Georgetown, Guyana – (August 18, 2015) In honor of her immeasurable contribution to her nation, the life and work of the late Minister in the Ministry of Education, Desrey Fox will be now be honored as President Granger today announced that the Waramadong Secondary School will be named after her.
The President was at the time addressing the 2015 National Tosaho’s Council Meeting, at the Arthur Chung Convention Centre.
“I wish to reiterate that education is important to everything that we do, and this morning, I wish to pay particular tribute to those who have been produced in our indigenous communities, but particularly I want to recognise one who has left an indelible mark on education, an indelible mark on the indigenous people in this country,” President Granger said.
The President told the gathering of Indigenous leaders that it was the Late Minister Fox who played an instrumental role in bringing the Akawaio culture into the mainstream education system in Guyana and it is for this, and her many other contributions, the administration is pleased to honor her.
Meanwhile, in an invited comment on the announcement, son of the Late Minister, Mensah Fox said the announcement is a “big step taken by the government” and one that is appreciated by the Fox family.
“We are extremely proud of her achievements and it brings us great happiness. I know there is a lot that she has done and a lot that she had in store to do but this recognition is one that we appreciate” Fox said. Noting that his mother was a student of the Waramadong Secondary School and a daughter of the community, Fox said that the tribute will also resound well in Waramadong. Fox added that he believes that a lot of this mother’s unfinished work will now be realised under the programmes and policies of this new administration. ”Yes I do believe that a lot of what she had planned would now be realised by this government,” Fox said.
The late Minister, who was also a former Curator of the Walter Roth Museum of Anthropology, died on December 11, 2009, aged 54, following a vehicular accident. At the time of her death, Dr. Fox, along with others, was in the process of translating the National Anthem into the nine Amerindian languages.
Born on January 2, 1956 at Waramadong Village, Region 7, Desrey Clementine Caesar, she attended the Waramadong Primary School, and the Campbellville Government School, and then briefly the Georgetown Seventh-day Adventist Academy. She was awarded a nursing scholarship in 1973, and was a trained midwife at the Georgetown Hospital School of Nursing. She married a few years later.
In 1977, she joined the University of Guyana (UG) as a junior researcher, attached to a special project, referred to as the Amerindian Languages Project. She continued serving within that unit until it evolved into the present Amerindian Research Unit.
The focus of her research was cross-cultural, resulting in data being collected and analysed on a wide range of Amerindian issues and situations in Guyana, such as their pre-history, present history, spirituality, demography, geography, rites and rituals, kinship networks, language, music and general aspects of their way of life.
She secured a Master of Arts in Environmental Anthropology from the University of Kent at Canterbury in the United Kingdom in 1997, then a PhD in Linguistics from Rice University in Houston, Texas in 2003, and a Master of Arts in Linguistics at the same university in 2003. She also obtained a BSc in Sociology from the University of Guyana.
