The extended family
on Fiona Craven (Guyana), 17/Apr/2012 02:17, 34 days ago
InGuyana, family is everything. And families are big. And families stretch across the generations. It’s rare that I enter a house where there isn’t a baby and a granny living under the same roof as multiple cousins. Grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins, parents, children, grandchildren………..the Guyanese family is a wonderful web of intertwined branches that fascinates me. At home, it feels like the different generations are clearly defined. In the Guyanese family, it is quite common to have nephews and nieces older than their uncles and aunts, or brothers who aren’t actually blood brothers being reared together, or random family members who visit for a few days and end up staying for a few years.I’ve recently had the privilege of being welcomed into one such extended family. Near Mabaruma (in theNorth Westnear the Venezuelan boarder), I was embraced by an extended family that crossed four generations and several family trees. Granny and her now deceased husband had 14 children: 2 were born still-born, one died not long after he became a young father himself, and 11 reached adult-hood. She has over 50 grandchildren, and countless great grandchildren, and it’s clear that she is a true matriarch who is respected by everyone in the family, from eldest son to youngest great-granddaughter. After four days of meeting various family members, my head was left spinning with how everyone fitted together:“This is little Tommy, Junior’s youngest son…“This is auntie Lorna, auntie Yvonne’s cousin”…“This is Blackie, Uncle Alan’s son, who’s brothers with Redo, but not Clinton as they’re from different mothers”…“Do you remember Airen we met yesterday, well this is his father uncle Ernest, but Auntie Molly reared Airen, though she’s not really his auntie at all but his brother’s mother’s sister……..”What fascinate me as well, is that cousins often look like siblings, while siblings can look like they are from completely different ethnic groups. A wonderful melange of Amerindian, African, Indian and White, the Guyanese extended family is a tree of multi-coloured blossom.Part of the extended familyEmilyEmily's first cousin, AyshaAunt and neiceLittle Tommy and Jacko