Cassava in Heaven
‘Will there be cassava in heaven?’
A question from Saiktau, a Taruma Indian, to Fr Cuthbert Cary-Elwes
Cassava, as our readers may know is the most useful and life-giving plant in the culture of the Amerindian peoples of Guyana. From the root of this plant (manihot esculenta), they obtain starch, tapioca (porridge), cassava bread, casareep ( a food preservative used especially in pepper pot - a stew), farine (the equivalent of rice), and kasiri - a beverage which becomes alcoholic with age and fermentation. It is no wonder then that Saiktau asked Fr Cuthbert whether cassava would be available in heaven, since he could not imagine life, even eternal life, without life-giving cassava.
Fr Cary-Elwes served in, the then British Guiana from 1904 - 1923, the last thirteen years of which were spent among the indigenous tribes of the Pakaraima region - namely the Macushi and Patamona, plus the Macushi, Wapashana, Taruma and the Wai-Wai of the Central and South Rupununi.
First Contact
Fr Cuthbert first made contact with the Taruma Indians, who are now extinct, and the Wai-Wai, while evangelising the Wapishana Indians from about early 1918 to 1923. Through his interpreter, Saiktau, he instructed the Tarumas and the Wai-Wai, whom he met in Wapishana territory, teaching them prayers and hymns. The account of his journeys down the rivers, especially the Essequibo River - which runs practically the length of the country - is hair-raising, as his party of guides had to manoeuvre over rapids, small waterfalls, large boulders and the occasional fallen tree from the forest. His diary (parts of which are still unpublished) reads like an Indiana Jones adventure, without the big whip and the hat!
During his visits to the Wapishanas, he had asked them to build a church in each village and he also promised the Tarumas and the Wai-Wais to help build a church in their respective villages. Thus, before leaving St Ignatius mission on the Takatu river in January 1923 to carry out his rounds in the deep-south and also to fulfil his promise to the Tarumas and the Wai-Wais, he wrote:
“Never did I set out from St Ignatius more full of hope to do more work for the Master than I did on January 12th 1923.”
Last Missionary Journey
Little did Fr Cary-Elwes know that what the Master had in store for him was a share in his cross, as he was to suffer a serious physical and mental breakdown, which brought an end to his direct missionary work and his departure for England, his home country.
After spending the Holy Week of 1923 among Wapishanas, Fr Cuthbert moved to Baidanau, a Taruma village, accompanied by a party of Tarumas and Wai-Wai Indians, ‘in all their feather ornaments and long black hair.’ He was clearly overcome with joy and expectation and, after a delay due to the severe illness of a young Taruma boy, Campion, he left for the great forest in the far South to fulfil his promise to the Tarumas and the Wai-Wais. However, he too was soon to be overcome by a strange illness and was forced to abandon his journey through the forest. He wrote of his illness: ‘My tongue and gums were swollen; I had a lacerated sore throat, earache, headache, and a high fever; I could scarcely open my mouth.’ Meanwhile a large party of Taruma and Wai-Wai people were waiting for him at Wakidiu to begin building their church. Father Cary-Elwes returned to Baidanau, where he found young Campion’s condition to be much worse, so he forced himself to celebrate Mass and administered the last rites to the boy, who died soon after. He himself returned to Dadanawa Ranch, and crossing the Rupununi River made his way to St Ignatius, Lethem. Later he travelled to Anai and was taken by his friend John Melville to Georgetown. He recorded that while he was at Mora - ill and physically fatigued - he noticed his young friends Marko and Stephen, ‘lying in their hammocks. The next morning, I caught sight of them setting off on the trail. They never looked back once. Soon they were out of sight and I never saw them again.’ Perhaps these boys would not have looked back to see their Father and friend, as they most probably felt helpless, faced with his strange illness and even stranger behaviour. One can only surmise that it might have been the same with the Tarumas and Wai-Wais, left standing at Wakidiu wondering, no doubt, what had happened to the priest who was to help them build a church.
Today, eighty years on, the Tarumas are extinct and the Wai-Wais are members of the Christian Brethren Church, and still as robust and colourful as they were when Fr Cary-Elwes met them. The church, through the work of the Jesuits of the British Province, continues to serve the Patomona Indians of the North Pakaraimas (Fr Paul Martin’s area), the Macushi Indians of the South Pakaraimas (yours truly), Central Rupununi (Fr Paul O’Reilly), and the Wapishanas of the South Rupununi (Fr Peter Britt-Compton). Father Cuthbert Cary-Elwes sowed the seeds. Today we are reaping the fruits of a wonderful crop of Parish Lay Assistants (PLAs), catechists, Ministers of the Eucharist, and a host of other church workers, and above all, a church in every village.
There must be cassava in heaven
Please continue to pray for, and support, the Amerindian Apostolate in Guyana.
Cassava, as our readers may know is the most useful and life-giving plant in the culture of the Amerindian peoples of Guyana. From the root of this plant (manihot esculenta), they obtain starch, tapioca (porridge), cassava bread, casareep ( a food preservative used especially in pepper pot - a stew), farine (the equivalent of rice), and kasiri - a beverage which becomes alcoholic with age and fermentation. It is no wonder then that Saiktau asked Fr Cuthbert whether cassava would be available in heaven, since he could not imagine life, even eternal life, without life-giving cassava.
Fr Cary-Elwes served in, the then British Guiana from 1904 - 1923, the last thirteen years of which were spent among the indigenous tribes of the Pakaraima region - namely the Macushi and Patamona, plus the Macushi, Wapashana, Taruma and the Wai-Wai of the Central and South Rupununi.
Fr Cuthbert first made contact with the Taruma Indians, who are now extinct, and the Wai-Wai, while evangelising the Wapishana Indians from about early 1918 to 1923. Through his interpreter, Saiktau, he instructed the Tarumas and the Wai-Wai, whom he met in Wapishana territory, teaching them prayers and hymns. The account of his journeys down the rivers, especially the Essequibo River - which runs practically the length of the country - is hair-raising, as his party of guides had to manoeuvre over rapids, small waterfalls, large boulders and the occasional fallen tree from the forest. His diary (parts of which are still unpublished) reads like an Indiana Jones adventure, without the big whip and the hat!
During his visits to the Wapishanas, he had asked them to build a church in each village and he also promised the Tarumas and the Wai-Wais to help build a church in their respective villages. Thus, before leaving St Ignatius mission on the Takatu river in January 1923 to carry out his rounds in the deep-south and also to fulfil his promise to the Tarumas and the Wai-Wais, he wrote:
“Never did I set out from St Ignatius more full of hope to do more work for the Master than I did on January 12th 1923.”
Little did Fr Cary-Elwes know that what the Master had in store for him was a share in his cross, as he was to suffer a serious physical and mental breakdown, which brought an end to his direct missionary work and his departure for England, his home country.
After spending the Holy Week of 1923 among Wapishanas, Fr Cuthbert moved to Baidanau, a Taruma village, accompanied by a party of Tarumas and Wai-Wai Indians, ‘in all their feather ornaments and long black hair.’ He was clearly overcome with joy and expectation and, after a delay due to the severe illness of a young Taruma boy, Campion, he left for the great forest in the far South to fulfil his promise to the Tarumas and the Wai-Wais. However, he too was soon to be overcome by a strange illness and was forced to abandon his journey through the forest. He wrote of his illness: ‘My tongue and gums were swollen; I had a lacerated sore throat, earache, headache, and a high fever; I could scarcely open my mouth.’ Meanwhile a large party of Taruma and Wai-Wai people were waiting for him at Wakidiu to begin building their church. Father Cary-Elwes returned to Baidanau, where he found young Campion’s condition to be much worse, so he forced himself to celebrate Mass and administered the last rites to the boy, who died soon after. He himself returned to Dadanawa Ranch, and crossing the Rupununi River made his way to St Ignatius, Lethem. Later he travelled to Anai and was taken by his friend John Melville to Georgetown. He recorded that while he was at Mora - ill and physically fatigued - he noticed his young friends Marko and Stephen, ‘lying in their hammocks. The next morning, I caught sight of them setting off on the trail. They never looked back once. Soon they were out of sight and I never saw them again.’ Perhaps these boys would not have looked back to see their Father and friend, as they most probably felt helpless, faced with his strange illness and even stranger behaviour. One can only surmise that it might have been the same with the Tarumas and Wai-Wais, left standing at Wakidiu wondering, no doubt, what had happened to the priest who was to help them build a church.
Today, eighty years on, the Tarumas are extinct and the Wai-Wais are members of the Christian Brethren Church, and still as robust and colourful as they were when Fr Cary-Elwes met them. The church, through the work of the Jesuits of the British Province, continues to serve the Patomona Indians of the North Pakaraimas (Fr Paul Martin’s area), the Macushi Indians of the South Pakaraimas (yours truly), Central Rupununi (Fr Paul O’Reilly), and the Wapishanas of the South Rupununi (Fr Peter Britt-Compton). Father Cuthbert Cary-Elwes sowed the seeds. Today we are reaping the fruits of a wonderful crop of Parish Lay Assistants (PLAs), catechists, Ministers of the Eucharist, and a host of other church workers, and above all, a church in every village.
There must be cassava in heaven
Please continue to pray for, and support, the Amerindian Apostolate in Guyana.