Lee Williams was just 19 years old when he contested to be elected Toshao of his community. He lost. Not a quitter, he contested twice again and lost both times. But on his fourth attempt, at the age of 39, he won the confidence of Paruima Village, in Region Seven and was finally elected Toshao.
It is that same passion and drive that saw him moving into politics and last week he was named as one of the PPP/C’s newest parliamentarians.
Hours after his name was extracted, Williams said that it was all still surprising for him, for while he campaigned in the last elections he had no indication that he would become a member of the National Assembly.
“I am overwhelmed… to know that I will represent my community and the first people of Guyana as a whole. As an Amerindian I feel so honoured that I have been given this opportunity to sit in Parliament,” he told Stabroek Weekend.
Williams is a father of five and works as an environmental health assistant officer attached to the Paruima Health Centre. He was said to have been instrumental in galvanising support in the region for the PPP/C in the last elections.
High on Williams’s agenda is improving communication in indigenous communities. He revealed his community is almost isolated as there is no form communication. As a matter of fact, it was only after he travelled to Georgetown on personal matters that he learnt he was named as a parliamentarian when persons started congratulating him.
“We need to improve on the communication in the villages of Region Seven. It is way behind in technology and we need to be focusing more in that area so that each village can have access to internet and get communication for health issues and other regional issues,” he said.
Talking about his journey to becoming a parliamentarian, Williams said at the age of 19, two years after he started working as an environmental health assistant, he decided to contest for the position of Toshao, but villagers might have felt he was too young and instead voted for an older candidate. He did, however, make it onto the village council before he was elected Toshao at 39.
The new parliamentarian said he was passionate about seeing young people involved in the decision making of his community because many times the youths are left out and the older persons are the ones who make the decisions.
“I felt that young people should be included,” he said about his decision to contest as a teenager. And today, even though he is older, he works with the young people in the community and ensure that they are involved.
Apart from being an environmental health assistant, Williams is also an experienced malaria microscopist and he has served in several villages working to eradicate malaria.
While he became Toshao in 2017, he continues to work at the Paruima Health Centre.
His journey into politics was not by accident. He recalled that his late father, Levi Williams, had served as regional councillor from 1992 to 1997 and when he left school at 16, his father encouraged him to not only further his studies but also become more involved in the decision making of the village.
Williams applied to the Ministry of Health and was successful in being allowed to train as an environmental health assistant through the ministry’s certificate programme.
“My father used to encourage me, to follow the country’s affairs and then I was fortunate to become a village councillor… he said.,”
He always yearned for more knowledge and as a result he always ensured that he remained informed. His father was selected by the PPP/C to become a regional councillor and he decided to follow in his footsteps.
“My father encouraged me to continue the legacy with his party because that party was more interested and concerned about the Amerindian communities from since 1992 and that is where I got the interest that I need to represent my people,” the soon-to-be sworn in parliamentarian said.
Eco-tourism
Williams had also been promoting his community, which can only be reached by aircraft, as an eco-tourism destination. He said he has been promoting tourism and other activities as he hopes to improve the village and make it better for the youths.
But he said while the village does have the potential and they have had a few tourists, the challenge is accessing the community as some may find it too expensive to go there by plane.
The biggest attraction, according to Williams, is the Uchi Falls, which is about two days’ walk from the community but taking clients to the area may take three days as they do the trek slowly. There are other falls on the way at which they would stop, and they would also spend the night at one of them. The best time to visit is during the Easter holidays and in September because the water is shallow then and the area is more accessible.
He described the Uchi Falls as a massaging jacuzzi where the warm water from the Kamrang River reaches the cold water from the Uchi River “and it is like hot and cold water coming together to give you a very refreshing feeling there”.
Williams said that is the destination they promote along with other nearby falls, one of which has a natural slide that ends in a pool. They also promote their organic foods such as ground provisions, vegetables, and legumes. At Uchi Falls they spend the night under a tent and if requested persons can also climb to the top as they usually arrive at the bottom.
Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Williams said, although they had persons booked to visit in April and September they have cancelled in an effort to keep the community COVID free.
“It is expensive, but it is worth it, even though the distance a little far, persons will still have the feeling to come back,” Williams said.
Paruima is home to the only Arekuna tribe, according to Williams, and they still speak the language with their main staples being mostly ground provisions and greens.
All of the villagers are members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church as that is the only denomination in the community.
Out of his parents’ seven children, Williams is the only one who has gone into politics and he promises to continue to work for the betterment of his community and Amerindians as a whole.
He is married and his five children are ages 24, 18, 16, 13 and 4.
