THINGS THAT MATTER
“Lives of great men all remind us, we can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us, footprints on the sands of time.” (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)
Sir George Alleyne is without question a great man and a great alumnus of The University of the West Indies (UWI) whose gifts included not just
language but several languages, classical scholarship, brilliance in scientific research and writing, clinical medicine, teaching, public health, international development and administration, and oratory. And his splendid autobiography sets out those footprints he will leave on the sands of time, well ahead of his departure from this world, in which he’s made such a difference for so many people. Unlike Jaques, in Shakespeare’s play As you Like it, who divided man’s life into seven ages, Sir George has already had seven fruitful ages with hopefully several more to come. As was said of the great scientist J.B.S. Haldane, he’s made contributions in each of these ages “that would satisfy half a dozen ordinary mortals”.
The university hosted a splendid event on May 31 to launch “The Grooming of a Chancellor” at the Errol Barrow Centre for Creative Imagination. Professor Eudine Barriteau, Principal and Pro Vice Chancellor at Cave Hill said at the launch: “I welcome this opportunity to bask in the reflected glow of your collective literary achievements.” And in response to the Principal’s glowing tributes and entertaining analysis of the book, Sir George’s response demonstrated why he’s such a leader – humour, eloquence and above all sensitivity to the important issues.
Sir George is one of many important Barbadians of the twentieth century who were sons of primary school teachers and rose to eminence, imbued from childhood with a sense of duty, responsibility, ethical and religious principals and ambition. Others include Sir Grantley Adams, founder of the Barbados Labour Party and Prime Minister of the West Indies Federation, and Sir Courtney Blackman, first Governor of our Central Bank. Sir George’s story began in rural St. Philip, on October 7th, 1932, in a village with the impressive name Lucas Street, in a humble house he described as of wattle and daub construction – a dramatic link with slave ancestors, who lived in such homes over some two hundred years. The story of his journey to become Director of PAHO, UN special Envoy for HIV/AIDS and finally Chancellor of the UWI, is told with clarity and elegance, and just the right mix of facts and fun.
The events of his early years are recounted with nostalgia, sprinkled with memorable stories. For example, when granny died at 76, her mother Grand Nan, who lived to a venerable 106, said: “I knew I would never raise that child. She was always sickly.”
At 11, playing at boxing, he was struck in the left eye and went virtually blind. A delayed visit to the ophthalmologist resulted in a diagnosis of haemorrhage for which nothing could be done, resulting in a macular scar and only peripheral vision in that eye. One of his siblings joked years later that he’d done reasonably well in life with good vision in only one eye, and he might have done really well if he’d had good binocular vision … In fact, he continued to box seriously at school, resulting in the nick-name Champ, which unfortunately he doesn’t detail the exact origin of!
Barbadians will enjoy his account of school days at Harrison College and all UWI alumni will revel in his account of the early days of then University College of the West Indies. His decision, on winning the Barbados Scholarship in classics, to go to the College caused serious local consternation as he was the first Barbados Scholar to make this choice. The reason was his nascent West Indian nationalism. Twelve years later I faced the same opposition, but I went for the same reason, and I dare say that decision was the key to the rest of both our lives.
Chapter 2 is titled “Growing up in Jamaica and Becoming West Indian” and again it’s an evocation of a period in our lives, the development of Jamaica and the University that resonates for all who were part of this great institution in the first 20 years. It was in that period that he met and married Sylvan, a nurse at the University Hospital. He summarised the secret of his success as three stages in life - needing a lover in the first stage when the hormones are raging, a friend in the second, mature stage of life, and a nurse in the autumn of his days; and his wife of almost 60 years has been all three.
Chapter 3 describes his internship with Professor Sir Harry Annamunthado and Professor Eric Cruickshank (who described Champ to me as by far the best and brightest medical student he’d ever encountered), dramas of medical care at our old General Hospital, his postgraduate fellowship in London, and return to Jamaica.
Stage four was again life changing, when he was invited by the Father of Modern Medical Research in the Caribbean, Professor John Waterlow, to join his team in the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit at Mona, Jamaica – now expanded with three units at Mona and incorporating the George Alleyne Chronic Disease Research Centre in Barbados, and the whole Institute renamed The Caribbean Institute for Health Research. His research on metabolism in malnutrition was cutting edge, and in this phase of his research leadership I was offered a research elective in his lab. He taught me to cannulate the aorta of rats and many other things, and I could write a book about the long days and nights in the lab. That was fifty years ago, almost to the day of writing this column; it was life changing for me.
Chapter 5 describes stage five – appointment as Professor of Medicine – the first UWI alumnus appointed to the post. Many of us in that turbulent political period in Jamaica would have enjoyed much more on those years. They occupied only a dozen pages packed with stories and achievements, including his model fund raising scheme to build a large modern building, shared between departments of Medicine and Obstetrics. Sir George was awarded the Sir Arthur Sims Commonwealth Travelling Professorship in 1977 and was hosted by my boss Sir Christopher Booth while I was working at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School in London. I was proud to hear such a magnificent lecture “from my boss back home”.
Chapters 6 to 10 give a fascinating account of his “International Odyssey” – leaving Jamaica reluctantly to join the Pan American Health Organisation, being elected / appointed Director in 1995 and reappointed for a second term in 1999. His and PAHO’s many achievements under his tenure, including eradication of polio from the region, are modestly chronicled, and his many brilliant speeches across the region – many in Spanish – are documented in two published volumes. He tells the story of the efforts to have him elected as Director of the World Health Organisation, and the political machinations that altered the course of events, resulting in his surprising defeat in the secret ballot.
Sir George returned to the University in many ways, eventually appointed Chancellor in 2003 – a role he took seriously; the title of his autobiography “The Grooming of a Chancellor” indicates the importance he attached to it. The challenges and opportunities in our Caribbean situation meant a balance had to be struck in presiding over what is essentially the largest “mega company” in the Caribbean.
In his two terms totalling 14 years, Sir George has shaken hands with some seventy-five thousand graduates. His reputation as a brilliant raconteur was enhanced every year. A graduate once said to him “Chancellor, I shook your hand when I got my first degree. When I receive my master’s degree tomorrow, may I hug you?” He demurred: “I would rather you did not, as I’m concerned about what you will suggest when you receive your PhD.” These gems add spice to the many lessons about medicine and research, higher education, public health, administration, our unique university, our West Indian-ness and our values in life. What is consistently clear is that the theme of West Indian nationalism has guided his life from student to Chancellor.
So who should read this book? UWI alumni, and everyone in the Caribbean and the Americas, who is working in a medical field or interested in health and well-being and how to achieve it.
Professor Fraser is Past Dean of Medical Sciences, UWI and Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Clinical
Website: profhenryfraser.com