Guyanese Online

 Native American Women: Keepers of the Spirit!

By Dr. Dhanpaul Narine

Catherine Tekakwitha- 1690

The old woman sat on a rock and unlocked the matrilineal puzzle. Below, the confluences of the river celebrated in a joyful cacophony as strong currents poured the debris into the sea. All was not well and the woman could tell that the worse was yet to happen. She closed her eyes and the pictures moved in the dusty heat as if it were yesterday. There was a time when the land was respected as the giver of life, when the birds flew undisturbed and when the word of the people stood for something. But today it’s different.

The lungs of the forests have been sucked dry by poisons; axes decimate the trees and the rivers and their arteries are blackened by gold seekers. The manioc too has lost its shape and taste, while the birds have flown in the opposite direction. The woman looked at the smoke in the forests. She heard the noise of the dredges and wondered why her people’s lot was to minister over an ecosystem that may be eclipsed by the dawn of the crescent moons. As a native woman she was one with the ebb of the milk river. She was a keeper of the spirit.    Continue reading →