Time was when the MV Kimbia docked at Kumaka once every fortnight. For the residents there that was an event in itself. It meant that an important social and commercial lifeline between the coast and Region One, and more particularly, Mabaruma, was still intact.
The arrival of the vessel would bring scores of people to the waterfront. It was a matter of gathering information on the types of goods that the boat had brought and determining whether packages of one sort or another had been sent by relatives and friends on the coast.
There is something worrying about the near complete dependence of remote interior communities on the periodic arrival of a vessel from Georgetown laden with most of the consumer goods upon which the community depends. Much could happen on the trip to its distant destination and when the vessel arrives there is a