I was born and raised in the interior of Suriname, the rural area where the Maroons*1 and Suriname’s indigenous people live in village communities. There, people reach out to each other and work together on their farmland and other daily activities. As a child, I would go around in our village Diitabiki selling farm products and açai juice for my parents in the afternoon and on weekends. When I was 9 years old, my parents decided to settle in Suriname’s coastal plain for my older
brothers’ education. We eventually migrated to Paramaribo, the city, for good. It was a huge sacrifice considering the security, the relationships, and everything else we had to leave behind for the children’s future. That is why I have always tried to do my best to develop myself to not disappoint my parents.
The subject of sustainable education is of paramount importance for our society. In rural areas, people still lack access to education, jobs, medical care, and other opportunities. This forces them to leave their communities to build a new dignified existence in the city, which creates other problems, such as job shortages in Paramaribo. And in some cases, even where there is work, people are not paid based on the work done. In other cases, people get lost and end up in various malicious activities or start their own hustle in the informal sector.*2 This is why I started studying sociology at university. As a sociologist, I can study our inequalities and other social phenomena to help find policies that work for society.
My dream has always been to serve in Surinamese politics because when I was still young in the coastal area, I noticed that when the president said something would happen, it happened. I was inspired and also wanted to help determine which direction we are going and which priorities we set. How should we invest our resources to meet our goals as a country? Education can be made available in such a way that children can still grow up in their trusted community while dreaming about the development of that area and the rest of the world.
I am now in the National Assembly of Suriname, mainly representing the areas of tribal and indigenous communities. As a parliament member, I can voice the problems that people in the hinterland face at the national level and help them find the best solutions. My dream is to build an informed and inclusive democratic world. A society where people can access sustainable education and are given the space to bring out their maximum potential to be of service.
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