for Javed Omardeen by Tracy Assing

You may not know this but there are people of the forest here in Trinidad. I’m not talking about the casual hikers or the weekend warriors. I am talking about people who walk the forest night or day, with and without shoes, their landmarks are rivers and they know the names of each one. They make the rivers alive even when the river bed is dry. We know who we are and the forest knows us and some of you know us too.

Javed was one of us. What unites us is the love for the land and the recognition that we are one.

His passing has been a sharp arrow indeed. A most painful shattering of a dream of paradise. Felt deep in the forest.

Brasso Seco is very important to our family and the indigenous community as a gateway to the forest and as a border; one of the last stands for our original way of life.

It is not the first time a tragedy so dark has come there either. A few years ago violence took the life of one of my young cousins. A baby. I had not even had the pleasure of meeting her yet before her life was taken away.

I want to say that capitalism has had a huge role to play in both situations and the escalating devaluation of life, family life and of the life that sustains us. Without each other we are lost. Some walk the trails and never notice the impact of their own footsteps.

With the rich bounty of nature at their doorstep, what could they want? I have heard some say. How many hiking groups pass through the village during the weekends? How do they support these end of the road communities but for buying drinks and snacks at the bar? What are the opportunities for young people out there anyway? What’s the state of the road or their transportation options? How easy is it for someone to even buy a car out of what they might earn in the village? In case you did want to become a cocoa farmer… how easy is it to get your crop out anyway? What are they dreaming about?

Well, once the quality of life depended on good weather, how comfortable your hammock was and your belly being full. 

The world is changing around us so quickly. How do we support each others dreams while giving each other room to grow?

I think we are many steps forward if we even pause to ask ourselves this question. And then take action. The answers are with you and in front of you.

May his life spark a light that shines for the illumination of all who witness it.

So spring rose in his footsteps

He is there in the forest

In the breeze rushing through the bamboo patch

In the quiet between bellbird calls

In the bubbling rivers that flow out into the sea

Endlessly