Dear Editor,
This year’s theme for Amerindian Heritage month is ‘Traditional Embodiment for Amerindian Develop-ment.’ This means we have to develop our culture and traditions and most importantly preserve and embrace them to ensure they do not become extinct in Guyana. This is a positive thing promoted by the Indigenous peoples along with the United Nations and the government of this country.
The main icon serving as the inspiration for Amerindian Heritage month is Stephen Campbell, the man who showed concern for his people and went out of his way to help them. This noble leader is a descendant of the Indigenous people of Guyana, whose presence in this country goes back 11,000 years.
Stephen Joseph Campbell was born in Moruca, a sub-district of the Barima-Waini region, the northernmost part of Guyana, on December 26, 1897. Both his parents died when he was very young and he was brought up by his grandmother, whom he credited with teaching him the core principles of life: religion and discipline.
Stephen Campbell’s work in the Amerindian communities began with the church. He was brought up as a devout Catholic and he worked for many years as a teacher and as a catechist in various regions of Guyana. He served as a catechist in the Rupununi as part of the church’s effort to convert other Indigenous peoples.
Mr Campbell was also compassionate in helping others. His grounding in the Cristian faith can serve as an example his fellow Amerindians can learn from, especially at this time where many of us are becoming less interested in having our lives centred on the creator and are even drifting away from the belief in the good book, the bible.
If he was still around I guess Stephen Campbell would have been scandalized by what’s happening to this new generation of Amerindians. The majority of us are not practising the Christian faith as we should; we are giving in too much to worldly values; and we are creating divisions among ourselves in our communities.
These divisions are caused by our own people, by politicians, and even the churches. With the reality of this generation of Amerindians today, I’m sure Mr Campbell would have remembered his ‘good old days’ working to help his people profoundly from the heart, being a voice for them in Parliament and elsewhere, seeking justice and trying to secure a dignified future for them with regard to their lands and getting better recognition for them as a people.
These were some of the pressing issues he saw at that time. Now in this era there is need for a new Stephen Campbell to rise up and help Amerindians face the challenges in our contemporary Guyana. It will be a challenge for us to find that person, because nowadays most of our people are doing things in the name of Amerindians although ultimately what they do is for the sake of their personal agendas and fame, and they do not show too much interest in the people out of profound and genuine motives.
If this humble Indigenous man was still alive, he would have complimented the leaders in the country for helping to promote the Amerindian culture and traditions. He would have given suggestions to make the heritage celebrations more meaningful. As an educated and noble person he would have discovered that some of the activities during the heritage celebrations were entertainment and superficial to some extent, and not in depth. They do not help people to think and reflect about their history and social reality, take their culture seriously, and be proud of it as they uplift themselves in life as the first people of this country.
On this point in Mr Campbell’ memory I would support giving more suggestions to enhance the heritage celebrations in Guyana. My idea would be to add an educational aspect to them in the form of holding a book fair in one of the Indigenous communities in the hinterland to encourage and promote literacy, where some of our potential Amerindian academics and polyglot residents could write books about their culture and traditions in their own language as well as in English. This suggestion although a dream and over the head of many of my Indigenous brethren’s way of thinking, could serve as an excellent platform to showcase our talented Indigenous people who could be protagonists of their culture and traditions by expressing same through literature, etc.
In concluding, my other suggestion would also be along the lines of education and research for the development of the intellectual aspect of Amerindian heritage celebrations next September. For example, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs along with churches and other generous entities which have the experience and manpower, could come together and set up a Stephen Campbell Research Centre somewhere on the coast or in the hinterland. This would be for students, researchers and others to learn about the trajectory, social reality, etc, of the Amerindians in Guyana. The Research Centre would also serve as a place for producing reflective and critical writing as a basis for wisdom in decision-making relating to Indigenous people and their welfare. Material, cultural and intellectual development is a noble way for Indigenous people to contribute to the intellectual development of our beautiful country.
Yours faithfully,
Medino Abraham
