The German Experience - hinterland students

Guyana Chronicle
July 20, 2003

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GEORGETOWN (GINA) -- On Thursday July 17, the seven-member team of students and teachers from the Santa Rosa Secondary School in Region One (Barima/Waini) returned to Guyana after a three-week school exchange visit to Germany.

The students and teachers spoke with GINA on Friday about their first exposure to the world and their commitment to maintain the relationship between the two schools.

Delip Bridgelall: "The experience was not very strange. It was strange in the way that I did not expect to see a lot of vegetation. The roads are well controlled and maintained. There are a lot of strange buildings and the people preserve their culture. They maintain their historical sites well. For example, we went to the famous castle 22km from Leichlingen and the famous cathedral (589 stairs) in Cologne. What I observed is that their poor people are like our richest people." About his experience of the classroom scenario, Bridgelall observed that the German students do not wear uniforms to school; that they eat in their classrooms whenever they wish and that they have a lot of spending money daily.

He learnt that the State provides financial assistance to persons who are unable to secure jobs.

Bridgelall, like the other students on the trip, wrote the CXC examinations before going on the trip. Even though he hopes to graduate shortly from the Santa Rosa Secondary School, the teenager plans to remain in his community to serve his people by providing assistance in Agriculture as he sees the need for more productivity.

He says his first option would be to further his studies in Agriculture as he continued to explore what life has to offer.

He, along with the other students, hopes to continue contributing to maintaining the school link by sharing their experience with students of the school and to render whatever support they can. Many of them are hoping to become teachers at their alma mater so that their contribution could be meaningful.

Cyntia Rodrigues, 17, from Kamwatta in Moruca, said she enjoyed the trip very much. What amazed her was the maintenance of the forest, which she says are kept properly by youth groups. "You could walk underneath the trees and they are very clean. Also, there are a lot of information on the forest trees about their species and history in general," she said.

She observed that the Germans are very friendly but they do not take things for granted. "Things that we would take for granted, they don't, "she said.

Initially, Ms. Rodrigues wants to offer her teaching services at the Santa Rosa Secondary School after which she hopes to pursue a career in professional nursing so that she can "give better service to people."

Rachel Abraham, 16, said she was "fascinated by many trees. It was like I was expecting a city of buildings and steel," she said. The architecture is very old-fashioned and very different from Guyana."

She observed that "family life is very different too. Families are very busy. They hardly have the opportunity to be at home… and some children are out very late at nights.

The food and environment was strange and different. "At first I thought I could not cope but I adapted to it." According to her, they have been assured that the partnership would go on and that perhaps there would be similar exchange visits in the future.

The teenager has a long-term goal of becoming a detective. "I know that that is unusual, but that's what I want. I want to investigate and deal with people who break the law," she said.

She advises young people especially students of her school to "take up education, study hard because education is everything. It is the road to success and without it you cannot make it in life."

She said her family was very proud of the opportunity she was given to learn about other people. "If I have another opportunity to go to another country I would be able to live up to the expectations."

Tonya Wilson, 16, of Kwebanna, and a former dormitory student at Santa Rosa, said she and her family were thankful for the opportunity to go on the trip. What enthralled her in Germany were the teaching facilities. The local students participated in Information Technology, Mathematics, English and Physical Education classes with their foreign counterparts. She observed that the classes were very demonstrative and effective with slides, video and so on.

Daniel Rodrigues: "It was a good trip. But I encountered a problem with the culture barrier. I had a hard time adapting. Now I would be able to cope with different people."

The teenager observed that the Germans are very proud of their culture and that they have full respect for punctuality.

He said that the continuation and growth of the school link depends on the students who were on the trip, who now have a better understanding of the German culture, to pass on the other students, parents and teachers.

He said there are some existing pen friendships, but this needs to be expanded. Young Rodrigues has his aim on becoming a medical doctor in a few years time.

Bernadette Dindyal - teacher

For her, the experience was not very shocking, since she lived in Venezuela for a while. The language, at first, was a bit difficult but eventually she learnt a few words and phrases. Perhaps it was because the food was different that she learnt "Isn aber hunger" - (I am hungry), among the first phrases.

She believes that languages are very important for everyone because no one knows what opportunities they may encounter.

Like some of the students, Mrs. Dindyal observed that the teaching strategies were very different and easy for the teachers because of the available facilities. "In Santa Rosa most times it is chalk and talk," she said.

Teacher Bernie, as she is called, said the visiting team taught the Germans a lot about Guyanese, particularly Amerindian culture. For instance, she said that many of the students and teachers overseas were of the view that they could not survive without electricity, telecommunication and so on. However, "we showed them how we survived under these conditions," she pointed out.

The Germans have contributed significantly, especially in terms of providing sport gears and communication and electricity supplies to the interior school. In turn, the interior school basically shares information on Guyana. "They are very excited about what they learn from us."

According to Victor Ferreira, Senior Master acting, despite the fact that the students are all final-year students, the aim is to have the team members meet and present a report as well as to share their experience with other students of the school as well as teachers and parents.

Santa Rosa Secondary School established a link with the German school - Staditsche Gemeinschaftshaupschule Am Hammer, in Leichlingen, Germany a few years ago. The partnership emerged out of a Conference for Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin held in Germany some eight years ago.

According to him, the school-link programme hopes to reach out to other hinterland schools. He said another town in Germany (Levereskusen) expressed interest in establishing a partnership with the local school. However, he suggested that the town make contact with the North West Secondary School since the existing partnership is focused solely on Santa Rosa Secondary School. "I think it would be a better idea to spread this kind of programme across Guyana," he said.

The retiring teacher said he hopes that this initiative, should the school agree to the link programme, would see the Region One Education Department supporting the two school link programme.

Mr. Ferreira is very concerned about the continuation of the programme, since he managed it since it materialized in 1995, but is retiring next year.

In another three years, the next German team is expected to come to Guyana on a similar mission.

http://www.landofsixpeoples.com/news303/nc307204.htm

from the movie "the Mission" in Paraguay. The First Amerindian choir singing in Latin taught by the Jesuits.

Soy Loco por ti, América

Saint Rose of Lima - First Saint of the Americas

Saint Rose, born Isabel De Flores Y Del Oliva in Lima, Peru on 20 April, 1586, and after a life of constant struggle, died there 30 August, 1617. She was beatified by Clement IX, in 1667, and canonized in 1671 by Clement X, becoming the first American saint. Represented in numerous images wearing a crown of roses, her feast day is celebrated 30 August.

Who was this extraordinary woman?

Her father was a Spaniard, and her mother of Indian blood. Isabel was a sickly baby but soon grew healthy and beautiful. Her family was poor, and hoped that Isabel, growing into an extremely attractive young woman, would marry well and assist the rest of her family. Since childhood, when Isabel was nicknamed Rose, or Rosa for her looks and rosy cheeks, the young girl had an affinity for the religious rather than the secular. She did not wish to marry, and her refusal was something her parents couldn't tolerate. She took a vow of chastity and modeled herself on St. Catherine of Siena, devoting herself to a life of abnegation and self-mortification. Despite her family's objections, the ridicule of friends and family, Rosa continued to practice extreme forms of religious observance.

She disliked her looks and the attention they brought her. Images made at the time of her life show her piously lifting her eyes to heaven, but it is this image that is more in keepng with modern visualizations of her. She fasted, then became a vegetarian, mortifying her flesh with hard work and going so far as to rub lye or lime into her hands, rub pepper into her face and skewer her head with a long pin instead of a circlet of roses fashioned for her by her mother. All this self-cruelty to turn attention away from her beauty and focus it on God.

Additionally, she flogged herself, wore a hair shirt and slept little. It took her many years of prayer, fasting, hard work and secret penances before her family reluctantly agreed to let her become a Dominican Tertiary, or a member of the Third Order, taking vows of poverty, at twenty. She moved out of her family home into a small grotto built on their property, where she continued to devote herself to the care of the poor and infirm. She helped her family with her fine workmanship and was known for her lace.

She continued in her religious practices, denying herself food and mortifying her body, offering up her suffering as a way of atoning for the idolatry of her country, for the conversion of sinners, and for the souls in Purgatory. If she followed these extreme practices today, hno doubt she would be examined both physically and psychiatrically, but during her lifetime, she was either lauded or scorned for her piety.

Following her death at thirty-one, her funeral could not take place for days as the people of Lima thronged to see her body. She was buried in the cemetery of the Dominican convent. Later, as a number of miracles were attributed to her, her remains were moved to the church of San Domingo, where was laid to rest in a special chapel.

Canonized as Santa Rosa de Lima, she is the patron saint of Lima, of Peru, indeed, all the Americas, Phillippines, India, florists, gardeners, and people ridiculed for their piety. She is symbolized by her love for the Holy Infant, roses, as a Dominican tertiery holding roses and as a Dominican tertiery accompanied by the Holy Infant.

The celebration of her feast day in Lima is a particularly important one.

 Catholic Encyclopedia

Uncle Basil yearns for Banchikili revival

While being cognisant of the loss of the Arawak culture, Basil Rodrigues believes that if interventions are made, the spiral can be stymied so that this culture can be passed on to youths.

Rodrigues known as ‘Uncle Basil’ is a resident of Santa Rosa; a community found within the Moruca Sub-Region, Region One and has lived a life devoted to teaching and guitar music. He was born on June 13, 1932 at Bullet Tree, Waini River before moving in 1940 to Santa Rosa to attend primary school.

Basil Rodrigues

“Banjo music had me interested and I wanted to know how to play,” he said. This early love for music grew from listening to Hurrup and Banchikili  (Spanish Arawak music), which was played frequently in the community. He recalled how he and other boys would peep at “dances” from the trees since they were not allowed to go in. At other times, he and his friends would paddle two or three miles down the Moruca River singing western songs particularly those of Hank Williams, who hits included “Your Cheating Heart” and “Hey Good Looking”. A Roman Catholic nun, Sister Teresa, did not like that since she thought they were drinking, but he said that was not so; they just loved the music.

He was 19 years on in 1951, when his mother’s permission was sought for him to go teach at a school in Karaudarnaua, Deep South Rupununi. While he took with him his love for guitar playing, adjusting to a different environment where little English was used was difficult. He said he was often lonely and found that he could not fit in.

However, in 1954, he moved to Shea, another community in the Deep South, as head teacher with the aim of opening a primary school. He remembers climbing Shea Rock and using that time to reflect on life. “The geography of the land presented an ideal place to learn, reminisce and discover,” he said. It was while there that he realised that he could compose songs on life of the people in the Rupununi, their heritage, beliefs and the tough life they lived.

Therefore after work, he would try to fit his compositions to Samba, a music form which was often played there. “I found as a teacher, the children used to be more interested in this new form of music and it helped because I could not get them to understand how I operated as a teacher,” he said.

He wrote songs, skits and dances that the smallest child could join in and perform. Even though the Wapishana language was difficult for him, he was determined to learn it and managed to write many of his skits in this language.

Rodrigues and wife Dolly at the National Cultural Centre after he received the Medal of Service in 1991

“I spent almost a lifetime at Shea; almost 25 years, with breaks of course, because I had to attend the teachers training college during that time, and after I completed that I went back to teach in the Rupununi.” A few years later, he moved to Aishalton, another village in the Deep South, and spent the next eleven years teaching there. He said Aishalton was different from Shea in that the people were harder working, independent and wanted to do things.

He said that he was encouraged by former Toshao Henry Winter to settle there. However, when the plane service to the area was discontinued in the 1980s, articles in the stores got expensive. At that point, he was no longer a teacher and owned of a herd of cattle which he tried to increase in number so as to sustain his family. However, two things happened which changed the course of his life.

Firstly, his health began to deteriorate amidst the lack of proper medical facilities and secondly people started to get into the habit of cattle rustling. These two factors led to his decision to return to Moruca.

In 1992, he returned to Santa Rosa and rekindled his love for music especially the Banchikili which was the main form of musical entertainment there.  But Amerindian culture there was different from how he had left it. “I found that the culture was rapidly dying out, the youths had left the culture by itself because they were ashamed to dance and play their music, and were more interested in modern music.”

He added that a famous violinist, who was well respected in the community, Aloysius La Rose called ‘Uncle Bull’ conceptualised the idea of forming a band along with Frank Hernandez who played the fiddle. He said he decided to part of the band because of his love for playing the guitar. They named the band, the Mariaba String Band. He said the name “Mariaba” was the original name of Santa Rosa.

Basil Rodrigues and members of the Mariaba String Band

The band played the banchikili music which was passed down from Spanish Arawaks who came from Venezuela in 1817 and settled in the Moruca area. Rodrigues said the band performed at several functions up until the late 1990s. Unfortunately, in 1996 he suffered a heart attack which resulted in him losing energy. As a result of his poor health, he could not move about much and as such lost interest in the band. During the course of that year, the band also lost two other members.

Rodrigues was also the recipient of two national awards namely the Medal of Service given to him in 1991 for his community work in the Rupununi. While the other, the Arrow of Achievement was bestowed on him in 1998 for his teaching and musical endeavours.

Currently, while the band is still in existence, “it is barely surviving”, he said, since its two members have limited knowledge of the banchikili music. He said he is very sad about that, but there is little he can do. When the band was at its optimum, it had recorded several tapes of its music; Rodrigues is hoping that he can acquire some of these tapes to keep as a memoir of the fading music.

He bemoaned the fact that the culture was not passed on after the elders died. “Why couldn’t I get our boys to pass it on?” He hopes that one day he can write about life at Moruca especially on “what happened to the original teachers who left Moruca for the South Rupununi for places like Achiwib, Awaruranawa, Mararuranawa and Sand Creek.” He added that the communities all had teachers from Moruca who later settled there. “Moruca is really the backbone of education there.”

Now, at age 78 Uncle Basil spends his time engrossed in reading and gardening. However, he identifies himself also as a poet of over 60 works on Moruca, Kanima and “jumbies”. He no longer performs but is ever-willing to assist school children with bits of advice and poetry.
While he may be removed from the physical aspects of culture, the worry of loss of culture and language is never far from his mind. “Sadly, culture is not popular here [Santa Rosa], we don’t know our language and the youths are not interested.
“We are forgetting our dances; it has become a laughing matter now because they make so many mistakes.”

Uncle Basil believes that not enough is being done to engage youths in their culture. He is of the opinion that schools can play a greater role in curbing this cultural loss with the addition of music teachers. Further, he said that a “meaningful” committee with determined people can be set up to revive the Arawak culture.

“We could make an impression; it doesn’t mean anything if we only want to do culture when September comes,” he remarked.
While there has been a loss in Arawak culture, he still hopes it can be halted by capitalising on the existing knowledge possessed by the community’s elders.  While he no longer performs, he stands out as a man of knowledge about music and the Amerindian way of life in Santa Rosa.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2010/the-scene/09/25/uncle-basil-yearns-for-banchikili-revival/

Our future Hope..

Medino Abraham is a Guyanese Jesuit Who is at present engaged with a University course in Pedagogy in South Brazil. Last semester, as part of his pratical work, he had the chance to experience working with a branch of Fe Y Alegria, run by the Jesuits of Porto Alegre. He says he found the experience very helpful “because it offered me an opportunity to catch a glimpse of one of the dimensions of the Jesuit´s involvement in Education for the poor in Latin America”.

Fé y Alegria ( literally, Faith and Joy) was founded in Venezuela in 1955 as a non-governmental organization to establish direct contact with the poor and the needy. It supports the educative services both on the peripheries of the big cities and among the poor of the rural areas. Fr. José Maria Vélaz S.J, the founder of the movement, best capsulated this ideal when he said: “Where the asphalt ends and the town changes its name, Fé Y Alegria began”.

Fé y Alegria has its philosophical roots in the work of the famous Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, who developed a model of Popular education, which was quite different to what he felt was the traditional “elitist” system of education found in Latin America.

The movement operates differently in most places and countries, depending on the needs of the people in that country. In Brazil, the movement was established in 1981; and the branch here in the southern state of Brazil has been running for the past four years. The service offered is for children who are victims of sexual abuse, enforce child labor and other forms of ill treatment. The school acts both as a symbol of solidarity and provides a place of protection, while as the same time offers an opportunity to develop and transformed their gifts.

My weekly visits to the school were on Friday afternoons. I began by getting to know the children, and to familiarize myself with the activities carried out by the institution. The small building structure serves 105 children from the ages of five to 14, and has five teachers. Because of the need to protect and develop the children´s potential, this branch of Fe y Alegria has adopted the model of non-formal education; in other words, it does not teach formal subjects like mathematics and Portugues, but instead used the insights of Piaget and Friere. (The children go to a regular school in the mornings and in the afternoon go to classes at Fe e Alegria). At Fe y Alegria it offeres classes in art, sport, music, dance, care for the environment and computing. Also included in the school curriculum is training in human formation, which is moulded by the Ignatian Spirituality.

My experience in the school was very consoling: I was edified, especially to see my brothers in the Brazilian Society of Jesus reaching out to the poor so creatively through education. Fé y Alegria is offering the little ones an opportunity to be better persons and, despite their own past experience  of being abused by the world, help them to make a positive contribution to that same world. In protecting and caring for these children, who are our future hope, Fe y Alegria stands as an excellent example of Jesus ‘own commission to the disciples: “Let the little children come to me!”

taken from the Jesuits and Friends Magazine.