Winifred Haywood
“Whenever you’re going to do something, do it properly, and do it like it is the last day, and always leave a footprint, so people will remember whatever you would have done…where you would have tread.”
This week, we feature a charming lady who has served selflessly in four spheres of our demanding society: education, trade unionism, public office and religion. Her name would come as no surprise to many, especially within the teaching fraternity. She is the very well-spoken Ms. Winifred Haywood of the Mayor & Town Council Housing Scheme in New Amsterdam.
She was born in 1951 to Walter and Agatha Haywood, in Cumberland Village, East Canje. Her family later moved while she was seven to Islington, East Bank Berbice. Young Winnie had four siblings. She does not have any memory at all of her dad, who passed away when she was two. During those days, photographs were not really kept. “I’ve never seen a picture of him, so I don’t know him.”
Childhood
“Growing up in Islington was fun. In those days, we did not have this racial tendency. Most of my mother’s friends were East Indians and we would go freely to these homes. I remember one of those ladies, Iris, showed us how to make the coconut chutney and mango chutney… And then there was Sookdeo—she would make the pholourie—every single thing. We basically grew together as a family.”
Haywood noted how close-knit the community was in which she lived back then and how united everyone was, despite social and economic standing as well as cultural identity.
“Our landlord was also an Indian woman and we lived lovely together. This inclination to racism over the last few decades is really separating us…keeping us far apart.”
Winifred attended All Saints’ Anglican School and then Vryman’s Erven Government School, of which she was the first batch.
“Our head teacher was very strict—I loved that school; really loved it for its strictness.” She wrote the College of Preceptors Examinations after which she moved on to Smythtown Secondary School at Lad Lane, New Amsterdam. The family then moved to Georgetown to live for awhile, after which they moved back to Berbice.
She commenced studies at the New Amsterdam Technical Institute, following which she started to teach Industrial Arts in 1977 at the New Amsterdam Practical Instructional Centre. It was in the teaching profession that Ms. Haywood would spend the next 28 years of her life, gaining tangible experience and subsequently becoming a household name in the trade union movement, representing teachers everywhere.
Teaching & Trade Unionism
When asked why she went into teaching, she said that it was something that she had always liked.
“When I was small, I would constantly hit the walls with sticks as teachers would do sometimes when trying to gain students’ attention— I wrote up on the walls and so on. I just liked children and unto this time I am retired, I would still deal with them in the Sunday School.”
Councilor Haywood taking the Oath of Office in the Chambers of the N/A M&TC in 1994.
‘At that time, the calling was that we should have the Industrial Arts teachers and the skill was very much there,” she said.
Ms. Haywood recalled fond memories of well-mannered and respectful children in her time.
“ I would always say to people, especially to teachers, that the very first time you appear in front of children, you speak with authority and say whatever it is you really want, because when you do not do that, you find that the children will, as we would say, ‘take their eyes and pass you’. Children will gauge teachers and know who they can talk to in a particular way and so on.
Respect is always there within them – demand your respect and whatever is the concept that the children have to grasp, I ensure they grasp it. At the end of the day, I was being paid to teach the people’s children and after I taught them, they would eventually go into the world of work. So I did whatever I did to prepare them and the children respected me.”
During her teaching career, she was actively involved in the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU) and quickly climbed the rungs of the ladder of that organization, building respect and making a name for herself as well. She was the first female to serve in a senior position as Regional Vice-President. In 1978, she became actively involved in Union politics. “After I started attending meetings, I loved the work that they were doing, and so I took up positions in the union and it [the union] recognized my ability. I attended General Council meetings at the central levels.”
As an Officer in the Union, she was granted the opportunity to represent Guyana at several forums in the Caribbean “to go and enhance my union training.” She remembers spending a month in Trinidad participating in a programme that looked closely at teachers’ matters and issues.
Participating in a Woodwork Workshop at N/A Multilateral with students a few years ago.
Today, even though she is retired, numerous teachers would call her from time to time, and ask her opinion about teacher-related problems, and Ms. Haywood would provide whatever guidance she could to make their path a bit easier.
“If it is something for which I cannot give them an answer, I would call the General Secretary… In unionism, as I say, whenever you’re going to do something, do it properly, and do it like it is the last day, and always leave a footprint, so people will remember whatever you would have done…where you would have tread.”
While in the GTU, she served as General Council Representative and Regional Vice- President – during which time she was responsible for all teachers in both Regions Five and Six, “and I had to visit the schools and listen to their issues”; also Second Vice- President “dealing with training and I had to ensure teachers undergo training programmes and equip them so that they could know more of the union; First Vice- President and even Acting President for a few months. These positions, especially the VP and Presidential positions, placed her fittingly on the national stage.
Ms. Haywood admittedly had a lot of good times in the union.
“I am not saying the union is not strong now, but we would have worked with a President by the name of Bertrand Hamilton and he instilled very strong values in us and told us that we were there to represent teachers and we had to go out and do whatever it entailed to represent teachers.”
One of the hallmarks of his leadership, she recalled, was visiting the various regions of the country. She talked about visiting Bartica in the Cuyuni/Mazaruni area “and Bertram said that he wanted us to experience what the teachers in the riverain areas would experience as they go to work, so we had a feel—so when you go to represent them, you had a true sense of what they were going through.”
She believes that even though today’s GTU is “trying”, they can “do a little better.”
She was a well-known officer within the union and is currently preparing to participate in an upcoming, mass gathering of Caribbean teachers.
“Even now, they have the Caribbean Union of Teachers’ Conference in August and they would always call me when they have activities and I would always say, ‘leave your footprints, so people would remember your good deeds.”’
Retirement, religious work and public office
Retirement, she said, was a sad moment because she thought that she and the children would part. She loves children very much.
“I wanted to cry and then something said to me, ‘remember you have the church children…’ and it just comforted me.”
She retired in 2006 from the New Amsterdam Practical Instructional Centre, after which she enlisted for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)’s Basic Education Access, Management and Support (BEAMS) Training and began the activity of evaluating school teachers across the region.
Making a presentation in the Council Chambers
“We observed teachers as they did their work, especially in the literacy and numeracy programme.” She praised the training, especially, for “our type of children, especially where literacy and numeracy are concerned. So I worked a bit with the IDB and the observing of the teachers, and we used the BEAMS method.”
After retirement, our ‘Special Person’ found more time to dedicate her life to the church of which she is the pastor. The Guyana Congregational Union (GCU), she stated, has about 35 churches throughout Guyana “and I have been the Statistical Officer for over 10 years and involved in the Children’s Ministry.”
During the past five years, she was involved in Ministerial Training which resulted in her entering the ordained preaching ministry. She now serves as the pastor of one of the churches, Hackney Congregational Church with about 50 members, at Ithaca, West Bank Berbice.
“Being a woman of God is challenging, generally. Obviously as a pastor of the people there are certain responsibilities. Primarily, you have got to be confidential, because people will tell you their different issues and you don’t want to go around with people’s problems, and you have got to have a lot of faith to deal with them as you go out and do your work.”
Ms. Haywood is still serving her time in public office, as she has been a Councilor attached to the Mayor & Town Council (M&TC) of New Amsterdam for the past 19 years!
“I thoroughly enjoy trying my best to help to serve the people. I might not do it to the best of my ability, but whatever I am able to do, I will do for the community.”
Overseeing the planting of the first tree recently in the Esplanade Gardens to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Berbice Slave Uprising and recognize Emancipation
She is the current Chairman of the Parks and Playfield Committee in the Council and is trying very hard to see how those areas can be enhanced, especially for the younger children.
“They channel their energies into different things, so if they can be physically involved, it will be better for us… and the Regional Administration is also trying too.”
She is due to meet with Region Six Chairman, David Armogan, to urge him to release some funds to enhance the parks and playfields of the town.
Holding public office brings with it a large amount of praise as well as criticism, but Ms. Haywood has learned from it all.
“You have got to get adjusted to it. Whether you do good or do bad, you have got to adjust yourself to criticism, and invariably when people criticize you badly, there’s some truth behind it, and you have got to see how best you can put yourself in order, because you must admit there are good critics and bad critics out there.”
“The sky is the limit and I would encourage young people to give of their best. We don’t know the next minute what may happen or what may happen tomorrow, so leave your indelible mark.”
Winifred still enjoys being on the move. Travelling is her thing, as it provides moments of much-needed solitude.
“Either I go to the Caribbean or to the States, because I realize that being a community person and people person, if I am in Guyana—with the rest I would want—I would not get it.”
She absolutely loves reading, but opined that she would not be able to enjoy this activity so much when here, since there would be a lot of persons, whom she loves, clamouring for her attention. She also enjoys cooking.
She concluded the interview with the following advice to those following in her career path: “God has given the time. Let them use their time wisely and constructively and ensure that whatever they go to do, they do it from their hearts. Because the choice is ours, whether we will do things or don’t do things.”
By Leon Suseran | KAIETEUR NEWS