P.O.Box 360744, Decatur, GA 30036, USA email: information@gaog.org Type of payment Membership DuesDonationsEvent Tickets Event New MembershipExisting MembershipDonation To Tea PartyDonation To Scholarship FundDonation To Memorial Wk-EntDonation To Assoc Gen FundAnniversary Dance TicketsTea Party TicketsIndependence Dance TicketsSpecial Event Tickets

2008 BOARD OF DIRECTORS President Philip Andrews 770-785-7671 Vice-President Orrin Marshall 770-638-9189 Treasurer Herbert (Herby) Adams 404-406-3497 Secretary Austin Thompson 678-243-5940 Asst. Secretary- Treasurer Donna DeGroot  770-788-0056 TRUSTEES   Juanita Benjamin Waveney Coppin Marilyn Farley-Thompson   FitzStephen Griffith Claire Wilson-Daly     Parliamentarian    Adolph Farley-Thompson COMMITTEE CHAIRS Social/Membership Gail Lyte 770-465-1548     Economic Finance       Communication Albert Massay     Education      Community Outreach       Youth & Culture Verdine Benn 678-610-1095     Webmaster Sandra Mason     Auditors Mohill  Accounting Services

The Guyana Association of Georgia Inc. is a non-profit organization formed in 1991. Its mission is "to provide an organized association, willing, disciplined and motivated to serve Guyanese at home and abroad, and the community as a whole".
 

Its vision is "to have an organization of excellence; committed to continuous improvement, dedicated to serve our native land, our members and the community".

The Association acts as a channel for disseminating information on social issues, national, regional, local government and economics. Its main purpose is to design, implement and establish an educational link with all peoples, and to help promote unity among Guyanese-Americans and their community.

Funding for GAOG comes from membership dues, fundraising activities, sponsorship and donations.

The association is governed by its members who elect a Board of Directors consisting of eleven officers: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretary-Treasurer and six Trustees. The executive board is elected to office for one year. Its members can serve in the same office for a maximum of two consecutive terms. Each member of the Board of Trustees serves a term of three years. The 11-member Board manages the Association and adopts policies and procedures for its benefit.

Guyana is 83,000 square miles in area and is located on the northeastern shoulder of the South American continent. The Atlantic Ocean stretches for 270 miles along the coast of Guyana; this vast area extends into the interior for a further 450 miles. Guyana borders on Venezuela in the west, Brazil in the south, and Suriname in the east.

The climate in Guyana is hot but pleasant for most of the year, particularly in the coastal belt, which is cooled by the sea breeze. The average temperature ranges between 75°F and 87°F The rainy season occurs in May and June, and then again in December and January, with an average annual rainfall of 91 inches.

The name Guyana is derived from an Amerindian word meaning 'land of many waters'. The area of the Guianas, defined by the Orinoco, Amazon, and Rio Negro rivers and the Atlantic Ocean, is believed to have been settled before 900 AD by Warrau Indians and later by the Arawak and Carib tribes. However, there is no evidence from these times of a very advanced civilization.

Sir Walter Raleigh's voyage in 1595 and his subsequent book on the riches of Guyana did much to stimulate interest in the area. The French and English, as well as the Dutch, laid claim to the region in the 17th century, and it was settled in separate areas by the three nations - the Dutch colonies being located in what is now Guyana.

From 1781 onwards British influence became increasingly evident, but it was not until 1814 that the colonies of Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice were finally ceded to Britain, while the Courts of Policy and Combined Courts - the legislative and executive bodies created by the Dutch - remained in operation under British rule for another century. In 1831 the three colonies merged to become British Guiana.

The territory gained its independence on May 26, 1966 and became a Republic on February 23, 1970.

The original inhabitants of the territory were Amerindians. However, to meet the labour needs of the plantation economy, slaves were brought in large numbers during the 18th and early 19th centuries from West Africa to work on the cotton and sugar plantations. When slavery was abolished in 1834 the former slaves refused to work for their former masters, even for wages. They left the plantations and established their own village communities.

Immigrants were therefore brought in to work, first from Europe (Germany, Malta, and Portugal), then from China, and eventually in large numbers from India. Today the country's population reflects its immigrant history - Africans, East Indians, Chinese, Portuguese, Europeans. Amerindians - a fascinating mix of all these races - living side by side.

For more on Guyana, check out the Guyana Outpost website.

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