Out of Suriname

We’ve gone west…Nickeri…and over to Guyana….we’ve gone East…Albinia…and the mighty Marowijne… over to French Guyana…can’t go north…so... go south young man go south... south of the equator…where the toilet flush goes in the opposite direction and the brightest star in the sky is the Southern Cross… Brazil… where Europe meets the Americas….I didn’t really know what to expect…and what I found… I really didn’t expect…who would think that Belem …the port city of the Amazon river …would have 40 story condo’s and tree lined Boulevards… there was just something about it…it was…it was…so Latin American…not really pretty…but beautiful in a foreign way…it takes a little time for you to get to understand that the black mold on colorful buildings is unavoidable…it’s humid…and it's hot…but you walk in the shade of tall building or streets shaded by gigantic Mango tress and it's nice. The sidewalks are narrow and the flat face building fronts or walls… with no set backs… makes it feel like you’re walking down an alley… down one of the wider tree line streets I found a cool looking book store…and…much to my pleasure…in the back was an Italian café…got myself a Pocuhutto Ham and Swiss cheese sandwich on the best baguette I had in more then two years….as I sat at a front table where the ceiling to floor French doors... with wooden shutters... were wide open… I sipped my latté… I was in Soho…(yep… I’m ready to come home)
…At the tip of the city…where the Guama River flows into the Guajara Bay is Mangal das Garcas …this fabulous restaurant gets 5 Michelin stars from me…but if you only speak English …ordering a dry Vodka Martini is a real challenge… going back into the city… along the bay front you have it all…fishing boats selling there catch…a seafood market with 30 to 40 stalls that you can buy anything that comes out of the sea…they’ll fillet it and wrap it in newspaper for you… down the street is the open air market filled with organic tropical fresh fruits and vegetables …and then comes an area that you can buy anything…and I mean anything…a toothless lady grabs my arm and pointed to a liter bottle with a purplish brown liquid…labeled…Viagra Natural…how’d she know…no it doesn't stop there…the next section is filled…one on top of the other…maybe 6ft by 6ft eating and drinking stands… tough to find a place to stand… impossible to find a place to sit… …but Brazilians obviously respect senior Americans…a couple of guys got a stool for me…I bought the beer for the next couple of hours…I think they had me pegged…I think we had an interesting conversation…I didn’t understand a word they said…and visa verse…but I got lots of thumbs up when I left. In the Bay…a very big bay…. there are about 100 islands…and they have…what I would call a boat buses… they wind there way through the islands dropping off and picking up passengers… not only from a personal dock but from another boat bus or smaller boat taxi…you had to see that little old lady jump aboard…it was a one hour ride to Barcarena…I got off and walked around for a half hour… saw the whole town and had time for a beer before the bus came back to town …same boat .On the islands there are nice little houses and thousands of Acai palm trees…the district of Para is the capitol of Acai…this is where all the Acai that you health addicts are drinking comes from….no I didn’t do this all in one day…I was in Belem for four days…for the first two you might say I was in my former self mode…I visited a poultry farm…a Acai plantation and a tropical fruit juice processing plant…and yes I will admit it... I spent 2 hours in Leders…a 75,000 sq foot super market that makes any Kroger, Safeway or even Whole Foods look second rate….yes I went to the museum too….and the Theatre da Paz….

It’s on to Fortaleza…a beach city…. a Miami Beach without glitz. ... a wrap around beach holds the city…there are lots of condos, lots of hotels, lots of out door restaurants and what I would call dance halls…with their small bars…big band stands and large enough.. but always crowded... dance floors. Now... if you read the tourist guide…you’ll find a list of parks,…a suggestion to see the new tourist center which they proudly will tell you was once their jail…and of course there are the Cathedrals…I didn’t see any of it…the days were spent on beaches and the evening were spent eating really good food and sipping wine. “The Beach of the Future”…named because they haven’t figured out how many hotels and sky scrapers they want to put up… the beach is about 4 miles long…but…all the tables, chairs and classic colorful beach umbrellas are crowded into a 100 meter by 50 meter area…and as you soak up the rays…vendors…all kinds of vendors make you open your eyes to view their wares…sun glasses, sun screen, sun hats, bathing suits, T shirts jewelry, hammocks, spicy boiled shrimp, fresh oysters and fresh grilled lobsters…4 for 20 Reais ($12USD)…and ice cold beer…. served in an insulated container…can you blame me for not playing tourist… then of course there’s the women…but… what I did notice is that the prettiest ones are not on the beach…it seems… they all work at night. One day I did a tourist thing… I took a 2 hour tour bus ride north along the coast to a beach that I couldn’t even try to pronounce the name... let alone spell it…but it was quite the beach…it went for as far as you could see…the tide was down so it was about 100 yards wide…here again the tables and chairs were in a cluster…not as many vendors…and no food vendors…of course not… the beach was operated by the hotel that the tour bus dropped us at…there was a place to change and lockers to store valuables…very accommodating….the restaurant was excellent...here...there were two first time adventures…I rented a ATV….getting instruction in Portuguese on how to drive it was something else…riding up and down the dunes and speeding across the hard sand was… cool…even cooler was the sail boat ride…the boat was the most unique thing I ever sailed on….me, another guy and the crew of two…which was all there was room for ….pushed off the beach…. the center board was set… the rudder
was placed…and we were off….bucking the sea chop…with a full sail on a close starboard reach. …when we got about a mile off shore the skipper luffed the sail …the mate threw a line overboard with a piece of styro-foam tied to the end… then… in pantomime… the mate told me to dive off and grab on…sometimes I do follow direction…when I grabbed it he pulled up the sheet line and off I went …body surfing behind a…native sail boat…that done.. and back on the boat …I was handed a pair of fins and a snorkel mask…no pantomime needed…the little coral that stuck up through the sand was a beautiful bright orange….what a day....when we got back on the bus as the sun started to set…a long wonderful day….and a vacation break that was much to short….yes…if you’re thinking of going to Brazil…go….just don’t take Suriname Airways….two hour delay leaving…three and a half hour delay coming home….oh well, it’s Suriname…and I’m out of here in 40 days

The Mighty Marowijne River
and the not so shabby Lawa & Tapanahoni Rivers

Prolong; Even if I had the writing talent of Jack London or James Mitchner or even Pearl S. Buck, I don’t think I could do justice in words to… our Marowjne River trip…the beauty and sense of adventure I experienced is beyond my writing ability…but…I’ll do the best and hope that you’ll be able to feel the excitement that I had.

This trip was a long time coming…I’ve been looking forward to it for almost a year… it’s early Thursday morning… 5:15am to be exact… and Cromwell Crawford the Director of the IICA office in Suriname was waiting in the car as I locked up my front door. I looked up to sky before stepping into the 4 wheel drive Toyota…it had been raining everyday for the past two weeks and yesterday the streets of Paramaribo were flooded…the rain gear is packed…but the sky was clear of any heavy gray rain clouds…it was going to be a nice day. Three hours later we were in Albina…Suriname’s most eastern city and the gate way to French Guyana…our first stop was Suriname immigration office…a closet size office with a very large military police officer and his Colt 45…we all crowded in and the officer asked me to close the door…MY FIRST BLUNDER…I thought it was a good photo op…but when the flash went off…the MP’s stare said… your going to jail buddy…thank god for digital cameras…I showed him the picture and then erased it…he stamped my passport…the trip will continue…a 15 minute boat ride across the mouth of the Marowijne River…a little over a half of mile …and we were in France… the town of St. Laurent du Maroni…no problems at customs and the meeting with Sam…a young Frenchman who struggled with English as he explained the social, economic and agricultural situation in the country... went very well…the best thing about the meeting… the delicious real fresh brewed coffee and the chocolate croissants…(trust me…nothing like it available in Suriname)…and then just down the street…the local super market was stocked with all kinds of French goodies including a great wine collection…got a couple…loved the one we opened up the last night…a 2001 Bordeaux from the Chateau Bel Air Del L’Orme…don’t’ you love the name…4.15 Euro…no they don’t take SRD and they won’t take USD but they do take American Express…don’t leave home without it…we didn’t check out of country… we intend to visit interior villages in French Guyana…it’s back over to Suriname to pick up our boat and our boatsman…Morris…coolest dude on the river… Hawaiian shirt… light blue with white flowers… draped over pressed dark blue slacks and a neat pair of sandals. As Morris and Sarge…our cook…load up our bags , hammocks, mosquito nets,4 chests full of food… an assortment of cooking utensils and a propane tank…dam…if we don’t look like we’re going on a safari… finally…we are on the river…the Mighty Marowijne…that’s my name for it…within a half hour the river starts to narrow down…about 2 football fields wide…the long very wet rainy season put the water level very high on its banks ...it’s running very fast as huge volumes of water race to the ocean…the water level is right into the forest… giving the appearance of a green curtain dropping into the water. It’s not just green…it’s an intense splatter of every shade of green you can imagine… gigantic cumulus clouds fill the sky and as the sun moves in and out… the shades of green move along the river with us. We move under a large dark cloud and for a brief few minutes the rain runs down the back of my neck…then the sun is out and I’m dry. After 6 hours of pushing against the rushing river… in our dug out canoe…powered by an 85 horse power Evinrude motor… we reach the village of Apatou. A village on the French side….it was immediately apparent to all... that being a French colony has it’s advantages…we pulled into a docking area that had cement steps…not a flat mud spot… that brought us to the foot of the village…the building to our left sported a large sign that read…” Office du Tourisme” and under that… the sign of the co-tenant… “Boutique Artisanale”…up the path a side walk café caters to the drinking tourist… along the river a grassy mall separates the cement path we walk along from the river…at the far northern end a large communal barn like structure is where we hang our hammocks…and cover them with our misquote net… Diner was spaghetti and meat sauce…prepared by yours truly…with the help of our take along cook…Sarge…served with one of the bottles of wine…hey …we’re in France…after diner Andrew Baker…my coworker at IICA and fellow PCV… went to explore the village…it wasn’t hard to find the football field…soccer to you…under the large stadium lights… a very competitive inter-village game was being played…we started to talk to five young men…yes.. they spoke English…and French…and Dutch…and Sranan Tango… the only problem in the conversation was having them trying to understand me…we found out that the group was made up of a boatsman, an IT specialist and a couple of artists…we asked to see their work…and after a stop at a little bar on a very dark road…we found the studio…and as you would expect…it was short on furniture…long on paintings…and sweet smelling smoke filled the air… I negotiated for the purchase of 3 Tembe paintings…traditional Maroon art…hard to explain…you find it painted on the doors of some of the village huts… they tell a story…usually of the heart…or of the soul….I should mention here that the Maroon population doesn’t see the river as a border…it’s just a means of transportation from one bank to the other…many Suriname Maroons live and work on both sides...

Day two started with John King, IICA’s Project Coordinator telling us to rise and shine… it was 6:30 AM and time to get a move on…the French gal in the hammock next to mine pleaded with him to…shoot op…outside a heavy fog hid the river…by the time we loaded up the fog turned to a gray mist that gave the river a beautiful eerie look…when the sun broke through... the river looked… once again… different…high hills loomed up on both sides and broke the horizon out in front of us…we were starting to climb up the river….the river was now filled with islands that ranged from 25 kilometers long to two trees bending in the current…we also cruised past large rigs that are dragging for gold while polluting the river with mercury…no the government does nothing about it…a large grove of thin 25 feet tall palm trees are seen along the banks…no fruit on them now…but soon they will be heavy with Podo Siri Berries (Acai)…a few more miles up river a thick patch of bamboo shields the rain forest beyond….every few miles you see a KanKanti…the largest tree in the rain forest... it rises up high abopve the canope...its large umbrella shape fascinates the eye ….the river broadens to about a mile wide… and a choppy fast running rapid extends in front of us from shore to shore…the Lawa and Tapanahoni Rivers are pouring into the Marowijne…it looks awesome …but who’s to worry …Morris is in control…wait a minute…the engine is missing a beat…we head for shore… after a couple of deep breaths… a quick change of a spark plug…we’re back into the middle of it…traversing up river like a skier going down a black diamond trail….when the day is done and we pull into Goliti Suriname…a Moravian Church village…where again we hang our hammocks and misquote nets up in a barn like structure…Sarge prepares a wonderful chicken and rice dinner...with plenty of seconds and thirds available…the days stops along both sides of the river stimulate a protracted eco-socio-political discussion… as we climbed into our hammocks the conversation turned to religion…I didn’t care who they were thanking… all I knew was that we were here and we are safe… and a sound sleep was in order…

Day 3 like the previous two...it started early…we would be going back down the Lawa river a ways and then we would make a sharp left turn up the Tapanahoni …we are heading for the village of Dritabiki the home of the Grandman (big chief) of the Aukaan Tribe. ..the plan was for us to pack light because there was a big rapid that a law forbids boatsmen from taking passengers through…we would portage and be picked up by a boat sent by the village…well…as things worked out…we were very late…the village boat went home….there was no way that Morris….not only our expert boatsman but the trip organizer…was going to disappoint the village organization that request IICA assistance…he found a young man whose job description would be….river pilot… by physical appearance…WBA middle weight champion …I positioned myself along the shore to watch the skillful run through the raging rapid…man against nature… SECOND BLUNDER when I turned around my cohorts were running off…I wasn’t sure why…so I just took my time …taking one more picture of a antique beer sign and then carefully tucking my camera away and casually walking to the canoe…Morris was no longer Mr.Cool …it didn’t take me long to realize why…the sun was going down fast and we had a few more rapids to navigate and rocks to get around…the Tapanahoni River is jet black in the bright sun…so you can imagine… you see almost nothing at night…thankfully the half moon was bright in a cloudless sky…eventually a bright electric light shown through the rainforest tress…solar energy…than you god of technology…. after a quick dinner of peanut butter sandwiches, Pringles and Coke…we sat down with the inviting organization…these guys had it together… Internet and all…the organization represents 26 villages of the Aukaan tribe and is governed by a council made up of a member from each village and an elected Board of Directors…their purpose is to bring development to the tribe and it looks like they are on the right track…their office building had two bed rooms…with real beds…a shower and a toilet…one problem…the water system wasn’t working…oh well…it’s Suriname…the river’s just outside the door… a very productive meeting went on late into the evening…one of the final request was directed at Andrew and me…could they get a Peace Corps Volunteer to work with them…we said we would talk to the country director…

Day 4 started out a little later and a lot more relaxed…we wandered around the village awaiting the decision of the Grandman to receive us…he would…as you approach his house…and I mean a house not a big hut a big house…3 stories high…4 water tanks…large satellite dish…certainly befitting the Grandman of a major interior tribe….you walk through 2 arches of palm leaf so that evil sprits can be brushed from your shoulders…the Grandman sits in his throne…a fancy draped beach chair…I’m thinking they had it shipped in from Miami…Third BLUNDER…I’m so taken by the pictures and artifacts that decorate the meeting room... I start to look around…a loud whisper says…Bob get over here…right…there’s protocol…greet the Grandman before you go looking around…in fact… shake the Grandmans hands and then sit down…and shoot op and… don’t… look around… the Grandman got up and moved to the head of the table…he was a big man…with strong features and good tight skin…I thought he was around my age…then shocked to find out he was in his mid-nineties… …the village council people sat on one side of the table… IICA people on the other…it looked like a meeting at the United Nations minus the microphones and head sets. The council members did all the talking with responses by Mr. Crawford, IICA Director…. Leo Sampai did the interpreting…an undetected signal was given by someone… the meeting was to come to an end…the Grandman was to have the last word…he was happy that IICA came to his village and stated that he wanted development for his people … he knew that slash and burn was not the right agricultural practice and wanted IICA’s help to teach permanent non-shifting farming…but first he had two immediate problems…the heavy rains caused root rot in the Cassava… their major food crop… and he knew that the heavy rains would continue…he wanted IICA to bring the water resistant variety that is grown in Brazil to his people…Leo told him it may not taste the same…he asked…”do the Brazilians die from eating it”…naturally the answer was "no"…”then we will like it” he replied…then there was the ant problem…he wants a spray to get rid of them and we need to teach his people how to safely apply it….well…at least he understands global warming that’s more the idiots on Fox news understand…organic farming…well…that’ll take a little longer….around noon we were back on the river with some great rides through water soaking rapids…better then the log ride at Disneyland…with life vests on… John, Andrew and I sat up front…we laughed and woowed our way down the Tapanahoni. I haven’t had this much fun since my white water rafting trips down the Tuolumne River. ..by early afternoon we reached the Island of Dat Jaeu ...here is where Morris has started a small foundation.. it’s purpose is to develop income generation projects for the Maroon population on both side of the river….like the village of Dritabiki the island has a Foundation built multi use building…meeting room, kitchen, two bedrooms, gravity feed filtered water system with shower and toilet...No…there was no hot water…but it sure would have felt good if we had it… They also built a room they call a processing plant…outside of it there’s a rice milling machine…At the end of long meeting that went...once again... into the late hours of the evening IICA was challenged to put some practical ideas together for increasing employment and generating new income. …there will be some big time meetings back to Paramaribo….

Day 5 and we are heading back…running rapids… visiting villages, tourist camps and a gold miners recreational facility…yes…a whore house...probably the most successful commercial establishment on the river… the price of beer was reasonable…no I didn’t ask if they take American Express…the sun was out unencumbered by clouds…it was hot…we covered up the best we could…you might think that by now we ready for it to be over…but no…the Mighty Marowijne is just to glorious to want to leave….this was a trip of a life time….hope you enjoyed it.

Christmas…New Years… Suriname

The Holiday season for me stared on the evening of December 20th…that’s when IICA had their end of the year office party. It was held in a wonderful restaurant…one that PCV’s can not afford to go to….so when you bring a PCV into this type of an environment you get one happy fellow…you eat …you drink…you get merry…so the holiday started off on the right foot…and it only got better. ..A Christmas Eve party was hosted by one of our embassy staff…the same guy who ran the best Halloween party I’ve been to in 22 years. (Oct 31, 1985 Hollywood). The Christmas gift exchange was a kick….if you didn’t like your gift… you had the right to exchange it with anybody who already had a gift…being one of the last name to be picked… I had the pick of the litter. …I’ll tell you about the gift a little later….Oh yea…best Christmas party ever…( take a guess why). On Christmas day our Peace Corps Country Director put on a feast that made every PCV there fell like they were at home….the house was decorated beautifully…the food great….the wine fine…and the conversation exhilarating…we even sang Christmas carols…a little strange when the evening temperature is 28.9C (84F)

Before I go on I want you to read an article that appeared in the English Bulletin…it comes by email everyday…put out by the “de tijel ware”… a local paper.

FIREWORKS IMPORT PRACTICALLY STABLE
PARAMARIBO - With two more weeks to go before the end of 2007, 17 importers have managed to together import 75 40-feet-containers of fireworks with a total value of US$ 1.7 million. Citizens are allowed to shoot fireworks from 23 of December till 2 January 2008 with the exception of the Christmas and Boxing Day. Last week, the fire department started its annual informational campaign aiming at less or no fireworks victims. New Year’s Eve 2006/2007 saw 33 victims.

Now…think about this…there are approximately 900,000 Suriname citizens of which 50% reside in Holland. For the holidays an estimate 50,000 visitors from Holland come to Paramaribo…where 60% of the population live. .If my math is correct… it could mean that an estimated 320,000 people would be celebrating New Years eve in Paramaribo…with 1.7 million dollar worth of fire works….time to get out of town.

I called Lee …one of the only Sur12 PCV that was staying in his village for the holidays …”sure …come on out…you’ll stay at my place…I’ve got an extra hammock”…A hammock??? This is going to be interesting…well why not…how my times in my life will I get a chance to do New Years in a Rainforest…never again I suppose…so I got on “Blue Wings” single engine 10 seat prop plane a flew into Kajana International Airport…. ..it’s was a one hour flight at 7,800 feet…staying below the clouds…I guess the pilot knew I wanted to see the forest…up close and personal ( I could have taken a boat…being that it’s rainy season the river is high but then I would have missed both New Years Eve and New Years day)…When the plane landed there was Lee standing on the lawn…the same lawn we landed on….a short boat ride across the river to Deboo ( Lee’s village)…a short hike up a muddy path… and there we were… Lee’s river view house…this cement floor one room hut…bath room out back… is the best location in the village. … you get that when you’re a Peace Corps Volunteer….just to clarify…it’s not exactly a bathroom…it’s a whole in the ground with a cement seat surrounded by cement block walls and a wooden door…not a W” not a “Marriot” not a “Days Inn”…yea…been there done that…This is… adventure…more exciting then summer camp in the Poconos

Within 2 minutes of our arrival…two little faces showed up in the doorway…I was prepared for this…I had purchased a super size bag of gum balls…as soon as they received my hand out… they were off…2 minutes later… I realized I should have bought the super duper size. Within the next 30 minutes a couple of dozen kids and a half dozen or so adult men moved in and out of the hut. Each adult ( Grandman, Kapitan, Basha, Boatman, etc.) visitor sat down for …a smoke…a drink…and could I get them a new rice mill. Who else would you ask… if not a tall, elderly, white guy with a safari hat and dark sun glasses…I was either a biggy man from a Foundation or the CIA…when Lee explained … I was a Peace Corps Volunteer who came to celebrate the New Years in their village … disappointed…but…flattered and proud. And that Christmas gift that I took….5 half pints of assorted rums…given out…didn’t hurt to deflect the disappointment…(On Wednesday before I left we did check out the rice mill…when I pointed out…that with a little clean-up maintenance… and changing the milling stone…it would work fine…It was officially determine…I was… a Biggy man)….after most of the Scotch, half the rum and some of the rice wine was consumed we were off to Kajana the next village over… where Lee’s friend…a Ducth school teacher lives… a family from Holland that sponsors him were visiting and staying in the village Tourist House….which happen to have a bar…..as you know…the Dutch love their beer…so as long as the rain was coming down…jugos (1 liter) of Parbo beer were coming too. …when the rain let up and 8 jugos were emptied… Lee and I headed back in the wet dark to his place for a quick nap…It was going to be a long night. …At 10 or there about… we were out and about…going from hut to hut…house to house….lots of… Fa waka (Sranan Tongo greeting) …and…Tan bon (Sranan Tongo goodbye). At each house you’re invited in to have some food and a drink…at midnight the drums started up and the dancing got going….whenever it was… sleeping in a hammock was not a problem…

It was quite in the village on New Years morning…a couple of aspirins …a dip in the cold river …and…the New Year was off to a perfect start. As we walked through the village we stop to shake hands with everybody… giving aloud …Jai- ohhh…Jai… then a big hug . ..At around noon there was a traditional …get the old sprits out…get the new sprits in…ceremony. Followed by a traditional diner meal at the Grandman’s house. The food was different…no Prime Rib… but very tasty and of course… my old friend Johnny Walker was present. An afternoon nap…a cold soak in the river and a night of .good conversation …and when the vampire bat flew out of the hut…it ended the start of what will be a great year….I come home in 2008…hope you have a great year too…see ya soon. Jai-ohhh…Jai

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This isn’t going to be an adventure story…rather it’s an advertisement… about the project that PCV Kattie, PCV Maggie and PCVme…initiated for the village of Kaja Paati ( Kattie & Maggie live in this village). The following couple of paragraphs are answers to two of the many questions asked on the “Peace Corps Partnership Program” form and should give you an idea of what this project is all about…and then…comes the kicker…

Question 3. Community Need
One of the chief complaints of villagers in Kaja Paati is the lack of protein. In the past, villagers would depend on bush meat and fish from the river. Now with the growing population, finding a consistent source of protein is increasingly difficult. Hunters now must go further into the jungle before they can find meat. Traditionally, men go on hunting excursions for their families. There are many women who do not have a husband living permanently in the household. If a woman is raising children alone, they are often overburdened with chores such as tending the vegetable gardens, beating rice, and producing cooking oil. Villagers, especially the village elders and women with young children, do not always have the option to fish in the river. As a result, of the constraints in obtaining protein sources, meals often consist of rice and a small portion of locally grown vegetables. During the dry season, meals of white rice alone are more common. The lack of protein sources in the diet poses a risk for nutritional deficiencies and illnesses. With well-maintained chicken coops (hen houses) in the village, food security for the families will be improved. Eggs and meat will also present income-generating opportunities for the participating families. Eggs will produce income for 18 months after which the hens can be sold for meat consumption. Old hens, in the interior communities, get a premium price.

Question 4. Community Initiation and Direction
The ICCA headquarters in Suriname came to the Sipalawini district to ask what educational programs would be of interest to the villagers. The village leaders of Kaja Paati told the PCV that it would be helpful to have some support raising healthy chickens because they cannot depend on bush meat anymore. Some families were interested in raising chickens but have become discouraged because the chickens that they raised became ill and died. Others were discouraged after losing chickens during the flood. Approximately 30 individuals have expressed interest in attending workshops so that they can raise healthy chickens for their households.

So…now here’s the kicker….it takes $800.00 USD to build, stock and feed the Hens till they start laying egg. Oh …and to transport everything out there…the cost is close to $150.00USD alone. . We plan to build 10 hen houses for a start. Our Hen House is designed to be more productive then any other they built in the interior to date and we put together learning workshops... that will really teach... how a Hen Houses needs to be managed in order to be productive. We called on and got the support of some of Suriname’s top experts to help in this project. Now…. I’m calling on you… my family and friends…. to support this project. Your donations Big or small is needed and will be appreciated by all… especially the children of Kaja Paati who won’t be going off to school hungry. ( pulling at your heart and purse string….I’m so bad)

Here what you need to do…if you want to help… Go to …www.peacecorps.gov….click on Donation Now…then click on Donate to a Volunteer...and then find Latin America and click on it…scroll to the bottom of the list where you will find “Suriname…Family Chicken Coop Project...fill in your tax deductible Donation amount and follow all the instructions…..Thanks...Have a Great Thanksgiving.

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Septembers Hot …the temperature... everyday... gets up into the high 90’s and at night it cools down to the low 90’s... the thing is... you don’t want to linger in the sun for to long...it’s HOT… September is the hottest month of the year in Suriname But…not only was it hot outside …the office activity heated up as well….July was packed with VIP’s from Costa Rica…here to celebrate 25 years of IICA service in Suriname and to install Mr. Cromwell Crawford our new Director. In August… we redid the budget… redefined our priorities…and set out some new objectives….this new guy is good. And then it’s September and we’re in cars and canoes… introducing Cromwell to the country and the people. It’s not much different for him…he comes from Guyana …next country over…and the IICA strategies throughout the hemisphere are the same…but…our projects are different …so off we went to give him a first hand look…so as we show Cromwell around… I’ll tell you what he found…should give you a pretty good idea of what I’m doing here…We’re on the best road in all of Suriname….heading east to Mongo…home of Suralcoa…Sur…short for Suriname…alcoa…short for …you got it… Aluminum Corp of America...at one time this was the garden spot of Suriname….Golf Course with a Club House over looking the River….today… like so many company towns in the U.S… it’s on a fast track to becoming a ghost town…they’ve been mining and processing Bauxite… baux[ite n.5Fr, after (Les) Baux, town near Arles, France6 the clay like ore, mainly hydrated aluminum oxide, from which aluminum is obtained…for over 100 years. It’s easy to mine…you find a Bauxite hill…burn down the forest… scrape off the top soil…dump the next layer of dirt into a truck … bring it to the processing plant. Do that for a 100 years and you got a problem when your done...that’s where IICA comes in….after they put the top soil back …what can they grow? How do they grow? …and what do they do with it after it grows? What we’ve got here is a rehabilitation and income generation project. And… I will tell you ALCOA will do the right thing. I doubt if I could have said that 20 years ago or even 10….We’ll call it a new Yuppie management. (concerned…would be a better word). Ok …now let’s go the other way…back to Nickerie…remember… that’s the furthest western town in Suriname…Here... rice is king…but only a few can wear its crown…the rest are small 1 to 3 hector paddy farmers who barely squeak out a living…here IICA is mandated by the Ministry of Agriculture to figure out how these farmers can get out of rice and into better income generating farming. Some of the farmers are learning about aquaculture while others are learning about Rijst/Vis ( rice/fish) farming. Here they put Tilapia or Kwikwi in the paddies and when they drain the paddy before harvesting, the fish follow the water flow into a fish pond where they are fattened up for market…two crops for the price of one…well almost…the good thing is that the fish eat the bugs…so no pesticides need to be used…Organic you ask…yes…the only problem is that the big guys spray their fields via airplanes…Nickierie has a nice breeze most of the time…so we have drift. A few entrepreneurial farmers and a women’s group are trying to get out of rice entirely ...ducks…chickens…hot peppers…and more...I’d like to see some corn…maybe… On the way back we stop in Wageninge…depressing…this was a company town too…a government run foundation managed the SML rice company…employed over 300 people…supplied the electric, water and medical services to the community …today much of the place is broken down, boarded up and bankrupt... But then the next town over brought a big smile to my face…first… the town was holding the Tour de Coronie….some great looking bikes doing 80.5 kilometer on a hot flat road… plenty of Water and Podosiri but no Clif Bars. Secondly… we meet with the Vriesde Brothers. ( Sister Letitia Vriesde was Suriname’s Olympic track star). The boys are back from Holland and taking over the family farm… which has almost been entirely take over by the jungle…but they have a vision and if they follow it… they’ll have the best fruit orchards in the country and maybe a fruit sectioning processing plant…they liked my idea. The next week we were back on the upper Suriname River…this time we were headed to the village of Goe aba. Goe aba is the largest village on the Upper Suriname...a permanent population of 1,200 to 1,400. It’s 2 rapids further up river then I have ever been …and… it just seems that the deeper into the rainforest you go… the prettier and more peaceful it gets….our purpose is to find out if the community… as a whole… is really behind the idea of planting Jatropha tress. This tree produces a seed that when squeezed… the oil it produces can go directly into a diesel engine…giving the village an opportunity to have 24 hour electric…that means freezers and refrigerators. IICA will provide advise on land preparation, planting, processing and marketing. I’ve been able to give some positive input…but…I do have some problems with this project…60 hectors of rainforest may have to be cut…we’ll call it progress….The last week of September had us back on the Red Road heading for Kajpaati and Banafo ukon de…in Kajpaati the two PCV’s and myself have developed “The Family Chicken Coop Project” that will get technical help from IICA and financial help from Peace Corps supporters (you’ll hear more about this in the near future). In Banafo ukon de, we are teaching the use of small mechanical tools…replacing the machete and the hoe with a chain saw and a rotor tiller…included is a stump puller….pulls out tree stumps…hopefully this will encourage permanent agriculture rather then shifting (slash and burn).In and around the city of Paramaribo…the districts... we’ve got lots going on…there’s the farmer training programs in Commowijnie and Brownsweg… and then there are my own secondary projects….Getting Podosiri (Acai)produced for export and working with The Chee Group…teaching customer service….what do I know about customer service??? A lot more then anybody in Suriname…so do you. The first week of October belonged to the Peace Corps… “Mid Service Conference”… yep…we’re on a down hill slope…277 days to go …BUT WHO’S COUNTING

Best Time Yet…Gunsi So the bus is loaded up …one motorcycle, a propane tank, 35 gal drum of gasoline, giant truck tire, 2 large coolers, 5 large toke bags full of groceries, back packs and other miscellaneous stuff…plus 24 passengers….me being one… along with 5 other PCV’s …we are heading for the Upper Suriname River…that’s right... I’m in a bus like a real Peace Corps volunteer…no 4 wheel, air conditioned. IICA SUV …this time I’m going native. The road is hot and dusty… but…I’m lovenit….I’m going to do real Peace Corps work…. Joe Schaffner a Sur11 volunteer…(I’ll tell you more about this young man a little later). has organized…along with his fellow Sur 11 and Sur 12 colleagues in surrounding villages… an “Awareness” event in the village of Nieuw Aurora / Tu Tu…. The trip up the river …as always…was peaceful, beautiful, and all Suriname. Our destination??? The village of Gunsi… we would camp out here for the next 3 nights. It was 5pm and the sun was still high in the sky… sweat and red road dust covered us from head to toe…hair coated with the stuff…a bath in the river was certainly called for…I just love that part….but… be careful…it’s the end of the rainy season and the river is high and running fast…get to far off shore and your back in Atjoni in a New York minute. It’s cocktail hour...chip in time to make diner…clean up…cocktail hour …and some strategy work for tomorrows presentations. …We broke in to groups it was Robin Gengeston), Andrew (Pamboko), Jake (city boy) and me….we were to present a health topic to the lower grade, a team work concept to the middle graders and a life path subject to the upper grades. I’ll save the best for last….for the middle graders I set up wheel barrel races. Now…you all know that I can not speak anything but… Brooklyn ees…so getting kids to play a game that they never played… explained to them by a white guy they don’t understand… was quit a challenge…but they got it and did we have fun… For the upper grades we started with the human knot game…I never played it…don’t think it was a Brooklyn thing…probably big in Chicago…certainly never played in Suriname…anyway it went rather well for a while but then the big boys got very competitive and some pushing and shoving started…guess who was supervising this group…you got it...a loud finger whistle brought them to attention…they never saw that either…they settled down and we brought the class together… and with translation by Robin and Andrew… I gave a “Follow your Heart, Follow your Head” life path talk. Seem to go over very well… I liked it… Now the best…for the lower grade kids we put on a health skit… about going to the bath room…you know …a kaka talk….where to go…where not to go…wash your hands …that kind of stuff…Robin and Andrew told the story…Jake was Wase Jake….doing all the right things in all the right places…and me… known by some as Brooklyn Bob… known by others as Bad Bob…well in the interior of Suriname I am now known as Kaka Bob…going in all the wrong places…and picking my noise afterwards…YUK. .After the skit… we sat in the middle of the 85 youngsters and they sang us a couple of songs…I smile every time I think of it In the late afternoon H.E Madam Lisa Bobbie Schreiber Hughes, USA Ambassador to Suriname showed up and joined the fun…great gal…not a Bush appointee. That evening a bunch of Dutch tourists showed up…always a good thing…they love their beer and they bring plenty of it…then a local bongo band showed up… and the party got rockin. . What a great day. Saturday started with a swim and a leisurely breakfast. Then we partnered up to walk and meet the people of Gunsi…I joined Joe Schaffner.. I said I was going to tell you more about this volunteer…he has been in the village for 2 years but, as we walked around… Greeting people and visiting their homes… you would think he has been here all his life… He’s a charmer, his big smile and great personality just gets to you. The village people love him and he gives it right back….I got a little jealous wondering how I would have done in the Hinterland….Let me back up a moment…. it was on Thursday night when we first arrived… I found six kids, ages ranged from 8 to 12… sitting on a bench over looking the river…I sat down and said… “hello”…I got a “hello” back…and we started to talk…in English of course…”where did you learn how to speak English”…in unison with big smiles on their faces….Joe taught us… the Peace Corps job is to build bridges between the people of the USA and people of developing countries….I’ll tell you this… Joe is doing a hell of a better job then those who built the bridge in Minneapolis. Last week 25 new volunteers were sworn in…the importance of that? …I’ve have now served for one full year….the importance of that?…I have only 363 days left to serve…. We’ll be seeing you soon. Yours truly....Kaka Bob

Over the Rivers

We’ve taken the road to Nickerie a number of times but, this time the anticipation is running high…this time the final destination is Guyana. We will overnite at our favorite Nickerie hotel…you know… the one with…very small rooms…bitch bitch bitch…free inter-net, air conditioning, hot showers and a complimentary breakfast… $23.00 USD. So who’s bitching?

When we get to Nickerie we meet up with Hesdys friend Rocky…Rocky is an International rice trader, doing business in both Suriname and Guyana …he’s an out there kinda of guy and it seems like everybody on both sides of the border know who he is. And his wife….beautiful... but more important...she makes a mean Duck Massala with roti.

(I’ll explain roti another day).

We’re up pretty early on Wednesday morning and dive down to the waters edge… I don’t know what I was expecting but, it sure wasn’t what I got. We climbed up on the dyke wall that keeps Nickerie dry during heavy seas ( Nickerie is about 3 meters below sea level)…it was low tide so we climbed down the rocks on the other side…half away down this big guy grabs my bag a starts off to the waters edge where colorfully painted boats with outboard motors bob up and down in the shallow water. “Hey where ya going with my bag” I yell after him…he doesn’t pay me any attention …he drops the bag in the boat and races back to me….”hup hup” he says…What hup hup” I ask…”Hup hup”...as he turns his back to me …oh I get it…so I jump up on his back and out we go… knee deep into the water… to be deposited in the boat…giving the term…”let’s get a porter” a whole new meaning… and… not exactly a picture post card moment you would want to send back home …big old white guy on a black mans back. It was worse on the return trip. Had to be 50 guys trying to grab me and my bag… at one point I thought I’d be in the drink…I guess it was that $2.50SRD tip I gave on the way out…$0.838 USD. I know…I’m one of the last big spenders.
The day was gray and there was a slight drizzle…we're on the Corantijn River about a 10K run from the ocean. Strong winds put 3 foot swells on the river. Our water taxi held 12 paying passengers…
powered by a 75 horsepower Johnson & Johnson engine… which conked out about 100 yards off shore. Another canoe ( that's what they are) with a motor on it came out and towed us back…with the payout of another $2.50 SRD me and my luggage were in another boat… We were off… again… the brackish water spraying up over the gunnels and splashing against my face. …yes it’s me Lord Stanley… We keep dry by holding a large plastic sheet up in front of us. 45 minutes later we were in Springland, Guyana. Here there’s a pier….at least that’s what they call it…to me it was a couple planks that reached out into the river…8 inches wide, wet and slippery…I liked the Suriname system much better. Once on solid ground Rocky call me over and introduced me to George…”Hi George I’m Bob”…”Hello Bob”… “ Rocky, where do we pass through customs” I ask…”you just did”…he replies….”George?”…”Yep, George, he’s the chief Immigration Officer here in Guyana” Rocky informed me… Damm… I wanted a Guyana stamp in my Passport… As we get out on to the street I notice a guy with a fist fall of money and I quickly figured out that he was the foreign exchange booth…I give him a 20US and he counts out 9000 nicely engraved bills…I never did find out what they call them…I just made believe they were real dollars and that I was rich…the Guyana IICA office sent a car to pick us up and as we moved quickly down the road trying to make our ferry connection that would take us across the Mahaicony River…I made another quick observation…the driving challenge in Guyana is to go as fast as you can without hitting a cow, horse, pig, goat or dog... that just walk casually along side and the middle of the road. I had to scratch my head…there are houses side by side along the entire road with big empty fields behind them…I had to ask…”how do they know who’s cow is who’s and couldn’t they put them in the fields with a fence???” Nobody answered the question…they just gave me a look. We got to the ferry just in time…at least that's what I thought… only to find out that Rocky called ahead…the boat left 10 minutes late…and we were…last on first off. …five and half hours after we left Nickerie we finally arrived in Georgetown. I’m not going to try to give you a city tour. You can do that on line…I’ll just say…. Georgetown is to Paramaribo… what San Francisco is to Bakersfield. (call a friend in California, but they may not know…not many people go to Bakersfield ). The best thing about Guyana is… I could read all the signs and speak the local tongue. And …Yep… we did some business…visited an export packing station and then took another exciting boat ride across the much bigger Essequibo River…holding up plastic sheets… and then a taxi ride from hell to the Amerindian village called “Mainstay” . The community of Mainstay has a lot to brag about…really…a 5 star lodge on a beautiful lake…Ok ..it’s only a 3 star lodge in Lake Tahoe …but hey guys …this is Guyana. They have great pineapples... that taste almost as good as the ones that grow in Powakka… and a processing plant where they pack…Pineapples…daaa… and Hearts of Palm…bet you didn’t know this… the tree that gives us Hearts of Palm is the same tree that gives us the Acai berry.( if you don’t know what Acai is …go to Whole Foods) All their products are shipped to France. No we are not in French Guyana …we are in the Guyana… where you don’t drink the Cool Aide… Oh…one other thing…all their products are organic. Well that’s enough business and enough about Guyana. I’m outa hear…Oh the trip back …same adventure... but in reverse…I love being carried to shore…me BIGGYMUN… Tan Bun