
-Grandma Virgie sings her favourite songs while fighting her pandemic fears
By Alva Solomon
She said the COVID-19 pandemic is one of the scariest events in history she has lived through but she has been putting aside her fears by singing her favourite childhood songs. The notes are deeply ear-catching since Grandma Virgie, as she is fondly called, sings in the Carib language and while listening to her, one can be easily tempted to speak one of the world’s oldest indigenous languages, which according to global conservation bodies, is highly endangered.
Born Virginia Wilson, the 91-year old lived in the Wicarebi area of the Barama River of the North West District for over 50 years. Her father was a Caucasian man from the Anglican church who went to the village to work. She said he also preached at the village and she noted that she is the third of four siblings, two of whom have since passed.
She said too that she didn’t attend school since she lived in a very remote area in the Barama area of the North West District, dozens of miles away from the nearest school. “Me parents couldn’t send me school because it too far, Wicarebi too far,” she said.
With a smile, she said she moved to the Waini River village of Kwebana “through love”, noting that she found someone who would be her life partner and the couple decided to move to the riverside village to raise a family. It was during her adult life that she learnt to speak the English language.
Speaking Carib
Wilson said she grew up in a household where only Carib was spoken. “Pure Carib, no English and that time me never know much English,” she added. She recalled that her father was a White European man while her mother was an indigenous woman of Carib ancestry.
In Guyana, the Arawak, Caribs and Warraus were historically the largest indigenous tribes and they settled in the northern section of the country prior to the arrival of the Europeans. Moruca, Mabaruma and the Matarkai sub-regions is home to the three main tribes , although descendants moved to other parts of the country with time.
Today there are less than 2000 Carib speakers in Guyana and globally there are between 8000 to 10 000 speakers of the language. In some parts of Guyana’s North West District, the language is spoken primarily among the elders of the villages.
As she smiled , Grandma Virgie noted that her mother often interacted with her and others in the Carib language. She said her mother also she spoke fluently in the Warrau language and according to Grandma Virgie, she can remember a few words in the latter language. She mentioned a few as she recalled them.
She reiterated however, that she grew up speaking the Carib language .”Me tell you son only Carib we use to talk,” she said.
Passing on the language and healthy eating
On a sad note, Grandma Virgie said there seems to be an unwillingness among the youths to learn the Carib language. She said she even taught it for a month-long period at the village adding that for some, the language is too difficult to remember. She expressed hope that something is done to ensure the language stays alive.
She also spoke of her age, noting that although she is in her 90s , she believes that eating the right foods has sustained her to her current age.
“Cassava son, me eat that with fish and meat , morocut fish too but it hard to find morocut now here,” she said adding that she isn’t really a fan of fast food. She said it can be fatty and oily , noting that her health is of paramount concern.
Wilson then spoke for the second part of the interview in Carib, translating prayers , songs and general greetings such as ‘good morning’ and ‘good afternoon’ in English. She also had some concerns of her own..
COVID-19 fears
Grandma Virgie can be described as deeply emotional individual who values her childhood and general upbringing. She can make the most serious of persons laugh a lot with her witty jokes and general description of her childhood and upbringing. But although she smiled most of the time, she had a concern over a prevailing current affair issue; the Coronavirus.
“Me said well we don’t know anything about this sickness, me thought was a cold or a cough but is heavy sickness and me was in town {Georgetown} when it came,” she recalled.
She said that she was afraid to travel back to the village from the city at the time but after the lockdowns were lifted mid-2020 she was able to travel home. As she noted her fear of the virus, she said she told her two sons , who are pastors at Kwebana, to pray a lot. “Me told them to pray from the heart, pray directly from the heart because when me come back from Georgetown plenty people died,” she said. At the time, Guyana recorded some 22 deaths attributed to the Coronavirus and according to Grandma Virgie, she was petrified. “Me frighten because me old to,” she said as she laughed.
She said wearing a mask was something she had to grow accustomed to , adding that it was uncomfortable at first but she knew it was needed to protect her health. She said she isn’t going anywhere anytime soon and she noted that that there are remedies made at the village which the residents of Kwebana prepared soon after a large number of cases were recorded at the village late around November 2020.
Coronavirus remedies
When the first Coronavirus cases were recorded at the village, residents found ways to boost their immune systems in order to protect themselves from the sickness. According to Grandma Virgie, the ingredients of the home remedies include the pawpaw leaf, ginger, cassareep and lime.
She said the remedies worked well. Above all she said prayers remain her most valuable ritual at this point in history.
As regards her future, she said that she will continue praying and asking the Almighty to grant her eternal health. She then started singing once more, giving renditions of her favourite Carib songs with English translations after every verse. To some, speaking another language is an achievement. For Grandma Virgie, it is a lifelong tradition.