Growing up in Capoey, a small Amerindian village in Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), life was simple: there was the spanning Capoey Lake, the peaceful skies, the expansive forest, and the love for it all. The choice then for Sara Henry to work within nature was also simple.
“There was always a sense of the larger-than-life importance of the natural environment, specifically related to our freshwater lake and the forest,” Henry said. “I often joke that I could’ve been an archaeologist, but even if I was, I’d still be outdoors.”
It was in 2009, however, when Guyana launched its first Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS), establishing a vision for inclusive, sustainable development that Henry really started to give serious thought to exploring the environmental field. Radio and TV programs were inundated with messages of the Government’s plans to advocate for development while maintaining the country’s forests to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change, and Henry found herself wondering what this meant or did not mean for communities like hers.
Her interest in nature led her to undertake an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies at the University of Guyana, and an eventual job as a Senior Planning and Monitoring Officer at the Protected Areas Commission (PAC).
Yet, after five years of working at the PAC, Henry recognized her capacity gaps and the need to pursue further education if she were to continue being useful in her field of work.
“I wanted to have a better understanding of the global context of biodiversity conservation, and be able to contrast what works where and why, and therefore how and what improvements can be made here at home,” Henry said.
She added that she also sought a better understanding of the academic underpinnings of governance and decision-making, and reconciling that with how conservation has unveiled itself in our landscape.
As luck would have it, shortly after, she came across an advertisement on LinkedIn for the Ireland Fellows Programme Scholarship. The one-year master’s level programme, available to those within Small Island Developing States (SIDS), was designed to equip early- to mid-career professionals with a quality education from a higher education institution (HEI) in Ireland free of cost.
Fully funded with a selection of climate and environmental courses across all Irish universities, it was perfect, Henry thought. The one-year application process entailed a preliminary screening application and a detailed application and interviews, after which Henry was accepted and ready to travel halfway across the world to her new home for a year in September 2021.
Henry found her place within the Environmental Leadership programme at the University of Galway.
“Everyone was so friendly and helpful, there wasn’t ever hostility towards me as an international student, be it in the city or at the university. All of my interactions with professors were positive, and as hungry as I was to learn from them, they were curious and respectful of my perspectives and work experiences,” Henry said.
Her personal interactions with her course director, Dr Gesche Kindermann, and her Marine Planning and Policy Professor Dr Liam Carr were what Henry considers the most uplifting. They both built her confidence in her ability to make a future meaningful contribution to this field, and even beyond the scope of Guyana.
“When people such as these believe in you, the imaginary limits to your abilities dispel like a candle lit on a dark night,” Henry remarked.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic limited the range of in-person networking and intercultural events the programme typically offers, Henry was able to meet her classmates and immerse in Irish culture for the first time at a dinner coupled with Irish river dance performances on St. Patrick’s Day in March 2022.
“I was able to meet fellows from different corners of the world,” Henry said. “The main skill reinforced was to keep an appetite and attitude through active listening; to learn of the cultures, and be able to share our Guyanese culture as well.”
Perhaps what was most intriguing to Henry was the experience of race dynamics in Ireland and within her programme. “Obviously I was a non-Irish, non-white person, but also I did not tick the box for African, Indian, Chinese, or any of the major global ethnicities. On a multicultural stage such as what exists in Galway city where I lived, people don’t know, or particularly care until they meet you, about where you’re from; but, from the outside, naturally associate you with some part of the world, based on your ethnicity,” she said.
“No one had ever heard of an Amerindian, and frankly did not care. I found this refreshing, and rather than focusing only on that aspect of the Guyanese culture, most times I had to keep my explanations about Guyana at the macro level,” Henry said.
She explained that few people she met in Ireland had even heard of Guyana, and her packaged introduction related to her home country’s geography in South America, its connection with Caribbean culture, English is the mother tongue, the six main ethnicities it held, and that she could not claim to be representative of how a ‘true’ Guyanese looks.
“During this year, I was first a Guyanese girl, then an Amerindian girl; and I found this fascinating and a stark contrast to living in Georgetown,” she said.
Having graduated from the University of Galway in November 2022, Henry now works as a freelance conservation consultant, as she decides on her full-time role. She also volunteers with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) United Nations Small Grants Programme, where she works with civil society groups to develop proposals to solve environmental issues and improve the wellbeing of local people.
“After an intense year, it felt great to take a relatively slower pace,” Henry has said.
She intends to use the knowledge and skills she developed during the fellowship to improve the efficiency of systems in Guyana, particularly taking into consideration one of the modules she explored on the roles of communities, non-governmental organizations, private sectors, and governments in environmental conservation.
The main takeaway from her experience in Ireland is that she should continue to keep an open mind to new academic perspectives, cultures and adventures, and to be able to reconcile new learnings with existing knowledge as she continues to evolve her worldview.
“A positive and confident mindset is also key to success,” Henry has said.
“This does not mean the absence of fear and hesitancy due to uncertainty, but a resolution of making it work and finding solutions. This is the resolve that carried me through.”
