…it’s been a while. During the last two months I had intended to write a blog entry every two weeks or so, but due to the circumstances of the last two months it’s been very difficult to find time to keep up this blog, let alone get on the internet period.
Let me first start off with where I’ve been and why. Up until now what we, the Suriname 16 Peace Corps group has been doing is what has been called Community Based Training (CBT). This is a method of training where we live with a host family in a community in an attempt to learn the culture and language as thoroughly as possible. The SUR 16 group consists of 23 volunteers, or at this point trainees. In CBT we are spread out over seven villages in the Brokopondo area of Suriname. The villages located in Brokopondo are Victoria, Asigron, Hermanesdorp, Powaka, Compagnie Creek, Drepeda, and Tapoeripa.
In my village, Tapoeripa, it’s myself and another Trainee, Erin. Of all the villages that CBT is being held in Tapuripa is in my opinion the most extreme in the culture that we’ll be living in. A brief history of Tapoeripa is that it was created in the late sixties when the creation of a manmade lake displaced the people of the previous village located now under the lake. The lake was created because of the need for more power in the country, with the specific need of more power going to the Suralco plant. The village was built quickly and the design is a grid system with one housing plan used for all the houses. Because of this the layout of the village is very densely populated with the houses being very close to each other. The streets are not paved and from what I can tell the village was not designed for the current conditions, being over populated and over 40 years old.
As you can see from the photos the village is in a state that is less than desirable. This is due to the actual design of the village and also of the population that lives there. The Maroon culture that was displaced when the lake was created are the decedents of the population of runaway slaves that the Dutch had brought over when they colonized the country. Because of this and the past history of how the government has dealt with the effects of slavery you get a difficult situation. Basically the government has been subsiding almost all that is needed to live. You can start with the village itself, the government built it and gave it to the people, rightly so though, for the displacement. Power and water is free and the government pays a monthly stipend to the villagers every month. Villagers also have their own farm grounds where they can live off the fat of the land. All this means that there is absolutely no reason for any of the population to have the desire to change since everything is provided. Because of this, the current state of the village has been in a state decline for 40 years.
This is something that has been hard to become accustom to. It’s no fault of the general population since being raised in this situation with everything giving to them one would know no better. Add to that the lack of will to integrate with the rest of the population and you have a population that has had little outside contact, even though the village is literally ½ mile from “normal” culture, however you may define the term. This is what the challenge will be; in order to have any lasting impact a change in behavior will be necessary, and how to go about that???
So yeah, the last three months has been a very interesting time indeed. I can say that it has been the most difficult time in my life for the longest period of time in my life. From the very first day of being dropped off the intensity of the situation was real, throughout my time though I found myself to be more comfortable as each day went on, to the point of when we finally left I felt totally comfortable in any situation in the village. That says a lot, as you can see from the photos it’s different, way different. To end up feeling comfortable in that situation is a huge feat, a real learning experience, and good energy start with.
