Modern entrepreneurship and ancient history in the Pomeroon

Dec 18, 2016 Countryman, Features / Columnists

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By Dennis Nichols
A trip last Monday up the Pomeroon River to learn more about a touted super-food berry led by chance to my first glimpse of a prehistoric shell mound, and a snippet of insight into the ancient lives of our first nation people.

My destination was the village of Siriki about 10 kilometres from Charity where hundreds of residents, mostly children, were awaiting the much-heralded arrival of Santa Claus at businessman Alfro Alphonso’s A & S Complex. The colourful township throbbed with energy, but the ambience I sought was distinctly less hectic.
At Charity I was introduced to a young man, Calvin Kellawan, whom I hired for the journey. After filling up at a gas station we were off in his wooden boat powered by a 15 hp outboard motor. As we cruised upriver, he enlightened me with some interesting tidbits of information, one of which was in relation to the absence of people paddling canoes, the reason for which, he suggested, was that they may feel too civilized for that mode of transportation. Another was the revelation that he knew the woman I was going to visit well; in fact he lived next door to her.
Forty-five minutes later we had reached the mouth of Siriki Creek also known as Dutchman Creek, a name which ominously conjured up restless spirits of the first European settlers on that river nearly four centuries ago. With a low tide and the water just starting to wash, we made slow, sweltering, tortuous progress to New Haven Siriki Sands, a tiny elevated enclave that can also be accessed by trail from Anna Regina. Another fascinating fact was that a section of the creek was actually a detour – a man-made canal dug in order to shorten the journey and facilitate a more direct path to the village.
There I met my hostess, the affable Vanessa D’Aguiar-Lowe, a midwife, who has recently launched into the research and processing of a common berry indigenous to the swampy river environment around the settlement. The acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee) berry is the fruit of the manicole palm which has the formidable scientific name Prestoea tenuiramosa, and from which we also get the edible, cabbage-like heart of palm, a delicacy I enjoyed occasionally while working and living in the North West.
Internet sources tell us that the berry, native to this part of the world and reportedly rich in antioxidants and other nutrients, was traditionally used as a food source by Amazonian Brazilians, but has now gained widespread popularity as a super-food in many other countries. In North American markets it is sold as frozen pulp and juice, while in the UK a company touts its juice as a weight loss power house.
Wikipedia cautions however that ‘when the entire scientific literature to date and putative health claims of acai are assessed, experts concluded in 2011 that the fruit is more a phenomenon of Internet marketing than of scientific substance.’ I’m certain though that advocates of natural medicinal foods would point out conversely that a couple of multinational corporations and ‘big pharma’ are behind these ‘expert’ conclusions, because they fear losing their monopolistic grip on the brainwashed consumers of prescription drugs and junk food.
Vanessa explained that although she grew up in Pomeroon she knew nothing about the little purple berry until a few years ago. At that time she chanced to meet a captain from Mainstay at a workshop, who told her that he had drunk a beverage made from the manicole. Her creative instinct kicked in and soon she started to experiment. She pulped some berries, soaked them overnight and next morning was rewarded with an enticing drink which, she claimed, tasted like Fly, a rich dark brew made from the ‘black’ potato. Thus was born her Acai Berry Juice. She then partnered with a number of women from the village to form the Siriki Sand Flower Women’s group – a communal body organized around the exploitation of the river’s natural flora for commercial purposes.
Her next step was to lengthen the soaking process to fermentation, resulting in Acai Berry Wine. Two other extracts are Acai Berry Jam and Acai Berry Pulp which she says needs to be refined for better marketing and consumption. Her products had their first major outing at Amerindian Heritage Day 2014 where some officers from the Ministry of Agriculture tasted her manicole wine, enjoyed it, and encouraged her to continue experimentation and production. At last year’s Sophia Exposition her products were again well-received. These included an acai-flavoured ice cream manufactured by Sterling Products Limited.
Apart from Sterling Products which sponsored her Expo booth, the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) also supports Vanessa in marketing her products. Nevertheless, she explained, she is struggling with streamlining them in terms of labeling and packaging –an expensive undertaking that has kept her business virtually in its infancy; she only recently was licensed by the Government Analyst – Food and Drug Department. Most of her customers, she declared, are friends on the Pomeroon and individuals from various parts of the country who are discovering the potency of acai; some are especially interested in its purported libido-enhancing properties, she added with a laugh.
But my visit and Vanessa’s interest in things indigenous soon took a tangential twist with her mention of an ancient shell mound not far from her home. A shell mound is a small hill of accumulated refuse comprising the shells of edible molluscs and other material suggesting occupancy by indigenous peoples thousands of years ago. This particular site explored by archaeologists as recently as 2011, revealed the remains of mostly shellfish, but also fish, mammals, stone artifacts, and partial human skeletons.
The excavations, by an archaeological crew that included Guyanese archaeologist Louisa Daggers and American anthropology professor Mark Plew, along with radiocarbon dating, have placed the mound at between 4000 to 5000 years old although evidence suggests that it may have been reused as late as 200 – 300 years ago, maybe simply for habitation. An interesting aspect of the conclusion drawn by the experts states that ‘local populations may not have suffered from serious dietary deficiencies’ as had been suggested earlier. Who knows; maybe acai berries and other indigenous flora were partly responsible for their relatively good health.
Although I had gone to Siriki with no thought of shell mounds in my mind, I had to see this phenomenon. Vanessa secured the company of a neighbour and we stumbled through 200 yards of straggly bush and burnt earth to reach the mound. About five metres high and partially covered with small shells, it looked less spectacular than I expected but I nevertheless savoured the moment as we stood atop a piece of local history. As if to establish a more profound nexus between berries and shells, my companions pointed out to me not far from the mound, a pair of slender manicole palms, one of which bore a cluster of purple fruit.
Back at Vanessa’s modest processing house, we chatted some more about the merits of the acai berry and the direction in which her industry is heading while waiting for the water in the creek to rise to a level that would make my exit from it less laborious than when I came in. She is obviously enthused with her small but progressive enterprise, and encouraged by the response she has been getting from users of her products. Intending to join her clientele, I purchased a bottle of acai juice and wished her well in her endeavours.
As Calvin and I headed back to Charity, I felt the warm sensation of a few hours well-spent on that Monday Youman Nabi holiday. Modern entrepreneurship and ancient history had converged in a most unusual way for me, and I appreciated their odd juxtaposition. I feel that the Pomeroon holds many other secrets and surprises for the intrepid explorer in each of us, and like a certain famous American general once said, “I shall return!”

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