Unity high on Toshao Beverly Clenkian’s agenda

It was Martin Luther King Jr, who said, “The supreme task is to organise and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force.” While the emotion is not quite the same, newly-elected Toshao Beverly Clenkian is quite keen on uniting and transforming the people of St Cuthbert’s Mission (Pakuri).
Clenkian was recently elected as Toshao of St Cuthbert’s Mission, replacing the outspoken Lennox Schuman. She tells me that she has served a collective nine years in the Village Council so being a Toshao is not strange. She intends to use the experience she gained from being in the Village Council to further develop the community as well as ensuring that there is transparency and accountability.
During our chat, Clenkian told me that she has always been in a leadership role, explaining that her father died at an early age and she was forced to become the head of the household. She had to go out to work and eventually ventured into the teaching profession. However, working at an early age took its toll on her, as she was not able to enjoy growing up.
“Being a single parent is not easy, you have to play the role as the leader of the family. My mother was unemployed, so I had to seek employment at an early age so I became a teacher there. I went to CPCE and then to the University of Guyana. I always try to do my best for myself and my people,” she said.
St Cuthbert’s Mission is located on the Mahaica River and has approximately 200 households. The village was founded in the late 1800s. It is surrounded by savannah and shrub lands on its east side, and dense vegetation on its west side. The village is the closest Amerindian settlement to the capital city.
Clenkian said she has been living in the village all her life and has raised her three children there as well. When I asked her what drives her desire to lead, Clenkian said the mere fact that her people were dealt the short hand and there were seeds of disharmony sown among them.
“I know how village runs and so and seeing some of the issues that bother my people makes me want to go into this position. I see the needs of my people and some of the things they were promised like transparency. I see division in my community and I want to get them back as one. We are one people and we should be working together, because we all want the same thing, which is a well-developed community,” Clenkian told me.
The issues the new Toshao speaks of relate mostly to the lack of a unified village as well as transparency. She said right now St Cuthbert’s Mission needed someone to talk to them and steer them in the right direction.
“I want to go out with the people and even though they are not with me, I try to go out there and talk with them and I tell them that we are one and we should not try to segregate. We have our difference, but we have to put it aside to develop our community.”
The 45-year-old remembers the village as one where the living standards were very low and poverty was rampant. Clenkian and her family would have to walk for hours to get onto the Linden-Soesdyke Highway to get transportation to take them to Georgetown, or in her case to school on the East Coast of Demerara.
Those days were tough and it is with those struggles in mind, she wishes to create a better village for her people. It is her aim to modernise the village so that they can access the same level of services like the rest of the world, but while staying true to their heritage.
“I took up the leadership so that we modernise and not forget our culture. We must still maintain it; our language is dying away, and we are getting the older people to teach it to the young people, because we want the future generation to know their history and traditions.”
This is just the beginning of what looks to be a promising three years for the people of St Cuthbert’s Mission and according to Clenkian, she would continue to serve as long as the people allow her to. (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)