The young and the brave

Jul 01, 2018 Countryman, Features / Columnists

By Dennis Nichols

The fact that our children are ‘the future’ and ‘the world’s most valuable resource’ has been thrown around as a cliché for decades. Although we know it’s true, that type of lip-service has become so commonplace that it has lost its true significance. Of all living, sentient creatures, children indeed are to be most treasured, protected, and preserved. Yet too many are confined to cages, psychologically and otherwise imprisoned, and exploited for adults’ benefit.
In a few months, the world, and Guyana in particular, will ‘observe’ the 40th anniversary of one of the most ruinous episodes in recent human history. Jonestown! And while almost 1000 persons died on that starry, star-crossed night at Port Kaituma in mid-November 1978, its most heartbreaking aspect was the termination of almost 300 young lives – children – some with their parents’ compliance; others unwilling players in a one-scene, one-act tragedy that even William Shakespeare could not have conjured.
Today is not International Children’s Day; it has no such title devised to assuage the guilt and neglect so many of us pass on to our children. But today, as I have done before, I want to home in on the innate goodness and resilience of children, including those who may justifiably be described as extraordinary; even heroic. They are the uncaged ones.

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, meets with Mamoudou Gassama at the presidential Elysee Palace. Picture: AP.

Here are the ‘simple’ stories of two children and a young man who did something extraordinary in what could be termed arbitrary circumstances.
The first is about the fortitude and resourcefulness of two young Amerindian girls of the Wapishiana tribe from Apoteri, Rupununi, who, in 1995, survived more than a month with virtually no food or shelter in one of the most inhospitable places on earth – the Guyana rainforest. Their jungle experience is worthy of a National Geographic article. Here is a brief recount of Bertina and Bernadette Domingo’s ordeal after being ‘picked up’ by their uncle one afternoon after school. They were 13 and 9 years old at the time.
In what may have been an abduction or an adventure gone awry, the man took the girls that evening, placed them in a boat, and paddled up the Essequibo River while they slept. Upon awakening and realizing they were in unfamiliar territory, the girls began to cry. The man threatened them with a beating, after which they continued their nocturnal journey. At some point the boat ride ended and they began a trek through the jungle. Days passed and time blurred. Then the uncle became sick.

The Domingo sisters in 1995

He eventually died, covered with worms, according to Bertina, the elder of the two. Alone, armed with only a cutlass, matches, and a hammock, they walked on. Staying close to the river they managed to catch some fish using traditional ‘fire sticks’ with the gum from the Haiwa tree. How they prepared the fish or whether they ate them raw is unknown. They said they also ate wild berries and peppers to stave off hunger.
The girls slung their hammock high up in trees to minimise the threat from wild animals and poisonous snakes, but couldn’t prevent a ‘big jaguar’ from stalking them. Once, the creature passed directly below a tree they were in, shortly after which a branch broke and the younger sister fell but managed to scramble back to safety. Both girls cried inconsolably.
Rain fell, and their matches got soaked, but not before they had the presence of mind to light a piece of wood which had to be kept burning indefinitely. They walked on, with no humans in sight, no way to communicate what was happening, no radio or compass, and obviously the cell phone and GPS were science fiction then for Guyana. Some experiences they could not recall or talk about, and one can only speculate as to how they dealt with delicate matters such as personal hygiene. Fear, anxiety, and disorientation must have been their constant companions. But Providence, tribal skills, and the sheer will to survive would have countered those terrors.
Their ordeal ended when, weak and covered with mosquito bites, they stumbled into a porkknockers’ camp nearly 200 miles from where they had started off. A miner said they had traversed one of the most remote and dangerous parts of the Guyana jungle. Some said it was a miracle. The girls’ story gained national and international attention. They were hailed as heroes, given national awards, then went on with mundane lives, almost forgotten.
Undocumented immigrants have been in the news lately, and this second story concerns one of them. By contrast it happened less than a month ago in one of the world’s trendiest cities, Paris, France, and lasted less than a minute. The hero, 22 year-old Mamoudou Gassama from the African country of Mali, had arrived in France on an overloaded migrant boat just six months earlier. On May 26, he visited a Paris neighbourhood to watch a football match when he saw a crowd gathering outside a high-rise building. A small child dangled from a fourth-floor balcony.
Gassama impulsively sprang into action. With bystanders gawking, the muscular youth clambered up the vertical wall-front of the building using nothing more than the balconies below, grabbing them and pulling himself up with the strength and agility of a panther. In 30 seconds he had reached the four-year-old boy and pulled him to safety. A man on the same floor had been trying to do the same, but was prevented by a separating wall. Had Gassama slipped during his climb, he could have been seriously hurt or killed.
Dubbed ‘Spiderman’ and a hero, he was interviewed on French media, and met at the Elysée Palace with French President Emmanuel Macron who awarded him with a medal and immediate French citizenship. He was also offered an on-the-spot job with the fire service. Gassama had earlier told Mr. Macron, “I just didn’t have time to think; I ran across the road to go and save him. God helped me. The more I climbed, the more I had the courage to climb up higher.”
I can’t help but wonder if this had happened in America, what President Trump would have said and done about that ‘illegal’ immigrant from a country that may well have fit his s***hole category. Ironically, it was a wall that prevented the child’s rescue by one of his own, and a wall that facilitated it by a foreign national. Poetic juxtaposition?
Historically, children have been among the most grievous victims of human depravity, from the biblical Canaanites to modern-day sex traffickers. The recent separation of children from their parents at the southern US border reminds us that adult actions are usually at the root of such injustice, which perpetrators often attempt to justify.
There are likely hundreds of stories like the ones above that do not make the news, even locally. But those unsung heroes are everywhere, and often pass unrewarded. Mamoudou Gassama got his. I read that the Domingo sisters were also given a cash award by then President Jagan in 1996, deferred until their 18th birthday. As of October 2014 when they were 32 and 28 years old, they had received nothing. I hope they did subsequently. And if they didn’t, it’s not too late for the present government to remedy that injustice. Kudos youths!