"The Beating Heart"

I wrote this before I left, but didn't get to post it. More to come!

          As a young kid, I had a wardrobe in my room. I like to think it belonged to me, but in actuality I was the smallest person in the house, taking up the least space, so my room and closet often became other family members’ rooms and closets. At the age of about 6 or 7 I have very clear memories of climbing into it and sitting for minutes in the darkness pretending to be transported to other places. Obviously, I wasn’t very creative seeing as this is the plot to C.S. Lewis’ the The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I remember watching an old animated version of that story when I was little, which gave me the idea to travel to magical lands through the use of the previously insignificant wardrobe in my room. The point of this vignette could be to again declare my weirdness to the world, or maybe it could serve as a warm reminder to a natural human curiosity in far-away places and a sense of adventure that we all may have had as kids. Maybe it’s both.

            In reading about Suriname, the first thing to jump out at me through random website searching was Suriname sometimes being referred to as “The Beating Heart of the Amazon.” Wow. Hearing that made me want to climb into the wardrobe (now located in the garage) and wish myself away to Suriname. It sparked that childlike sense of curiosity and wonder of far-away places. It was also a swift reminder to myself that I really had no knowledge of the country. Here are some general facts about The Beating Heart . . .

            Suriname is a small country on the northern coast of South America in between French Guiana and Guyana, with Brazil below it. Being that it was not free from Dutch rule until 1975, the official language is Dutch. The country has a population of more than half a million, a majority living along the coast compared to the sparsely populated rainforests of the interior. Its beautiful diverse forests only pale to the diversity of its people. Here is an excerpt from a popular travel site that listed Suriname in its top ten places to travel to . . .

“South America’s smallest country, both in area and population, is easily one of its most diverse. Some three quarters of Suriname’s people are descended from Chinese, Javanese and Indian laborers that arrived in the 18th century, and West African slaves in the 17th. Add indigenous Amerindians and Lebanese, Jewish and Dutch settlers, and you have the makings for a lot of ethnic tension, right? Fortunately, wrong. Suriname is known for its peacefully coexisting cultures, most emblematically represented by the country’s biggest mosque and synagogue situated side by side in the capital Paramaribo.”

Mosque and Temple