Pelelu Tepu is an Amerindian village in the hinterland of Suriname. Also known as "Pe'reru Tepu", the village is typically referred to simply as "Tepu," which mean "high" in the Indian

Tiriyó language Tiriyó is the Cariban language used in everyday life by the Tiriyó people, the majority of whom are monolingual. Although Tiriyó is the preferred spelling, the Tiriyó refer to themselves as ''tarëno''; other variations, including ''tarano'' ...

. The village is located on Tepu hill, on the

Tapanahoni River The Tapanahony River (sometimes called Tapanahoni) is a major river in the south eastern part of Suriname, South America. The river originates in the Southern part of the Eilerts de Haan Mountains, near the border with Brazil. It joins the Marowijn ...

. Though inhabited by Amerindian tribes indigenous to the area, the village was founded by Christian missionaries and (primarily) Tiriyó Indians, although it now also includes small numbers of

Wayana The Wayana (alternate names: Ajana, Uaiana, Alucuyana, Guaque, Ojana, Oyana, Orcocoyana, Pirixi, Urukuena, Waiano etc.) are a Carib-speaking people located in the southeastern part of the Guiana highlands, a region divided between Brazil, Suri ...

and Akuriyo Indians. The village has a tribal organization, led by a Trio Captain. Pelelu Tepu has a school, and electricity, however there is often no fuel to run the diesel generators. Pelelu Tepu is home to a

Medische Zending Medische Zending Primary Health Care Suriname, commonly known as Medische Zending (Dutch for "medical mission") or MZ is a Surinamese charitable organization offering primary healthcare to remote villages in the interior of Suriname. History The ...

healthcare centre.

History

Around 1965, the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

colonial government and the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

missionaries constructed the village. The village had a school, a church, and a medical clinic. The higher standard of living attracted many Amerindians who settled in Tëpu. In 1986 the Surinamese Interior War started. At first the Amerindians remained neutral, but later the captains agreed to a request by Desi Bouterse to receive weapons and militaries in order to train the Tëpu. In 1991, the

Jungle Commando The Jungle Commando (formally known as the Suriname National Liberation Army) was a guerrilla commando group in Suriname. It was founded by Ronnie Brunswijk in 1986 to ensure equal rights for Suriname's minority Maroon population. The group was fo ...

took revenge, and even though nobody was killed, most of the population fled to Brazil where many remain. In 1992, there was no indigenous population, and three people had died from starvation. The teachers refused to give up, and kept the school open.

Shaman Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spir ...

Tëmeta Wetaru wanted to preserve the history of Tiriyó, and to give the population an incentive to learn

. In 1981, he started to write and dictate Tamenta’s Testament. In 2001, a shaman apprentice school was founded in Tëpu to preserve indigenous medical knowledge.

Energy

Since April 2018, the village has been powered by solar power, through a project initiated by Amazon Conservation Team Suriname and funded by the Japan-Caribbean Climate Change Partnership (J-CCCP) and

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

. For this project, two women from Tepu completed a six-month training program as solar engineer at

Barefoot College Barefoot College, previously known as the Social Work and Research Centre ("SWRC") is a voluntary organisation working in the fields of education, skill development, health, drinking water, women empowerment and electrification through solar po ...

in Tilonia,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Notes

References

* {{coord, 3, 9, 35, N, 55, 43, 6, W, display=title, type:city Indigenous villages in Suriname Populated places in Sipaliwini District