The Umana Yana

In the month we celebrate the aboriginal people of Guyana the tragic destruction of the Umana Yana by fire on September 9 was an unfortunate blow to the heritage and celebration of Amerindian Heritage Month, Guyanese history and our culture.

Many were shocked. The news exploded across online news services with ‘shares’, pictures and posts scattered across social networking sites. While many lamented for the loss of a national monument it was alarming to see a picture of a group of people posing in front of the blazing edifice, smiling as if it was a bonfire celebration.

The Umana Yana, which translates to ‘meeting place of the people’ holds significance for us all as a nation. It was built in 1972 as a lounge and conference centre to host the
foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement – just around 100 delegations from across the world had visited Georgetown for a summit.

Architecturally, the Umana Yana was a marvel. A benab of that size it was a unique building unfamiliar to foreign eyes, unfamiliar to city dwellers. It was as if someone took a huge conical chunk from the hinterland and set it down in the capital. Where else in the world today would you see a benab of its unique style and size sitting in a city with towering modern buildings around it?

The Umana Yana somehow connected our local heritage to the world, it connected two different times, the history of Guyana with our modern progression and to the people it meant so much.

Up until September 9, the building had served as an exhibition hall, a conference centre, a restaurant, a lounge, a community centre, a heritage hall, a cultural centre, a performing arts stage, an art gallery and so much more. The Umana Yana was perhaps the most culturally iconic building in the city, truly a meeting place where Guyanese acted, sang, read poetry, ate and talked about myriad matters under its thatched roof.

Some 60 Wai Wai tribesmen from the hinterland had been brought to build it and it stood there for decades, throughout the rains and dry weather, floods and droughts, winds and gales – 55 metres high and almost 5,000 sq ft of thatched allibanna and manicole palm leaves, and wallaba posts lashed together with mukru, turu and nibbi vines.

Now it is gone.

Why I say this now is because it is definitely startling to know that such a monument has been burned to ashes and some of us are quite nonchalant about it. Am I making a big deal out of this? I certainly hope so because it frustrates me to see that I am living in a state that is devalued by the citizens who walk around with no pride in anything.

I have said this time and time again and it is something I believe to my very core. We have lost our pride in our country, our sense of nationality, and of being. This is what makes us long to migrate or give up on our own country. It is because of this that we are unable to fight for ourselves and our communities. We are becoming hollow beings and when that happens we lose hope.

Never let us walk down that road. I pray for the youths, I pray for myself and those of my ilk that we never give up hope; that we do not just watch life pass by, but cling to the remainder of Guyana and help build a country that those before us dreamed of, but failed to accomplish because of lack of cooperation and misguided visions.

And let us pray too that the Umana Yana is rebuilt quickly and in the same place where it can stand as a symbol of hope for all of us. (Jairo Rodrigues)