“You are never too old to study, it keeps the brain active and gives you a joy which no one can steal from you, because when you are sad and bored, you have so many things you can assign yourself to do.”
By Suraj Narine
In life, we often regret the opportunities that we would have let slipped by and would ponder what
Ms. Cornette posing with one of her creations.
our lives would had been like if only we had the courage to get up and answer the door when they came knocking.
Our Special Person this week, Margaret “Maggie” Cornette, has no regrets, she does not ponder about what she missed, simply because she grabbed opportunity by its collar and she taught it a lesson: that it should not mess around women like her – women who recognise the importance of a chance, of a shot to make their lives and the lives of their loved ones better.
From humble beginnings – ploughing through the ragged, uneven backlands, to mastering the world of Art and Craft; to conquering the local sport arena to becoming a Lance Corporal in the Army; from exploring this beautiful country of ours to teaching our natives; to inspiring our youths; to making a significant impact in our Creative Arts Industry, “Maggie” Cornette is in this case, a true “all rounder”.
At the age of 64, she graduated from the Burrowes School of Art as the second best graduating student and has affixed herself on a path to inspire and motivate everyone that she comes in contact with – especially the youths.
She also happens to be the proud owner of Maggie’s Craft, and is a living testament to the reality that one is never too old to learn.
Cornette now creates and sells her work and also teaches Art and Craft. She recently partnered with “Teacher Natasha” to hold a Beauty Pageant – Miss Summer Blaze – which is in its ninth consecutive year, and has received tremendous support from both Private and Public Sector organisations. She was also able to obtain scholarships for the top two winners of the pageant.
THE BACKDAM AND THE METEM POT
Some of Margaret Cornette’s creations on display at her store/school, ‘Maggie’s Craft’.
She was born on March 19, 1951 at the Suddie Hospital on the Essequibo Coast to Emmanuel Benn Bollers and Margaret Griffith from Dartmouth Village.
She attended St. Barnabas Anglican Primary School in Essequibo, and later migrated to the Capital City, Georgetown, where she attended Our Lady of Fatima Primary.
Memories of her childhood growing up in the country is centred around the times she spent with her mother, who, because of unfortunate circumstances, was a single parent that endured great pain so that her children could have an education.
She remembers most of all, the nine-mile walks into the Dartmouth Backlands with her mother where they would make metemgee under the trees as they reaped the ground provisions from the farm.
“The farm was very clean and my mom and her cousin, Iris, would look at the sun to know when to start packing up ground provisions to head back home. I used to ensure that I packed my basket with all the rosy water spice mangoes to take home and eat the metem (metemgee) that was left in the pot at the backdam, because that pot had to be left in the backdam for the next day. Oh! Those were the days I do not want to forget” she said.
On Saturdays, her mother would take her along with her twin sisters to the rice field to pluck duck weeds from between the rice plants. She remembers it being so peaceful and pure that the thought of just experiencing that once more has become a wish.
“I remember all the beautiful East Indian people who resided by Dredge Creek would call me Baba, because I was the smallest and their children would come to help us pull out the duck weeds from among the rice plants to avoid the suffocation (of the rice plants).
“I remember the sun was so hot one Saturday and my cousin, Derick and I were standing on
Presenting a prize to one of her students at St. Joseph High.
the long bridge over the creek and he wiped his forehead and said, “Maggie I would not like my children to go through this, so I have to take in my education and that was what really opened my eyes,”
SPORTS
Cornette then began dominating at school. However, she had a liking to sports. Maybe it was because of the nine-mile hike she often took with her mother. It was not long before the opportunity came where was allowed to participate in the National School Athletics Championships – where she was awarded Champion for the field events – and was selected by the principal of Chatham High, Swetnam Cornette, to attend his school to represent it at the Inter-school level.
Cornette was also one of the first set of female cricketers who left the shores of Guyana to represent in the triangular cricket tournament in Grenada in 1977 and then in Trinidad in 1998.
Despite knowing that she had a bright future in Sports, she kept her eyes open for any other opportunity that would surface and lo and behold, the Government of the day had sent a Chinese team to her village to enrol young people for a three-month brick laying course. She immediately enrolled, despite being a young woman and amidst the taunts that girls should not be laying bricks. She attended and at the end of it all, she obtained a Grade A, First Class Certificate which in turn enabled her to land a job at the then Ministry of National Mobilization.
ARTS AND CRAFT
Two months later, she returned home because she was homesick and was missing her mother. Though she had promised herself that she would only spend a few days, the days turned into weeks; weeks into months.
Temporarily shunning the then Garden City, she began mastering the art of pottery where she made mud animals with her sister, Dianne, as they worked tirelessly for many hours over the mud oven.
After graduating from Critchlow Labour College in 2006.
Cornette would later return to Georgetown where she wrote the College of Preceptors Examinations and passed five subjects.
She went back home sometime after because her mother had fallen ill and could not move around.
“I then joined the Women’s Auxiliary group in 1972 and the older women would teach what craft they knew. At home, my mom taught me to sew my clothes by my hand using neat back stitch until she bought a Nikki Sewing Machine and I was the first that learnt to use it.”
Her mother by then had recognised Cornette’s abilities and encouraged her to move back to the city to attend the Fredericks School of Home Economic. She was hesitant at first because she knew that she was leaving her mother but after being pressed to leave, she eventually did.
“It was a very sad parting but it was only for nine months. I made the best out of it. They taught me everything and I enjoyed it. After the end of the nine months, I graduated and returned home where I attended one of the best commercial institutes in Essequibo and obtained a job at the District office with my cousin, William Tyrell, who after two years, encouraged me not to stay there but to migrate to town to further develop myself. I did not leave then. After he died, I was transferred to the Regional Office as a typist. There I assisted the regional Supervisor and was later placed in charge of Sports and Culture as the Regional Secretary for that Committee.”
MILITARY
After serving a substantial amount of years at the Regional Office she left and joined the military because she felt that it was something she had to do to prove that she could conquer anything. In 1984, she enlisted in the Guyana Defence Force and three months later, she was assigned to the Air Corps where she underwent rigorous training. Months later, she left for the Colonel John Clarke Battle School at Tacama, Upper Berbice.
It was in the army that opportunity showed its beautiful face once more where she was granted permission to participate in the joint services sports in the heptathlon – a seven-discipline event – and earned herself a promotion as Lance Corporal.
One year after, she left the army to pursue a Diploma in Trichology, and began working at Ann’s Beauty Salon after graduation. She also started a class at her cousin Debbie’s Mentor/Benn’s Craft School, where she taught for many years.
TEACHING
In 1999, she moved to the back of South Ruimveldt and started teaching at Queenstown Junior Secondary School.
“There the Head Teacher and Deputy were very encouraging while some teachers would try to discourage the students not to do any craft because they cannot go and get any jobs knowing craft. But that did not stop me and the Head of Department of Social Studies insisted that I teach the fourth Formers in her department to make up the periods taught.”
“In 2002, I did the one-year Integrative Studies in Social Science course at Critchlow Labour College. I then applied to the Technical Lecturers’ programme which upon completion, I applied for a transfer to the St. Joseph High School, because I thought I needed the experience. Throughout my years there we were a family at the institution, they were also happy when a teacher is promoted there. Everyone always seeks to develop or encourage others to do so. I loved the children as my own and always will do.”
She retired after teaching for almost two decades.
“After retiring, I decided to do the three-year diploma programme at the Burrowes School of Art, which is now an institute of creative craft. It was not easy, for every so often, I miss my mom and always would ask myself why God had to take her home just after I completed my training. I know it would have been the happiest time for her, but her death is my motivation to never stop studying and never give up. I still hear her voice advising me what to do,” Cornette said.
She then signed up for a double major in textile and ceramics and a minor in leather at Burrowes and ‘by God’s grace’ she was announced the second best graduating student at the age of 64.
“You are never too old to study, it keeps the brain active and gives you a joy which no one can steal from you, because when you are sad and bored, you have so many things you can assign yourself to do.”
Cornette said that wherever she goes, she jumps at the opportunity to do things that can benefit her and she is always open to trying new things.
“Upon completion at Burrowes School of Art, I had this strong urge to dedicate myself to teach the Amerindians and being with Amerindians I feel at home, I feel free, pure and fresh; I feel that life that is worthwhile living. It is only my grandchildren…only the three of them and my dogs that bring me back to the city.”
ALL IN GOD’S PLAN
Cornette has a special connection to the people of Moruca in Region One although she never lived there. The connection she has developed with the community is because her grandmother, Christina Precious, grew up there.
“My whole life presently revolves around the people there, even though I do not live there. I believe that the lessons that I have learnt along my journey were all in God’s plan to prepare me for what I am doing now in this stage of my life.”
Presently, Cornette is doing as much as she can to empower the youth by imparting all the knowledge that she has attained.
“I don’t know when it is going to finish, but right now I’m drawn to every plant I see and I am investigating their scientific use by trying it on myself and my dogs. I love to experience in the newness of life and I do not like repetition. I believe everything is unique and I like to gaze in my own thoughts, losing myself in space.” She said with a smirk.
“I stop looking through the eyes of the flesh and believe in chatting with myself and I would start to laugh and people would want to know why and would ask ‘Why are you doing that Auntie Maggie?”. I love to love and do not care who do not love me, for life is precious; it is a gift from the Creator…I love so much that I do not think I have any place for hate. I am in my glory days where I cannot to get angry. It hurts the heart.”