–Maintaining an age-old tradition at Whitewater

Story and photos by Alva Solomon
DRIVING through the community on a Monday morning recently, one thing was evident about the people of Whitewater Village: Cassava and its by-products are the economic providers of every household.Whitewater is an Amerindian village located at the north-western tip of the Mabaruma sub-region, less than an hour by road from the Amacuro River on the Venezuelan border.

In fact, there is active cross-border trade in this part of Guyana, an age-old economic exchange, where goods such as dried fish, Spanish beverages and cigarettes and oil are traded at the creeks adjacent to Whitewater.
But the people of this community are self-sufficient, as evidenced by the many women and men with their woven backpacks (called the “Warashi”) and even rice bags tied to their backs, walking home from the farms with loads of cassava.
Locals reported the presence of a small creek at the bottom of a hilly section of the community nearby. It is from here that the community took its name.
Whitewater, with a population of some 1200 persons, lies west of the more populated Wauna Hill, in Region One (Barima-Waini).

WELCOME BY NAME AND NATURE
During a visit there, dozens of cassava bread could be seen on roof tops, and during a stop at the home of the Welcomes, where the roof was covered with the staple, the family explained how they came by their surname. They were eager to tell of their family tradition, being in the business of cultivating the cassava root and making cassava bread and the “cassava water”, a liquid solvent used for making the famous “pepper-pot”.

“This is what we do for a living,” Moreen Welcome said as she spread the cassava melee — dusty particles from the processed root which are made into the cassava bread after a lengthy process — over the fire.
“Just that we get blows sometimes, but we have to prepare for tomorrow,” she said. By tomorrow, she meant Tuesday’s market day at Kumaka, the sub-region’s business hub, located approximately 10 miles away.
Bernard Welcome scraped the cassava root, as did his daughter, dressed in her school uniform, but at a quicker rate over in a corner.
The school bell was expected to ring two hours later, hence she had at least an hour-and-a-half of scraping the roots.
“We sell the cassava at Kumaka. Sometimes we sell out the cassava bread and the melee; and sometimes we does sell out all the cassava water, because we find it does be in demand,” Moreen said.
Each cake of cassava, she said, sells for $300, while an entire hamper, consisting of 10 to 12 cakes of cassava bread, sells for $2400, or sometimes $2000 at a discount price.

A WAY OF LIFE
The family plants the cassava root nearby, close to the family house, but they also cultivate the root on their farmlands, located within miles of their home.
“This is what we know, and this is what I do for a living,” Bernard said, as he scraped the roots vigorously.
Further up the road, men and women can be seen walking to and fro with loads of cassava in their backpacks, in and out of farms.
Minibus driver, Damien, who provided transportation around Whitewater during this newspaper’s visit, said that farming is the way of life of the residents of the community. He said he has been driving around the community for years, providing critical transportation linkages between Whitewater and the busier parts of the sub- region, such as Mabaruma, the administrative capital.
“Well, here is where you see real manual life; the people here live satisfied and comfortable, because they know somebody go buy the cassava or the melee, and even the bush fish,” he said.

GUIDED TOUR
Damien drove all the way to a connecting community named “Blackwater”, a sparsely populated commune with acres and acres of cassava trees under cultivation.

Along the way, fires could be seen burning, as farmers busied themselves clearing the lands adjacent to the burnt-out lands to prepare for the next crop.
“This crop takes months to grow; as much as 10 to 12 months. So, what you find is people would plant more than one crop,” Damien noted.
He drove until the road ended, and further up, he pointed to a small trail which leads to a creek connecting the area to the Amacuro River, the river which separates Guyana from Brazil.
Geographically, Damien had actually driven west of Whitewater, and when he ran out of road, he stopped near the Sekomaka Hill, a hill less than a mile from the river.
The trail ends at a small, cleared-out section of the forested area called “Bamboo Landing”, or “Blackwater Landing”, by some. Small sheds, covered by troolie leaves, stood around, while large canoes were moored nearby. The canoes were hauled up and left by traders, since the level in the nearby Blackwater Creek was low.
Locals reported that it is at this point where the people of Whitewater would trade their cassava and other farm produce for oil, the famous ‘Morocut fish’ and confectionery items with the Spanish-speaking traders.
They said there are two other locations nearby where trade occurs; but nearby in their words and in the actual distances were different in reality.

OLD OIL FACTORY
On the way back to Whitewater, Damien stopped along the small road network. Dozens of palm trees were evident; all were neatly lined along the trails. The area was used by the NEOCOL (National Edible Oil Company Limited) oil palm factory which once operated near Wauna Hill.
The plantation was one of many operated by NEOCOL, and it provided jobs for dozens of locals. Its oil was even promoted on the Coastland as part of the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST) programme agenda, where the bio-diesel fuel was being sourced from this part of Guyana.
The company has since been sold, and the news took a toll on those who were employed there, since job cuts took place over a period. The company which currently runs the factory has cut down its scale of operations, and the once neatly-pruned oil palm trees are only a memory in the minds of persons such as Damien.
“It used to employ about 300 people from this side, but now it got a few only on staff, if so much,” he said. He noted that the residents have always been good at farming, and this, he said, is what drives the community.

AGRICULTURAL POTENTIAL
Government officials over the years have pointed to the large agricultural potential of this section of Guyana, and recently, President David Granger reminded the residents of the sub-region of this fact when he visited Mabaruma.
Business Minister, Dominic Gaskin also pointed to this characteristic of the region, and he was told by businessmen and members of the sub-region recently of the lack of marketing opportunities in the region as one of the bugbears facing farmers.
Whitewater Village leader, Cleveland De Sousa told this newspaper that the village relies heavily on farming, but that it also has other areas of development, which he and the village is pursuing. This includes eco-tourism and sports.
“But farming is what most people do here,” he added during a brief chat.
For Bernard Welcome, he and his family members will continue farming; and according to his wife, Moreen, the family elders will pass down its rich tradition of farming. This passing down was surely evident, since their daughter was still scraping the cassava root when this publication was leaving Whitewater Village as the 9 O’clock bell neared.