Santa Rosa is considered to be the largest Amerindian village in Guyana with a population of 7000 plus people. The village is
inhabited predominantly by the Arawak people and located in Region One (Barima-Waini) on the Moruca River some 29 kilometres from the mouth.
However, despite being the largest and most populated Indigenous settlement, Santa Rosa has its issues, which can be fixed with the right type of leadership and according to the newly-elected Toshao, Whanita Phillips, that is her main mission.
Phillips is a mother of six, and the desire to create a better life for them led her to run for leadership of the village. She explained that her entire life has been about leading and that she intended to work hard for the development of Santa Rosa.
“I am a woman, but I am not the first woman Toshao of Santa Rosa and so far I would say that we women have better leadership skills. It is my hope to transform Santa Rosa, because there are a lot of things we need. We are the largest Amerindian village in the whole of Guyana so our needs are greater than some villages, but we all desire the same things which are proper services like education and health care,” Phillips said.
Santa Rosa is a collection of 11 smaller settlements called “satellite villages”, and is one of the earliest Catholic Missions in Guyana. Phillips explained that the name Santa Rosa translates to “Saint Rose”. Santa Rosa contains the second of the region’s two secondary schools, Santa Rosa Secondary School, established in 1992.
When the elections were held earlier this year, the village decided to give Phillips a shot at leadership since she has been leading the Santa Rosa Secondary School’s PTA for over five years. During her tenure there, she had advocated for many things to better enhance the learning process for the students. Like every leader, Phillips has a vision for the development of her village and that vision, according to her, requires the community to band together for the common good.
“Our village is very beautiful and we are known for our white sand and lumber, so I want to make sure that we develop those and that our villagers are not exploited. My vision for Santa Rosa is to make sure that every home has running water and a hospital with proper amenities,” she said.
When Phillips says she wants a hospital with proper amenities, she means a hospital with a functioning x-ray department, qualified technicians and a laboratory that offers all the testing services. She notes that the hospital they have currently lacks these resulting in the residents having to spend large sums of money to access these services privately or travel to another community.
In addition to a properly outfitted and functioning hospital, Phillips have been advocating for the Santa Rosa Secondary to have a science laboratory so that the students can conduct proper experiments. She also sees herself campaigning for the village to be outfitted with an airstrip since they need other transportation options.
“I want our children to have no boundaries. They must be able to learn in a school that could compete with the Coast and a science lab is just one step. When they have the knowledge of experimenting and so on, then it might inspire one and two of them to become doctors or scientists and that will be good for the community and Guyana too.”
Phillips encourages everyone to follow their dreams and says failure is just a stepping stone to success. For the young girls, she hopes that they can look at her as a role model and know that no matter what they are worthy of having a proper education and can take up any position, in any field they wish. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
