THEY are the forgotten people.
At least that is how Kim Smith, a local missionary, describes the “bush negroes”, the descendants of runaway slaves who live mainly in the interior of Suriname.
“In the Caribbean they are the most like the African ancestors in the way they live,” Kim remarked. “They hunt and grow food; they make everything. Everything is intricately hand-carved.”
While they may be a talented people in one way, their existence is marked by extreme poverty and traditions long forgotten in another world that thrives on technology and advancement.
Kim admits that when she first visited Suriname twelve years ago with Youth With A Mission for six weeks, she was shocked to see the conditions in which the people lived.
“It was a shock to me . . . the real rough living. We each had a soup bowl and a spoon; every meal was in that. Nakedness is nothing there,” she said, Children round around naked, even a 65-year-old woman can walk around topless in the interior.”It was the nakedness of the children that inspired her to work in partnership with Jenny Tryhane of United Caribbean Trust to start the Underwear Gift Pack Project where she gives underwear to the children there.
“I learnt that everybody doesn’t live the same way. It gave me an appreciation for running water, refrigerator, the ability to have a shower and to not to have a dig a hole in the ground to use the bathroom,” she said. “They don’t have electricity in the interior. If they do it’s one person and it’s run by a generator and everyone knows that by nine o’ clock it’s lights out.”
But it wasn’t just the way people dress, but the way they live that was in such stark contrast to what Kim had grown accustomed to living in Barbados.
“In the interior the people live in grass huts with a mud floor. If they have a wooden house it is unpainted and has a mud floor as well,” Kim said. “The people live along the river and they bathe, wash clothes and dishes in the river. Jukking boards are still used. They collect rain water in large barrels [and it] is used for drinking and cooking. Pit toilets are the norm.”
It is easy, given the life that Kim lives here in Barbados, to understand her shock at seeing this different kind of existence.
“These people never developed with the rest of the world,” Kim said. “There are a lot of children in these communities because the men practise polygamy and have several wives. But they believe their children are their wealth and when they are old the children will help to meet their needs.”
The children have so impacted Kim that along with giving them underwear, she has also sponsored one child that touched her heart.
“The little girl I sponsor, her parents are alcoholics. I couldn’t bear the thought of her becoming a prostitute. The house she lives in has no chairs, she lives in a shack [and there is] no kitchen. The mother was embarrassed to show me.”
After four visits, Kim has seen some improvement because some of the homes now have water tanks.
“They do have schools now in the interior and the school bus that comes is a little canoe, so the kids get in and go to school,” she said.
Last year Kim went alone and gave out the underwear to the children.
“We give them three underwears and a little necklace or a novelty. Even the parents come and say thank you. It’s hard to imagine but three underwears go along way.”
Kim is now looking to take her underwear project to the children of Haiti. “That’s why we are trying to reach out to the broader public to help us.”