Traditional dance of Maroons

This video highlights the traditional dance style, called Awassa, of Maroons in Suriname and French Guiana. The music is also traditional and typically tells a story. This style of dance and music is very common now in the interior where we live, but is performed formally only during special occasions. I wish I had some good footage of my own, but alas, I haven't had good luck so far. Enjoy. -Christine

Dutch Guiana - Land of the Djuka 1933

A very dated, yet fascinating video of Maroons in Suriname, previously Dutch Guiana.

From Miami, November 4th, 2010

First, sorry to our faithful blog readers (both of you) for slacking off on the updates. What with the loss of electricity in the village (more later) and a more hectic pace to the development work when we're in the city, we have been most remiss. Day-to-day village life is much the same as it has been although we have now been here through an entire planting/harvesting season so we have a better understanding of the cycle of work here. July through December is very busy for the farmers and we now have a very good sense of the kind of work they're doing and why. David continues to be very involved in the farming and still goes to grounds 2-3 times a week.

The whole village suffered a big loss with the demise of our beloved generator. During an all-nighter (one of the parties that go until day break in the aftermath of a death) sparky lost his battle with BTU's due to a pernicious leak in life-sustaining radiator fluid. From now on, wakes and everything else will be sans electrons except for those lucky few with back-up generators (not us). Other generic news includes David/Christine health report - David is holding steady at a healthy 152lbs, about 30 under arrival weight - lighter, probably weaker but a hell of a lot tougher. Christine's skin continues to do battle with her immune system and unfortunately, the immune system is winning. Very difficult for her to do routine housework because her hands are the primary victim in the histamine assault. But she's hanging in which shows she's tougher than David.

The development work is going well. The business to grate and package pom tayer is up and running. The brothers who started the business received an operating loan from a local credit union, purchased processing equipment, packaging materials and their first order of unprocessed produce. They've begun to sell 1 kilo packages to retail outlets. Sales are a little slow right now because retailers want to see how the product initially sells before buying in bulk. Buyers are already placing larger orders. Pom tayer is a variety of taro, which is used in Hawaii to make poi. There are several varieties of tayer grown here, but pom tayer is the most common. We are really pleased that this project is up and running. It could have a big impact not only for the entrepreneurs, but also the local growers as it provides them a more competitive market for selling their produce. This is huge because right now as no one is buying pom tayer, so there is very little farm revenue coming into the village.

The water improvement project is moving slowly. Nine new platforms for rainwater catchment tanks have been built at selected households, but the installations have not been completed due to delays in funding. Speaking of money begs the question of where does donated money actually end up? Well, ideally, the water board would have a bank account where income and outgo can be easily tracked. So our dutiful organization has attempted to open one. Much, much easier said than done. One would think opening an account and depositing money would be something banks would encourage but this does not seem to be the case since this process has been underway for several months. Something more always seems to be needed for the bank to be willing to open an account in their name.

Fortunately, things have settled down in the village for our new Kapiten. His father has come to a much more open and accepting position regarding his son's choice and did a few sermons on being more cautious about passing judgment on others. This is very fortunate for our Kapiten as he has been pretty overwhelmed in his new job. Along with the catch up work from being four years without a Kapiten, there have been several deaths recently. Deaths involve ritual and the Kapiten - as the community leader - must prepare and participate in all facets of these rituals. The church/traditional split in the village tends to make these events more stressful in general. Also, families of the deceased do not always agree (hard to imagine) as to the proper way of things and he is called upon to settle these issues - which can get messy.