Rambling as I leave Guyana
Joe M Dias SJ from India has spent the last three years working in Guyana. Before he left he went on a mini-tour of the country
This year I decided to spend my three-week holiday-cum-retreat in Guyana itself, as I realised I had seen very little of this exceptionally beautiful country during the three years that I have worked there.
On July 19th, I took the small 14-seater local plane from Ogle Airport in Georgetown to Lethem, near the south-western corner of Guyana. As the plane flew, one could admire the dense rainforests below for almost an hour and a half, till we reached our destination. Fr Joaquim de Melo of the Goa Province was there at the airport to receive me and gave me a very warm welcome. He was alone at our mission station of St Ignatius, as the Zimbabwe scholastic, George Bwanali, was away. During the seven days that I stayed with him he took me all over the small town of Lethem, even showing me the St Ignatius School, which was established by the Jesuits but is now in the hands of the government. One evening we crossed the nearby Takutu River in a small speedboat and entered Brazil. We went about three miles inside the border to the little town of Bom Fin, strolling though its broad avenues and enjoyed some Brazilian snacks at a local restaurant.
Our little church of St Ignatius at Lethem is situated just opposite the presbytery and consists of a long nave, which can accommodate around 200 people. From the altar can be glimpsed the Takutu River, a few feet below the entrance to the Church. The lovely blue-green Kanuku (Ôlife-givingÕ in Amerindian Macushi language) mountains stand watch on the the distant horizon. It was a pleasure to celebrate Mass for the Amerindian Catholic community at St Ignatius and in two local villages Pariquarnau and Moko-Moko. They are a simple, devout and very lovable people - very like the tribes of northeast India. Much more needs to be done for their wellbeing, by way of general and technical education, housing and health-care - this is a great challenge to the Catholic Church, and to the local Jesuits, as Amerindians constitute 25% of the Catholic population in Guyana.
After two days back in Georgetown, the capital, I left by bus for the bauxite town of Linden. Here, at the church of St Joseph the Worker, on the banks of the Demerara River (about 60 metres broad here), I made my annual eight-day retreat. My host was Fr Russ Sampson, a Canadian Scarboro priest, who was very kind and friendly. The people of Linden are mostly Afro-Guyanese and I found them very welcoming, genuinely affectionate, devout and actively involved in their parish. Linden is a small town with few people. It was an ideal place for my evening walks on either side of the river, which I had to cross by using a regular speedboat service. The town is overshadowed by a giant disused aluminium factory near the bauxite mines. It could not compete in the international market and was closed many years ago. There are three Mass centres in the parish - the church in Mackenzie itself, a small chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel across the river, plus a base at the village of Silver Hill, 20 miles up the Linden Highway.
Returning to Georgetown on the 7th August, I boarded the bus to Parika, located on the banks of Guyana's biggest river, the Essequibo. Once off the bus, it took about an hour, by small speedboat, to cross to Supernaam, skirting some huge islands on the way. The Essequibo contains 365 islands - one of the them, Hogg Island, is bigger than Barbados - and is about 20 miles wide as it nears the Atlantic Ocean. Arriving at Supernaam, I took a taxi to the small village of Charity where some Argentinian priests (Missionaries of the Incarnate Word - IVE) are working at the Church of St Francis Xavier. They recently opened a hostel for about 30 boys who study at the local school. It is an imposing pink coloured, one storey structure, looking rather palatial for its humble surroundings. The lush, surrounding landscape, with its immense rice-fields, made me feel as if I was home in my native Goa.
Returning to Georgetown, I left on the 10th August for Bartica. Once again, I had to travel south, down the mighty Essequibo by speedboat, from Parika to Bartica - which is situated at the meeting point of the Essequibo and the very broad Mazaruni River. The drive from Bartica to the Benedictine monastery was along a rough, mud track, up and down hills, through dense forests until the little wooden structure appears in an opening close to the banks of the Mazaruni River. It struck me as one of the most beautiful spots in the whole of Guyana. The Benedictines made me most welcome, but unfortunately I could only stay with them for one night. I returned to Georgetown the following day in order to journey to Port Mourant in time for a farewell Mass on Sunday 13th and to prepare for my return to India.
Thank you Guyana.