November 11, 2025
Gripped by Guyana with Merle Kindred
Gripped by Guyana: A Memoir of Purpose and Adventure is a book written by Merle Kindred about her work in Guyana. Merle was a senior Cuso International volunteer who spent two six-month postings during 2017-18. She worked in Georgetown, the capital, and in isolated Indigenous villages in the interior. Her mandate was to clear a path for Guyanese partners’ development dreams in agriculture, ecotourism, and technology.
In Guyana, a small, struggling country on the northeast coast of South America, Kindred found herself and the Guyanese balancing modern pressures and temptations with traditional beliefs and practices. She quickly realized that Guyanese development was, and continues to be, influenced by urgent climate concerns, a massive offshore oil discovery, and a government mandate to preserve the remaining eighty percent of its rain forest. Her life overflowed with successes and misfortunes, humour and the humdrum.
You can order Merl’s book through Amazon.ca or you can buy it directly from her for $20 cash at the presentation.