– How the people of Kumu Village are coping with the dry weather

By Alva Solomon
Claudette Ignacio sat in her chair, staring into the Kanuku Mountain Range in the distance. Her facial expression was one of hope mixed with worry as she contemplated coping with the prolonged dry weather conditions in the Rupununi.

Ignacio is one of several families living at Kumu , the small Amerindian village near St Ignatius in the North Rupununi. Kumu is a satellite village of the larger St Ignatius Village which lies adjacent to the region’s administrative capital, Lethem. It is home to 20 plus families, all of whom live in troolie homes, scattered across the Kumu landscape.
“We get water from the well but we keep digging it. …still we get to do our washing and bathing but it salty to drink”, Ignacio, a mother of nine said.
“The rains poured heavily on February 10; was a Wednesday “, she asserted, since that date was a significant one for all of Region Nine (9).

She said she farms on a plot of land aback her home, which stretches along the village lands south to the foot of the Kanuku Range. “I’m a mother and so I have to find ways of getting water while the children father work on the farm.”
The family plans mainly cassava and banana on a smaller scale. “The cassava is to sell and we plant bananas to use and sometimes we also plant eddoes,” Ignacio said.
As her daughter and her classmates scribbled one of the trio’s homework on a stool nearby, Ignacio walked to the side of her home where the family has been digging their small well almost daily for water. She said that the water level in the well has been receding gradually since the year started but last week the situation grew immense.
“It really salty to drink so we have to depend on the village “, she said.

The village leader, Emrit Francis was not at home when this newspaper visited his home. However, his wife and children, who were in, related that he had travelled over the Lethem that day to meet with government officials . “He would have relate this problem that we having “, his wife noted.
“Everything dry right now; we need water,” she lamented.
“The villagers now dig a new one (well) by the benab side… right there they burst a spring “, she said, noting that the villagers would then full water into tanks from the spring and distribute to the residents. “They distribute water house to house and leaving it in buckets and so”, she said.
This arrangement began last week after the situation worsened. Prior to last week, the schools at Kumu – a nursey and primary – requested assistance from the regional authorities and water was being provided to the school weekly.
On Saturday, the village leader, Senior Councilor Emrit Francis and other residents spent the day distributing water from the well near the community’s benab and this continued all day on Sunday. The village was assisted with a pump from the Disaster Preparedness committee which was established in the region to address the dry weather conditions several weeks ago.
As this newspaper travelled further south into the village, it was evident that the situation has reached a grim state. Many wells appeared dry, while some persons dug deeper for water. The landscape was parched and some cows roamed the dry savannah lands, searching for greener vegetation and water.
For the residents of Kumu , the situation may soon change . It has been raining in several parts of the region and the community’s most prized landmark, the Kumu Falls, was blessed with additional water recently.
As this publication travelled a further 15 minutes by all-terrain vehicle (ATV) into the village, the Kumu Falls was gushing with water, and our guide stopped in surprise as he listened to the sound of the water hitting the rocks. He said a week prior, the falls was dripping while a part of the base was dry.
The waterway flowed into the creeks at the base of the Kanuku and several cows were roaming the banks of one the waterways.
Last weekend, a visiting team of government officials, led by Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, met with and listened to the concerns of the residents of the region at the Tabatinga Ground on the outskirts of Central Lethem. An official of the Guyana Water Inc (GWI) related that usage, including the safe use of water has been the message sent to affected residents of the region. These messages were being passed onto the villagers by their respective community leaders.
Unlike the Coastland, the Rupununi experiences a different weather pattern with prolonged rainy and dry seasons. However, the current conditions have grown past the expected stages through the El Nino conditions.
For the people of Kumu , the conditions may be beyond their control but the residents have adapted to the conditions with help from the authorities. It is now a waiting game for the rains.