Living In A Generally Unwanted, Unknown Counrty

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Okay, i'll just put it out there now and say that I live in Guyana, South America. Not Ghana, as in the country located on the continent of Africa, like it's usually pronounced by our Northern counterparts. Yes Guyana, the piece of land shaped like a lady with wide hips between Suriname and Venezuela. Yea that one.  

Now there are many problems that we Guyanese face just as a result of living here. Going with my normal flow of limiting my list to the bare minimum, here are the three main problems Guyana faces which we have absolutely no control over.

1. We are generally disliked by our neighbors: Yes I said it kids. I just released the mother load. Believe it or not the rest of the Caribbean doesn't even like us. They basically tolerate us cuz we happened to be one of the first countries to sign the Treaty of Chaguaramas in CARICOM (feel free to google this stuff if you feel lost).  They don't even consider us to be part of the Caribbean. Reason being, we're not an island... Uhhh, Belize isn't an island. Why y'all be hatin'? We aren't even accepted by South America since we're the only English speaking country and also the poorest. How ya like that? We're basically the red headed step child that no one wants to be a part of the family but you still keep them cuz you don't want to look bad in front of social services. 


2. We are generally unknown: People always found it kinda weird that Guyana is snugly nestled between two well known countries (especially a country like Venezuela) and people still have never heard of it. However, I believe that i have unlocked the answer within the depths of my mind. You wanna know why? It's because of Jamaica. As soon as you mention that Guyana is part of the Caribbean the response you get is, " Oh! The Caribbean! Like Jamaica! Wat ah gwan mon?"  Okay first of all, the entire Caribbean doesn't have a Jamaican accent. Second, Jamaica isn't the Caribbean. Gee thanks Jamaica for creating such high tourism goals for the rest of us. Let's blame Jamaica!


3. We're known for the worst things ever: When we do get attention, it's from BBC or some other news company reminding the world of where the Jonestown Massacre happened. Yes, it happened here. We remember. We hardly even sell Koolaid in our supermarkets anymore. Even if we do no one buys it due to the fact that we're never allowed to forget. It's like communion only thing you're sipping on cherry Koolaid and you instantly think of Jim Jones instead of Jesus. Seriously though, we don't drink Koolaid... this is a Mak C country. 

Things get better at the end of the day since you'd find that most of the Guyanese population doesn't even care what the rest of the world thinks about us. They're actually pretty oblivious in most cases. I guess our motto should be changed from One People, One Nation, One Destiny to something like  Just Roll With The Punches since it's something we actually do.

Third World Black Girl