There is more to life than COVID-19. But from the conversations and the news, one would believe that the only thing happening in the world is the spread of C OVID-19. And for good reason. The death toll is increasing as are the number of cases of hospitalization. And this is happening even as people are being vaccinated.
For anyone to say that they know what is happening is for that person to be fooling anyone who is listening. All of a sudden, the authorities around the world are saying that the vaccines are almost useless against certain variants of COVID-19.
They have stopped short of saying that certain vaccines are now obsolescent.
But whatever the case, more and more Guyanese are seeking to be vaccinated and that is a good thing. It may not slow the spread of the virus but it would certainly keep many people out of hospital once Guyanese or foreigners do not import the more infectious variants. And that is wishful thinking.
Sporting events are back. There is cricket, football, tennis, track and field, motor racing, cycling—just name it and the event is being held. Except for Guyana sports is a way of life.
In most countries, people take sports so seriously that their sending on certain goods is dictated by the sports personality behind the goods.
There was a time when young cricketers gravitated to certain autographed bats. Rohan Kanhai, Gary Sobers, and the like made money whenever their autographed bats were sold on the market.
Today, cricket bats are produced by so many manufacturers that it would not be unusual to see at least six bat makers on display during one inning.
These bat makers sponsor players. They pay them a commission each year to use the particular sports gear.
In Guyana, we do not make sporting goods. We simply lack the technology. At the same time, we do not sponsor sportspeople. And it is not that there are not businesses that can afford to do so. It is just that our business community is bent on making and keeping money rather than investing in sports.
We sit back and we cheer the Jamaicans and the other Caribbean countries that have secured gold medals at international events. Our gold medal came at the Pan American Games and at the Commonwealth Games.
Tiny Grenada has an Olympic gold as does Suriname and Trinidad. We do have a bronze in boxing but that was so many years ago. Jamaica is the talking point. It is a powerhouse. It is churning out athletes like Virat Kohli or Joe Root makes runs in cricket.
One only needs to look at the money the Jamaican government and the business community invest in sports in that country. Guyana has not been spending money on sports.
Football, one of the cheapest games to promote sees boys from ordinary families. They don’t get much and they don’t ask for much. The result is that almost all the football teams in the region beat us.
It is the same with cricket and other sports. The local clubs do their best but they are hard-pressed to get many players on the international team. Fortunately, there are some franchises that put money into the pockets of the players.
There is another thing about this country. We do not recognize those who make it to the top. The state named a street after Shiv Chanderpaul, Demerara Cricket Club named a street after Lance Gibbs, and a part of the East Coast Demerara highway after Clive Lloyd. Lloyd did get a national award.
But it is not all bad news. There are young people who are making the best of whatever comes their way. I just found out that a group of young techies won some gold, silver and bronze medals at the recent electronic competition.
It would be interesting to know how much money the private sector spent on these young kids. Even more, it would be interesting to find out how much government spending went into the STEM programme.
And when one stops to consider that the Lotto Fund had a few billion dollars for sports. Some clubs went to the government for money and got precious little. Often they got nothing. Chelsea Edghill had to rely on her parents for almost all of her playing career. She went on to do well with precious little in Tokyo.
Alika Persaud who made us proud in the pool at Tokyo was just one of the few who had to make do with little.
This is the culture of our country. Make as much money as possible and spend as little as possible. Advertisers look for the cheapest display and do the least number of advertisements. That is why the government is the largest advertiser in this country, something that you would not find in any other country.
