It's the evening of the 27th of July 2022 and I'm quite tired of working on other assignments. I start packing clothes for the journey west with Green Heritage Fund Suriname(GHFS). I think all I will need is clothes, GHFS has taken care of everything else.
The story actually starts at least 2 months ago when I was asked to help out with setting up a mangrove kidscorner. Green Heritage Funds Suriname (GFHS) was planning two mini mangrove fairs in the districts of Coronie and Nickerie. It sounded like a great idea and I was immediately onboard. So a whole lot of prep work was done before our departure to Nickerie on the 28th of July.
A little geography lesson on districts
Suriname is officially split up into 10 different districts. The districts are Paramaribo, Wanica, Para, Brokopondo, Commewijne, Marowijne, Sipaliwini, Saramacca, Coronie and Nickerie.
Most of the population resides in the coast and so most of our districts are also along the coast. Our main Capital is Paramaribo in the district of Paramaribo. A big part of the south of Suriname is classified under one district with no capital, this district is called Sipaliwini.
For this trip we will be travelling to the western most districts, namely Nickerie and Coronie. We will be starting from the capital district Paramaribo and travel to Nieuw Nickerie in the district of Nickerie then to Totness in the district of Coronie.
This map was created with google earth pro windows desktop app
Coronie I remember you
It's the 28th of July and I'm rushing home after a meeting at another office. My little sister is going to drop me off at Green Heritage Fund Suriname. I was so scared I was late. Luckily I arrived before the departure time. Other's were still underway and lunch had to be bought. After everything is bought and loaded into the bus, we set off to Nickerie. On the way there we pass Coronie.
When I see the entrance to the dyke(a dirt road) flying by, I know we're in Coronie. Coronie is known for it's artisanal virgin coconut oil production and it's mangrove/parwa (Avicennia germinans) honey. Both which have great health benefits.
My earliest memories in this district are volunteering for the Marvellous Mangroves pilot(see previous mangrove education post). Consequently most of my memories in this district are tied to mangrove related research assistance.
I'm also reminded of the colorful people of Coronie. I learned a lot from them. They are tied to the mangroves in different ways. One of my favorites was one of the Beekeepers they call "Locs". He joined one of the Marvellous Mangroves sessions once. I was taken in by his stories of beekeeping. I'm looking forward to seeing the locals once again.
Less familiar Nickerie
We are stopped at a bridge, because of maintenance activities (See picture above). We are right at the entrance of District Nickerie. This stop gives me enough time to get out of the bus and stretch. Then we hit the road again
The ricefields always pop up in my mind when I think of Nickerie. Nickerie is known for it's rice production. Some even call it the rice district.
Years ago I made a friend from Nickerie and got to spend a month there. Very different than from the rest of Suriname. The district has a culture of napping in the afternoon. So most things are open till around 2pm and then close to open later at 5pm. So the morning and nights are busiest there.
For the other trips to this district it was usually research related. Usually helping take a survey for a daytrip. Oh those daytrips are so exhausting. If you do a day trip it's almost 6-8 hours of travel alone.
Looking forward to meeting the people. I'm not as familiar with the people here.
The cast
A big thank you to Green Heritage Fund Suriname for including me. We departed with a group of 5. Three coordinators from GHFS and two volunteers(I'm one of them yay). Two of the coordinators were my seniors in my time at the University. So looking forward to working them again.
My apologies for the late posts. I've been swamped with work. The trip was also very intensive work. So I was recovering from that too. I'm still committed to the I Am #alive challenge. Working on more posts. This particular post will get a part 2.