Blog

By: Ryhaan Shah

No one should be surprised that young people who interface daily and, maybe, all day with the high-tech world of computer screens and Android voices find that they actually yearn for the human touch. So, a whole new world has opened up to what’s being called “grandma tourism”.
Young travellers are looking for tours and classes that are led specifically by older women. One-third of millennials report feeling stressed and find that there is a calming influence when they spend time with the older generation.
A report by tour guide company GetYourGuide shows that 76 percent of Gen Z travellers from France, Germany, the UK, and the US would book a “grandma-inspired” holiday activity like learning to make pasta with a nonna (grandmother) in Italy or hiring Japanese grandmothers as their tour guides for travel in Japan.
For 32-year-old Los Angeles-based fashion stylist Brittany Diego, the maternal warmth she experienced in her nonna-led pasta class was the highlight of her trip to Italy, and several countries are already cashing in on this tourism trend.
French grandmas Mamie Daniela and Mamie Catherine will teach you to bake French pastries; Japanese octogenarian Kayoko, in Tokyo, will teach you the art of making musubi, a Japanese rice and nori sandwich; and, in Australia, Wardandi Bibbulum will share her knowledge of native foods.
In Budapest, Hungary, Zita Pancsovay and her grandmother will serve up a traditional Hungarian dinner as you relax in their home, and tourists can experience Ayurvedic cooking with Grandma Shyama in her home in Kochi, India. Grandma Kate Wright in Galway, Ireland, began teaching tourists how to make Irish dishes like brown bread and stew in her cosy home kitchen.
So why not grandma tourism in Guyana as well? We have nannies and grannies who can help young people unwind and relax with some authentic cooking, craft classes, or storytelling. It would take some enterprising entrepreneur to put together a tour, or tours, of upriver or coastland travel combined with a Guyanese lunch or craft class led by a nanny or granny – and there are many of those around with warmth and humour and with long-time stories to tell and songs to sing – who would do wonderfully well with such an enterprise.
There could be a ready market in the Guyanese diaspora with children and grandchildren who have grown up hearing tales of their parents’ and grandparents’ youthful days back home and wanting to experience the liveliness of a bottom-house gaff while learning to clap roti or make a pot of cook-up or pepper pot.
Those who have already sought out and experienced grandma-led tourist activities talk about the nurturing care as a key part of the attraction. They find the travel experience more meaningful because of the opportunity to learn directly from those whose knowledge of the particular region and its crafts and cuisine is shaped over a lifetime.
Connecting with women who have learnt their artistry and culinary know-how from their own mothers and grandmothers provides a very special feeling for millennials, who gain a sense of tranquillity just by being away from their work environment with its computers and phones that demand constant attention.
As well as offering feelings of safety and calm, matriarchs pass on knowledge, traditional skills, and local customs that may otherwise be lost, and they also offer younger travellers the confidence to be comfortable in their own skin.
The benefits of this kind of tourism run both ways since being engaged with younger people is good for the older generation’s health and well-being, and psychologist and author Terri Apter, who specialises in family dynamics, identity, and relationships, says that while younger people gain from the grandmothers’ years of experience, the grandmas are also keen to keep busy, share their skills, and pass on their traditional knowledge.
She adds, “Young people will undoubtedly get a very warm reception from older people. Because if you look at phases of development across the lifespan, one need of older age is generativity, which means giving back. Being engaged with and teaching younger people is extremely good for older people’s mood, their health, and their longevity.”
Grandmother tourism allows the younger generation to slow down and experience something that’s hands-on and authentic, and in a world where they are spending more and more time on hi-tech devices, a cooking class or simply spending a day that offers a genuine human touch gives them a chance to switch off and enjoy the warm and inviting human connection they are missing.

The post The rise of “Grandma Tourism”  appeared first on Guyana Times.

Dear Editor,
I commend the Consulate General (CG) of Guyana in NY, under the leadership of Ambassador Mike Brotherson, for organising a diaspora prayer vigil on Friday evening in memory of the victims of the tragic MV Barima incident and in support of the families and survivors.
Multiple prayer events were held over the last few days at home and in the diaspora. No harm done! The more, the better. The CG event was official from the Government. One shouldn’t criticise the Government or its missions for organising or supporting vigils.
The Government held several vigils in Guyana, embracing all. Now is not the time for deliberate political rebuke of the Guyana NY CG or of those in Queens organising vigils. Those who organise vigils should not be criticised.
At a time of profound grief and national sorrow, now is not the time for politics or to criticise the Government or its diplomatic missions or Queens-based organisations for holding prayer vigils. From a rhetorical perspective, critics must not employ emotionally charged language – terms such as “puppets”, etc. – to describe vigils in support of the victims of the tragedy.
The Government and its missions don’t have a monopoly on vigils or events. All can hold vigils. But missions must follow protocols and be guided by the Government in organising events that don’t contradict diplomacy or goals and the Barima incident’s objectives. Community organisations are free to hold vigils. Several community organisations held or plan vigils in Queens and one in Brooklyn. There is no evidence that the CG or any NGO organised vigils in response to others. The NY CG waited for Government plans. It can’t act on its own.
The consulate vigil, as indeed others, provided an opportunity for members of the Guyanese diaspora to come together in prayer, reflection, and solidarity with the families of those who lost their lives and with all those affected by this heart-breaking tragedy. Such occasions remind us that, even across borders, we remain united as one people in times of mourning.
The consulate’s initiative, as indeed others, has demonstrated compassion, leadership, and a recognition of the important role the diaspora plays in supporting our nation during moments of crisis. By creating a space for collective remembrance, the Consulate helped foster healing and reaffirmed the enduring bonds that connect Guyanese at home and abroad. There were several speakers, including Brotherson and UN Ambassador Carolyn Birkett Rodrigues. US Senator Chuck Schumer sent a message, and NY Senator Roxanne Persaud of Brooklyn delivered remarks. Pastor Dr Carl Stuart read from the Bible.
National tragedies should transcend political differences and serve as occasions for unity, empathy, and mutual support. The CG prayer vigil reflected these values by bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds to honour the lives that were lost and to offer comfort through faith and fellowship. There were prayers, speeches, and spiritual songs from persons of several faiths, ethnicities, age groups, genders, and geographies of Guyana.
I express my appreciation to Ambassador Brotherson and others involved in planning and coordinating this meaningful event. Their efforts are worthy of recognition and exemplify the spirit of public service, community engagement, compassion, empathy, and care.
As Guyana continues to mourn this tragic loss, it is my hope that the compassion and unity demonstrated during the vigil will inspire continued support for the bereaved families and reinforce our collective commitment to standing together in times of adversity.
Thanks to all who organised vigils, providing the Guyanese diaspora with a meaningful opportunity to pay tribute to the victims of the MV Barima tragedy.

Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram

The post Guyana NY Consulate commended for vigil for MV Barima victims   appeared first on Guyana Times.

(As I write about my great-grandfather’s journey to British Guiana during the national tragedy of the MV Barima, I note the irony that he set sail from the docks near the Guyana Depot location where Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers [GRSE] is presently headquartered and which, in 2023, built the MV Ma Lisha ferry that was supposed to replace the MV Barima to transport Guyanese between Georgetown and Region One.)
As the Allanshaw reached the open waters of the lower Hooghly, Rambishoon and his fellow immigrants were divided into groups and placed in charge of one of the immigrants who would be their guard (“chowkidar”) and then taken below to the second deck. He and the other single men, several of whom he had travelled with on the train to Howrah Junction, were assigned spaces in the fore of the deck; the married couples with their children were strategically placed between them and the single women at the back. He would sleep on his blanket on the two feet of space that was assigned to him. The ceiling was just five feet six inches, so he was fortunate to be only five feet two inches. The few men who were taller had to crouch when moving around.
From the ship’s records in Guyana, we learn that there were 627 indentured labourers who left India on the Allanshaw in 1888: 385 men, 153 women, 12 boys, four girls, and 73 “infants” (39 males and 34 females under 12 years); one woman died, three men returned to India, and there were three paying passengers. The Allanshaw was a 1589-tonne, three-masted, full-rigged iron sailing ship with a length of 263 ft, a beam of 40 ft, and a draught of 23.0 ft.
She was launched on 29 August 1874, so she was fairly new and supposed to comply with the latest regulations for transporting “coolies”. Yet on an 1883 trip to Australia with “Government immigrants”, it carried 393 “worthy poor” compared to its 1888 trip with 627 coolies. There was absolutely no privacy for anyone. But the separation of the single women and men was rather ironic because, as illustrated in the infamous 1885 trip of the same Allanshaw, when a sixteen-year-old girl, Maharani, was raped by a sailor and subsequently died. This was a recurrent feature of the crossing.
As in the depot, in a gesture to caste sensibilities, meals were prepared (here in the galley/kitchen) as far as practicable by Brahmins but were served on deck to everyone seated together. The meals were very basic peasant fare with rice, flour/chappatis, and dal as staples along with vegetables (pumpkins, yams, and potatoes) cooked in oil or ghee with the spices (turmeric, onions, garlic, chillies, coriander seeds, and mustard seeds) that would define “Indian cooking” in the Girmitiya diaspora. Chura (parched rice), gram/satoo (ground parched channa), and biscuits were dry foods served during rough weather. Six sheep or goats per 100 men were also taken aboard for a fortnightly mutton treat. Small portions of preserved milk were provided to lactating mothers and babies. Overall, the food had improved much since the early days of indentureship, and the main challenge to the immigrants was the confined space and the tossing and turning of the ship on the rough seas.
The earlier high mortality had also been reduced through better food and the services of a ship’s surgeon who was provided with the basic pharmaceuticals of the 19th century. One Indian concoction became “Vicks VapoRub”. The doctor would have been assisted with any births by immigrant midwives (Chamain). Depression was endemic among the Indians as they continued their journey into the unknown. This was assuaged somewhat by those in their midst who were returning to British Guiana after returning to India and were unable to readjust to their old “home”.
Rambishoon landed after 81 days on the “Kala Pani” (the Black Waters) in Georgetown on November 18th, 1888, and disembarked on the 20th and was marched north up Water Street to the Immigration Depot at Barrack Street, Kingston, near the mouth of the Demerara River and next to the lighthouse he had espied when the ship approached land.
While he might have been a boy from the countryside, his exposure to Patna and Calcutta made even Stabroek Market, the new Victoria Law Courts, and City Hall under construction suffer by comparison. In 1888, Water Street still had tramways. It would be the first and last time he saw Georgetown.

The post The Voyage to Demerara appeared first on Guyana Times.

– to name panel today

In keeping with a previous commitment by the Guyana Government for an independent probe, a high-level team, comprising top international experts, will be named to spearhead a Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the July 18 capsizing of MV Barima, which has resulted in the deaths of 73 persons with another 30 still unaccounted for. This announcement was made by President Dr Irfaan Ali in a video statement on Saturday.
“I shall – [today, Sunday] 26 of July, 2026 – announce a five-member team to constitute that commission”, he said.
According to the Head of State, the commission will comprise distinguished experts and professionals with extensive knowledge and experience in relevant fields, including law, marine engineering, maritime safety and disaster investigation.

“The members have been carefully selected for their independence, technical expertise, and proven ability,” President Ali noted, adding that the Commission will determine its own procedures and methods of work. The commission will be tasked with conducting a thorough and impartial examination into the MV Barima tragedy, including the circumstances leading to the capsizing and sinking of the vessel, the response efforts and all other related matters. Among its work will be to identify any shortcomings or failures, recommend appropriate accountability, and propose reforms that will strengthen the safety and reliability of Guyana’s maritime transportation system.
The CoI panel will also have to examine the causes and contributing factors to the disaster, including the loading of the vessel, passenger boarding procedures, conditions on board, the vessel’s seaworthiness, maintenance history, compliance with maritime laws and safety standards, the conduct and competence of the master and crew, passenger management and lifesaving arrangements, as well as the roles of weather, sea conditions and other operational factors. Further, the commission will undertake a review of the search, rescue, and recovery operations, assessing the adequacy, coordination, and effectiveness of the response by all agencies and stakeholders involved.

Moreover, the team will be empowered to determine whether any acts of negligence, misconduct, dereliction of duty or institutional failures contributed to or caused this tragedy and to recommend any legislative, regulatory, institutional, or operational reforms necessary to prevent a recurrence. The MV Barima departed the Georgetown stelling at about 15:00h on Saturday, July 18, on its scheduled voyage to Port Kaituma, Region One (Barima-Waini), carrying 179 persons, including 18 crew members – 76 of whom survived the ordeal – and cargo. According to officials, the vessel encountered rough sea conditions off the Essequibo Coast near the mouth of the Pomeroon River late that night.
Survivors have recalled that the ferry began tilting to one side before capsizing, throwing passengers into the water in less than a minute. A distress signal transmitted at approximately 23:01h was received by aviation authorities, triggering a large-scale multi-agency emergency response that continues. Addressing concerns raised in the aftermath of the disaster, blood samples were taken from the captain and crew members for testing.
Authorities released the results showing positive tests for cannabis and subsequently arrested the captain and two crew members. Another official from the Transport and Harbours Department (THD), which manages ferry services, was also detained as part of the police investigation. Subsequently, the Government, in its initial probe into the tragic incident, uncovered that more people were aboard the vessel than had been recorded on the original passenger manifest.
That information, along with the manifest, was immediately made public. Days after the incident, the Government committed to launching an independent CoI to determine the circumstances that led to the sinking of MV Barima. Meanwhile, search and recovery operations are continuing, with divers and other technical experts deployed offshore in an ongoing effort to recover additional bodies. The sunken ferry currently lies on the seabed some nine miles off the Essequibo Coast in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam). The aim is to have the vessel positioned on its keel in order to bring it closer to shore where divers can safely enter.
Guyana is receiving support from regional partners, including the French Guiana Army, the Brazilian Navy, and the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, which have deployed maritime assets and personnel to aid in recovering the missing persons.
This publication understands that the divers are battling harsh Atlantic conditions but remain adamant in their efforts to continue the recovery operation.

The post Intl experts, professionals to lead CoI into MV Barima tragedy – Pres Ali appeared first on Guyana Times.