Dear Editor,
Karasabai village sits on the periphery, south of the mighty Pakaraima mountains in a remote area of the Rupununi. The Ireng river runs from north to south alongside the border between Guyana and Brazil, and is approximately two-and-a-half miles distant from the village. The people of Karasabai oftentimes journey eight miles over to ‘Normandy’, a neighbouring town in Brazil to conduct small business errands with their indigenous counterparts.
The population of Karasabai, together with several other satellite villages amounts to about three thousand, five hundred people. Some of the infrastructure in the village consists of an under-utilised airstrip, a police station, a cottage hospital, a primary and nursery school and an administrative office that looks into the affairs of the entire sub-district. Also included in the village mission are government living quarters to accommodate the staff of the various ministries attached to the Regional Democratic Council of Region Nine.
Mushrooming in some sections of the community are a number of small business outlets. The main source of income is generated from farming and alluvial mining.
Karasabai village is also home to the golden parakeet, a rare species of the Amazon’s exotic birds. Tiger Pond is the immediate neighbouring village to Karasabai, and can be a great place for adventure and extreme tourism, if partnerships are fostered to explore a cave, located somewhere in that territory. Maybe, very important anthropological evidence can be found if thoroughly investigated.
From the vast, flat, rolling savannah lands, to the incredible backdrop of the famous Pakaraima mountain range; to diverse resources and the serenity of indigenous customs, a landscape has been created with a phenomenal atmosphere. It makes Karasabai village a name to be reckoned with.
Moreso, it is a compelling attraction for nature photographers and videographers and is a dream for anyone who wants to shoot a movie. In a nutshell, the people of Karasabai may well be on their way to promoting a village destination, marketable for ecotourism.
But there is a missing link, for there is nothing connecting these very people to the outer world. For a very long time they have endured the ignorance of what is taking place in our country.They have been locked away and brainwashed in the past, marginalized and denied the rights of communication, information and education, which are contributing factors to their present status. They have unwittingly accepted the many chicaneries which have been cultivated into false hopes, and they are psychologically battered and unable to define the reality of the change in Guyana today.
Editor, the people of Karasabai village are now yelling out for some help. The Toshao of the village has recently written to Digicel and relevant officials, requesting their kind intervention so they can have mobile phones and internet services in their sub-district. This village leader must be commended for initiating such a course of action, since this project will definitely contribute to the human development of the entire sub-district, and enable them to overcome many obstacles as well as successfully address the challenges they are faced with. This very important proposed telecommunications venture, if approved at an early date, could also be a vital link to networking with appropriate non-governmental organisations and state agencies; initiating changes, acquiring new skills and shifting the paradigm, so as to gain an insight into the complex and unfortunate situation they have found themselves in.
It would also be a welcome venture for our doctors and nurses, teachers and policemen ‒ as a matter of fact, public servants as a whole ‒ who make sacrifices to serve the country when posted to perform duties in places like Karasabai. Students who travel out to Georgetown to attend learning institutions will be also be happy to have direct linkage with their loved ones and families.
I close my letter by adding my voice to those of the Toshao and people of Karasabai, so that the Minister of Indigenous Peoples Affairs and the Minister of Telecommunications, together with the officials of Digicel, can facilitate a favourable decision in relation to our humble request.
Yours faithfully,
Mark Anthony Rodrigues
Voice of the Rupununi
