COFONA President, Dr. Lewis (Left) oversees the planting of the first tree as Councilor Winnie Haywood (right) look on.
As Emancipation Day 2013 gets nearer, the Council of Friends of New Amsterdam (COFONA) kicked off its first activity for the 250th anniversary celebrations by commencing its initiative to plant 250 trees around the town of New Amsterdam.
Last Friday, the first 20 trees were planted by youths of the New Amsterdam Drum Corps. The Deputy Mayor, Town Clerk, Councilors and members of COFONA were also involved in the exercise. The ceremonious planting took place in the Esplanade Recreation Gardens. Christmas ferns, fruit trees as well as almond nut trees were planted.
Two trees were planted in honour of two literary stalwarts of New Amsterdam, Edgar Mittelholzer and Sir Wilson Harris.
COFONA has a list of activities ranging from panel discussions, seminars, workshops to other interesting events that are kicking off on July 28 and ending two weeks later. The aim is to commemorate the 250th Anniversary of the Berbice Slave Uprising as well as the 175th Anniversary of the Emancipation of Slaves. It is to be the largest planned set of activities Berbice has ever known.
President of COFONA, Dr. Leonard Lewis, stated that the tree-planting exercise symbolizes “the number of years between 1763 and 2013, and so we will be planting one tree for each year.”
“250 years ago, the slaves in Canje and in the Berbice River revolted and that is what led us to today when we are free. We asked the youths to take part in this activity because we would like them to understand the significant part they have played in the past and roles they can play in the future.”
Dr. Lewis charged the young men with the responsibility to not only plant the tree but to maintain the trees and to care for them while they grow.
“The 250 persons who plant these trees in the town—we’d like to be on record for posterity. Those who come after us would know who planted those trees and the impact they had on our community.”
Deputy- Mayor of the town, Harold Dabydeen paid special tribute to Mittelholzer and Sir Wilson Harris. He said, “As we witness this tree-planting exercise, we know that its purpose represents 250 years of the Berbice Uprising and 175 years of emancipation and I urge OCFONA that records must be preserved.”
Both Harris and Mittleholzer, he stated, left “the most extraordinary mark on world literature in the individual acclaimed novels, essays, poetry and short stories.” Mittelholzer wrote Guyana’s first novel, ‘The Corentyne Thunder’. “Sad to say, he took his own life on May 5, 1965.”
Sir Wilson Harris, he stated, was born during the time of British Guiana and he did not begin his career as a writer. “He became a government scientist and surveyor. He mapped the rivers, islands and water tables of the Coastal Plains and journeyed up river into the interior becoming familiar with the forests, mountains and rapids that had been the homes of Amerindian peoples for generations and saw the forces of nature….”
His first novel, ‘The Palace of the Peacock’, “ was the journey into the heart of the interior of Guiana.” The Deputy- Mayor added, too, that Sir Wilson’s literary work ‘Jonestown’ chronicled the infamous massacre, “and he converted an investigation of the roots of evil and power within the human personality, the mysterious possibilities of redemption…”
Sir Wilson Harris is 92 today and still has vivid memories of New Amsterdam. He resides in England.
(Leon Suseran)