Before I say another word about anything – The Trail to Rupununi, those times Before the Road to Brazil when the whole idea of Yukuriba as an Artistic Community, with a Philip Moore Artists’ Retreat, a Maroon Sculpture Trail dedicated to the maroons of the Americas, and an Organic Farm, was just a distant dream – before I go on with all that, I need to describe how diminished I feel about Ras Michael Jeune’s transitioning (too soon) to the ancestors.

Ras Michael, Guyanese poet, playwright, cultural activist, roots-man and teacher, died on Wednesday April 20, 2016. My sadness springs from the fact that just two weeks prior to his transition, we had a long, long talk on the telephone. He indicated that he was ill, but convinced me that he was rising above his condition. Our conversation was all about Yukuriba Heights and my special project.
I promised Ras Michael I was preparing a place for aging artists like us, determined to redefine the meaning of “dis old age ting” – to scrub the stigma.
I told him I am in the process of designing this space, the home in which I intend to spend the rest of my years (same place where I was crudely interrupted by an agent of the charlatan PPPC government and forced to spend nearly a decade in court while trying to keep focus on the elusive dream of my transitioning years experienced in the embrace of the palpable energy of the future) towards the vitality of the Yukuriba Creative Farming Community and Organic Farm –the very conscience of the Guyana Rainforest.
We agreed that that Essential Conscience of the Guyana Rainforest is the energy of The Arts And The Humanities, powered by the creative community on Yukuriba Heights, all expressing themselves in an essential putsch to rescue our pristine forest environment from the ravages of marauding multinational corporations .
We got to talking about the unconscionable way The Iwokrama International Centre for Rainforest Conservation and Development has consistently managed to expunge any mention of President Hugh Desmond Hoyte’s role in its establishment; I grabbed an Iwokrama booklet sitting on my desk and read Ras Michael an example of this “Commonwealth Initiative” described thus:
This is the Iwokrama booklet’s claims, without even a passing mention of Guyana’s past President, Hugh Desmond Hoyte who, at that meeting in 1989, had started the Iwokrama ball rolling by donating nearly one million acres (371,000) hectares) of the Guyana rainforest to the international scientific community for the study of sustainable life on Planet Earth.
Ras Michael had, as the poet says “large countries” in his eyes; he was always ready to engage in a conversation about the state of the Guyanese nation, especially as it affects the quality of life of African Guyanese. Because my final conversation with him was taking place in a time when Guyana is celebrating 50 years of Independence, the question of whether the nation is truly independent, naturally arose and consequently, whether or not we should be conscious of attempts at neo colonialism.

“Conceived in 1989 as at a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, Iwokrama is the Commonwealth’s principal model experiment in Sustainable Development. No place else in the world can you find this unique blend of innovative best practice techniques in management of tropical forests blended with culture and biodiversity”.

Our conversation inevitably lead to global politics and the fact that it’s up to Guyanese artists to impress upon the scientific community based in their Iwokrama enclave, that their mission to find answers to sustainable life on earth, must place more emphasis on human ecology, and that includes the maroon descendants of enslaved Africans. I believe his will be among those spirits that surround us in the Guyana Rainforest.
My “home” at Yukuriba Heights will be more than just a sanctuary for artists in need of a peaceful space to focus…continue creating; it will also be a refuge for those whose pride refuses to submit to the necessity of hoofing it with a begging bowl held out to sponsors who show scant respect.
We talked about all these things. I promised that there’ll be a place built around my home at Yukuriba where the best care will be provided for aging artists, people like him, like myself. I got the impression that this was just the kind of environment Ras Michael had hoped for, a sanctuary in which to spend his transitioning creative years; I promised…meant every word of that promise.
Why did you not watch with me a little while longer, friend?

Next Week, more on Yukuriba Heights &The Trail to Rupununi, Before The Road To Brazil.