the world according to channie

  • Amna Channie

    BITS AND PIECES (MOSTLY PIECES) FROM THE VILLAGE QUILT

    FIRST PIECE: A TRAGEDY AVERTED Enter the first player: Her name was Caroline Drayon-Bruce and she was an Afro-Guyanese by birth. Since a hyphenated surname was unheard of in this rural village, its use prompted respect and awe from the humble villagers. Moreover, she was educated and was the headmistress of the village school. She […]

  • Amna Channie

    My Father -The Village Storyteller

    In the 1940’s in British Guiana, in the village where I was born, there were no radios, no movie theaters, no juke-boxes, TV was unheard of, community libraries were in your dreams. But our home was filled with books stuck in bookshelves, in cupboards, in boxes under the beds. My father was an avid reader […]

  • Amna Channie

    A Year in Futility (Kurubuku)

    EPISODE 3 : THE UNEVEN TENOR OF OUR DAYS One morning, in the middle of a drill session, Hazel came in to the kitchen puffing and panting looking like death warmed up. She flopped down on the dirt floor and cried out in pain. One of the crew quickly handed her a cup of hot […]

  • Amna Channie

    A Year in Futility (Kurubuku)

    EPISODE 2 – THE KITCHEN CREW The Lieutenant called a muster to set our roster and assign duties. A bird had told me back in town to apply for special medical permit due to skeletal problems which would exempt me from drills and marches. But first, let me tell you a bit about “Lieutenant” as […]

  • Amna Channie

    Series end: Episode 1

    After sixty-one years of living with my husband, he died this year and now, I’m alone but I’m not lonely or sad. So you, and all else want to know what I will do from this time on. Let me tell you…. I will arise and go now and go to InnisfreeAnd a small cabin […]

  • Amna Channie

    A Year in Futility (Kurubuku)

    EPISODE 1 – THE TRIP UPRIVER The SS Torani had already been docked by the time we drove up on to the stelling at Rosignol on the Berbice River. My husband, my older daughter, my son, my little daughter and a relative accompanied me to see me off on this stint in Kurubuku. We were […]

  • Amna Channie

    A Year in Futility (Hope Estate)

    EPISODE 3 : The Artful Dodgers You recall Pa from across the dam? Well, Pa turned out to be my wasta (my “know-somebody-inside”). It came about that on this particular Saturday morning, my three friends and I were assigned to go to the canals to chop away 100 years of muck. I saw Pa under […]

  • Amna Channie

    A Year in Futility (Hope Estate)

    EPISODE 2 : A SNAKE IN JODHPURS Another Saturday, another week-end to be spent in drudgery. We had been told that the great leader and his cohort would be visiting the estate and preparations needed to be made. The place needed to be cleaned, the barracks tidied, the yard swept, and students had to be […]

  • Amna Channie

    A Year in Futility (Hope Estate)

    EPISODE 1 It has come upon me that I must  write about the momentous events of my life that have brought me to this, the 81st year of my life.  A few of them span a single year and the events that I am about to describe are tied to a single goal and so might […]