🇬🇾 “Those Damn Guyanese!”
The River-Born Warriors Who Turned Struggle Into Gold and Carried Their Country on Their Backs
Say “Guyana” and watch how many people hesitate.
They think jungle. They think “somewhere in South America.” They think small.
But say it with knowledge, and you’re talking about:
The land of El Dorado, once chased by empires for its wealth
A country of hard people, deep rivers, and deeper strength
And a nation that refuses to let history define its future
This article is for every Guyanese who had to explain where they’re from.
Who had to defend their culture.
Who had to prove they weren’t just a name in someone else’s shadow.
This is Guyana. And these are those damn Guyanese.
Guyana isn’t just one culture. It’s six.
Africans, brought in chains to work the plantations, but never lost their fire
East Indians, brought under indenture, but brought with them spice, prayer, and patience
Indigenous Peoples, the true ancestors of the land, from the Arawak to the Wapishana
European, Dutch, British, Portuguese, colonizers and laborers alike
Chinese, traders and entrepreneurs who laid new roads of commerce
Mixed people, born from survival, love, and complexity
No other country in the Western Hemisphere has this exact blend.
And in Guyana, they made it work, through language, food, faith, and fire.
Guyana was never gifted progress.
It was carved out, with shovels, calloused hands, and relentless hope.
Sugar estates
Rice fields
Logging camps
Dredged gold rivers
Muddy towns that became cities
Families that stretched from Berbice to Lethem, from Georgetown to the Essequibo
These weren’t people who waited on foreign aid.
They dug deep, literally and spiritually.
And even today, Guyanese people are building the future with one of the world’s fastest-growing oil economies, but still grounded in their roots.
Guyana was once dismissed as “backwards.” But guess what?
It has billions in oil reserves, now making global powers nervous
It has untapped gold, bauxite, diamonds, and timber
Its land is fertile. Its water is abundant.
Its population is young, educated, and ambitious
And now? The world’s finally watching, but the Guyanese already knew.
This is a nation of natural wealth, human resilience, and spiritual grit, not one waiting to be saved, but one preparing to lead.
You can hear Guyana before you see it:
Chutney music, where Indian dholak meets Caribbean bass
Calypso and soca, seasoned with rebellion and spice
Creole rhythms that bend language into melody
And you can taste it in:
Pepperpot (slow-cooked history in a pot)
Roti and curry (with hands, not forks)
Metemgee and cook-up rice
Cassava bread from Indigenous lands
Guyanese food isn’t just nourishment, it’s memory, migration, and meaning.
Guyanese people are everywhere, and thriving.
They run restaurants in Brooklyn and Mississauga
They lead churches, sit in parliaments, and shape communities
They hold up neighborhoods in Queens, Toronto, and London
They’re teachers, welders, nurses, scholars, mechanics, and artists
And most of the time, they don’t even tell you where they’re from.
But their work will tell you.
Their excellence will show you.
To every Guyanese reader on LOL242.com, we see your grit, your grounding, and your golden future.
You’re not the loudest in the room. You don’t need to be.
You move quiet. You move with pride. You move with purpose.
And no matter how far from Georgetown you roam, your voice still carries river power and ancestor spirit.
To the child in New Amsterdam dreaming big,
To the family in Essequibo praying over their rice harvest,
To the diaspora elder in New York still saying “pickney” and “meh nah know,”
To the mother stirring pepperpot with a memory of ancestors beside her…
You are not forgotten. You are not invisible. You are not behind.
You are the bloodline of builders, survivors, and warriors.
You are Guyana.
You are what happens when six peoples become one people, and never lose their soul.
So if they call you “those damn Guyanese”…
Laugh. Because that means they don’t know who they’re messing with.