…reporting steady progress after six months on the job

WITH only six months on the job thus far, St. Cuthbert Mission’s Toshao Beverley Clenkian has already begun to pave the way in her community for development even as challenges remain in the area of health.

When the 45-year-old was elected back in May 2018, she became the village’s first female Toshao who had campaigned with the hopes of improving the field of education and the social issues affecting the area. When she finally took up the office, she was faced with financial challenges as she awaited the monies to be handed over to the village so her first action was to meet with the villagers to encourage them to begin “self-help”.

The main issue at the time was the access bridge to the village which was unsafe for vehicular passage. “There was no money to start our village work so I did self-help with them. I invited persons from around the community and they assisted me in building the bridge,” she said. “We set a day and all of us went there and did our part.”

In July 2018 she made representation to the National Toshao’s Council (NTC) for further assistance and the bridge was completed in September. Then, when the village received its $1.5M grant from the government Clenkian saw through with repairs to the village’s guest house, cabin and benab.

Prior to repairs, the benab was leaking; there were no proper fencing and persons would enter in and out as they please. “So our main idea was to do around the building neatly with board. We purchased the boards and we cut leaves from the ite palm because the place was leaking so much that the leaves were rotting,” she said, adding: “It’s under lock and key now so it’s there for renting. When persons who have weddings, concerts or church programmes enter the village they usually ask me to use it.”

Repairs were also done to the roof of the cabin which had begun to shake due to the weight of persons in hammocks and as well as to the village’s guest house where several persons are already utilising.

Clenkian, whose leadership style is big on inclusion, said:
“Before using this money we had a meeting with council, we came together and said ‘this is what we will do with the money’. Then we kept a meeting with the public telling them what we will do with the money…because at the end of the day it’s not my village alone it’s the people’s village; also a village is run by a council and not the toshao alone.”

There are some 1,500 members in the community with 250 households which make their living mainly by lumbering, fishing and farming.

In the past, the villagers would practice mostly lumbering but with this activity dying down, the St. Cuthbert’s Mission Council faces the challenge of acquiring financial resources. “We have a small amount of royalty coming in,” she began. “So, persons who come into the village to sell; persons who come in on a Sunday whether they’re going to the [river] landing or the benab, we uplift fees.”

The council is now working to complete the construction of a toll booth so that persons entering for a retreat; church service or to sell can pay the necessary fees in a structured manner.

Regarding education, the Toshao said that the students of St. Cuthbert’s Mission—both the 137 batch at the primary level and 142 at the secondary level — are all performing well with an 80-90 per cent attendance rate. “Most persons know that education is important and we have a vibrant Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) where the Chairperson is looking around and seeing children who are not attending school or teachers who are not; she’s there to find out what is happening,” the toshao said.

Clenkian added that at the recent Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC), students from the village performed well with most of them receiving between 5-6 passes considering that only 6 subjects are offered at the school.

Meanwhile, her brother-in-law Leeland Clenkian is helping to preserve the Arawak language in the village by teaching children from the Primary level how to speak their native tongue.
Speaking on her vision for the language in her community she said: “It is to get all the youths trained now because it is very important to know your language as an Arawak; it is important to our village and to our culture.”

Health challenges
However, the community faces challenges in the area of health as there is no permanent doctor. The doctor leaves for the weekend while there is no midwife and the local health worker only works from 8am to 4pm on week days, making villagers vulnerable on the weekends.

“Sometimes on weekends when things happen to persons they will come to me and I will have to get them out using the [council’s] vehicle and that’s very strenuous on us sometimes,” she said.

Clenkian noted that villagers therefore, in cases of emergencies, are transported to the Diamond Diagnostic Center and women in the past have even given birth along the journey. She now hopes that a permanent doctor can be stationed in the village and that personnel can be provided to cater to the weekends.

While Clenkian now serves the community with the help of her councillors and to the best of her ability, she didn’t always foresee herself in the highest position in the village.

At the age of 23 she was the youngest councillor to be elected where she served under John Shuman as a secretary and learnt the community’s affairs. Many years later while she had begun her studies in Business Management at the University of Guyana (UG) and was teaching at the village’s Primary school, she was approached by villagers with the task to serve as toshao.

Although confident in her ability to interact well with persons, she was only joking when she said to herself: “the next toshao will be Beverley Clenkian.”

Coming up to the elections, it was very difficult for her to manage her job, classes and the campaign but her husband encouraged her to remain firm.

“My husband talked to me and he said there are big people that you will let down, so many persons [if you don’t continue]. So I sat and I thought on all the things that I will face and I said okay I will bear whatever is there because of my people. What I will have to face I will have to face it,” she said. Looking back at her eventual victory and towards the plans she has for the community, she said: “At the end of the day, if you didn’t vote for me I am still with you. I’m still with you whenever you come to my office, I have nothing against you; I treat everybody as one; I welcome you.”