FLANKED by the lush vegetation of both Guyana and Suriname, and proudly perched atop a hill overlooking the Corentyne River, the remote Amerindian Village of Orealla, home to over 1,500 inhabitants, beckons the weary traveller to its friendly shores. Visitors to the much anticipated Orealla Regatta endured the more than 50- mile journey upriver to the village, to join the residents as they celebrated the third annual boating competition on Saturday.
The event organised by Corentyne Tours (Cortours) and sponsored by the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce, ANSA McAl and Digicel among others, attracted scores of participants who enjoyed the many activities planned for that day.
While the festivities were in full swing, the village Captain/Toshao, Floyd Edwards took the opportunity to highlight the improvements witnessed in the community and also voiced some of the residents’ primary concerns.
He explained: “Orealla has witnessed quite lot of development over the years, in the water system, the revetment of the water front because of the continuous eroding erosion, we are treating that as a priority. We are also looking at the health centre, and trying to improve these facilities there as well. Another area of concern for us is the communication system; we need this to function better.”
According to Edwards, a new water pump and transmission lines have been installed by the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) in an effort to provide improved level of service to residents.
“Right up the hill now residents will have water thanks to this project which has been completed recently,” he said.
Meanwhile, in the Amerindian community of Orealla/Siparuta the revetment on the waterfront has also been initiated, and when completed will cost close to $15M, and a Drainage and Irrigation project is also underway there.
In addition to this, Edwards noted too that the delivery of medical supplies to the refurbished health centre has improved, and there have been more frequent visits by the Regional Health Officer, Dr. Vishwa Mahadeo.
The village has also benefitted from the construction of a Nursery School and a dormitory for students from the village of Siparuta, and for teachers as well.
In addressing some of the pressing concerns, he expressed the hope that the Government of Guyana will soon construct a secondary school in the community, to boost  access to education.
As to the importance of this, Edwards said: “We are asking the government to construct a secondary school here, we have a lot of students here whose parents cannot afford to send them out of the village and even if they can, their children are not taken care of properly.”
At present, the secondary school students are forced to travel the more than 50 miles up the Corentyne River to attend either the Skeldon Secondary School or Line Path Secondary School in Region 6, where they reside in dormitories, built by the government of Guyana .
Despite the services offered by the dormitories, the Toshao explained that many students still do not attend the schools because of the lack of proper monitoring and affordability issues.
“We are still looking to address access to secondary education, which is of much importance to Orealla, we have a secondary department but that does not have a science or computer lab. We are hoping that something will be done for us in this area,” he stated.
Edwards extended his gratitude to the Government of Guyana for their continued interest in the development of the village, and expressed the hope that the residents will continue to benefit from even more investment and improvement, in years to come.
He said: “We have to be thankful for what assistance we have received so far because some other communities do not get these assistances.”
Alluding to the advantages of the continued staging of the Orealla Regatta, he explained that it has provided an opportunity for Guyana and the rest of the world to witness the hidden beauty of the area and to highlight the many talents and capabilities of the inhabitants.