Siparuta: A little village tucked away on the Corentyne River
TRAVELLING from Skeldon in Region Six (East Berbice/Corentyne) for more than fours hours against the tide in a small boat up the Corentyne River to behold the simple beauty of a small Amerindian community, Siparuta, is where our journey starts. They say beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, but the adventure, the journey, leading to that experience of Guyana’s natural beauty is what captivates many; a buildup for what is at the end of the road, or the river, in this case.

Stretching for miles, the border River (Guyana on the right bank and Suriname on the left bank if you are going upriver) is dotted largely by vegetation, a common scene broken only a few times by ‘landings’ that reach into the river from a lone residence.
Separated by great distances, these residents are linked to the first community along the river, Orealla, the only place that one will find formal accommodations; any stop after that, the experience is true Guyanese hospital.
Next stop is Siparuta, an experience truly worth the journey of another hour at least from Orealla.

Pastor Philbert Williams has lived in Siparuta for the last 30 years, after moving from Soesdyke in Region Ten (Upper Demerara/ Berbice).
“I moved because of missionary work, and I never one day regret coming here…Siparuta is a little paradise in its own right,” he said.

He recalled the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, which, though not on par with the advances on the coast, is nevertheless the kind of progress that maintains that delicate balance between humans and nature.
“Back then we had a few houses along the river; the water came from the river, and we had lamps. But since then, the children grow up and things change. Some of the children stayed and some left for work; but we see the changes, good changes,” Pastor Williams said.
These days, he said, the village boasts a lot more houses than back then, with persons coming to settle from all over the country. Yes! People are actually moving to Siparuta; the urge to stay is strong, once you are exposed to their way of life.
And electricity is not a problem, according to Pastor Williams, as it is regulated from 16:30h to 17:30h, and then again from 18:00h to 22:00h.
“The residents have no problem with this arrangement, and there is a fixed cost you pay,” Pastor Williams said, adding: “If you have two light bulbs, you pay $1,500; the maximum you pay is $7,500, and that is if you have a business.”
Asked about the water situation, Pastor Williams said that in addition to fresh water from the River, the Guyana Water Incorporated (GWI) supports the community with a well, which uses both solar power and electricity, which latter is provided by the community’s generating plant. The water is pumped into three large tanks atop a  hill and then flows through the pipelines to provide residents with clean water.
“They set up the well and bring in pipelines. We had workers from the community who help, and now we have clean water…When it is dry, the river gets muddy, so this is a good thing for us,” Pastor Williams said. Currently, the village boasts a number of standpipes, which have been placed at strategic intervals along the main road.
But as the community continues to grow and develop, there is now need for pipelines to be run to individual homes, since the trek to and from standpipes can be very taxing.

Touching on healthcare matters, Pastor Williams said while the level of service is acceptable, the two main challenges are the supply of medication and the inability to cope with emergencies.
“The transportation is a problem, but if we could be helped with an engine, then we could provide the boat, and in case of emergences, the patient could get out to Skeldon faster,” he said.
A Community Health Worker (CHW) is permanently stationed at Siparuta, while the Medex, stationed at Orella, visits weekly.
Explaining the reason she cannot visit more often, Pastor Williams said: “The transportation cost from Orealla to here is $7,000, so she cannot be here every day. So she comes every week or so.”
Turning our attention to the community’s main economic activity, which is farming, Williams said the only problem they have to date is marketing.
“When we take our produce out to Skeldon,” he said, “they know we cannot bring it back, so we end up taking whatever price we get and we lose.” Asked whether they’ve ever sought any technical assistance, Pastor Williams was fulsome in his praise for the level of interest shown in the community by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Just last week, he said, a team from the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) and the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) were in the community to train farmers and provide them with technical assistance.
Said he: “We are taking things one step at a time, and in the last 30 years, every day it gets better.”
Asked specifically about the delivery of education in the community, Pastor Williams replied that generally, standards there tend  to be somewhat lower than in other areas, mainly because of the lack of trained teachers and up-to-date resources.

A retired trained teacher, Mr. Raymond Welcome, continues to serve at the Siparuta Primary School.
“What we are doing is trying to raise the level of education, but with only two trained teachers and not enough resources, it is not easy…The major problem we have is that at the early level, the foundation is not properly set, so when they get to Grade Five, the children still cannot read properly,” he said.
Welcome is currently preparing a class for the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) examinations, a difficult task, according to him.
“Right now,” he said, “I am engaging in both remedial work, and preparing them for exams; and doing both is a problem…It is not easy, but we are doing our best with what we have.”
Welcome said there are approximately 79 students on roll at the nursery and primary schools.
Siparuta has no secondary school, except a private institution, the Siparuta Mission Academy (SMA), which delivers secondary level education. Students who do not opt to study there, go to school in Skeldon or elsewhere on the coast.
SMA Administrator, Mr. Miguel Manuel, said that all things considered, the main focus of the school’s work is vocational education.

“We are trying to prepare them as best possible for the world after school. Lumber is the going thing in Siparuta so many of the students do wood work,” he said.

Manuel and his family, originally from the Philippines, moved to Siparuta last September and are volunteers with the Seventh Day Adventist Church that supports the delivery of education in remote communities. Similar schools are set up at Kimbia, among other places.
According to the volunteer, SMA is manned by volunteer teachers from different countries, Jamaica and Venezuela, among others.
“We have a lot planned for Siparuta. We have the community’s support, but we need all stakeholders to be on board to help us help Siparuta,” he said.
Among the plans for the community are a dorm for students, an expansion of the current SMA building and hopefully an airstrip.
“Siparuta is friendly, open and quite, it is a nice place to be, definitely not like the city,” Manuel said.

Fifteen-year-old Manfred Williams, born and raised in Siparuta, reiterated similar sentiments.
He said, “The people here make my hometown special. Growing up here was nice, we had sports and everybody close like a community should be.”
His expectation, “…like a community should be,” is reflective of the culture in the small community – a culture where the youths are taught to step above petty issues and look at the bigger picture.
The rest of Guyana can take a page out of Siparuta’s book.
Entrepreneur, Mrs. Varsha Herman, said there is a lot for others to learn from Siparuta.
Originally from Orealla, she married and moved to Siparuta and has lived there for the last four years.
“Everything up to date here. The only thing is the telephone and internet service that we don’t have,” she said.

Herman added that the tourism potential of Siparuta is yet to be explored.
“We have a beautiful creek that can be developed like they do to Splashmins. We need a guest house and a few other things, but with things in place people can see how beautiful Siparuta is…Siparuta has much to offer,” she posits.