The Maroons Of Suriname: A Journey To Find Africans Living Deep In The South American Forest

[Music] you said anytime you hear about Africa what what what do you hear well negative mostly they so negative thing of Africa at the TV at the world news but the the the the good thing of Africa you guys don't we don't see it if you want to see it you must go to YouTube and Google it or what then you will see how Africa is rising mhm Ghana is a is a rising country Kenya Nigeria South Africa most countries of Africa are very positive now and that and that is why it's very important for Africans to start telling their own stories so that um Africans at the other side of the world can also get to see Africa yes we need to connect the dots yeah and I believe in the the young ones that they will accomplish that because and uh I don't believe that the white man can do more than than a black man we are just human exactly the one the opportunity the other one next not like here inam when I uh say something people don't tend to believe it yet but but the white man say something they believe can't believe I'm here good morning it's 5:00 a.m. in Surinam and we are awake and strong we awake at this time because we are embarking on a journey I call it the spiritual journey a journey of Bridging the Gap a journey of connecting to our own people a journey of getting to meet our people that found themselves in the new world and if you're excited to come along with us on this journey why not just like this video now please like it and if you're new here do me a favor and subscribe to this YouTube channel I feel like this is very fulfilling the car is ready we are about to hit the road to go find our people they live in the interior that's how they call it but another way I'll say the Inland so I don't want to talk too much because I don't know how long it's going to take us to get there but we're going to come along with you guys so yeah let's just uh go together this is the car we're using and this trip is actually more expensive than I because our people live far away but anyway we got to do it for you because we need to let you know that you got your fellow Africans living in South America and we are here in Surinam to bridge the gap and nothing will stop [Music] that so this is our first stop we here to pick uh we met oh okay we met him yesterday are you the chef yes how are you I'm good um how how do you say hello we waking up we waking [Applause] up I'm so lost Hi how are you man I'm fine my name is liel LEL l l yes not messy but we call him cheffy beffy means small beard the beard of uh good you will be your guide oh you'll be our guide for today for the whole trip the whole trip from today until Sunday Sunday yes okay he put you back in at your accommodation all right yeah thank you hi hi Mommy Millie ah nice to see you nice to see you so welcome to suland thank you wow this is my mom and and all um the traditional dishes I will be making I learned from her and she learned from her grandmother and we are going now to the place where her grandmother lived oh wow yes so you are Maroon yes yes who who are The Maroons so the Maroons are an um enslaved people from Africa who ran away from the plantations and created their own Community into in the interior of suram so when they brought the Africans in surama there was there was a few of them in between who said I will look for my freedom I will try to escape and see if there is life out of this because the life they had in the plantation was a light of Life of life or death so they they knew sure for sure that if they stayed at the plantation one day they will die or maybe they will be treed or you never know yeah so they took the CH and ran away from the plantations and they didn't took a bus or a boat or something they just went into the [Music] jungle so we are representing the maroon traditional dishes here in town that's amazing I I can't wait to try all the maroon dishes you can wa we had we have one there but that's uh oh my goodness like you guys have this this one uh saour sa oh my God put the fruits in here are so huge the water they can be oh my goodness no look at that like this is Africa [Music] man good morning did you sleep well very well is that your dad yeah me my oh hi my is Maya say Maya that that's my name Maya Maya yeah from Ghana you're from Ghana yeah okay if you didn't see it I wouldn't know just like us that's a good one definitely I didn't understand what uh is this trip about that that the trip is all about coming in here to connect our people you know just like you said if I didn't speak you wouldn't know that I'm from Ghana so but you're from an organization no just a young man who decided to travel to see and meet my people that's [Music] it you know we have a lot of ethnic groups here we have people from India uh from Indonesia and they tend to look back from where their ancestor came from but we from the the African uh slave we don't have the how you say the the same feeling like all the people from India and have looking back for for us yes look uh need the information and how about in uh Africa where my ancestor came from we we don't have that that connection that connection have you have you ever been to Africa no no no is that as one of the thing we travel to Europe not to Africa Africa now I'm going to change that since I'm here we also don't have uh direct flight flight yeah that's maybe one of the challenges sure yeah and and people like them don't need a visa to come to us or US coming to suram we shouldn't have to apply for Visa it should be direct you know for us to connect to I mean I'm going to make that dream come true no but that's that's the goal because there a lot of uh things going on you know one of the thing is that uh our forefathers were tricked and and sold to the white man bring it so there there is a an an issue there that needs to be solve is before yeah yeah no I understand our history was not written by exactly it was written by the white man so they give us their version and that's not always the good version the right version but we need we need to work on that yeah you know uh one of the things that we don't have is the the organizations to help the the black people uh uh decides and uh coming together but helping devel helping develop the the black people you know I know in in uh uh America there are a lot of organizations but it's not known here so I think and and we keep believing that we black people we we cannot accomplish big things and that's not true it's a matter of [Music] time so I I just spoke to your dad and he's telling me that Africa uh people from surnam will go to Europe rather than going to Africa yeah yes but then I I just want to find out like even countries around which are also black countries do you guys visit those countries though yeah so you know next to the mindset of of one thing to go on um to other black countries it's also the logistics about it because even like suram is in South America it's even hard to travel in South America because you cannot travel visa free it's not that easy it's a bit more expensive and and also an um uh you cannot just go to the border for example you know it's not that easy so all those things hold you back from from doing that type of traveling it's not just it's not just the way we think or the way we uh we've been brought up or the the system but it's also just do you have to apply for visa to go to like let's say Guyana for Guyana no because of the kcom but if you want to go to other Latin American other South American countries because we are part of the Caribbean Community but are in South America so sangayana they have the Caribbean community so we can easily travel with the two countries but to the other countries in South America not that easy I I I I checked something and it's crazy I don't know if it's exactly the same in here um my ticket that I wanted to buy from here to Jamaica is costing me $700 per person the ticket to go to the Caribbean is as expensive as go flying to New York [Music] in Africa yeah traveling from Ghana to Togo which is shares a border with Ghana is more expensive than me traveling from Ghana to Amsterdam wow why all different continent and it's even more expensive than neighboring exactly so so that's another thing that's actually holding us back to connect to experience each other to understand each other more and to eventually unify as well I guess that that is intentional H it makes sense now because if you guys Logistics is difficult and it's also difficult for Africans then they're just preventing us from uniting I've met people and and they ask me where are you from it's like I'm from suram where's that it's in South America they like what I've traveled all over South America I've never heard of the country seen the country I'm like it's right there on the map so you are really helping us for not just people from Africa not just Africans but the rest of the world to realize that we exist who we are cuz a lot of people don't know s yes we have a small population but we're very um diverse and something else that's very important for the world next to you know culture and stuff we are the greenest country in the world we don't have to skip breakfast oh wow so let's have breakfast yeah the moment that you know that you made it to life is when you travel with a personal chef man W traditional personal chef a traditional personal chef from surama okay okay for breakfast um we will have um coconut Papa huh coconut porridge coconut yes coconut porridge our language we call it coconut a papa papa what is that language some language so coconut papa is made out of um coconut and rice not much but you can taste it yourself and let us know what you think about it coconuts and rice yes and it is vegetarian no um meat stuff in it a snake I'll try to catch it no no no no no no no no no yes he just step out just because he's so snake and he wants to catch it how why you guys live with [Music] snakes me I'm afraid of [Music] snakes so we stopped by at brokopondo and um whenever you see me in places like that I just want to take photos you know for people to know that I was also [Music] here and all of those stuff what I will give you is from like the surinamese people to you wow and um it's handmade so we don't use machines here we took maybe 2 3 months to fix this what yes and uh if you're slow like me you will take a year so we will put this one here um we will take that off this one yeah let me do it the right way the correct way this is called the banako boto yes okay if you translate it it's like um to keep you warm okay yes so you put one hand here and the one goes no no no no no just like this oh yeah we have this and then we tie it here I hope I do it the correct way cuz uh okay when you have a wife one side uh stay open and then you don't have a wife once St like uh closed so when you're going to the Village People will look at you oh is it open that means he don't have a wife and you have a wife so we are protecting you no please don't protect me we are protecting you my friend I didn't ask you to protect me then uh we have this uh that's the upper part and we also have a kamissa uh do you want to wear the kamissa right away or you want maybe maybe when I'm going to the Village yes tomorrow morning when they're going to visit the the then you can put but you can take a look at it my people and this is the way we are showing love to people who visit [Music] us the love in suram has been amazing like I like I said I feel so emotional whenever I see my people showing me this kind of love that I I never expected from the airport to my room to where we are right now you know it makes me feel like I canot give up on what I do you know um never give up because this is a journey that I'm on and I can't believe that all these people are coming along with me on this journey see this our own people I think I need to give her a hug on behalf of all Africans watching me can can I can I just sure I do that's what we say when we H really I do and we say at to believe it oh my God what are you kidding me you say I do means like the the hul is connecting oh my goodness that's true no you see that this is a part of Ghana right exactly we say IU and they say Ad do yes oh my God I think the ghanian people copy it from us I think so you know most of most of our our language we we make the sounds so like um let's say somebody slapped you you know if you want to if you want to express it how you say we add the sounds to it and do it like you know like like the slap you know it sounds like like I people say can't go oh okay just like just like that so it all depends on how you express it you just have to add a sound to it that's it's the same here the same here like running and jumping in the [Laughter] water you don't it right no we we said the same thing okay and that's why uh you are at the right place right now cuz we will show you a lot more this is a start from um brondo we are going to the area of uh uh maroon people let's say that start from brondo we are going back to the interior and uh our people Liv around here to did you just say gidy I I I think we should just go we say gidy gidy so your mom will tell youy fast like don't be too fast or don't don't don't don't be in a haste just chill that's we just but G is like you fast and all Yes [Music] Man as we continue the journey we stop by at another Village that feels so much like home like everything in here feels like home I I think I can live here for the rest of my life because you know we have this we eat it in Ghana how do you guys call this here span you eat this we have the okro see everything you know it's more like a backyard kind of farming that we do most of times in our various homes in Africa and it's exciting to see that it's exactly the same thing in here because you see they say you can take an African Out of Africa but you cannot take the African in him out of him that's sugar cane backyard this is see the same tap if I if I had my way I would have just take this off and put it on me that's what you're doing that's what you do here yeah oh my god oh look at that just look at that she's doing the same thing she's sharing out there a few minutes later H you know it's it's so hot out here that even the the water is hot you feel at home like I feel like I'm home I will we will look for a house a house for you somewhere please build the house for me I don't want to go back I found myself somewhere and I'm seeing so many similarities in terms of things that we do in GH let me use Ghana I don't know if in your country in Africa they do the same thing but I'm talking as someone coming from GH and I cannot see this water right here and just let it go like am I going to pay for the water I feel like they going to ask me where's your money have you guys been to Africa Before Me Maybe you can bring me no I will take you to Africa if you want me to you yeah I want what I'm trying to do if they've been to Africa they would definitely understand what I'm doing more because I I am from Africa and I'm here Africa on your page so we don't about Africa no it's it's different it feels because it's like I oh my goodness like afri I feel like I'm in Africa you guys brought Africa with you guys you feel like you in Africa now no yeah yeah yeah okay okay it's good afri the F of Africa here Africa's Best Kept sick s we finally made it to aoni which is the last stop of the bass it means that there is no Road from a CH to our final destination so in order for us to get there we have to be on a boat and I couldn't believe that even here I got people that watch us my YouTube channel every time I go on YouTube I look for the you know when I start to look at you when you was in China you you talk you speak Chinese yeah I say to myself one time man I'm going to Lear Chinese you know what I do when I come back inam I I'm from me I live okay now I have 20 hect of of I I going to start my own chicken just to look at you you talk do that do that do that really I can't believe I see you know my brother I have to make a picture oh my goodness I see your face I say hey what wow hey I'm happy to see you my brother thank you you see I see the I see I know this D this one of oh my goodness every time when I go to YouTube man I look at you I sell for my father and my brother wow and it's good that we're meeting in your country I am so are you are you going to take the boat I'm going to take the boat with my nephew going to take one of the boat so we just going to we buying a fish and I will see you soon okay my brother thank you I have to see [Music] you there's a lot of um I don't even want to use the word similarities but I want to the word they say because this is exactly what we sell this is cocoyam right yeah what animal is that are very the port is so busy I I really don't know what happens over there but I'm seeing so many people in here about to take the boat um hi how are you I'm good you yesterday yeah yeah yeah oh yeah I made a punch for you the melon exactly the melon yeah and what are you doing here I'm I'm going to the Village going to visit for a few days but why so many people is that a huge village right there well it's yeah this is the interior so there are a lot of villages ah this what you see is it's nothing there are certain times of the year where it's very p with boots a lot of people come in and going woo how long will it take you to get to your village uh with a boat right approximately maybe 2 hours oh my goodness but uh if you look at the water level might maybe maybe take even longer cuz so certain points maybe we'll have to get out of the boat and and walk by yeah or we can go any further oh okay all [Music] right he saying at certain days it's even more packed and um yeah I hope it doesn't take us 2 hours though to the boat I forgot to buy something she's always forgetting to buy something I think she's always forgetting to buy something the journey to the Maron Village just got interested we started on land and now we are on water and apparently it's going to take us roughly 2 to 3 hours to get to our final destination yeah so have along and uh let's go [Music] I want to just tell you guys something man I mean getting to travel learn new things discover experience things that I don't get a chance to experience I mean who would have thought that a day would come I Cruis it on top of uh the Surinam River these are the things that I don't really take for granted and along the stretch are different Villages so imagine if the village that we going were just somewhere here would have been out of this boat by now but I don't know why there so many rocks wo because the water is low then you see all the Rocks when the water is high you don't see PL EMP rocks okay all of this will be hidden all but the boatsman know all those rocks so they know where to find the boat wow that's a huge rock out there look at that so I think we have to get down from the boat at this moment yes to walk yes we walk through the Sula and then the boat will take us on the other side why cuz the water is very low and the boat needs to be light um so that they can pass through the when we have a lot of people it will be very heavy so they will get stop um we get out of the boat again for the second time and then we're going to pass through huh this way that's a jungle man be careful for the Lions the lions in the jungle it gives me a Vibe of going to the farm with my parent you know the same way just walking in the forest till you get to your farm in the jungle the mighty jungle the lion sleeps tonight wo In the Jungle the J liep [Applause] [Music] tonight okay it seems all of us in the Jun does have a good voice [Music] man typic this is how a typical Farm in Ghana looks like I mean if you have Farms if you're born in the village is exactly the same way we cut down the trees we then bend the trees before we start planting it's exactly the same way man when I saw it I'm like it's a new farm and they said yeah all of a sudden started raining so yeah I just have to sit in the red my [Music] [Music] goodness life Isam we can't wait to dance the you know you know what that that means means that the whole place belongs to me yeah this guy exactly how that happen so give me the dance give me the dance how do you call this just jump to the Rocks man so we have to hey hey don't leave me hey why you leaving me no okay 1 2 three pick me up pick you like just like hold hold hey hey the pressure is too much the pressure is getting wet no not no you're not done yet ah I'm done let's go you know I'm the best Olympic swimmer but you know that my feet does not touch water so strange experience for me scary been on the water for the past 5 hours and we are still not there and I'm asking them when are we going to arrive they're like 1 hour more please I just want to be on land I just want to be on land man it doesn't seems like it's ending anytime soon look at that it's not ending [Music] anytime this is a crazy rapid so we got stack at some point we had to just step out to make sure that everything is okay look look at that just look at that like we we got a a tread right there people are pulling make sure that we get out of here it's crazy it's getting dark and we're still on the boat it's been more than 6 hours already oh my goodness we made it and as you can see you can't even see me right it means we arrived late in the evening it's almost 7:00 and we made it to our final destination so I don't know if you guys can see they pking our bikes we stuck at the moment because um right behind me there's water so we can't cross because the boats cannot come in here and um the tour guide is trying to find the exact place that we're supposed to pass and he's struggling to find it so we just on top of rocks we don't know where exactly waiting for a miracle to happen this is crazy I don't know if you guys can see that's the village right there just right behind me but in here there's water and we are standing on one of the rocks behind the water so we just need to figure it out how to cross oh God what is anyone with a spirit of Moses oh wow they're Crossing just like that dude let me go for my bag and also carry Andross the water just like that man [Music] jesz

Channel: WODE MAYA

Views: 209,043

Keywords: black people, french guiana, people of suriname, south america travel, mixed race, maroons of, maroons of suriname, maroons of jamaica, maroons of dominica, the maroons of america, history of maroons, african in suriname, living in suriname, jamaican living in suriname, living in suriname expat, maroon culture, the guianas, wode maya, wode maya suriname

Id: dyJ7X1GYpVo

Length: 35min 8sec (2108 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 20 2023