Mashramani 7

The whole event is very much a family affair.

Flags, masks and  body glitter are all part of the fun.
This young Mash-goer was distracted by my camera, while her mum and auntie joined the cheering for the Guyanese and Jamaican Soca singers accompanying the winning Digicell float.

Some volunteers joined together after the main event for a happy group hug and our own end of Mash  celebrations- as the picture of a VSO volunteer, dancing with a Guyanese work colleague from the National Commission on Disability shows.

Mashramani 6

Once in the National Park, the 33 floats had their alloted time in the arena to display their dance routines.
I was able to appreciate, within the armies of costumed dancers maintaining their loose formations, the skills and spontaneity of individuals who would gyrate freely, or in pairs "wine" in provocative connection and then return to the rhythms of the group.

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Notions of "noise nuisance" do not exist in Georgetown. Mash day began before dawn as the Sound Systems started mixing the music, continuing ceaselessly for the next 24 hours. Unless close to a specific stack of amplifiers (always as high as a house) it was impossible to distinguish any particular tune: the air was filled with the vibrations and competing songs; for the day the birds and dogs of Georgetown gave up their voices.
The Mash parade started at 10 am and wove intermittently through the packed streets, the participants forging through the mingling on-lookers, stall holders and street hawkers, all in a mood of holiday celebration and display.

One chirpy leader- anyone watching was able to walk into the road and get a picture.
Body glitter is the sort after accessory.

Mashramani 4

"One people
 One nation
 One des-tin- y"
and
"I am a Guy- an -ese
 I am a Guy- an -ese"

:- lyrics from two of the songs from this year's Mash, blooming in popularity after success in the Mash Song writing competition, recorded by Caribbean performers and sung along by everyone lining the Mash route and filling the stadium in the National Park, where the main floats and dance routines are judged.

The Digicell sponsored  (Caribbean mobile phone company) winning performers in the National Stadium.

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Sophia Special School walked behind the model of a giant cooking pot with six figures- representing the six`peoples who make up the nation:- the Amerindians, the Africans, the Indians, the Chinese, the Portuguese and the Europeans.

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One marvellous costume- and so well worn!

 I publicly supported the two special schools taking part, walking with their contingents for parts of the parade.

Mashramani

Mashramani is an Arawak (one of the Amerindian tribes -original inhabitants) word meaning "success after cooperative effort". The Success is the gaining of independence from the British- while the timing fits with the Caribbean and South American carnival season.
The whole country rises to a state of patriotic partying. This year the theme was "Mashin' with pride: Keepin we traditions alive", allowing for multiple interpretations within the programme of competitions:- Dramatic Poetry recitals, Calypso, Steel Pans, Brass Bands, Soca and Chutney music, and the regional Mash preliminaries where entrants compete for a place, and funding, in the final Mash Parade on Thursday 23rd February.

The preceding Saturday saw the "junior" version- the Schools' Mash parade- with nursery, primary and secondary schools from across the country competing. Each school cohort is headed by a chosen, elaborately costumed pupil positioned within an elaborate structure mounted on heavy duty casters, which is pushed with varying degrees of personal effort- some with a shy dignity- others with a showy extravagance and flamboyance.

One very dignified leader of her school group.

Water water everywhere

This morning, in Guyana, as well as in frozen Britain, the weather dominates conversation.

Here, an extreme rainy season, attributed to the La Nina phenomenon (no mention of global warming in the local press) predicted to continue throughout the first quarter of 2012, is producing incredible heavy showers -making any outdoor activity virtually impossible- interspersed with light rain, then hot sunny spells. A village near New Amsterdam currently holds the 2012 rainfall record, with 172.6 mm in 24 hours. The average normal monthly rainfall is 60mm/ 2.4 inches.

Georgetown-flooding. Picture- Stabroek News

The people of Guyana are no strangers to flooding and the awful personal, health and economic effects.  In ground floor houses property is spoiled, agricultural crops are ruined, livestock lost and health care officials are warning of the symptoms of water born illnesses, including leptospirosis, and instructing hospitals and clinics to stock up on medications.

Guyana last experience of serious flooding in 2005, (the period during the aftermath of the tragic Boxing Day tsunami in south east Asia) attributed to an extreme weather system, serves as a reminder that Guyana is classified as a nation vulnerable to the effects of global warning, according the the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Stern Report and others. Guyana lost 67% of its Gross Domestic Product in 2005, due to loss of agricultural produce, and is still recovering from its aftermath.

Why is Guyana vulnerable?

Guyana's coastal strip where 90% of the population lives is between 1.2m and 2m below sea level (depending on information source). This includes the capital Georgetown, at the mouth of the Demerara River.

The dams, canals and sluices or kokers, which control the drainage of the low lying land, remain one of the key legacies of Dutch settlement.

Above- a koker.

Built from the second half of the 17th century onwards, with the sweat of African slaves until 1838, and afterwards with poorly paid African and indentured Indian labour, the system provides a network of salt -free canals for drainage, irrigation and transport, generates tracts of usable arable land from former salt marshes and keeps the sea at bay. The canals occupy an eighth of the surface area of the agricultural land and run for a total of 8,000 kms. Sugar was, and remains, the major plantation crop along with rice and bananas.

Maintenance of the system is crucial to Guyana's very existence. Canals should be weeded and cleared of silt and debris 2-3 times per year. Until the mid 1970's work on the sea defences, drainage and irrigation accounted for most of Guyana's capital expenditure. 

Since the economic collapse of the late 70s- 80s, maintenance has been piecemeal or neglected. 

International aid for engineering projects has been welcomed in recent times, but a key challenge made by opposition politicians and ordinary citizens is the lack of policy regarding waste disposal.

Picture- from Kaiteur News-shows officials inspecting a rubbish choked canal.

Picture-Guyana Ministry of Agriculture-canal dredging

This, and the lack of routine dredging and weeding of the canals, strains the drainage and pumping systems to the point of collapse.

It is these factors, plus the estimated rises in sea levels, measured at 6-8 inches in the last century, with a current rate of 12- 14 inches per century, expected to rise to 20 inches plus if rates of global warming continue, all point to a scary future for Guyana.

Picture- Kaiteur News- flooding effects the lives of ordinary people.

Picture-Cleaned and maintained canal outside the National Park. Georgetown is called the Garden City- sadly, some parts are nicknamed the Garbage City.