Transmigration village located on one side of the Suriname River, in the district of Brokopondo. It was founded in 1964 when the Afobaka Dam was built, and Lombé was flooded by the Brokopondo Reservoir (Brokopondostuwmeer). Its inhabitants, the Saramaccans (one of the largest groups of Maroon peoples living in the interior of Suriname), were forced to flee Lombé, and many relocated to Jaw-Jaw. Alex van Stipriaan notes that “around 5,000 to 6,000 people, who had not been given a vote in the matter, were displaced.” ¹⁾ According to Simon Lobach, “A common observation is that many of the Maroons who were helping to build the dam never themselves believed that it would actually cause their lands to flood,” ²⁾ and Stipriaan points out that “there were few economic opportunities in the transmigration villages.” ³⁾ Moreover, the dam, which was built to provide power for “aluminum production,” did not benefit the Maroons because “the transmigration villages themselves had not been connected to the grid.” ⁴⁾ Nieuw Lombe can be accessed by ferry or boat, since a bridge has not been built in this village.

The story follows Awanga, an old widower who was forced to leave Lombe and now lives in Afobaka, in a hut on a hill that oversees the dam. One day he takes a boat to sail the reservoir and see the Kankan tree above the water’s surface, where he believes spirits (“his fathers”) still live. Singing a song for the water gods and saying a prayer for the village that laid at the bottom of the lake, he performs a kind of ritual with his ring and the Kankan tree to finally hug it passionately and be possessed by the Kromanti (excerpted passage of the anthology). He then returns to his home with a sense of gratitude: “It’s a good thing to believe in your fathers, it is a very good thing. (…) What can I say? God of my river, you have led me safely, thank you for this. Moon, your wife, your children, thank you for the light”. Read the full short story.

Awanga, the old man in the poem, uses a ritual to connect to both his father and the divinities. This ritual is based around a magic ring, which Awanga only takes off when necessary, showing its importance. He creates a mixture with water, alcohol, and “pembadoti” (small balls of white clay) to dip the ring into “so that the power of the contents could be absorbed” (306). Pembadoti, which is also referred to as pemba or pimba, is known for its spiritual practices in Suriname, where spirits are called upon to speak. The clay can be used to cleanse both people and artifacts.

After washing the ring, Awanga is then able to tie it to his finger and ask questions to the divinities. The response he gets depends on the question he asks. When he first asks about whether he will be forgiven, seemingly for being absent during the transmigration, the ring remains motionless, indicating a lack of response. However, when he asks if his father and the gods will speak to him, the ring starts to swing back and forth, representing that the question has been acknowledged.

• Maroons – “were slaves who in colonial times fled the plantations to set up settlements deep in the jungle” ⁵⁾
• Obiaman – “a functionary in the Winti religious system who is prone to possession by the obia winti (a god from the Winti pantheon), whereupon he may give patients suffering from mysterious maladies directions as to the cure to be followed for their recovery” ⁶⁾
• Obia – It is possible that the term obia is a different spelling of “obyas [forest spirits]” ⁷⁾
• Kromanti – “winti of war (and death) bearing West African names)” ⁸⁾
• Kankan – This term is most likely another name for “The kankantri or wild kapok tree (Ceiba pentandra L. Gaertn., fam. Bombacaceae) [which] is probably the tallest tree of the Surinam forest. It is regarded as sacred by the Creoles and Bush Negroes” ⁹⁾
• Corial - “A round-bottomed canoe with pointed ends, made from a hollowed-out tree trunk, and used in Guyana, Suriname, Trinidad, and Venezuela” OED