July, 2010

There has been a lot going on in the village and in Suriname at large over the last couple of months. On the development work front, a local company has sponsored the installation of several rain catchment tanks and provided the village with a cassava mill. This latter item grates cassava into “flour” (not really flour, it’s wet and sticky but it’s what they squeeze, dry and make bread and kwaka from). This otherwise difficult and painful work is done by hand on a piece of metal nailed to a wooden board. The metal is perforated to create a grating surface. Although the mill will make things easier, the nutritional value of the resulting cassava will be reduced slightly due to the lack of blood and fingertips that otherwise provide a small amount of protein when using the manual method. The rainwater tank project has been interesting. The number of tanks we’ll receive from this company is far less than the total needed for the village (we’ve applied to other international support organizations for the whole project) so the process of deciding who would get these first tanks had the potential to be a bit dicey. Fortunately, our water board was up to the task. First, they decided that each of our 8 neighborhoods would get 1 tank. Then each neighborhood rep on the board was asked to pick someone to receive the tank. Initially one or two thought that board members should get them but this was quickly nixed as setting a bad precedent. The criteria loosely established were that the recipients should be those who first – didn’t already have a tank, second – be older folks with less potential for earning money to buy a tank themselves, third – have a large number of kids in the house. Candidates were quickly selected and the board then held a town meeting to announce the results, their reasoning and to see if there were objections. The water board rocks.
Our village is also in the throes of selecting a new Kapiten. Kapitens are village leaders (who are paid a small stipend by the government) that have traditionally resolved disputes, made community decisions, and generally provided leadership to bush communities. The Kapiten tradition goes all the way back to the founding of maroon communities when they first escaped slavery some 300 years ago. As such, the “confirmation” process is steeped in traditional ritual, which is proving to be a bit of a problem this time around. The position of Kapiten is hereditary in a fairly unusual way – the eldest son of the eldest sister of the current Kapiten is the person in line to become the new Kapiten. In our village, this woman married the local Christian preacher and both she and obviously her husband have renounced most traditional ritual as heathen craziness certain to lead all participants directly to hell. “No son of ours, etc…” This has led to a four year hiatus in the Kapitency which is not particularly good for the community as a whole. In the case of our village, it is actually the fourth son who has been “nominated” to become Kapiten. The oldest brother had a traumatic brain injury as a child and cannot serve; the next two brothers live in the city and are as opposed as their parents to “unchristian” ritual. So brother four has stepped up and will become Kapiten, and this has created quite a rift between he and his parents (his brothers seem to be OK with it), and between the “churchies” and the “heathens” in the community at large. Church last Sunday was pyrotechnic with all the protestations and boisterously voiced concerns for brother four’s immortal soul. But he himself is a great guy and we think will make a fine Kapiten. We’re very impressed that he has the fortitude to go through this tribulation basically for the good of the community.
Suriname just had an election. The process was pretty impressive even if the result was a little unsettling. A group from the government election agency came to our village, showed people how to vote, hung out all day and then publicly counted every ballot. They physically showed every ballot while they were counting. Apparently they do this in every village and in neighborhoods in the city. A very remarkable display of democracy. Unfortunately, just because you have a good process doesn't mean you'll get a good result. The "winner" - they have a parliamentary system so they must form a coalition government, so no guarantee he'll become president but his party got the most seats - is a former dictator here who is a convicted drug smuggler and is currently on trial for murder. One early coalition had him paired with his former military rival during this country’s civil war in the 80’s who also has an international warrant for his arrest on similar drug charges. Neither can leave the country without fear of immediate incarceration. A third leading political figure is a convicted sex offender. American politicians don’t have anything on these guys – other than we rarely actually convict our politicians of crimes. In the month and a half since the actual vote, coalitions have formed, dissolved and reformed and as yet there is still no president. Since it’s unlikely that any coalition will get 2/3 of the seats necessary to install the president, a lower governing body of “state” and “county” representatives will likely vote to select the president. The process is pretty confusing to us uninitiated Americans but it’s been fascinating to watch.