There is need to focus on the cultural aspect of development to retain indigenous identity

Apr 20, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,

The election season for village leaders or Toshaos in Guyana is around the corner, May 2021. Most villages have already had nominations of candidates and these days, Amerindians –and particularly those in Moruca, the eldest and largest community in the country – are evaluating and campaigning for the leader of their choice to serve for the next three years.
On the campaign trail, all candidates pontificate about the rhetoric of “development” thus on this concept I wish to give a brief analysis. However, before I do so, please don’t get me wrong – I am not against development, I am only concern how it is planned and executed by leaders in my community, because the development model community leaders want for villages these days is based on a one-sided system that contemporary society promotes. Conventional development comes with, for example, consequences of the throwaway culture in which unwanted items such as old cars, old stoves, old batteries and solar panels can be seen disposed around homes, polluting the environment.
On the flipside, while there are good aspects from this development model, there is need to include the indigenous worldview that consists of the local knowledge and wisdom of elders to incorporate them with modernity in order not to lose vital cultural traditions, which elders have kept over the years in the community. We have seen consequences of this one-sided development where some of our traditional practices have been rapidly fading away including the local Lokono language, which is in extinction as a result of previous leaders who believed that such model was the best to govern by.
There is need to develop the cultural aspect in order to maintain our indigenous identity as a people advancing in the modern world. Furthermore, while this model of development over the years transformed Santa Rosa, the negatives have surpassed the positives by far. There, concomitantly grave social ills have emerged, such as exaggerated drugs and alcohol consumption, the rise in juvenile delinquency, the Haves and majority Have-nots, and a growing number of persons becoming junkies caused by the abuse of drugs and alcohol to name a few in the process of modernity and advancement.
These social ills occurring in my homeland, the “fastest developing” Amerindian community in Guyana calls for a holistic approach to development: this requires a well-prepared village council to work collectively with stakeholders, example churches, et cetera, to address the social issues and render humanitarian services to the less fortunate and shut-in at homes in Moruca. In this way, advancement means addressing the issues of human and also environmental aspects in the community to balance it with material development.
These can be a challenge to achieve for the leaders, because the current model of development promotes individualism, competition and power drunk people who are appeased and prone to waver to pressure from outside. Nevertheless, as Moruca advances in upward mobility, my people should also be promoting an empowerment education programme from the grass root level, which is paramount to sustain some of the indigenous customs, still practice there. There is need to educate villagers on The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) that deals with promotion of indigenous culture and languages. There is also the importance to be educated on the Amerindian Act 2006, to learn how the State has an ambivalent approach to it regarding Indigenous people in Guyana, and also the Mining, Forestry and Environment Acts that our people need to be educated on.
While development brings services such as roads, education and health etc., it should also mean living happily where there are no crimes and violence, and where everyone is comfortable and employed and have access to higher education. On this note, it be would excellent if leaders and the people of Moruca can organise and plan to acquire better internet service and eventually seek assistance from government in establishing online degree programmes from the University of Guyana and other foreign universities at the secondary school at Santa Rosa, so that young people can enjoy the benefits of higher education using modern technology as they contribute to the advancement of their community.
In concluding, I wish to thank the current Toshao, Mrs. Whanita Phillips, who worked diligently in advancing Santa Rosa during her three years stint, and also wish the candidates contesting for the leadership of my village best of luck, for whoever wins to continue building where the previous leader left off, but with a holistic development approach for Moruca.

Yours truly,
Morucan [Name provided]

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