-villagers fear possible food shortage
VILLAGERS of the Wai Wai community of Masakinari in Region Nine (Upper Takutu/Upper Essequibo) say they are facing the specter of possible food shortages due to an ongoing loss of crops caused by flooding.
They raised the issue with the Guyana Chronicle recently during an unofficial visit by a representative to the isolated community. Masakinari, also known as Gunn’s Strip, is a community in the deep south Rupununi; so deep south that it is mere  a five or six hours away from the source of the Essequibo River, that is, that point in the river where it begins its 600-odd-mile journey to the Guyana coastland and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Wai Wais of this village are proud of the fact that it was their fellow tribesmen who had the privilege of building the Umana Yana here in the city in upmarket Kingston for the historic hosting of the Non-Aligned Summit back in 1972, and who have since travelled frequently to the city to ensure that it is kept in good repair and properly maintained.
Toshao of the village, Paul Chakama said that farms in low-lying areas near the Essequibo River and creeks in its environs have been hard hit by a gradual buildup of flood waters due to heavy rainfall since late April.
“People who farm in these areas have been reporting losses of cassava, yams, eddoes, and other crops daily, and many are fearful that the worst is yet to come,” he said, adding: “With the losses due to floods, we are definitely looking at a reduced harvest. Food security is a nagging matter of concern.”
Chakama said he has alerted the Administration of Region Nine as well as the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs about the developing situation, and is hoping that arrangements for relief and other interventions for the village will be given urgent consideration, given the community’s remoteness, and the fact that the May-June rainy season is still in its early stages.
When the Chronicle visited the area over a week ago, there was abundant evidence of the degree of inundation taking place there. A walking trail from Gunn’s Strip, an airstrip about six miles away from the village, which is normally used in the dry to get to the village, was submerged under at least seven feet of water.
This caused visitors to have to be transported by outboard-engine boats, whose operators had to carefully pick their way between trunks of trees that normally would have lain on dry land, for about a mile-and-a-half before gaining access to the Essequibo River, from whence they could access the village.
Chakama said that some people were still managing to parch farine, the staple diet in the community. “There are still many crops not yet lost, but still vulnerable to the swelling flood waters .The prospects for a full harvest are dim.”
Meanwhile, on being contacted by the Chronicle, Regional Chairman of Region Nine, Mr. Clarindo Lucas confirmed that he had received correspondence from the Toshao outlining the situation at Masakinari, and that the Administration was, in the first place, closely monitoring the levels of the Essequibo River, and had been cheered a little by the fact that the water had dropped somewhat last weekend.
Lucas said the Administration was also in daily contact with the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs about contingency measures which may be needed. Said he: “We are aware that the bulk of the rains are yet to come, and so we are actively preparing to deal with the possibility of providing relief for people of Masakinari who lose their source of food due to flooding from the Essequibo river caused by the rains.”
Masakinari,  a Wai Wai word which means ‘Mosquito Hill’, is the only human settlement in the deep south close to the borders of Suriname and Brazil. The village is at the moment only easily accessible by aircraft.
Members of the Masakinari community have in the past migrated to nearby Brazil and Suriname, and many now in the community in Guyana have relatives living in border settlements in these two countries.