Village of Matta Mourns the Murder of Okono-Arawak Chief Michael Karwofodi
TODAY WE OFFICIALLY MOURN THE LOSS OF A GREAT LOKONO-ARAWAK CHIEF FROM SURINAME, CHIEF MICHEL KARWOFODI OF THE VILLAGE OF MATTA....he was murdered in his own village on 13th August 2020, by 2 teenagers.
Villagers of Matta have today arrested 6 teenagers, ranging in age from 13 to 18, in connection with the murder of 67-year-old Chief Michel Karwofodi.
The six have confessed to their involvement. The investigation shows that two of these suspects actually committed the murder by hammer and knife. They were taken to the victim's home, where the crime took place, through the intervention of the police, to give directions.
THE BACKSTORY OF THIS TRAGEDY IS A LESSON IN THE DANGER OF LOSING TRADITIONAL TRIBAL FAMILY VALUES:
Chief Karwofodi lived alone but nearby the forest. No people in 2 square miles of his home, that is why he had no-one to defend him. The boys were his nephews (his sisters sons) and cousins. The incident that sparked this shocking act is believed to have been when he put them out of the village Banabo (community meeting house) on Aug 9.
They were misbehaving and it was already time for them to go to bed. The chief was celebrating 9 August indigenous day with some older villagers and thought it was not right for the kids to misbehave and act disrespectfully in front of their Chief and elders - and he escorted them out of the building.
Some people heard the youngsters saying that the chief was going to pay for that, but no one took them seriously.
A wise family member of the Chief had this to say about the tragedy...''I think it has a lot to do with the situation at their home. They are from broken families and I think no one really looks after them. They felt probably like outcasts. They had no respect for their parents and not for the other villagers.
So we should have taken care of them as a tribal family as we used to do traditionally, but everyone failed to do that.
We should have known what was going on with them but everyone is looking to survive while Coronavirus make a lot of the villagers lose their jobs.
The boys were not allowed to play soccer anymore because of Corona Virus, and that is the only activity in the village for youngsters. They probably used drugs and we weren't even aware of what they did when they were high.
So what I am saying is that there has to be a big change in the way we live in the village today, we need to restore our traditional tribal family values.
Sometimes tragedy has to make us rethink everything we do wrong and how we are going to continue to do right things in the future. We have to things differently''
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It is of greatly important historical note, to recognise the fact that the Lokono-Arawaks in Suriname have preserved traditional family names whereas the Lokono-Arawaks in Guyana have not, Karowfodi being one of them, but also Biswana, Sabaho, and Jubithana - among others. Each side of the border has preserved something the other side has not, we have preserved wood carving more, etc, that is why we need to come together and make the people whole once more.
9 days of mourning shall be observed by the traditionalists among the Eagle clan Lokono-Arawaks of Guyana and Barbados, and traditionalists among the Taino-Arawak diaspora, as a sign of solidarity, respect and honor to our slain brother - Chief Karwofodi.
This tragedy has revealed the need for more solidarity and closer contact between the Lokono of Suriname and Guyana on all levels, we are one great Tribal Nation - divided by an old European colonial era border that I do not recognise as legitimate.
Instagram tribute @eagleclanarawaks
Also, because of this great tragedy, we will begin to include Lokono videos from Suriname on our Youtube channel to accelerate the process of cross-border deeper Lokono solidarity that Pakuri Lokono on the Guyana side demonstrated in the 1980's, when we sent Lokono men volunteers to fight in the Suriname civil war in the Army of Desi Bouterse, my Oribichi Rami being principal among them.
Our Youtube channel :
https://www.youtube.com/feed/my_videos
By Damon Corrie