Dear Editor,
I had occasion to visit Kumaka/ Mabaruma last week and wish to request the government and its responsible ministries to look into and resolve the issues raised. Transportation to get to Kumaka, is the first major issue. The primary issues are inadequate facilities, overcrowding/size of vessel (MV Kimbia), extremely late departure, conditions under which passengers have to travel, and the extraordinarily long time it took to reach Kumaka.
Scheduled to leave at 3:00 pm last Saturday, March 23, wharf staff were busy loading and packing the ferry way past 8:30pm until its final departure at around 9:10 pm (this could quickly be addressed by loading the vessel earlier). This meant that many of the passengers travelling from all around had to wait between 9 and 12 hours for final departure, incurring thousands of dollars in additional expenses feeding and looking after their children and families, including a few elderly folks. It was obvious the ferry was overcrowded, inclusive of elderly persons, children, infants and real water-babies (unable to creep as yet). The seating area was absolutely congested, exacerbated by the amount of goods passengers were allowed as carry-on luggage, numerous boxes and heavily packed 100 pound bags piled along the front of the seating area. It is important to note here that the problem is not that too many passengers or too much luggage was allowed on board, but that the MV Kimbia clearly did not have the capacity, and given the full 24 hours taken to arrive at Kumaka, nor the facilities, and is clearly unfit to shuttle infants, children and the elderly. The MV Kimbia therefore must and should immediately be replaced by one of the much larger vessels which ply the Parika-Supenaam route, with possible consideration given for another trip scheduled during the week to accommodate cargo and transportation demands of the Kumaka/Mabaruma residents.
Settling down to sleep for the night (the trip lasted just around 24 hours, with the ferry arriving at Kumaka after 21:00hrs Sunday night), families spread blankets and bedding and made themselves comfortable on the floor while those able and who did bring hammocks, slung these up over the seats of the ferry. (I counted around thirty on the way back.) Persons took up space lying down between the rows of seats, in the aisles, anywhere they could find space to lay down. There was absolutely no personal space. Spending some time in the jungle myself, I took to the front of the ferry next to the vehicles, but was driven back inside by the cold. Making my way past the door, past the boxes and bags packed all through to the main section and stepping over a few persons, I stopped and rested my bucket at the feet of a sleeping child, looked at everyone spread all over the floor of the ferry, and resigned to sitting inside the door. Getting sleepy enough, I headed back to the front of the vessel and slept as best as I could for the rest of the morning.
I here wish to commend all staff on board, who through years of experience seemed to have received special training from the Guyana Tourism Authority. They remained in complete control, unfazed, and accommodating of everything that was unfolding before them for the duration of the trip. This seemed the most normal, routine thing to them. Persons who were manning the snackette on-board the ferry can attest to everything here.
The main point here is that given large number of children and infants along with elderly folks who have mobility issues, 12-24 hours is way too long to spend aboard a congested area as the one described.
The second larger issue is the absolute disregard paid to residents of Kumaka/Mabaruma with specific emphasis on the dismal treatment and conditions of Amerindians in the area. If one is to use the condition of the Amerindian Hostel as an example, then the conclusion is a testament of neglect to the point of reinforcing poverty and underdevelopment of Amer-indians. I was reminded of the movie Apocalypto where you were forced to watch the insane savagery and violence on-screen unable to do anything. What I saw and what has apparently been transpiring at the Mabaruma Amerindian Hostel and to people of Amerindian descent amounts to economic debauchery of the worst kind and it is something the current administration needs to immediately address.
To dramatize the condition of the Amerindian people in the area, every day around four to six young ladies, two or three teenagers among them, some of whom would have one or two children with them, would proceed to take up their special spot just off the road along the Mabaruma waterfront, north of the main road leading out to Mabaruma Settlement, Hosororo, etc. Appearing mostly unkempt, they sit there for the most of the day, occasionally nursing the younger children, apparently it seems, begging, every day creating the perfect United Nations photo of poverty and underdevelopment of Amerindians in Guyana.
Families, water-babies, sleep on beds spread on the concrete a mere few feet from the semi-swamp the Regional Administration has maintained in the compound of the Amerindian Hostel. On the eastern/southern end of the swamp are a number of structures put up by persons desperate for long term accommodation, who have not been provided for by the Administration. The main access to the Hostel is via an approximate 150-200-meter walkway which was rehabilitated across various sections up to the entrance of what is the duck pond of the compound of the Amerindian Hostel. The remainder of the walkway into the Amerindian Compound/duck pond mirrors the deliberate, willful neglect of the Regional Administration, is unlit at night and in a state of utter disrepair to the point of endangering unwary persons, with one section broken for close to 15 feet, forcing users to step down and walk on precariously placed boards on the lower frame of the walkway. I was fortunate that this was dry season.
The solution for the condition of the Hostel is simple: utilize the space provided by the swamp to build additional accommodation and accompanying sanitary facilities. If by western standards Amerindians are considered to be living in poverty, then I propose that all adult Amerindians be provided with houselots and simple starter homes which they have the option to pay for and own for a nominal fee to be paid at their discretion. Additionally, provision of basic education and clothing inclusive of adequate foot-wear and family planning are critical, essential to avoid their womenfolk being trapped with motherhood at an early age.
The last major issue requiring immediate attention is the absence of running water in the homes of Mabaruma and surrounding communities, something which I was made to understand has been going on for close to three years. If a few residents were able to solve this problem by drilling and sourcing water for themselves, weather conditions aside, there is absolutely no reason which the responsible engineers can produce not to have already long ago provided a solution to such an issue. I was made to understand residents are being forced to buy tanks at around $50,000 each and pay $5,000 every four to five days to fill their tank, depending on size of the family, amounting to a loss of $25,000-$35,000/month per family in other needed items.
For the purposes of fairness, I invite President Irfaan Ali, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, other ministers of government to board the MV Kimbia on its next scheduled visit to Kumaka, to visit the Amerindian Hostel walking the walkway into the compound of the Amerindian Hostel, to consider the conditions under which residents there are forced to live. And if the President, Mr. Jagdeo and other ministers, don’t think that they can live in the Hostel, then they should know that Amerindian residents can’t also.
Yours faithfully,
Craig Sylvester