Saturday, June 23, 2018

Participants listen to a talk on scholarships and education at the SRDC meeting in Aishalton June-14th-16th (Photo: Medino Abraham)



After functioning for some years even though it was not formally recognized, the South Rupununi District Council (SRDC) was officially Gazetted on March 25th 2017. It was done by Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs Sydney Allicock under Section 35 of the Amerindian Act of 2006 and came after the villages in question submitted requests approved by village general meetings for the setting up of the council.

The South Rupununi District Council is comprised of a toshao and one councillor from the following fourteen villages: Aishalton, Awarewaunau, Achawib, Karaudaranau, Katoonarib, Maruranau, Parabara, Parikwarinau, Potarinau, Rupunau, Sand Creek, Sawariwau, Shea and Shulinab.
The first SRDC meeting for this year was held in March in Rupunau, a village about 90 miles from Aishalton.

From Thursday June 14th Friday to Saturday 16th members of the above District Council gathered in Aishalton for a meeting. At the event there were representatives of the villages chosen by their newly elected toshaos and their senior councillors. In all there were about 120 persons gathered for the meeting.

During the three days of activities and discussion different topics were dealt with such as:  mining and its impact on the environment; the use of Mercury which is polluting the rivers that pass through most of the villages in the south Rupununi and affecting the local residents; trafficking in persons and other social issues which residents experience as offshoots of the mining which is taking place in proximity to indigenous communities. The issue of land titling for indigenous communities along with the Wapichans ongoing discussion for their ancestral land claim with the government were among other challenges faced in the villages in the South Rupununi which were included in the matters raised.

Through attending these meetings one learns about and experiences the struggles of Guyana´s indigenous peoples who are also confronted with the challenge of timber exploitation which can cause serious damage to the environment and have socio-cultural impacts on the population who predominantly inhabit the interior.

These and other challenges are also of particular concern for the Church in the Rupununi in terms of addressing them and assisting the indigenous people who are considered more connected to these vulnerable environments. These affected areas are considered the home of the Indigenous population which include the forests, scared sites, rivers, creeks, savannahs, and mountains where minerals, vegetables and animals are, as indicated by Pope Francis in Laudato Si.

The Wapichan indigenous District Council faces challenges and limitations in executing its mandates and plans effectively. Nevertheless, they are going ahead trying to pool together to achieve their goals, with the cooperation of the government and other Non governmental Organizations (NGOs) who are embracing their cause and contributing for the betterment of the South Rupununi peoples´ culture and way of life in this part of the country.

Its admirable to see that most of indigenous people who are Catholics, along with other small christian groups are proactive in planning, producing scientific studies, coordinating internal decisions in their indigenous communities that comprise the South Rupununi area and putting into practice what they feel will be best for future generations.

Other areas of interest are collective farming, preservation of scared sites and indigenous myths, languages, hunting, fishing, and harvesting.

All this is also being done in a joint effort to strengthen jurisdiction as part of their responsibilities.

The Wapichans are also in constructive dialogue with the government on land tenure and want to ensure that all the above activities serve as evidence of proper use of the land.

All this is being done in accordance with the indigenous view of development and use of natural resources including the pristine rainforest our common home,  in a sustainable way as mentioned in Pope Francis´ Laudato Si.


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