Recycling A Son Of The British Raj

Peter Ramrayka

Description

Peter Ramrayka was born in what was then colonial British Guiana (now Guyana). The grandson of indentured Indian labourers, he was brought up to believe that, despite his Indian cultural heritage, Britain was, in fact, the 'Mother Country'. With a steely ambition to become a lawyer, he travelled to England in 1961. He joined the Royal Air Force as an option to both work and study. This led to successful careers and endeavours: the National Health Service; the Magistracy; political activist; Mission Director of a flying teaching eye hospital and much more.

Sujets

• Médecine
• Inglaterra
• England
• Guyana

Informations

• Publié par: Hansib Publications
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781910553497
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

RECYCLING A SON OF THE BRITISH RAJ
RECYCLING A SON OF THE BRITISH RAJ
Peter Ramrayka
First published by Hansib Publications in 2015
Hansib Publications Limited
P.O. Box 226, Hertford, Hertfordshire, SG14 3WY
United Kingdom
[e-mail]
www.hansibpublications.com
Copyright Peter Ramrayka, 2015
RAF Crests reproduced on pages 77 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 89 , 90 , 99 , by kind permission M.O.D.
eISBN 978-1-910553-49-7
Kindle ISBN 978-1-910553-50-3
All rights reserved.
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher of this book.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Production
Hansib Publications Limited
Printed in Great Britain
Contents
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1 - CULTURAL TRANSPLANTATION - BIHAR TO DEMERARA
HOME - BRITISH GUIANA - A BRIEF HISTORY
ABOLITION OF SLAVERY AND START OF INDENTURED LABOURERS FROM INDIA
INDO- GUIANESE AND THE BRITISH RAJ
CHAPTER 2 - ESTABLISHING NEW ROOTS - ARRIVAL AND SETTLING IN
ARRIVAL OF THE RAMREKHAS IN BRITISH GUIANA
ENMORE
UNITY/LANCASTER - VILLAGE LIFE
NAANI MAHAICA VILLAGE
INTO THE BRIGHT LIGHTS - MOVING TO GEORGETOWN
CHAPTER 3 - THE MIDDLE PASSAGE
SKELDON - MOVING AWAY FROM HOME
LEAVING BRITISH GUIANA
CROSSING THE OCEAN TO ENGLAND
ARRIVAL IN LONDON - THE SOURCE OF THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER 4 - PER ARDUA AD ASTRA - THE ROYAL AIR FORCE
FIRST PHASE
ROYAL AIR FORCE BRIDGNORTH -SHROPSHIRE
ROYAL AIR FORCE LYNEHAM -WILTSHIRE
ROYAL AIR FORCE FREKLETON - LANCASHIRE MEDICAL TRAINING ESTABLISHMENT
ROYAL AIR FORCE STRADISHALL -SUFFOLK
CHAPTER 5 - THE LAND OF APHRODITE
RAF SECOND PHASE
NEAR EAST AIR FORCE - CYPRUS - AKROTIRI NICOSIA
CHAPTER 6 - BACK IN BLIGHTY
RAF THIRD PHASE
ROYAL AIR FORCE MANSTON - KENT
ROYAL AIR FORCE - LONDON DETACHMENT MEDICAL CENTRE
REFLECTIONS ON ROYAL AIR FORCE SERVICE
CHAPTER 7 - NEW HORIZONS - GUYANA AND THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE (NHS)
RETURN VISIT TO GUYANA
NHS - FIRST TWENTY YEARS
NATIONAL TEMPERANCE HOSPITAL - LONDON
HOSPITALS IN THAMES GROUP HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE/NEWHAM HEALTH DISTRICT - LONDON
HOSPITALS IN LEWISHAM HEALTH DISTRICT-LONDON
HOSPITALS IN DARTFORD AND GRAVESHAM HEALTH AUTHORITY-KENT
REFLECTIONS ON FIRST TWENTY YEARS IN THE NHS
CHAPTER 8 - PAYING BACK - COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
VOLUNTARY SERVICE - JUSTICE OF THE PEACE - MAGISTRATE
POLITICAL ACTIVITY - SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY
CHAPTER 9 - AT THE TROPIC OF CAPRICORN
BOTSWANA
CHAPTER 10 - WORKING WITH THE DIASPORA
BACK IN BLIGHTY
INDO-CARIBBEAN CULTURAL ASSOCIATION (ICCA)/INDO CARIBBEAN ORGANISATION
GUYANA MEDICAL RELIEF COMMITTEE/ GUYHEALTH (UK)
CHAPTER 11 - INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANCIES
AMONGST THE BELIEVERS - PAKISTAN
GIVING SIGHT TO THE DEVELOPING WORLD
FLYING TEACHING EYE HOSPITAL
CHAPTER 12 - NATIONAL CONSULTANCIES
IN ROBBIE BURNS COUNTRY SCOTLAND
DEVELOPING PRIMARY CARE SERVICES
CYRIL SWEETT - HEALTHCARE CONSULTANCY
CHAPTER 13 - BUILDING BETTER HEALTHCARE - FUTURE LEGACIES
SOUTHWEST LONDON AND ST. GEORGES -MENTAL HEALTH NHS TRUST -SPRINGFIELD HOSPITAL
THE PHOENIX UNIT
CANADIAN INVITATION - P21 PRESENTATION
FURTHER ESTATE DEVELOPMENTS
WANDSWORTH RECOVERY CENTRE
CHAPTER 14 - AWARDS/ROYAL INVITATIONS
NHS LONG SERVICE AWARD
INSTITUTE OF HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT - COMPANIONSHIP
ROYAL INVITATIONS
CHAPTER 15 - VOLUNTARY SERVICE OVERSEAS
IN THE LONG SHADOWS OF KILIMANJARO
MASASI, TANZANIA
HELPING HANDS ACROSS THE SEAS
GUYHEALTH (UK)
CHAPTER 16 - HEALTH BUILDINGS FRAMEWORKS FOR THE FUTURE
SPREADING THE MESSAGE - PRO CURE 21/P21+
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
GUYCON HEALTHCARE MANAGEMENT CONSULTANCY LIMITED
CHAPTER 17 - STRONGER ECONOMY, FAIRER SOCIETY GETTING ON IN LIFE
POLITICAL ACTIVITIES - LIBERAL DEMOCRATS
70 TH BIRTHDAY
EPILOGUE
PREFACE
Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny .
Mahatma Gandhi
The year is 1961. As a 17-year-old Indian-Guyanese boy I would leave the comfort of my tropical paradise multi-racial, multi-religious home, and head for the streets of London which I thought were paved with gold!
Imbued with a sense of excited anticipation and harbouring ambitions of becoming a lawyer, as an observant teenager I soon found out that they were NOT as I settled into bed-sit accommodation and embarked on a journey of discovery that would take me around the world.
Back in British Guiana, my place of birth, I had been told that Mother England was inhabited by decent, fair minded and friendly people who would welcome me and my colonial brothers with open arms. The British Empire wouldn t have been the greatest in the world without us - would it?
But over a period of more than half a century I would discover that issues of colour, race, religion, and culture were as divisive as they were cohesive. But in a twist of fate that led me to the top of my chosen profession, I somehow managed to escape the clutches of overt discrimination.
First career stop was the Royal Air Force where I spent nine years rising up the ranks of the medical administration branch. Just as I was considering applying to become an officer I switched sectors and joined the National Health Service. It was during this time that I led or became involved in many of the major re-organisational changes in the NHS (becoming the first person of Asian descent to be appointed to a Chief Administrator s post in a District Health Authority) including the run down and closing of the first and one of the largest Learning Disability Hospitals in England and moving patients into the community. I embraced British systems and techniques and started to promote them internationally.
I then became a healthcare management consultant and worked on many exciting and innovative projects abroad. Highlights included managing the building of new healthcare facilities to transform a small hospital into a National Referral Hospital in Botswana, strengthening healthcare structure and clinical services in Pakistan and being in charge of a flying teaching eye hospital which travelled to third world countries helping restore people s sight.
Returning to the NHS, firstly in Scotland to run down and close the last of the major Learning Disability Hospitals in that country (again moving the patients into local communities) and then to London to lead the building of two multi-million pounds national and international award winning state of the art facilities for mental health patients.
My life in public service extended to other areas - in particular politics, the magistracy and voluntary services in the UK and Tanzania. I regularly rubbed shoulders with the rich, the famous, the movers and shakers in society - including Royalty!
In Recycling a Son of the British Raj , I looked back on my life and assessed whether, as Gandhiji suggested, my values determined my destiny. I concluded, amongst other things, that major aspects of my life had been influenced by my affiliation and admiration of India - the spiritual home of my forefathers and the glorious civilisation that I was (and am) so proud to be a part of.
INTRODUCTION
These memoirs were started at the suggestion of various family members and friends who thought that my diversified professional and voluntary experiences of various aspects of life would be of direct interest to them (especially those scattered around the world) and a wide range of people I had been in contact with. It was also felt that, as I my roots were in British Guiana, a country to which the British Raj in India had systematically and controversially exported indentured labourers in the mid-19 th century (after slavery was abolished) my voluntary journey as a teenager to the United Kingdom (in particular England), acquisition of British culture and values and my subsequent promotion of those values to the sub - continent of my ancestors in India, Pakistan, and elsewhere where the British flag once flew, would be an excellent example of recycling and would also appeal to a wider readership.
The challenges that I had were many! I needed to record the experiences of my early life in British Guiana (and I have generally used this spelling in the first part of the book for authenticity changing over to the 1966 post independent spelling Guyana, now used by the country) as these were intertwined with my close family many of whom are named as they were direct descendants of indentured labourers from India. That they retained their culture and customs in a foreign environment and prospered in the country of their adoption were noteworthy achievements. A balance had to be struck between giving the reader brief background contextual information without turning the book into a full historical tome. There are many other academic and historical books in which these aspects are comprehensively covered.
The second challenge was that as the focus of the book was on my professional and voluntary work it was suggested that I should limit detailed references to my immediate family life, only recording those incidents which were directly relevant to a particular event or occurrence. Needless to say that my wife, Rookmini, and my two daughters, Nadia and Tara, were of direct support and comfort to me throughout my professional life and I acknowledge with gratitude their contributions to my achievements.
In my work I had met and interacted with a considerable number of people in all walks of life from Presidents and Prime Ministers to raw recruits from the Royal Air Force. All have, in