports were written on the Indian. Indian groups held chariot processions and celebrated festivals going back to 1839 and later. They rebelled against abuse and ill-treatment. They created history in their labor and other activities. And they preserved their identity and culture amidst difficult conditions. Their presence and history are sparsely documented and not widely known. It has not been properly recorded and most certainly not written from their perspective or narrative. Some of us like myself, Prof. Tota Mangar, Dr. Basdeo Mangru, Dr Clem Seecharan, Dr Baytoram Ramharack, Dr. Seeta Shah Roath, Pat Dial, Dr Tyran Ramnarine, among several others (literary figures and historians), have tried to write their history. Funding for such recording of history has not been forthcoming from expected sources. We depended on our own personal funds and support of concerned philanthropists to document the history of the indentured Indians. Much work remains to be done.
The descendants of the indentured labourers, individuals like myself, Ravi Dev, Cliff Rajkumar, Ashook Ramsaran, Baytoram Ramharack, R.K Sharma, Yesu Persaud, Hemraj Kissoon, Pat Dial, Shundell Prasad, Tyran Ramnarine, Clem Seecharan, Seeta Shah Roath, Dr David Dabydeen, among others, have over the years worked hard to preserve the history and culture of the forefathers through documentation of original documents. These individuals have been consistently vocal and proactive in seeking to write about and/or preserve the history of the indentured labourers and to instill uplifting discussions and dialogue in the Indian community to know about their identity, history, sacrifice, struggle, culture and achievements. It has been a struggle to promote their identity and culture and to preserve and/or digitize the documents of the ancestors of Indians from India in Guyana. Funding has not been forthcoming and government has not been supportive. An Indian-based foundation is needed to urgently address this challenge.
There is an African Foundation that has been receiving funding from the government for its work among Africans. It redistributes funds to African organizations for their work. While there is an African Foundation to advocate for its people, there is no corresponding Indian Foundation although there are dozens of worthwhile Indian organizations none of which receives government funds. The Indian groups have been doing yeoman work promoting culture and identity without funding.
An Indian foundation will help to achieve the goals noted above. It will enable advocates to realize the objectives of individuals like myself, Ramharack, Ramsaran, Rajkumar and others noted above, namely: to honor the lives and legacies of indentured labourers, the pioneers of the Indian diaspora in the West, and to preserve and to propagate the heritage they have created from 1838 till their death or departure from the colony.
Preserving one’s history is paramount to one’s existence and future. Such an Indian foundation can also help to foster, build and promote harmonious co-existence among the diverse ethnic and cultural groups in Guyana.
Indians have a very rich history and the oldest continuous civilization. Indian Guyanese need to learn about their history through the arrival and subsequent historical documents. A foundation will help to lay the groundwork for Indians to document their history and make it accessible to all. It will also be an advocacy group for Indians in Guyana and overseas in the Guyanese diaspora. The foundation can be charged with establishing a badly needed virtual library or museum of photographic materials of documents and artifacts relating to Indians as a way to preserving memories and other aspects of Indian history.