By Alva Solomon

At 93-years-old, he is said to be the oldest man in the community. In fact, he may be the oldest man in the Mabaruma Sub-Region. But Camaldo Smith has surely left his name imprinted on the hill-top community of Koberimo Hill.

The community is synonymous with the name Smith. Almost everyone in that part of the country can tell where someone lived if he or she carries the last name Smith. “It hard to explain,” Genevieve Smith, Camaldo’s wife posited, smiling.
“It’s a big family, one man cause all the big family; it’s meh husband, right”, Genevieve said, laughing. “He cause all that because he made children with various persons before he met me,” she added.
She said her husband is bed- ridden and can only sit up. He cannot walk and talk properly but he hears well and understands what is being said to him.” About a month now he bedridden; first he used to move around but to me is just age.”
Genevieve clambered up her steps to see her husband when this publication visited her home one hot midday recently. Once upstairs, an old but relatively healthy senior citizen sat quietly on his bed. Asked what he needed, Camaldo responded in loud tones, “me ain’t even know what me want right now”.

“He is 19 years older than me,” said Genevieve as she hugged her husband. She said she met him when he visited the area several decades ago. “He come and gyaff with me and then everything happen after,” Genevieve noted. Her husband had many children prior to meeting her but she was determined that only death would part them.
Speaking about herself, she said she left school at an early age, and with her late-mother going blind, life changed over the years. She said the family relied heavily on farming and this activity provided much needed income to the family over time. “Now the old man get old and me ain’t got nobody

to help with farming,” she said.
The community is noted for its rich sporting tradition including talented cricketers. However, during her days, Genevieve said not many persons played cricket or participated in any other sporting activity.
“You use to get on yo farm and plant banana, eddoes, yams; but now it different”, she said. “That’s how we lived. We usde to make casareep and cassava bread,” she noted. The family continues to plant cassava and make cassava bread but the circumstances under which she lives has made life challenging for Genevieve.
At the moment, she caters for her husband and the two granddaughters; both young ladies are studying at the secondary school at Mabaruma. But as the girls grow old, it is proving difficult to live off of her pension. The death of her son left a dent in the family economically, since according to Genevieve, he was the main breadwinner. She pointed to her granddaughter, Petal who sat nearby with a slight smile on her face. “This one is the

baby and my baby because me take care of her,” she said as she hugged the young lady.
Genevieve said she moved to Koberimo since she was 13 years old. She said she was born on the Aruka River, several miles away from her current home. Her parents moved to the area to pursue their farming activities.
“Really when I moved here it only had seven houses and few people,” she said. “I had nothing; I didn’t even have the thinking that we would have a school ballfield and so”, she said with a broad smile.
At the moment there are 32 houses in the community, she noted. She said her mother knew a few persons who the family met when they relocated to Koberimo and at the time they settled initially at the back of the hilly community.
The community was given its name from the Koberimo Creek which runs inroad from the nearby Kumaka Stretch. According to Genevieve, the name came from the Warrau language; “Kobo” means “Carrion crow” but she was unsure what the other aspect of the name signifies.
The community was lacking a few basic needs but as time progressed, persons made representations to the authorities to change this scenario and a school building was placed in the community as the nearby Hosororo Hill Primary school was annexed to Koberimo Hill. The community currently receives water from a pipe located near the community center ground.
Walking around the community, the name Smith continued to appear, even the shopkeeper’s name, her neighbor and a man on the other side of the village south of Genevieve’s home carry the name. “For me, he left a mark and that will go on forever because people recognize how he contributed to the village”, Genevieve remarked.
As she spoke to this publication, Petal, her granddaughter sat beside her. “Take a picture with me,” Genevieve requested. And as she prepared to pose for the camera with Petal beside her, a voice was heard in commanding tones. “Bring a cigarette and some water.” It was Camaldo.