Sebai’s Amerindians feeling the sharp edge of gold’s decline

At the day’s end: Vendors from the Sebai community preparing for the return journey home from Port Kaituma at the end of a trading day.

Thousands of miles may separate the metropolitan capitals where gold prices are set from the remote Amerindian communities in the interior of Guyana like Sebai, but the impact of decision-making in the metropolis on communities like Sebai could hardly be starker.

Sebai is located on the right bank of the Sebai river, twenty five miles away from Port Kaituma. The village hosts a community of around 420 Caribs, Arawaks and Warraus. Traditionally, the community’s main economic activities