Somedays I find....

that I have nothing to blog about...lol...which brings up the question...why do we blog?  who cares if we blog? well maybe we do lol..we like to tell the world something and hope that one person out there is listening and moreso..cares?  Anyhow, somedays I find that I can write about lots of stuff and other times, nothing so I mostly fill in the space with bits of this and that.  Lately I'm finding I have nothing to blog about..sigh
Summer weather is finally here - with a bit of rain but that's ok.  I have finally packed away my sweatshirts and spring jackets and looking forward to some good days of camping.
I have been busy with my new project - well, it's done now except for a few other steps...chronicling the artwork of my very talented niece (I won't mention a name lol) - all is set and I'm going to surprise her with a bound copy of all her work.  I say "surprise" yes as I know for sure she won't see this page - she is a self-admitted technophobe - but I'm working on it...wait till she sees her brand new website lol!  She reads her email and that is that!!
Oh, I just got an idea for my next blog..yayy!!
stay tuned...

Remembering the Arawak teachers..by Guy Marco

I came across this article by Guy Marco and thought it fitting to post...thank you Mr. Marco!!
Not mentioned here is my mother, Martina Rodrigues who was posted at Achawib Village under  Father McKenna.  My Dad was the carpenter and he travelled with Father to various schools,  building desks or benches  as required.  He was also the lay doctor/dentist having done a crash course or two at the Red Cross!!  He had one black bag with items that could cure various ailments and many a time, my mother was called upon to deliver a baby or my father would whip out some concoction to dress a large knife or axe wound, cure a snakebite, broken arm, malaria, dysentery and even pulled out an achy tooth from the smaller children as required.  Here's to those stalwart Arawaks!!

Saturday, 27 de September de 2008

Dear Editor, In 2001, I received a wonderful token from Mr Basil Cuthbert Rodrigues MS, AA, from Moruka, North West District, Guyana. He had sent me his book entitled Uncle Basil – An Arawak Biography which was transcribed, annotated and introduced by one Justin Green-Roesel (1998). It is about his teaching experiences in the South Rupununi and in his home town of Moruka, among other things, and indirectly about Father Bernard McKenna, an educationist priest of the Catholic Church who played a major role in the setting up schools for the Wapishana children. According to Uncle Basil Father McKenna came to Guyana after the Second World War. The book  also contains some of Uncle Basil’s songs and poems which became very popular during Guyfesta in the 1970s when people from all districts of the Rupununi used to gather at Lethem to compete in various areas of the arts. It is great reading material, because even though it focuses on Uncle Basil’s experiences, it also captures a span of time (mid ’40s – early ’90s) in the South Rupununi. Uncle Basil, according to his biography, arrived in the Rupununi in 1951. He first landed at Wichibai where the plane (a WWII Dakota piloted by Art Williams) let off some cargo and teachers before it headed to Lumidpau not too far from Karaudanau village. It was there that Uncle Basil met his counterparts – the Wapishanas – for the first time and his school’s headmaster, Alex Atkinson, his village man, whom he had known before. It was at Karaudanau that Uncle Basil as a teenager (18) began his long and dedicated teaching service (40 yrs) to the children of the Wapishana people. It was there also he realized that he should have taken education more seriously at Santa Rosa Primary School, Moruka. Fortunately for him Fr McKenna tutored him for the Pupil Teachers’ Examination, which gave access to the teacher training college. Father Mc Kenna moved around the South Rupununi with his bullock-drawn cart doing his church services and at the same time tutoring ‘his’ teachers. Later on Uncle Basil met many of his own villagers who had gone there before him as well as those who would later come after him. They were teachers who took up the challenges of teaching in the South Rupununi which called for lots of sacrifices in term of adapting themselves to an environment and people very different from their home inMoruka/North West. Despite the obstacles they endured and dedicated their services to the children. As time went on many other teachers from Moruka went to teach in the South Rupununi. There were also coastland teachers who joined the Arawaks and contributed later to the education of the Amerindian children in the South Rupununi. These two groups of teachers not only focused on the teaching alone but they formed a branch of the Guyana Teachers’ Association. Being united they did community service − building bridges, for example, and other projects by means of self-help. On behalf of the Wapishana and Macushi people, I say thank you very much for all the sacrifices you (Morukans and Coastlanders) have made for our benefit. Yours faithfully, Guy Marco