Deep within the southern rainforest of Guyana a centuries old culture and a modern way of life meet and mingle in the Wai-Wai community of Masakenari.
In the remote village, hundreds of miles from the capital, Georgetown ancient ways and modern technology exist side-by-side. In their relatively pristine environment residents catch fish using bows and arrows, hunt wild animals and farm and live as they did ages ago. There too, solar panels for electricity are evident, villagers’ access running water from pipes and several own television sets and watch movies on DVD players.
To get around they walk or use their canoes and there are a couple of boats with engines too. Most of their supplies from the “outside” come by airplane, otherwise they are capable of ‘living off the land’ and they do. To get the supplies to the community, located some distance away from the dirt airstrip, they fetch the supplies on their backs. Leaving the community to get to the more populated Rupununi savannahs involves a trip, several days long, of walking and paddling. In contrast with the coastland, where the ‘mighty’ Essequibo pours into the sea, here that river is not very wide but it is turbulent during the rainy season and very low during the dry.
Isolated, forest encircled, mountain surrounded, Masakenari looks very much like a traditional Wai-Wai village. Seen from the air the brown thatched roofs appear to be clinging desperately to the scarred hillside where it nestles. The tiny village mars the unbroken blanket of trees yet appears at home. It is as if it has a right to be there. The seemingly unending canopy of rainforest that shroud the land has been the focus of scientific attention because of its pristine state and remarkable bio-diversity.
It is likely to remain that way as last Wednesday an agreement that commits the 625,000 hectares owned by the Region Nine village for conservation was signed. It is Guyana’s first community owned conservation area (COCA).
For residents, keen on protecting their way of life and who also want development for themselves and their community, the plan was described as ‘alright’.
Several residents said that the community has already seen some development with the provision of jobs.
In an interview with the village chief, Cemci Suse, this newspaper was told that since partnering with conservation group, Conservation International (CI) his people had been afforded job opportunities. Several have been trained as rangers and residents mentioned the provision of “short-jobs”. A ‘short-job’ mentioned was “draggers”. This was explained as someone who fetched items for visitors. This was observed firsthand as on arrival at the airstrip, the supplies brought were quickly and efficiently off-loaded by young men, who then placed the items in traditional warishis (local baskets similar to backpacks) to fetch on their backs. They then quietly and quickly disappeared into the forest.
Apart from that, persons are employed when visitors arrive as communicators, guides, cooks and generally helping the visitors. Suse said there were other jobs such as record-keepers, craft teachers and persons also engage in the making of craft for sale.
The village chief said the village was assisted by donors also and several projects in the community such as a Women Activity Centre were funded by donors. Suse said in seeking help for projects, the village would have to provide estimates which a lot of times would be forwarded to CI. He said that some of the jobs in the community were paid for either by the village fund or they would have to “write to donors to ask for assistance. What we cannot afford to buy, zinc, nails, we have to go to donors.” he stated. He noted that items like the solar panels and the water pump were provided by donors but villagers also made their own contribution.
It was stated that the main problem in the village was the difficulty in accessing it. “The main problem is a lack of transportation, no roads,” the village chief said. He noted that the things the community need come from Lethem and CI helped in this regard and “anything we want we go through them”.
The difficulty in accessing the village was underscored as Suse stated that the health centre there had to grapple with the problem of running out of medicine. While there, incessant coughing was heard throughout the visit. Almost every resident seemed to be suffering from cold. At one home, a man and his wife who appeared to be very ill lay in their hammocks. Their son said that his parents had been sick for quite a while. Suse said that occasionally a medex visited the community and replenished their supply, but such visits were sporadic. “Anytime we short of medicine, we does phone to CI, that is the only way we get some help, some drugs,” he stated. He said that malaria was a problem too especially in the dry season. “The dry season when the river run so dry, they [mosquitoes] attack us so much.” He noted that when medicines run out the only alternative is traditional medicine. “That is the only thing we can do, use some wild bush as medicine.” He stated that the traditional medicines usually work.
Meantime, apart from a tiny village store, that sells such item as salt, there is no shop. A teacher said it was difficult to get clothes there though at the women’s activity centre clothing is made, but mostly for school.
On COCA, Suse expressed his pride noting that it was the only one in Guyana. He said that the agreement would allow for the sustainable use of resources by the villagers and fishing and hunting in the traditional way would continue but there would be certain times at which this could be done. Suse said this would not curtail his people catching fish for sale in surrounding communities but would ensure that it was done in a sustainable manner. On the issue of others coming to the community to do so, he noted that they would first have to get permission from the village council and there would be a quota set. He declared if that person exceeded that quota, they would be fined and rangers would be monitoring them to ensure that the rules were obeyed.
Suse also lamented the fact that while youngsters could speak their language, they are not now able to read in their native Wai-Wai language and he spoke of bringing it back into the school.
He expressed confidence that tourists and researchers would visit the community and declared that the village was “aiming for achievement”.
Meanwhile, chatting with villagers it was revealed that some problems had been encountered with the solar panels and the batteries. It was stated that while lights were used, the batteries were at times over-charged, damaging them and some no longer worked. One man said that several solar panels in the village were not working and they could not fix them.
Residents spoke too of relatives leaving the area to look for jobs. “It’s changing,” was the observation of one man who said that people seem to have a desire to acquire “more things”. The man said that his family had migrated to Brazil and he was the only one left.
On how they expected the establishment of the conservation area to impact their lives some said that while they would still be able to fish it would be on a small scale “not like before”. Several expressed hope that more tourists would visit the area. Suse had said that traditional mining would be allowed to continue and on this point, some noted that the permission of the council would now have to be sought. Some said that they had relatives who left the area and went to mining areas within Guyana to work.
Masakenari, which this reporter was told meant ‘mosquito place’, with it 204 residents, appears to be a peaceful place. The Wai-Wai nation which has title to over a million acres of land there, which was committed for conservation purposes are confident that their forest will be preserved. Rodrigues had promised that it would be among the first included when legislation is enacted to establi
sh a National System of Protected Areas. CI has pledged too its continued involvement with the community.
In welcoming the team on Wednesday, a song with the words ‘it’s beautiful with blue Mountains’ was sung to describe the area. It seemed apt.
The area with its unpolluted rivers, virgin rainforest and a variety of wildlife has already been the site for the discovery of new species of wildlife, previously unknown to the modern world. It likely has many more waiting to be found.
In a world that is increasingly focusing on global warming and the resultant effects, the community has more than contributed its share.
