Latest update April 17th, 2024 12:59 AM
Apr 24, 2022 News, Special Person
“Most of my work involves interacting with the people from the community… As a JP being able to act as a mediator to resolve some issues outside of the court system…I have also done a lot of voluntary work so I think being able to help out in any way I can is what I like most about what I do.”
By Rehanna Ramsay
Kaieteur News – While some people spend a good fraction of their lives trying to figure out their purpose or exactly what they are supposed to be doing on the earth, others are born into lineages that offer them clues about the direction their life should take.
This may very well be the case for Amjad Ali Shaw, a community leader and the sole dental technician resident in Leguan, Essequibo Islands.
Born on April 7, 1962, to Leguan’s resident dental technician, Ali Mohamed Shaw and his wife Shira who was a part-time seamstress, Mr. Shaw was fortunate enough to hone the skills of his father and build on a legacy that the men in his family started generations before.
This week’s ‘Special Person’ told Kaieteur News that his ‘chosen’ career path had somehow been carved out by his father and great uncle years before he was born.
He explained, “My family had always been involved in dental work for years, my father learned the work from his uncle and I learned from my father… and now my second daughter, Safia, who is in Canada, is taking it a step further and becoming qualified to do more extensive dental work.”
Mr. Shaw explained that he feels quite privileged to be able to pass on such a legacy to his children, more particularly his daughter.
He revealed too that he is eternally pleased that his household has for generations, been able to provide a much-needed service to the people of Leguan and other Essequibo islands at a much more convenient cost and pace than if they were to seek those services elsewhere.
“In the past, Leguan had a population of about 8,000 people. Today, we have about 3,000 residents because of migration; people leaving the island for greener pastures. But at any given time, we basically made our services available for thousands of residents, who would otherwise have to leave the island, and possibly travel to Georgetown to get dental work done,” he said.
Along with providing this essential service to his community, Mr. Shaw functions in several other roles. He is a Legal Marriage Officer, Justice of the Peace (JP) and Commissioner of Oaths as well as the Assistant Imam (Muslim Priest) of the Enterprise Masjid in Leguan.
Prior to this, he functioned as Community Development Officer (CDO), served on the Teaching Service Commission and worked with the Leguan Regional Office in various capacities. Outside of his role in the community, Mr. Shaw is what Guyanese would refer to as a staunch “family man.”
He is a devoted husband to his wife Shoba, who also hails from the island, and a loving father to their three children, Shabanna, Safia and Ahmad.
FAMILY VALUES
It is no coincidence that Mr. Shaw’s household remains close-knit. He explained that he grew up in such an environment. He noted his childhood memories included watching his father and brother carry on the dental trade of their uncle. He too had joined the dental work as soon as he was of age. He said that his family members were well known on the island.
Shaw recalled his parents were known to many people on the island as ‘Uncle Kazier’ and ‘Auntie Carol’.
The young Shaw would watch as his father took children in the community for rides on his motorcycle and as his mother who worked part-time as the neighbourhood seamstress who filled out dressmaking orders.
“Back in the day, owning a motorcycle was seen as a big deal because only rich people had that kind of transportation but my father would use it to take children for rides,” he said.
He told this newspaper that even as his parents showed commitment to their respective areas of employment, they ensured that he and his siblings were given the opportunity to acquire sound education.
As such, the young Shaw attended the Eastern Leguan Primary School until he was about 11 years old, then he took the college of preceptors examinations (which is the equivalent to the common entrance) which qualified him to attend secondary school. However, Shaw explained that there were no secondary schools on the Island back then.
“…The closest secondary schools were located in Wakenaam and in the West Demerara. Attending them, meant I had to travel to and from Leguan every day,” he added.
Since attending these schools was not feasible, Shaw’s parents thought it was best that he left his home in Region Three and move to be with his sister in Linden, Region 10, where he could easily acquire higher education.
Shaw spent five years in Linden acquiring training and certification in mechanical engineering from the Guymine Technical Institute renamed (Linden Technical Institute). During his years of apprenticeship, Shaw majored as a draughtsman.
By 1983, he had completed his training and returned to Leguan where he started working with the Leguan Sub-Region as a Superintendent of Works. There, the young Shaw was in charge of overseeing major infrastructural work on the Island.
“I was attached to the Leguan District Office …I was doing a great deal of technical work with them until around 1993 when I resigned the position,” he said.
Right around the time he resigned from working with the Region, Shaw recalled that his father and then his brother passed away. Their deaths left a vacuum on the island for dental technicians. Shaw knew he had to step up to the plate; besides he had always worked part-time with his father and brother to help fill orders for the “family business.”
Back then, he noted, the island was quite populated and many people depended on the dental services for dental fixtures or even emergency works.
“We had all the equipment and we had become popular for making dentures and so on…for the people in Leguan and other parts of Essequibo and even overseas, because people living in the US and Canada would request our service because it is far less costly than if they were to pay for it overseas.”
In this regard, Mr. Shaw found himself working overtime to fill out the orders of clients. He continued the work full time until he started to take on other religious and community functions.
COMMUNITY ROLES
Mr. Shaw has always had active roles in his Muslim faith. As a result, Shaw, who also functions as an assistant Imam, was recommended by the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) in 1996 to become the Legal Marriage Officer.
In that capacity, he performed several marriage ceremonies within the Muslim community as well as served as a marriage officer for a few Christian and Hindus wedding ceremonies.
“I would be present for Nikahs which is the traditional Islamic marriage as well as the legal marriage ceremonies. I have been doing this for the past 20 years,” he said.
Mr. Shaw is also known for his elocution and as a result, he would often be called upon to make speeches at these events. This led to his selection as a Community Development Officer some six years ago; a role he filled for five years.
He was also appointed to sit on the Teaching Service Commission where he was responsible for dealing with all the employment issues related to teachers in Region Three.
As a Community Development Officer, Shaw was responsible for supervising all major community projects throughout the length and breadth of Leguan.
He said the work included overseeing major infrastructural works and road network projects alongside officials of the Ministry of Public Works. His role as a community officer ended about two years ago.
Nevertheless, Mr. Shaw who recently celebrated his 60th birth anniversary continues to serve the community in his capacity of Justice of the Peace and Commissioner of Oaths.
Shaw said, “Most of my work involves interacting with the people from the community… As a JP being able to act as a mediator to resolve some issues outside of the court system…I have also done a lot of voluntary work so I think being able to help out in any way I can is what I like most about what I do.”
He noted that the fact that his part-time work in other areas, dentistry or otherwise, has not interfered with his work in the faith has been a plus.
He asserted, “My work in the church doesn’t interfere with what I do for the community; it actually enhances it, because as an assistant Imam, once I am called upon, I am able to carry out the service.”
Outside of this, Shaw is satisfied in his role as a husband and father. The doting father is extremely proud of all his children.
“I am most happy that all my children are in their chosen career paths and they were able to pursue higher learning whether at the local university or overseas,” he added.
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