Latest update April 8th, 2025 7:13 AM
Kamarang residents plead for more jobs
“We don’t have jobs, and it ain’t look like anybody care.”
This was the sentiment expressed by residents of Kamarang, Region Seven recently.
They maintain that the unavailability of jobs has been a major issue, and a factor contributing significantly to the rapid decline in the community’s standard of living.
Some of the young residents of Kamarang, Region Seven.
In speaking with this newspaper, a teacher of the Kamarang Primary School said that the situation has been especially affecting young people, since it’s hindering them from being able to progress into young professionals.
She emphasized too that “young people are not motivated to do much with their lives.”
In explaining, the teacher said that “All they know about is mining and cleaning shops, so our children are somewhat stifled from dreaming big and achieving much.”
“On the coastland, it is easy for young people to embark on the life of a young professional. There are avenues for them to become doctors, lawyers, journalists and so on, but not here in Kamarang. Here, the only thing our children can do is mining, become housewives, and work in dem li’l community shops. It’s not nice,” the woman stressed.
It was explained that upon completing their primary education, students are forced to leave their community to pursue a secondary education.
“After obtaining their certificates, the only hope for our children is to leave and go to the city to look for jobs,” the teacher said.
She further noted that doing this is not always easy, since it requires teenagers and young adults moving to the city alone.
“Usually people don’t want to send their children to the city, because many times, the troubles that they does have to face don’t be nice, especially when it comes to our girl children,” the teacher said.
While the boys are allowed to move and take up jobs in the city, the females usually end up being housewives and cleaners, since other key positions such as nurses and teachers have been filled.
“Before, things were better, so we have a few nurses and teachers already working. But now, life in Kamarang has changed, and although the roles of women have evolved, our daughters are unable to,” the teacher explained.
Another resident Carl Williams, complained of the high cost of living. He explained that although Kamarang is a mining community, miners are still finding it hard to make a living.
“Imagine the gold that I used to sell for $18,000, we, the miners got to sell for less than $10,000. Life ain’t easy up here at all,” Williams said.
He explained that “although the prices ain’t fair, we ain’t get a choice but to sell, because we need to live, and transportation to leave Kamarang expensive.”
“Dem aircrafts expensive, and just as it ain’t easy for us to live here, it ain’t easy for us to leave either, so it’s hard for us. We did ask the people at the region office already to find out if the government can help us with airfares, but nobody never tell we back nothing,” Williams told Kaieteur News.
The small Amerindian village of Kamarang is home to about 500 persons, the majority being below the age of 14.
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