Indigenous Venezuelan migrants find refuge in Region One

The effects of the economic situation in Venezuela has affected all its people, including its indigenous population which live in its jungles. Indigenous Venezuelans have found refuge in indigenous villages within Guyana, particularly in region one - Barima-Waini. Kamwatta, located in the Mabaruma sub-district of region one, has been accommodating indigenous Venezuelans since June 2018. Toshao (village leader) Maurice Henry said the village initially welcomed 50 families. “We had to fix food for them immediately. I summons the [Village] Council and we had to spend $15,000 from the village funds cause they really looking hungry,” the Toshao said.

Soon after, more migrants came. Henry had consulted his villagers about accommodating the migrants and then he consulted the Chairman of the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) on how to proceed. The RDC governs the sub-district. He said, "consult with your council and y’all come to some agreement,” was the advice given by the Regional Chairman Henry noted. In July 2018, Henry said the village granted the migrants land to cultivate for their sustenance and to live on.

A year later, crops have begun growing on the land, “I saw the crops that cassava planted, the banana planted, their other cash crop is coming,” Henry said. As more migrants flooded the village, the Toshao started to keep a record of the families entering and leaving the community. “Right now, according to my record there, we got eight families and that may consist over 50 something of them with their children,” he said. Henry has been mobilizing aid for the migrants since they started to settle in his village.

“Along with the Regional Democratic Council attention and assistance they used to supply us with food. On several occasion they gave us food supply for them. Even the military came in twice and gave them food,” Henry added.

In March, Henry also began working with the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) to“educate the migrants and fellow Guyanese children” through the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programme which was recently rolled out he said. “Our children very responsive and they beginning to learn something which they never knew. The children they are willing to learn they want these things to happen, they want these things to go on,” Henry said. The ECD classes are conducted three times a week during the July/August school break.

“I noticed that the children love the programme but the migrants’ children a bit difficult to understand because of the language barrier,” Henry pointed out. The migrants speak the Warau dialect with a Spanish influence making communication difficult. Henry said sometimes he utilises migrants that can speak the Spanish-Warau and English as translators during the classes.

On the ‘ball field’, in a larger hut that is said to be a church, Marisha is supervising an English class. The class is a mix of the elderly, adults and children scatted on the floor, in hammocks and on makeshift seats diligently copying a paragraph written in English from the small blackboard at the head of the church.

Marisha, who speaks a little Warau helps with the translation. “Now I see they are trying with this English thing, they speaking. I tell them morning, good afternoon and they are answering,” she said.

In the surrounding huts, some migrants swing languidly from hammocks while children run about, half clothed, playing with scraps and sticks. In the surrounding huts, some migrants swing languidly from hammocks while children run about, half clothed, playing with scraps and sticks. Below the ‘ball field’, where there is another cluster of huts, Santiago said the community was challenged in getting the migrants to understand the importance of proper sanitation practices.

“One thing I warned them is not going to the rubbish ‘cause they go and tumble the rubbish. When I stop them they does vex about it…I tell them y’all don’t vex because y’all with get sick, y’all will end up dying. So I tell them that so they listen to me and now them ain’t going to the rubbish anymore,” he explained.

Santiago, who understands both the Spanish language and Warau dialect serves as community translator. Khan’s Hill has benefited from assistance in ensuring the migrants sanitation practices are safe and healthy. UNICEF, in collaboration with the Guyana Water Incorporated’s WASH Programme, installed rainwater harvesting system, Jerrycan water filters and safe drinking-water storage containers in the community. The WASH Programme is designed to ensure access to safe drinking-water, curb open defecation and ensure facilities and awareness exist to encourage good hygiene practices, a release from the Department of Public Information (DPI) stated.

Like Kamwatta, Khan’s Hill also participates in UNICEF’s ECD programme. Priscilla Santiago, wife of Renel, facilitates the classes. She noted she held informal classes with migrant and resident children but the training from UNICEF has provided more structure in administering her lessons. “They show we a different way. The real thing I learned from the workshop. I like what I am doing because is more thing I learning too,” she declared. ECD classes are held every Monday for an hour in a facility Priscilla said was constructed by Civil Defence Commission (CDC). The facility was intended to house migrants.

Priscilla proudly declared she ensures the children experience a true classroom setting despite the location. “We say we lil’ national pledge…and then I saying we lil’ prayers, so we start.”

She is particularly proud of the progress the children have made over the five months of the class. “I know the children is learning, yes,” she emphasized. As she spreads out the worksheets of the children she taught, she highlights how they have improved from scribblings to writing their names. There were some 95 migrant children when Priscilla began the ECD classes, she noted.

Some of the children she taught have returned to Venezuela. The children related they will return but Priscilla is prepared to continue the teaching as long as there are children arriving in Khan’s Hill.