Earlier today the Benab (officially called the Umana Yana) one of Guyana’s historic buildings was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin.
The Umana Yana whose name is derived from a Wai-Wai word meaning Meeting Place of the People, was built August 1972 as one of the venues for the Non-Aligned Foreign Ministers Conference held in Georgetown, Guyana that same year. It is located at the northernmost end of Main Street just south of The Pegasus Hotel and is used as a conference and exhibition center.
The structure stood 55 feet tall and was approximately 5000 square feet, making it one of the largest structures of its kind in Guyana. It was constructed from thatched allibanna and manicole palm leaves, with wallaba posts lashed together with mukru, turu and nibbi vines.
The construction team consisted of a group of Wai-Wai Amerindians, one of the indigenous tribes of Guyana who were commissioned by the government to build the monument honoring the first peoples of Guyana.
On August 26, 1974, on the grounds of the Umana Yana then President Forbes Burnham unveiled the African Liberation Monument “in memory of all of those who have struggled and continue to struggle for freedom from Human Bondage”. The monument consists of five polished Greenheart logs encased in a jasper stand on a granite boulder. At this time it is unclear whether or not this monument was damaged in the fire.
