GSMP RUPUNUNI PROGRESS REPORT:

2^ND UPDATE 31/03/99

Tuesday, 30^th of March. After only a few hours sleep, we got up today at 4.15 in the morning to go to the house of Lynette, in St Ignatius, intending to film the sunrise and some daily morning activity. The view was beautiful: the house, a traditional clay brick Wapishana house with an ite-palm- thatched roof sits on a hill below the lush Kanuku mountains, overlooking the family’s garden and a line of palm trees. Unfortunately, it was quite overcast and the colours were not as spectacular as we had hoped, but nevertheless it was well worth it. You can see photographs of the team filming around the house, as Lynette was making a fire to cook breakfast and her children were playing and looking at us with great interest in the yard.

Two hours later, we went back to the hotel, craving coffee and something to eat. Some of us (those who do not carry the position of team-chiefs!) were fortunate to have some more time to rest, while Ray and Terry went to the Regional Administration offices and the police station in Lethem in order to sort out required permits. In theory, anybody that wishes to visit and work in Amerindian communities must obtain permission from the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, which in practice does less than it should in representing Amerindian interests. Quite surprisingly though, Ray and Terry were lucky today, as they encountered a sympathetic Regional Vice Chairman who issued their permits in a relatively short amount of time.

The team also visited the Rupununi Weavers Museum, which constitutes an important component of the Rupununi Weavers’ project by ensuring that all information relating to the weaving of Wapishana hammocks is well documented and safely stored. Our camera and sound men (Ray, Jurgen and Sherwin) filmed among other things, beautiful Wapishana hammocks, different weaving designs that have been collected, Amerindian artifacts, including a variety of baskets, bows and arrows, pots, and balata figures (balata is a latex that is extracted from the balata tree and is used by Amerindians to make animal figures and reproduce Amerindian life scenes). You can also see images of the team working in the museum earlier today.

After lunch, we all went back to St Ignatius and interviewed Roxanne, the village chief’s daughter (touchau in Lingua Geral). Roxanne told us about the life and difficulties of Amerindian women and the different women group’s initiatives which have been established in the community in order to improve the lives of women and their families.

Rather than giving a descriptive account of what she told us, we thought that we could tell you her story as she told it to us:

"Life for we, Amerindian women, has become more difficult over the past years. Every day we need more money to buy clothes for the children, food-stuffs and soap, but there is very little employment. So, young people are going to work in Brazil and this makes it difficult for the people who stay in the village. One of our problems is teenager pregnancy. Many young girls are having children but no husbands to help them bring the children up, so they have to stay with their parents and this means we need more money to feed the children. This puts more pressure in families that are already poor. Another problem is that many people have stopped or lost interest in farming and it is difficult for we, women, to work alone in our farms. Drinking has also become a very big problem for the community. Many men are drinking too much and they get into fighting and beating up their wives. Just a few days ago, a young man was killed by someone who was drunk, for no reason at all. This makes us all very sad. So, no employment and drinking is resulting in no cooperation within the village. This makes us also very sad. But we, women, are trying to do things to improve our lives. We have, for example, formed a farming group, because we realized that working together makes the work easier. We are happy with our communal farming, but we have no transportation. Our farms are 17 and more miles away from our homes, so we need transportation to bring our food-crops to the village market. We also have a problem with water during the dry season. In the future, we hope to get a reliable supply of water for our farms. It is good that we, women are taking action to make things better for us and our families. There are also women who are learning weaving, craft-making and sewing. We are trying to make our own mosquito nets to protect us and our children from malaria, which is especially a problem for us during the rainy season, but many women have no money to buy the material. Life is hard for us, Amerindian women, but we are doing things to make our lives better. We feel however that we need help, and we hope that other people and organisations can help us with our most immediate needs, like for example, providing material to make mosquito nets".

As you can see from Roxanne’s account on the situation of women and their families, the life of Amerindian people is by no means easy. One of our project aims is to communicate the situation and needs of Amerindian communities to an audience as broad as possible, so that together, we can find potential solutions and ultimately persuade individuals and organisations to contribute with donations for the benefit of these peoples. In order for you to put faces to these people’s stories, we have enclosed photographs of Roxanne and her family, who received us with immense warmth and made us feel at home during the whole time that we spent working with them.

Well guys, we are waiting for some final logistic arrangements to be fixed, but if every thing goes as planned, we are off to Karanambo ranch tomorrow morning. Here, we will discover the exciting history of one of the most famous ranches in Guyana that has recently become an eco-tourism and conservationist resort. Diane McTurk, the owner of the ranch, has long established a giant-otter conservation program. We are looking forward to swim in the river with these gracious animals, and tell you more about it in our next report. Until then, we hope you enjoy the reading!