Sebai is a riverine community in the Matarkai sub-district of Region One, Barima-Waini. It is situated on the Port Kaituma River, twenty-two miles from the township. The community is home to more than six hundred Amerindians… Arawaks, Caribs and Warraus. They are farmers, mostly, cultivating cash crops including ginger, plantains, beans, and ground provision. Bitter cassava is a ‘big deal’ here. Cassava bread and casareep are the trademarks of the community’s agro-processing prowess. The farmers and agro-processors sell their produce at the Port Kaituma waterfront. Farming apart, fewer numbers of the residents make a living fishing and harvesting timber.
It seems that this has been their way of life from time immemorial. If it is not as though there are signs of a connection between Sebai and urban-type development, there is evidence, much of it, that, like other hinterland communities, Sebai, still lagging some distance behind, is on a protracted mission of playing catch-up.