Latest update April 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Jun 16, 2013 News
“My strong belief and faith in God was what helped me through the tough years.”
By Leon Suseran
With hardly any co-operation from her husband, Roopnauth Bisnauth’s mother was forced to send off three of her children to her parents—who lived next door. The load was too much for her.
Roopnauth recalled “growing up amongst his other siblings as “neighbours” and this separation took a toll on the family. He recalled growing apart from his other three siblings, and not getting a chance to know them.
He attended Dartmouth Primary and St. Barnabas Anglican Schools in Essequibo, completing that portion of his education in 1956. After moving to Berbice, he attended Berbice High School in 1957, and passed with nine subjects at the GCE Exams. Bisnauth loved to play cricket as a young boy.
“I was a selector for the Essequibo team.”
In 1962, Bisnauth joined the Guyana Police Force. He started off as a Constable. He loved that job.
“I had an uncle who was a policeman and I used to admire some of his qualities,” he added. Bisnauth met his lovely wife, Irene, and “asked home for her” when she was 13 years. He had just finished the police force exams.
“My mother was not in favour at all because I had nine subjects at the GCE exams and she urged me to apply for another job.”
He recalled working as a young officer during the disturbances in 1964.
“Myself and several others were scheduled to have our passing parade in Georgetown, but we were called to higher duty, since the mood had become very tense that very day in Berbice…The same day we received a telegram that Berbice was on fire…and they told us not to worry about the parade and urged us to get quickly to Berbice—our entire squad was transferred to Berbice.”
He also mentioned that he and an Inspector Andrews represented Guyana at the Expo in Canada. Guyana had its own section at that international event in the 1970s. He recalled that he was the youngest police officer from anywhere in the world. He was also awarded the Baton of Honour (Best Policeman) by the Guyana Police Force, which in those days was the highest award an officer could have achieved.
“I don’t like criminals…I hate criminals and I tried to join the force to play my part in helping to keep down the crime.”
After spending 12 years in the police force, Bisnauth felt that he wanted to help children learn. He then applied to teach. Having left the force for personal reasons, he started to teach at the Hampton Court Primary School in 1976 after which he enrolled at the Government Teachers’ Training College in 1977 in Georgetown. In 1979, he completed his teacher-training and taught at Nismes Primary School and the Vreed-en-Hoop Community High School a bit later. He also taught at the Dartmouth and 8th of May Community High Schools. He described his days as a teacher as being “very rewarding”.
Bisnauth recalled some more rough days.
“I remember when I turned up for school one morning in January and received a letter which terminated my services as a teacher and the Teaching Service Commission couldn’t give a reason for terminating my service…and nobody could have said why and I never got back my job.”
“I was still on contract as a trained teacher and they terminated my services without giving me anything, so I faced some of the hardships. Having a wife and three children at the time to take care of, I had to find another way of making ends meet, so I sought and gained employment with one of my cousins at a rice mill and I had to work there for two years.”
“My strong belief and faith in God was what helped me through the tough years.” A staunch Presbyterian, Bisnauth was a very active church-goer. He was called to the Ministry of the Presbyterian Church in Guyana in 1981 and was ordained a Minister in 1983 at the Burns Memorial Church in Georgetown by no lesser a person than his brother, Rev. Dale Bisnauth, who had become a Minister several years earlier.
“I worked hard because I was trained by a man whom I knew was with the church—Dale Bisnauth.” He also became a licenced Marriage Officer in 1986.
“I wanted to be a teacher, a policeman, a pastor—but of course I couldn’t have all of them together.”
He loved being a pastor best. After ordination, he worked two years at Bartica, after which he was transferred in 1986 with his family to the Lower Corentyne parishes in Berbice, where he would spend the next 27 years of his pastoral ministry.
“I was responsible for five churches from Susannah to Letter Kenny, Corentyne, and conducted service, lead people, and did training.”
His workload as a preacher increased not too long after Rev. Wilfred P. Ledra passed away in New Amsterdam, which resulted in him (Bisnauth) having to take up a position at the church there, also at Skeldon.
“I was then in charge of 16 churches….It was very hard but I used to manage—the Lord used to help me.”
Being a respected member of his Ankerville, Port Mourant community, the residents along with the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) took the initiative recently to rename his street, ‘Bisnauth Street’.
Bisnauth’s wife recalled as a pastor and community leader, how her husband touched many lives through counseling and voluntary work, “and people say that he did a lot of work in the community and helped—we would not know—he just worked.”
Roopnauth agreed. “I liked to work wherever it was tough—whether in the police force or teaching. I used to like the toughness of the job.”
Maybe it was this toughness that led him to sustain a head injury after falling out of a police vehicle while on duty. He nearly lost his life. It was during the 80-day strike in 1963.
“I fell out of a patrol vehicle, and since then I was suffering from an internal head injury…and I didn’t recognize it then. I slipped and fell on my face…it was a direct injury.”
It was several years later after undergoing a scan when the family discovered that Bisnauth had indeed suffered a serious head injury, which resulted in him having a mild stroke a few years ago.
Another incident he remembered while being employed in the force during that same period was when he missed death during a shoot-out in Berbice during the same political disturbances. “A bullet nearly grazed my head,” he reflected.
Roopnauth Bisnauth retired earlier this year and is now enjoying quiet days at home. He recalled preaching a lot of sermons, which he shared “straight from the scriptures.” When asked what his favourite scriptural passage was, he stated, “from Genesis to Revelation.” He loves to read his Bible before retiring to bed each night, and also added that he has read the book over 22 times in his life- span.
“My memory is not so sharp now, but in the past I could have quoted and remembered a lot of passages from the Bible.”
His wife, Irene, assists him a great lot in performing many tasks.
“I can’t move around too much. I have a circulation problem. I do some things for myself… but I cannot go out and move around much.”
They will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary next year. Not everyone has a nice story about their lives to tell. But that is what makes many persons special in their own regard. Weathering the storms of life, ending up victorious in the end, and enjoying successes while looking back at the challenging times, is worth it very much.
Roopnauth Bisnauth described growing up at Better Success, Essequibo, as a “nightmare.” When one takes into consideration that he hailed from a very poor family who lived in a ‘brush’ house; his father being an alcoholic who often squandered his earnings at the rum shops while on his way home from work as a labourer; and his mother who was left to shoulder the responsibility of caring for six children and ensuring that they had an education as well as making ends meet, our ‘Special Person’ endured much.
“He [father] would drink and go to work and when he went to work, he stopped at the rum place and drank out everything…but he was educated. My mother used to labour…cut rice…plant rice, clean rice-fields and catch fish…,” he recalled.
Her efforts were not in vain.
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