Every Sunday, join two 12-year-old friends as they navigate life in modern Guyana.
De Visitor from Rupununi
Speedeet: Bai! BAI! Guess who reach yesterday!
Wilar: Who? (mouth full of tennis roll)
Speedeet: Me cousin Derek from Lethem! He come to stay whole school vacation!
Wilar: De one wid de stories?
Speedeet: De SAME one! And bai, he got stories THIS time. You know de government give dem solar panels?
Wilar: Solar panels? Like wha TV does run on?
Speedeet: YES! He seh whole village get dem. Thirty-seven thousand families across de hinterland! Free electricity from de SUN, bai!
Wilar: Wait wait wait. FREE? De government giving way FREE electricity?
Speedeet: Well, de panels free. De sun free. So yeah — FREE!
Wilar: (suspicious) Nuttin free in Guyana. Must be ah catch.
De Catch (According to Wilar Grandmother)
Later dat day, at Wilar house…
Wilar Grandmother: Solar panel? SOLAR PANEL? Boy, dem tings does ATTRACT lightning! Me sister-in-law cousin hear bout a man in Brazil who get HIT BY LIGHTNING because he had solar panel on he roof!
Wilar: Granny, I don’t think dat how it work…
Derek: Ma’am, de whole village got dem. Nobody get strike yet.
Grandmother: YET! You hear what de boy say? YET! Is only a matter of time! And another ting — how de government know if you using TOO MUCH electricity? Dem panel probably got CAMERA inside! Watching you!
Speedeet: (whispering to Wilar) Camera inside de solar panel?
Wilar: (whispering back) Just nod and eat yuh food.
Derek Explain De Reality
After lunch, de boys escape to de backyard…
Derek: Auntie really believe camera in de solar panel?
Wilar: Bai, me grandmother believe de microwave does talk to de CIA. Don’t study she.
Speedeet: So tell we for real — how de ting work?
Derek: Is simple simple. De panel catch sun energy, store am in ah battery, and you could run light, charge phone, even small TV. At night, de battery give you power.
Wilar: And de government just… give it?
Derek: Yeah, man! Is part of de whole development ting. Dem building airstrip in Karasabai too. Me uncle getting job on dat project — fifty people from de village!
Speedeet: Airstrip? Plane going land in Karasabai?
Derek: Soon! Dem say is $993 million project! Seventy-five days to build!
Wilar: (impressed) Dah’s ah lot of zeros.
De Grand Plan (Wilar Version)
Wilar: Wait. So de panel does make FREE electricity from sun, right?
Derek: Yeah…
Wilar: And sun is FREE, right?
Derek: …yeah…
Wilar: So what stopping we from putting FIFTY panel together and making FIFTY times de electricity and SELLING it back to GPL?
Speedeet: (eyes wide) WE COULD BE MILLIONAIRES!
Derek: (sighs) Dah’s… not how it work.
Wilar: Why not?!
Derek: Because — look, de panels designed for ONE house. You cyaan just stack dem like Lego and become electricity baron. Plus, GPL ain’t buying power from twelve-year-olds.
Speedeet: (disappointed) So we cyaan get rich off de sun?
Derek: De sun getting you rich in OTHER ways. Me grandmother can see at night now without kerosene lamp. Me little sister could charge she tablet for school. We got fan running when it hot. DAT is how you rich.
Wilar: (thinking) Hm. Different kind of rich.
Derek: Exactly.
Grandmother Got De Last Word
Later dat evening…
Grandmother: (calling from inside) WILAR! Come move dis microwave! Every time it beep, de TV does flash! Is DE CIA INTERFERING WID WE SIGNAL!
Wilar: (to Speedeet and Derek) You see what I does deal wid?
Speedeet: (laughing) At least she ain’t say de solar panel talking to she yet.
Derek: Give it time. By tomorrow she go say de panel does hum at midnight.
Grandmother: (still calling) AND WHY DE NEIGHBOUR DOG KEEP BARKING AT WE ROOF? HE DOES SEE DE CAMERA!
All three boys collapse laughing while de evening sun sets — free, powerful, and completely unconcerned with Granny’s theories.
De Boys Seh Segment
Speedeet: So Derek, what you think about Guyana right now? Everything changing, building, developing…
Derek: Is different, for real. When me was small, de road to Lethem was DEATH. Now dem paving, building bridges, airstrip coming. Me grandfather seh he never thought he woulda see plane land in we village in he lifetime.
Wilar: But what about Georgetown? Everything expensive expensive now!
Derek: Yeah, but work PLENTY too. Me other cousin come to town and get job SAME DAY on construction site.
Speedeet: Me mother complaining bout price though. She seh doubles gone from $100 to $150!
Derek: Doubles $150?! In Lethem is still $100!
Wilar: (immediately) We moving to Lethem.
Speedeet: Bai, you cyaan even handle two hours in de sun. How you going live in Rupununi?
Derek: (laughing) De sun STRONG out there! Not like Georgetown drizzle sun!
Wilar: Fine fine, I go stay here and pay $150 doubles like ah big man.
Speedeet: Big man wid small pocket!
(All three laugh as Grandmother still arguing with de microwave in de background)
Speedeet & Wilar appears every Sunday on The Guyana Brief. Featuring authentic Guyanese Creolese because that’s how we does talk! 🇬🇾