Kabakaburi in the Pomeroon River is one of several typical Amerindian homesteads, populated by a few hundred people where logging has, over time, been the most reliable means by which the men earn a livelihood. Women weave their Tibisiri craft and prepare their traditional indigenous food and drink and hope for the best from the modest markets afforded by events like Indigenous Heritage Month in September and GuyExpo.
This week, the Callistros—Neville, Iris and their 22-year-old granddaughter Satusia—came to Georgetown to talk with Stabroek Business ahead of their participation in this month’s Business Exposition, an event for small businesses which, for this year alone, replaces GuyExpo. These days, the Callistros and several of the other families at Kabakuri, cannot afford to pass up the opportunity afforded by events like the Business Exposition.
At 71, Neville Callistro, a former Village Captain at Kabakuri and better known in an earlier time as the Mighty Chief is devoting more of his time to working with his wife and granddaughter to sustain their enterprise which, he says, produces “genuine Amerindian Products” under the
