User talk:St. Ignatius Village Rupununi

According to a few elders in the village who said the same thing about the history of their community: “before there were a few family houses settled around the area, not close by, but far apart near to their farms and hunting grounds located at the foot of the Kanaku mountains. That time there was no church in the area, only for one in Yupukari some distance away in the north of Ariwa, the original name of St. Ignatius Village. One day at mass at Yupukari, the priest said to them that two priests will be coming from Georgetown to visit the people in Ariwa so they must prepare to meet them there. The people met the priests when they arrived, and the pastors asked them if they would like to have a resident priest, and they said ‘yes’. After the agreement the priests and the people built the church at Ariwa, then afterwards the people stopped going to the church at Yupukari and went to the newly built and close-by one at Ariwa. Then after that the church at Ariwa attracted more people to live close by in the area, where afterwards a school was also setup. So like that the village was established and the first toushou Alfred Bruno, was elected where he worked along with the priest and the new members who arrived from the surrounding areas, to form the new village.”

Such oral history coincides with the following from the Catholic Church’s history in the Rupununi: the history of the Catholic Church in St. Ignatius began in 1909, when Bishop Galton SJ, and Fr Cuthbert Cary-Elwes SJ, came here to establish a mission to the Amerindians of the Runpununi. The spot which was chosen for such was Ariwa (a Macushi word which is a name of a particular fish), which was the original name of the Village located on the right back of the Takatu River just on the Brazilian border. There the missionaries established a base and dedicated it to the founder of the Jesuits and became known as St. Ignatius mission, a title it still retains today.

From such history the Amerindian Community, a Macushi village got its new name St Ignatius, established by the Catholic Church, thus making it a more or less Catholic Christian one. However, at present the community also has other Christian Churches and other Amerindian groups coming from other villages and elsewhere to settle there, thus making it a mixed Indigenous Community.

St.Ignatius Village is located about 5 minutes from Lethem the administrative center of region nine (9) and has approximately 600 residents. The Village has two satellite villages which falls under its supervision, they are Quari and Kumu, located about 3-to 4 miles in distance from St.Ignatius. In the community, there is the Catholic Church, the Nursery, Primary and Secondary Schools, all named after the village`s new name St. Ignatius. Apart from these institutions there is the village counsel's office located opposite the main Benab in the center of the village. The village is a peaceful place with friendly and kind people,and because it is located on the border with Brazil, one can hear Portuguese also being spoken there.

In St. Ignatius there a Cashew nut factory located towards the secondary school, and also a satellite weather station found on the  campus of RC church, located on the right bank of the Takatu river.

Reference: Oral version from elders in the village The Rupununi Mission