Introduction – By Dmitri Allicock

 Introduction – By Dmitri Allicock

 Picture of my family- Left to right, Yuri, Joycelyn, Myself, Brenda, Andrei, Jennifer, Kenrick and my mother Enez

 Every man is an omnibus in which his ancestors ride.” Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809-1894) American author and poet

I was born in the bauxite town of Mackenzie, Upper Demerara, the area now called Linden and Guyana’s second largest town

I don’t seem to recall a moment in my life that was devoid of family influences. Coming from great parents with strong traditional family values, both worked tirelessly and rose to every occasion while raising a family of seven children. 

Despite losing the only two grandparents whom I was privileged to meet briefly as a child, family, history and the natural wonders of Guyana were central in our household. Both Mom and Dad talked relentlessly and were always trying to understand them just a little better.

As a child, travelling in an outboard engine boat up or down the Demerara River, I remember being shown the numerous abandoned homesteads of remembered relatives. Only a few stringy coconut or mango trees told the tale of the long-ago story as the engulfing tropical jungle corrected nature. The boat would be really quiet after a conversation of the graves of relatives that lay lost beneath the dense canopy of trees and weeds.

My early schooling followed the path of my entire family, first Mackenzie Primary School then Mackenzie High where my mother, Enez Allicock and all six of my siblings had the privileged of attending

My wife Evadney, son- Shane and I crossing the Demerara in the ferry boat 2010

Over 30 years have now gone by since I migrated to the U.S, but life’s uncertain journey has not changed my deep affinity for Guyana and heritage. In 2010, I was able to make a trip to Guyana with my wife, and two sons, Sam and Shane. It had been 18 long years since I had visited home and the changes were overwhelming.

My dear father, Stanley Allicock, is now gone and Mom now lives mainly at the family home, but most significant was seeing 16-year-old Sam and 6-year-old Shane, who were walking in the footsteps of my youth and disappearing history. I felt it was most pertinent that I should write my thoughts down on paper, and not let them to be merely foot prints in the sand or lost in the fog of history.

Home is indeed a place in your heart and houses those thoughts which really matters; it is that warm feeling of peace, relaxation, cultural commonality and identification, friendship, family, history, dishes, fruits, childhood memories and the amazing natural wonders of Guyana. Also a taste of soursop ice scream, a delicious cashew, maybe a glass of sorrel drink, a pinetart followed by a scary jumbee or an ole higue story at night then off to bed to be awaken early by a colorful fowl cock. It is the essence of our being and those precious thoughts that forever lives within.

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