Therefore, we weren’t completely surprised later that night to learn that he was the child of the teacher we had decided to interview.  We were invited into the family home, a small room for the boy, his mother, and a brand new baby.   The son’s intelligence obviously came from his mother’s passion for education.  She told us how when she was young, her mom didn’t want her to go to school.  In spite of this,  she used to go sit down in the fourth grade with the other kids her age. Since she didn’t know enough to be there, her teacher taught her after school until she finally caught up, and this “finally opened her mother’s eyes.”

Now, she holds informal literacy lessons for adults under a tree in the community.  She attends the trainings provided by the Ministry of Education whenever she is in the city.

She told us that just like when she was young, many kids in the village today don’t go to school because their mothers don’t understand that school is important. For example, we asked about one kid (notably for wearing a yellow hat at all times) we met who had never gone to school. In turns out that she had offered to send him for free and he still didn’t come. This is the same with several kids in the neighborhood.

Education requires school buildings, books, and pencils, but it also takes the desire to learn and motivated, passionate teachers.

By Mayuri Ghosh

I stayed at the guest house in Dwitabiki last night. As it was a pretty big guest house, and I was not feeling very brave by myself (especially after meeting 2 frogs in the living room), I had accepted the village administrator’s offer to let his daughters sleep with me. The night had been eventful in that in the absence of a translator, the daughters and I had stayed awake trying to figure out when to switch the lights in the bedroom on and off. Sleeping in the hammock had been more fun!

At Dwitabiki, along with Peace Corp Volunteer Michael’s help, I had a brief interaction with a village administrator who gave me a good perspective on the village in terms of its infrastructure and socio-economic conditions. We also visited the school and polyclinic. At the school interviewed the children and teachers once again, with outcomes and responses similar to those of their counterparts in Godoholo. They WANTED TO LEARN THE COMPUTER and the whole new world outside. The polyclinic here was much bigger, cleaner and more modern. The mode of communication with the city hospitals was through a static radio, similar to that in Godoholo.

As we had our “chartered flight” back to Paramaribo around 11:30am, we did not spend too much time in the village. Way back to Paramaribo. Re-united with Jaclyn there, who was bed-bug-bitten but happy.

The “Spring Break” came for us when we spent the evening with a boat-ride to “Sunset Point” with some of our new friends. Jaclyn and I wished that Chrissy had also been here to share the fun… So the trip ended under the skies on the boat…

By Mayuri Ghosh

The next morning started with the rooster’s crow acting as an alarm. We started the day doing a focus group interview with women; we met them at the polyclinic where they had come for various check-ups. Some of the women were pregnant. The women were pretty well-informed about health issues – prevention and cure. However, they did mention the challenges faced if they had to commute to Dwitabiki or the city for any health-related issues. There was not major ailment in the village, and the women were aware of family-planning and HIV/AIDS. For their children, they were more than willing to embrace computer education and were themselves eager to learn computers. They felt it would help the village.

I also met one of the village administrators, the “Bayo”, who was the link between the villagers and the government. Discussed adminstrative structures, issues in the village and infrastucture with him. Also walked around the village looking at the “beach” where men and women were working, saw the Digicell mast at one side of the beach, watched an old man weaving a basket, and also visited the local stores or “winkis”.

The fun part of the interviews was that of the 6th grade school children. They were a naughty lot! All had their own cellphones and knew how to use it for calling, text messaging, downloading music and playing games. They were eager to go to the city for their secondary education, where they hoped they could also find part-time work, similar to their siblings at the casino and restaurants. The kids had aspirations of becoming President and judges! Felt wonderful! Also interviewed the teachers of the school, who hoped that computer education would come into the village – fast…

Late in the afternoon I left Godoholo for Dwitabiki by boat. Had an adventure when we (boatman and me) had to stop at an island as a heavy storm hit us on the river! Anyway, reached Dwitabiki safely, where I was updated by Michael, PCV.

There were few men in the village, as most had left for work in the city or in French Guyana.  Those that stayed have little to do, besides for the boat man, who is the same as the shop owner.  One man makes furniture, while others earn cash from hunting, fishing, and growing vegetables which they can sell to older people who recieve Social Security payments from the government.  A few insights from the men’s focus group that may inform technology design:

“We don’t know how to read but we can do things in our head.”

“If it was a picture and text, one person could figure it out and help the others.”

“People who know those things usually leave, it would be good if people here knew how to do those things.”

Gender differences are stark.  The women we spoke to had stopped going to school because of the interior wars, and were not able to read, write, or send text messages.  The men are much more exposed to outside ideas because they leave for extended periods to earn money, while women largely rely on radio and word of mouth.  Women fear having to go to the city to fill out government forms, where they know that they will be taken advantage because of their lack of education.   They express a firm interest in adult education programs where they would be able to learn basic literacy.

Downtown Kwamalasamutu

By Jaclyn Carlsen

Expanding further on communication, cell phone coverage is coming to Kwamalasamutu. Telesur, one of the major telecom companies in Suriname, has built the base of a cell phone tower in the village. Focus groups showed an excitement for the coming coverage. However, almost every person I spoke to mentioned the high cost of text messaging and using a cell phone. Kwamala isn’t a huge money economy; goods are bought with currency in local markets, but you will not see small shops and public exchanges of money as you will in many other communities, most likely because of the remoteness (compare with my colleagues who visited sights on rivers). Focus group participants advocated for the use of computers and internet, which have start up and maintenance costs, but not necessarily the per usage cost of mobile phones which is more difficult for families to budget for.

The building of the cell tower has been steeped in rumor. National elections are coming up in the next few months and it was rumored that the base was built to build political capital. Or that the telecom company was building to mark its territory and didn’t plan to complete the tower unless another telecom company started to move in. I heard that the tower was supposed to be completed in the last few months, but will now be finished by the end of 2010.

Eventually, mobile coverage will come to Kwamalasamutu and probably sooner than later. What will the effects be on communication? On acquiring resources? On social fabric?

By Mayuri Ghosh

I started my journey to Godoholo, on the Tapanahoni river, by air along with a plane full of Dutch tourists. It was an hour’s flight and I landed in Dwitabiki air-strip where I was meeting my Peace Corps Volunteer partners, Michael and Shelley. I proceeded with Shelley by boat (a motor-boat driven by boatman, “Bo”) to Godoholo, which was about an hour’s boat-ride from Dwitabiki. The journey was unique in that we had rain-forests on both sides of the river, and some small island villages strewn in-between. Zig-zagging expertly along the course of the river, to avoid rocks we reached Godoholo – having become slightly wet due to a brief rain-shower while on the river. By directly interacting with Shelley, and through her invaluable translations while I interviewed different groups, I learnt a lot about Godoholo and its people.

The village of Godoholo is broken up into 3 parts – Saniki, Vashiti and Pikin Kondee – based on where people washed their dishes. Home to a population of about 1500, it consists of the Marron community who speak Ndjuka. The villagers followed different religions – Jehohawitness, Pinacosili (like Christianity), Rastafarian (like spirituality) and traditional. Economic activity was mainly due to the location of the “Gold Bush” close-by where young men mined gold. Other occupations included boat-building and store or “winki” ownership. I did buy all my Coke from the winkis there! There was an established administrative structure and a stable social structure. Education for children was a priority, and almost all kids moved to the city for secondary education ad there was a single primary school in the village. There was limited electricity supply in the village, most house-holds owned radios, some owned TVs and all owned cellphones.

I spent the evening doing a focus group interview for men, who highlighted the importance of “modern” education for their kids, and also emphasized the need to learn Dutch; Dutch was “the sophisticated language” which would open new opportunities for the kids. All the men had cellphones, which they used primarily for calling, but also knew about SMSing, and had donated money for relief via SMS (cellphone operator Digicell) during the Haiti earthquake. The men were open to learning about computers, as they felt it would help them improve their work, such as “inventory control”. I also met the health workers at the polyclinic. They seemed quite dedicated with their work, inspite of difficulties in the clinic being small and barely adequate to support the requirements. Minor problems were dealt with at the local clinic, but more serious ones referred to Dwitabiki’s bigger clinic, or to the city hospitals. The health workers welcomed the idea of text messaging for spreading awareness in the village, as they did not have too much time in leaving the clinic to go to the village and doing awareness campaign.

The rest of the evening was spent at a birthday party of a set of 1-year old twins, and later chatting with Shelley on her experiences in the village.  Eating bread and chocolate paste for dinner, and sleeping in the hammock with the rain beating on the roof of Shelley’s little hut, ended the interesting day.

By Chrissy Martin

Brokopondo, unlike the other villages we visited, is connected to the capital by a road.  It was really interesting to see a village with significantly more infrastructure, in order understand how location makes a difference in the ways a village accesses information.  The road also makes the population more transit.  There is gold mining nearby, and many foreigners from Brazil and elsewhere.  This is creating a culture of fast money and destroying trust in the community.

Boslanti is one small village across the river from the center of town.  All villages in the area must travel to Brokopondo for school and health care, which causes problems.  Small children take boats to school with no life jackets, and people cannot make quickly to the health care center in case of  emergency.  One woman we spoke to delivered her baby on the riverbank.

Boslanti will build a school once they get running water, so that the youngest kids don’t have to travel and so there is a place to store books. Currently, Casey, the Peace Corps volunteer, has books in Dutch that were donated which he keeps in his house.  He doesn’t want them to get destroyed and everyone else is in the village is too intimidated by books to keep them in their house.  There is a computer center in town, but they still don’t get an internet signal.

At the health center, I was surprised to find that the administrator has a cell phone for work, a desktop, laptop,  and a radio.  He also has a Digicel internet thumb drive that he purchased for himself 1 year ago.  He has had his work cell for phone 3 yrs, and a personal phone for 5 yrs . He uses the phone to talk to friends in Holland, Cuba, Guyana, and he can call the city to set up meetings for other smaller clinics.  He receives updates from the center on health campaigns via email, but does not use the internet to search for information because it is too slow.

Health Clinic

Despite a high level of communication with the centre, there is limited outreach to citizens.  Most people who come to the clinic have to travel 15 minutes by car or 30 minutes walking.  The clinic visits one village per month for outreach – doing the math for 6 villages, this is 2 times per year.  Ernie, the administrator, worries that there is only one ambulance, so if someone is really sick, he can’t get them to the city for proper care.  He also would like more info on teenage pregnancy, HIV, vaccinations, worms, hygiene. He would like to know more like those in the city do; he has experience with people (he knows everyone in the village) but he is not up-to-date.

Male focus group

The Radio and Battery at Conservation International

By Jaclyn Carlsen

Maggie Schmeitz, Communications Program Officer, and I stayed behind in Kwamalasamutu with our generous host, Joe Adams, a Peace Corps volunteer who is wrapping up his 2+ year service in Suriname this summer. Quick aside: Joe and I quickly discovered that we had grown up 20 minutes away from each other in Minnesota, USA, and knew some of the same people. Talk about a small world!

Maggie and I stayed at a lodge run by Conservation International (CI), an NGO working in Kwamalasamutu. Although no cell coverage and few computers exist in Kwamalasamutu, existing means of communication quickly (and loudly!) jumped out. The radio at CI was used 6+ hours every day we were there by a core group of village members. Although it was possible to receive radio news broadcasts from Brazil, people used this to communicate to other villages, with friends. There are 7 radios in Kwamalasamutu including one at the airport office and one at the health clinic. It’s used to report emergencies, order supplies, and share general news, just like a cell phone is.

During my interview with Suzanne, the head of the school in Kwamala, she shared that she used to use the radio to communicate with a teacher at another AmerIndian village in the interior to swap tips and ask for teaching suggestions, but now it is too busy. Although radio and mobile phones fulfill similar communication needs, community members advocated for cell phones so that they wouldn’t have to wait so long for the radio. In fact, some just stopped using the radio because it would take so long to gain access. Also, a number of people said that the channels were getting busier and harder to use.

The radio in the picture above is powered by a car battery which is recharged by a generator.

By Mayuri Ghosh

Jaclyn had begun her work in Kwamalasumutu. Chrissy and I started off to Brokopondo – a day trip from Paramaribo. It was a rainy day and a travel of close to 2 hours in the UNICEF jeep. We started for Brokopondo with Peace Corps Volunteer, Kimmy and would be meeting her counterpart, Casey, in the village. The plan was to cover as much as we could in our brief visit, and so on reaching the village, we split into 2 groups: Mayuri & Casey looked at the school and Chrissy & Kimmy looked at the polyclinic. We also travelled by boat across the river to go to the main village and interview our focus group of men and women.

The school was a primary school of the EBG organization. It had 223 students and 12 teachers, 4 of whom were local. We interviewed the school principal who gave us information on the fees structure, infrastructure available for education, teachers’ training and her experiences teaching across different interior villages and the city. The school was looking forward to having a photo-copy machine and some computers. Meeting the 6th grade children, was a fun experience. We did a flip-video of them to hold their attention. All were very enthusiastic about learning about computers which they hoped would teach them “everything” about “every country around”. All the children knew about cellphones, and how to use them for SMS.

The focus group with the 5 men, each of whom was married and had kids confirmed that they were interested in their kids’ education. The men were in different occupation – fishing, planting peanuts, cutting wood, sewing cloth and transporting by boat. Most had gone upto 4th grade and a couple of the men had even attended secondary school.  They were also interested in learning through the computer, and wanted to learn English, Dutch, Writing, Reading and Math. They were currently using cellphones for calling, but would be fine if they had to read text messages in Dutch.

Post all the interviews, we did some site visit at the Brokopondo dam, which is built on an artificial lake and supplies hydro-electric power to most of Suriname.

View of Kwamala from Conservation International

By Jaclyn Carlsen

My teammates introduced you to the village of Kwamalasamutu in the previous post, and I would like to repeat, that that was one very small plane! The view from Paramaribo to Kwamalasamutu was breathtaking. For two hours we flew over the northern portion of the Amazon that few are lucky to see. Our Peace Corps guide, Joe, said that the trees were so tightly spaced and numerous that they resemble broccoli, and I have to agree.  

Once safely on the ground on the grassy airstrip, our mixed group of 8, from Peace Corps, the Ministry of Education, UNICEF, Columbia University, and Tufts University went to have our formal meeting and introduction to the Granman, the head of Kwamalasamutu. Conversations flew back and forth in English, Trio, Sranan Tongo, and Dutch, aided by local residents who served as translators. We were introduced to the Granman and stated our reasons for being there. After being given his support, and being introduced to a Captain, a figurehead of the political structure, we walked around the alternately sandy and grassy village, looking at the houses, school, clinics and market structures. We walked by the shaman clinic and learned that people typically go to the “modern” clinic first, and the shaman clinic second if the first’s treatment does not stick. Local medicine, using age-old extracts, herbs, and treatments from the forest, is a distinctive part of the indigenous culture in Kwamalasamutu.