LIFE is certainly not a bed of roses for the people living in Karawab Village, located in the Pomeroon River, some 40 kilometres off Charity. However, not a single resident that the Pepperpot Magazine spoke with recently would choose to live in another place!

Perhaps this is because of the breathtaking scenes that people up there can take in everywhere they look; the gorgeous sunsets, or the clean, clear, flowing water in the black and wintry Pomeroon River.
Or, it could be the simplicity of things there and the people’s ability to enjoy a good quality of life that requires very little from them. For instance, they plant what they eat and they simply go out to the river for their meat! Such meat couldn’t include caimans though because there are very few up there, owing to the noise from the speedboats that would daily traverse the easily navigable river.

Karawab, an Indigenous settlement measuring 85.459 square miles, according to a document from the Ministry of Communities, can be reached by travelling about 26 miles from Charity on a speedboat.
Charity can be described as the gateway to this part of Guyana’s interior, just the same as many people would need to pass through Parika before heading out to various river and land destinations.

To get to Karawab, you would need to first travel to Parika. By public transportation, the cost is $360 from Georgetown although the drivers and conductors would not hear of it. They take you for a full $500, whether you like it or not! Or, unless you protest and have a newspaper clipping or something handy to show them the correct fares decided by the authorities.

The next step would be to purchase a ticket for $380 for a 1 ½ hour sail to the Supenaam Stelling. Wishing to get there sooner though, a passenger may opt for a speedboat ride, which would cost $1,300, and take about 45 minutes.

A taxi from Supenaam would charge another $1,000 to take you to Charity, and the drive would take about an hour. Speedboats heading to Karawab from Charity would cost about $3,000 to $3,500 (one way).

Karawab Village is bordered by other villages like Kabakaburi, St. Monica, and Akawini, and is led by Toshao Thomas Charles and nine councillors who would meet on the last Thursday of every month.

The ‘David G’ School Boat  

Shirley Miguel, a 56-year-old councillor who has been living in this area all her life said that the village has a population of 800; 420 males and 380 females. There are 121 houses there, with 151 households.

Most of the residents do farming and lumbering, and the main language is Carib, followed by English. The means of communication are mainly verbal and satellite phones.
There is no electricity there, except by means of personal generators and solar panels. Such pitch darkness provides for a magnificent view of the stars at night.
Because transportation is only by boat, almost every house has its own. The children travelling to school would be picked up by the ‘David G’ boat in the morning and then dropped home after school. This is a provision from the government to ensure that children can attend school. Otherwise, many would not be able to afford the cost to travel daily in the river.

At the St. Monica Nursery School, there are 12 male students and 16 females, while at the Ulele Nursery; there are 30 males and 32 females. The children of St. Monica are led by two trained teachers, and two untrained ones, while the students at Ulele Nursery are taught by one trained teacher and three TQMs (Temporary Qualified Master/Mistress) and one TUM (Temporary Untrained Master/Mistress).

The St. Monica’s Primary School has 35 male students and 39 females. The students here benefit from the assistance of four trained teachers. The Ulele Primary has 70 males and 63 female students, with one ‘Graduate’ teacher, one trained and seven untrained teachers.
Karawab and surrounding villages benefit from two health posts, a satellite dish, and a sports pavilion. In fact, the residents would sometimes invite the youths in other communities to visit and play football, cricket and volleyball.

Residents though would be happy for the formation of other groups, such as a women’s group, youth group, farmers group, sewing group, loggers group and craft group.
There are also five church groups in the area.

Bat Creek

Bat Creek is another three miles from Karawab on speedboat, and Lionel John, a resident there, would have to take the children from the village who are attending school to Karawab, so that they too can join the government boat.

Speaking with the Pepperpot Magazine, John, who makes lantern posts and the like, is not sure from where the tiny village got its name. “It’s the old-time people who give it that name, our ancestors,” he related.

The village has about eight houses and residents would have to climb a certain tree to use their phones. Otherwise, there is no signal, electricity and potable water in the village.

Nevertheless, John loves where he is living. “Life is easy here. We do farming. This is farm ground; I like it here.” One of the challenges here though is the cost for gasoline. John uses about eight gallons a week, having to take the kids to school and run other errands, and would often run short.

The village is managed by the same Toshao as Karawab and St. Monica.