Indigenous lives, my life in Guyana 2026

Kàzak melu, Kato, Region 8 (part of pic from Rhea Loo)

 

Anna Iles (1960 - 2026) was a very kind woman who generously supported people in their work. She had praised my blogs many times, especially those around mental health. Anna is in my mind as I write this.

Indigenous lives 

Reporter asked me why I was supporting the Amerindian Peoples Association -organised protest.

I mumbled nonsense because I could not find the words which would say that the lives lost in the MV Barima, -  in the Mahdia Dorm Fires of 2023, in the suicides, mining violence, other violence, other injustices to the Indigenous communities used to be distant from mine until I re-learned they are connected to mine. 

Learning 

Burnham's 1980s social studies curriculum taught me that there were six races. 

Orlando De Jesus from the 'hinterland' in my class at Bishops' High School died of malaria. I never got more details of his life as an Indigenous student in a Georgetown school.  

The 'Amerindian' race was otherwise visible to me - workers, labourers, domestics - objects of racial jokes by the descendants of coolies like me, and descendants of the enslaved, taught by colonial masters to disrespect Indigenous peoples no matter the token ideas of Unity, loving Christian brethren and so on.

Much like now.

UnLearning 

In 1990, I joined a choir at UG. Dr Desrey Fox taught us a  Carib drum song, an Akawaio love song and an Arecuna love song. 

I have forgotten them. but that was the first time I learned that there were living Indigenous languages in Guyana.   There was a concert. At the concert, we sang the Carib drum song and the Akawaio love song. There were no Indigenous students in the choir.  I sang in another group two Phagwah songs in Awadhi/Hindi. 

Thinking that even now, I know more English, French, Spanish and Portuguese (languages of the colonisers) than words of any of Wapichan, Patamona, Arecuna, Akawaio, Karinya and Macuxi,peoples, or even Hindi/Awadhi and Sanskrit. I might chant and sing in Sanskrit and Awadhi/Hindi, but I do not know the vocabulary.

The North Rupununi District Development Board, the Amerindian Peoples Association, the National Toshoas Council (NTC) and Nine Nations  invited me to work with them in the prevention of gender-based violence and other things.  Santa Rosa Village and Baramita Village gave me permission to work work with them as part of another project. I am grateful for the two wonderful experiences when I was at the Rupununi Wildlife Festival.

And I realised that the coast land approach as distant observer and listener, coming and going away, could not work.  So trying to learn from the Indigenous activists and others who advocate for Indigenous rights, and understanding relationships with the environment, with history, and with the present day. 

And realising that the decolonising work which has to happen does not happen as it takes more than a workshop with a budget to do in a place where the colonial legacy stays on.  

I think of my body as 'cargo' on the planes to the hinterland, and I wonder if the MV Barima was for passengers first or cargo first. 

Re-learning

The people working in the NRDDB and the NTC, the members of APA and Nine Nations and other organisations shaped for me the multi-faceted realities of Indigenous lives .  

I feel guilty as the work is kind of helicopter, go in, do a workshop, leave.. and knowing that  when talking about how the state does law and justice in Indigenous communities when those things do not exist in the same way as they do on the coast.

And in this artificial country, borders drawn by colonisers, and divisions seeded by colonisers, that re-learning had to start with connection and listening and learning in between workshops 

Barefoot in the National Park

One Sunday, rainy season, a dry day. Nine Nations invited me to facilitate a session on health and wellness. It was nice, some of us took off our shoes. Barefoot in the park, touching land. 

"Something we must remember, is the importance of connecting to land, and  improving our health" Dr Leroy Hendricks said as rain started to drizzle when we were leaving the National Park.  

The interactions were good, that afternoon. I wished I had talked more about the connecting with land here because I did not think of the National Park as land to connect with.

I had gone to Region 8, fell asleep with river running in the background. Said prayers in front of mountains. Land which is known as Indigenous land, not like the National Park. 

Talked with Indigenous boys about seeking help but reality was that help could not come from 'outside', so shame again and phone numbers and hotlines and apps don't make sense here. 

Some places had lots of beer cans from Brazil.... littering is disconnecting, disrespecting the land. Other kinds of devastation. 

How can the land heal us if we do not respect it? 

 My life 

A different environment on the APA protest. Sun was hot. Ground was dusty, plants around.. road wide to push us almost in the trench.  Not a place to be barefoot.

A couple of flower plants.  I think I could stand in the sun for the couple of hours but body not used to the sun.

Gaffing with folks, including some of the politicians who I had picked against in the past ..

Conversations with others, I would not have otherwise had.. , 

staying long after the 'end time' and learning that your ears could pop when dehydration sinks in..

Connection though, understanding, listening,  laughing, raging..hoping.

My life could only matter if Indigenous lives and other lives matter.