In reality, residence in Britain provides a platform for a recollection that spans decades, countries and insights, based on a rich mix of cultural interactions.   From birth place Suriname, founding years spent in Guyana, and onto Britain, Breinburg has travelled widely and achieved much, overcoming barriers that would have halted many.  Some of Dr Breinburg’s achievements include: teacher, published author, and recognised academic (educationalist and linguist).

This ability to succeed regardless of circumstances, and her will never to be seen as a 'victim', is well captured by the poem Forbidden Words (which features in the book):

Clip my tongue if you must
Seal my lips with nail strong and large
But my thoughts
Can not be sealed
My pen can be broken
But another its place will take

Smash my head
With rocks or stone huge and bold
But my thoughts
Will not be crushed
And through my pen shall flow
With powers will behold
For
Eternity

Poetry, however, isn’t the greatest asset of this book; the power of an incisive intellect combined with time, experience and reflection is most evident in Breinburg’s collected prose (essays and thought pieces).

The author tells us much about resolve in the face of personal obstacles - the emotional ‘sledge-hammer’ blow she was dealt on arriving in Britain to find that her husband had embarked on a new life with another woman, for example - and also, about the trails and tribulations that accompanied her own road to formal education; ultimately leading to her own academic prominence.

Through her writings, personal, thoughtful, political, the strength of Breinburg’s spirit to challenge conventions, and her willingness to speak with an individual voice is loud and clear.

'...it’s about time we had more research of the Black
community itself,'

she asserts at one stage; her breath of experience perhaps seeming to suggest that racism – power plus prejudice - can all too easily be siezed upon as an excuse for low personal expectations.

Ultimately, this is an informative, hopeful and positive book.

'It was not an easy ladder to climb...there were many
obstacles which I used as stepping stones...but I
survived...I’ve done it and so can everyone else!

Thoughts of a Creole Woman: A Reminiscence
PA Breinburg, (2007),
ISBN 0-9549992-2-3
Price £6.99 plus £2.03 P&P

Publisher: Petrojass Publications
PO box 27966 LONDON SE7 8WY
eMail: drop us a line and we'll pass it on


© Khome, 2007 (all rights reserved)

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