Three Brothers a success story through visionary leadership

Three Brothers a success story through visionary leadership
Residents believe: “Good things come to those who work while they wait”
By Shirley Thomas
Guyana Chronicle, 11 September 2007

Mrs. Annette Arjoone (third from left) hands over cheque to Basil
Mendonca on behalf of an overseas donor the purchase of an extractor
for crab-oil processing at Three Brothers. Others from left are Mrs.
Phil Maria D’Andrade and Michael Henry.
It is often said that “good things come to those who wait”, but the
residents of the Amerindian community of Three Brothers, have differed
slightly, noting:


“Good things come to those who work while they wait.”

Excited that this has turned out to be a reality for them, the
residents of “Three Brothers”, a newly recognised federation of three
satellite communities, along the bank of the Waini River in Region 1
(Barima/Waini), are now counting their blessings.

The three small riverine communities of Kachikamo, St. John’s and Lower
Waini, now known as ‘Three Brothers’, were settled more than three
generations ago predominantly inhabited by Amerindians of the Warrau
and Carib tribes.

Their main economic activities include: hunting, fishing, farming,
harvesting the hear-of-palm; processing crab oil and producing
handicraft for which they have been able to secure export markets.

Even though the residents have been working to bring about development,
for more than three generations, they were occupying lands for which
they had no title.

Last Wednesday, Three Brothers was among seven more Amerindian
communities granted land titles by government. The certificates of
title were presented to them by President Bharrat Jagdeo at a special
ceremony held at the Presidential Secretariat on Wednesday.

And so, community leaders Michael Henry, Phil Maria D’Andrade and Basil
Mendonca - unsung heroes in the development of the Three Brothers
community, who travelled to Georgetown to uplift the titles, had
occasion to celebrate. It was for them a land-mark victory, indeed.

The three leaders, beaming with pride and satisfaction, and savouring
the elegance of Le Meridien Pegasus, were overwhelmed with emotions.
Chit-chatting as they dined in opulence - compliments of Mrs. Anette
Arjoone, of the Guyana Marine Turtles Conservation Society (GMTCS).
Little did they know that there was yet another pleasant surprise in
store for them.

The residents have been working in close association with that Society,
whose arm – the North West Organics, provides export market for their
products.

It was amidst their celebration, that an overseas-based Guyanese,
impressed with their fine quality crab oil, cassava bread, casareep and
craft work being marketed in the United States of America, stopped by
to compliment them.

During their discussion, it was however, mentioned that there is need
for another extractor for their crab oil. Impressed with their
progress, the Good Samaritan, immediately requested a quotation, and
within minutes wrote them a cheque for $144,132 to purchase the item.

Under the visionary leadership of the trio – D’Andrade, Mendonca and
Henry Three Brothers community now has an admirable record of
achievement. With a population of just over 360, the residents have
been able to combine energies and resources for the all-round
development of their community.

They now take pride in the fact that Three Brothers was the first
Amerindian community to have been granted land title in less than one
year of having applied. Having grouped themselves together as one
community, they applied for title to their lands in November, 2006.

Albert Henry, tracing the history of their communities, recalled that
the three small communities, after years of working independently,
observed that working jointly, they would be able to achieve much more
than they previously did. Hence, about seven months ago, they formed a
Federation under the name “Three Brothers”, because of the brotherly
love and unity that existed amongst them.

Arjoone who is fully abreast with their works and development, asserted
that Three Brothers is the first community to have been granted land
title in so short a period. She noted too, that their track record, in
terms of being able to properly manage their communities; their
willingness to co-operate; and demonstration of interest in their own
development, might have influenced this.

Of interest, the residents have been able to do their own mapping of
the areas, as a result of skills gained through a capacity building
training project, funded by the British High Commission during last
year.

The project covered three areas of training-governance, natural
resource management, and community development. During the training
held at Mabaruma, the participants were exposed to community resource
mapping, financial accountability and community development among other
things. Their performance on the training was highly rated, it was
reported.

Coming out of this initiative, the residents of Three Brothers came up
with their own five-year development plan, with the assistance of
former Regional Chairman, Norman Whittaker, and therefore saw the need
to have title to their lands amidst all this.

Arjoone took pride that, the Community Leaders were able they
prioritised what their needs were, in order of governance, education,
agriculture, health care and facilities, communication infrastructure.
They documented very clearly, what their needs were and strategized
their approach to achieving these.

In addition to the project funded by the British High Commission, other
forms of external help include the German Democratic Bank (GDB), which
has impacted significantly through projects it has funded, along with
other gifts to the people of that community. Through a G $12M grant
from the GDB, the residents were able to set up a factory to
mechanically grate their cassava, as well as extract oil from the crab
wood seeds, to meet export demands. They have also secured a
multi-purpose centre; as well as a boat and engine at St. John’s; a
mechanical cassava-grater at Kachikamo – all compliments of the German
Development Bank.

But while they have agreed to come together as one big community under
a new name, geographically there are things that cannot change, hence
logistics, or the overall management of the way resources are moved to
the areas where they are required, will continue to pose a problem.

There is a Health Care Hut at Lower Waini, managed by community leader
Michael Henry who is also Community Health Worker and trained in
midwifery and microscopy. There are two primary schools – one at St.
John’s, and another at Lower Waini, but residents are now lobbying for
one at Kachikamo. Travelling within the community, they say, entails
having to contend with a vast expanse of rough waters and strong winds
in very small boats, and because of the dangers associated with this,
children cannot travel from Kachikamo to the other locations to attend
school.

As such the young people of Kachikamo are not being able to secure an
education, have been migrating to other parts of the Region.