As per the “Concise Oxford Dictionary 7th Edition Reprinted 1983” “indigenous” is an adjective word meaning “born, or naturally occurring in a region, or belonging naturally”. “Indigent” also an adjective, means “needy or poor”. Often times when referring to a group of people the word “indigenous” takes the meaning of poor, as was the case of the Prime Minister’s interview with Stuart Krohn of Channel 5 on Wednesday, April 4, 2007 when Stuart Krohn was interviewing him on the Mayas of the Toledo District.
Being poor, un-educated and without access to knowledge and the other means of getting useful knowledge and information that will be helpful in solving a particular problem or issue, is a great disadvantage and disservice.
The Mayas of the south (Toledo) were and continue to be the poorest of people living in Belize. For those who may need “rocket science” to understand why this is so, I will give a brief outline why: Prior to 1968 there were no roads leading to the Toledo District. The only road in the district was from Punta Gorda to San Antonio and Columbia villages … a total of 23 miles of dirt bumpy road with wooden bridges like the wooden bridge between San Ignacio and Santa Elena that drivers could not navigate with only the running board on top until the decking was completely floored. The people lived from milpa farming and occasional logging operation owned by some expatriates living there at the time.
There were two ways out of the district … by boat or plane. Plane was for the few rich people living in town, Punta Gorda. Some logging operation continues today through offsprings of those expatriates like Gomez sawmill on the Southern Highway.
People lived from their own production: corn, rice, coffee, cocoa, beans, sugar, plantains, bananas, ground food, chickens, pigs, etc. and occasional beef; the Mayas, for some reason, did not raise cattle. Town people either fished or worked for the Public Works Department, Forestry Department, Medical Department or the Catholic Mission. The Mayas only bought salt, sea fish, metal tools, clothing and footwear.
Over time, conditions and opportunities improved, particularly in education. Back in the 1960’s only two Maya lads were attending high school (at Lynam Agricultural College). The Good Samaritan wanted the two Mayas selected to go to high school to study Agriculture and return as “Farm Demonstrators” and return to the villages in Toledo to teach others how to “improve” on their farming skills. Alas, one student went on to work in the Forest Department, Ministry of Natural Resources, and eventually retiring from the service as a Forest Ranger. The other student went on to work as a Survey Technician with the Survey Department, Ministry of Natural Resources, got a Government Scholarship and went off to study Geology at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, returned to Belize and worked two different times with the Ministry of Natural Resources before spending about 25 years with Development Finance Corporation and now back with the Ministry of Natural Resources. Interestingly most people do not see him as Maya now even though he still speaks the language and associates and socializes with his fellow Mayas.
The Good Samaritan who selected the two Maya lads to attend high school was a Briton selected by the British Government as the Maya Indian Liaison Officer. His job was to “Westernize” the Mayas of Toledo. Instead he was “Mayanized”, married or lived with a Maya woman and never returned to his ‘homeland’.
Since the 1960’s, more and more Mayas are going to high school, Sixth Form and even to universities, and more are entering what I call “mainstream” Belize by joining the Belize Defence Force, some in the Police Force, teaching profession, nursing and clerical work in various government and private business.
There are Mayas my age whose children did not have the opportunity for higher education beyond primary school (some never finished primary school), and those children grew up to be like their parents and remained and will die with the traditional Maya way of life without improving or changing during their lifetime … the cycle will continue. Life now is not to stay stagnant. That way was for the caveman.
My wife and I came from the “poor category”, a Maya and non-Maya intermixed, even though her father enjoyed the benefits and status of a Government employee as a Forest Guard and then Ranger. My father was a “milpero” and small businessman (“butcher”). But our children did not remain in the “poor category”. Our children embraced the opportunities of a better and higher education … all to university level, three at the University of the West Indies and three at American universities; one with a PhD in Marine Science and one with a MSc. in Bio-Chemistry. Had I been carried away with the current of tradition and custom, you would not require rocket science to figure out where they (my children) would be in life today.
On the Maya homeland issue, I think this idea was born in the mind of a non-Maya, probably in the mind of an Arizonian or Canadian Apache. The Mayas of Belize have no other homeland but Belize. Prior to modern times and even now, the Mayas have traditionally and freely worked the land for farming. I think sometimes a small annual fee would be paid to the Lands Department to cut milpa in an area designated by the Forest Department. Milpas would be rotated on an annual basis and each farmer would stake out his area at the end of each season, usually in November or December.
As more Mayas seek higher and better education, there will be fewer and fewer of those wanting to continue with the traditional milpa farming, so that after two or three generations the concept of milpa farming as known by the Mayas would disappear. There is no doubt that there will be some need but not to the extent as in the time of my father, who died in 1997 at the age of 79.
The area of virgin forest is not unlimited. After two or three uses of the land under the Milpa method, productivity declines. It becomes self defeating and self destructive. Sickness and malnutrition become more prevalent. There will be less home-grown food.
Keeping with the traditional ways will not help the Mayas in the future. That would be keeping them as mere tourist attractions and curiosities …. material for Discovery Channel and National Geographic! In the USA and Canada, no one sees the Indians riding on horseback half naked and screaming away into battle. You don’t even see tepees anymore.
The Prime Minister says he would not see the balkanization of Belize, meaning the dividing of an area into small antagonistic states. Toledo would become a better playground for the neighbours across the west. What is needed in Toledo is a major economic thrust, be it the planting of bananas, sugarcane for ethanol or fibre for the production of paper. That would transform the area from being the poorest in the economic back water to be in “mainstream” Belize.
Those who have emigrated from the traditional Maya villages will not accept and return to the “traditional” situation. And there are lots of them living in Belize City, Ladyville, Belmopan and San Ignacio Town. The present leaders who wish to maintain their people in the “traditional” state will do a disservice to their people. Their leaders should be clamouring for better job and economic opportunities, health facilities, better schools, better qualified teachers, a fair share of scholarships, better social amenities like football fields, better basketball courts, better roads between villages, modern drinking water facilities and improved solid waste disposal and the opportunity to acquire their own piece of The Jewel. Has anyone wondered why the 9 miles of road between Deep River and Big Falls remain a dirt, bumpy and dusty road?
Education, equal opportunity and access to employment are the only ways to free oneself out of poverty and ignorance.
(Ed. NOTE: The views expressed in the article above are those of the writer and not necessarily those of this newspaper.)