Rooi Santu
Rooi Santu lies north-east of Jan Thiel, east of Zuurzak, south of Scherpenheuvel and south-west of the neighbourhoods Hanenberg and Montaña Abou. These neighbourhoods do appear on the Werbata map of 1911, unlike Rooi Santu, which is thus a fairly young bario.
It developed as a result of the harbour activities and bunker facilities that the oil refinery had built in 1927 at the Caracas Bay. These were for tankers loaded with fuel oil and other heavy oil products, cargo ships and also larger passenger ships that could not moor in the harbour. The harbour workers at Caracas Bay chose to live nearby, and so around 1930 the neighbourhood Rooi Santu, among others, came into being.
The name Rooi Santu
Like the nearby neighbourhoods Korporaal and Scherpenheuvel, Rooi Santu also has a rolling landscape and therefore many watercourses (rooien) that flowed through the neighbourhood during heavy downpours. In the two largest rooien even small fish and crayfish were carried along, and fine clean sand.
Wilfrido Suares of Rooi Santu tells: "An important rooi ran from the Midden Seinpost (Middle Signal Post) towards the west. There was a large dam behind Bakkerij de Zon, and when it overflowed the water flowed on across the present Caracasbaaiweg — nowadays through pipes under the road — towards Zuurzak, ending at the salt pans of Jan Tiel.
Another important rooi began at the hill with the water tanks in the east of Rooi Santu, on the border with Hanenberg. It flowed southward, via Calabash, Flipi and Brakkeput Ariba, to the Spanish Water.
The remarkable thing about these rooien was that along the way they deposited very fine sand that could be used directly in building. This sand was dug up, among other places, at Flipi in the eastern part of the bario, and is the direct reason for the name 'Rooi Santu'," according to Suares.
Kurá di baka
The first inhabitants of Rooi Santu furthermore lived from farming and livestock keeping, consisting of cows, goats and sheep. For lack of fodder in dry times the leaf cactus, the infrou, was burnt and fed to cows. According to old custom the infrou was also said to stimulate the production of cow's milk. The number of cattle corrals for such a small bario as Rooi Santu was also striking: as many as 5: the kurá of the Suares and Margaretha families; at Ito's, east of Suares near Keke's bar; that of Mai, on the present parking lot of (and east of) Club de Legio; and one east of the Chinese shop and Bakkerij de Zon. In addition, the impressive Kurá di baka (cattle corral) at Brakkeput Ariba lay close to Rooi Santu.
Pos di Gobiernu
In the south of Rooi Santu, just behind the bakery on the Kaminda Chano Margaretha, stood a public well: the Pos di awa di gobièrnu (the government water well). When it rained for days, even the well went under water, with the danger that one could drown in it. It also happened that residents at this location literally had to swim out of their houses. According to tradition they screamed so loudly that even the brothers (fraters) of Skèrpènè could hear them.
The persistent rain destroyed part of the harvest, but thanks to the very fertile soil people sometimes also brought in an abundant harvest. A well-known kunukero who kept a hofje here and also sold vegetables and fruit was Rudy Melaan.
Cooking on stones
Around 1930 and even in 1960 it was the custom to cook on wood. The wood used to be gathered in the Dunki near Zuurzak and carried to Rooi Santu on the head. There cooking was done 'riba tres piedra' (on three stones) arranged in a circle, in which a little wood fire was lit for the pot of food.
The wood was also sold in the city, as were home-grown vegetables and fruit such as medlars, guavas and pomegranates. The distance was always covered on foot.
Chano Margaretha
The main road in Rooi Santu is named after the late Modesto "Chano" Margaretha, born and raised in the neighbourhood and the first parliamentarian to speak Papiamento in the Staten (Parliament).
Chano was a carpenter and fine fitter and worked through contractors at the oil refineries on Curaçao and Aruba. He pleaded for these workers to receive an old-age pension and joined the Democratic Party (DP) because this was one of its action points.
Chano's daughter Yvette tells that her father encouraged his supporters to listen to his speeches in parliament. "That was difficult, since only Dutch was allowed to be spoken there. And so Chano decided, against the rules of the time, to give his speech in Papiamento. And despite a reprimand from the chairman he kept speaking in the national language," according to Yvette Margaretha.
Chano also had a strong entrepreneurial spirit and opened a supermarket, a bakery and other businesses in nearby Montaña.
Club de Legio
On 6 September 1953, young people from the bario founded the recreation centre Club de Legio, where dance parties and other social activities were organised. Chano Margaretha and his good friend the late Jose María (Djó) Luisa supported this initiative by building a large wooden dance floor at Luisa's house.
Later a concrete building on the family's plot replaced this wooden, covered dance floor. Members wore black and white clothing, and on certain occasions groups of women wore a particular colour, so that at a given number only ladies in green were on the dance floor, after which the ladies in red had their turn.
For some ten years the society has been given new life by, among others, the late Djó Luisa Jr, with members paying a monthly contribution and having free entrance to the clubhouse at parties and other activities.
Another social organisation is the neighbourhood association FARS (Fundashon Adelanto Rooi Santu), which mainly strives for solidarity and a healthy living environment in the neighbourhood. Its office, recreation room and sports fields are located on the Kaminda Chano Margaretha.
Ma Nènè
Chano Margaretha was the youngest son of Ma Nènè (1874–1976), a midwife who was always ready with good advice and parenting tips for her neighbours. As such she was regarded as Mama di Rooi Santu. She lived with her family at the foot of the Midden Seinpost and had 7 children herself. She was also a fish seller and walked with the fish basket on her head from Jan Tiel to Punda to sell her wares. She also sold fruit and had a little herb for every ailment.
Mina and Calabash
Very well known in Rooi Santu was the Tienda di Mina, a butcher's shop where other groceries were also sold. A little further, east of Mina, lies Hòfi Calabash, named after the oldest tree in the hofje. Besides the sale of cow's milk to, among others, the Shell employees at Caracas Bay and to ships, it was an important source of income for the Suares family. The adjoining Cas Grandi was mondi (bush) and pasture for their cows, goats and sheep, which roamed free there and in the evening came back neatly to the kurá in Rooi Santu.
The hofje of 3,000 square metres was originally 1 hectare in size but has now been partly parcelled out. A party centre is nowadays located in the hòfi, and there is still a monthly fresh-produce market where fruit and vegetables are sold in the shade of the big fruit trees.
Flipi
Still further, east of Calabash and bordering Brakkeput, lay the water-catchment area and plantation Flipi. It is named after Felipe or Philip, a former owner of the land, whose grave also stood on the terrain. Young people of the time who camped on the terrain tell that it was intensely haunted here at night.
At Flipi there once stood large fruit trees such as tamarind, medlar and sugar apple, and many cows, sheep and goats roamed here too. In heavy rainfall a little river with clear water arose here that kept flowing for months. And so clean sand was dug up here for house building.
The piece of land was sold by the government to Shell for a pipeline to the Caracas Bay. When the oil giant left, the terrain returned to the government's hands, and the Fundashon Kas Popular and the Algemene Pensioenfonds Nederlandse Antillen (General Pension Fund of the Netherlands Antilles) carried out a parcelling plan here. And the original name Flipi changed to Brakkeput Meimei.
Further on, in the bend east of Flipi and on the border with Cas Grandi, stood the Bar di Keke. It was also a restaurant that was very well known in the wide surroundings. At that location there is now, among other things, a small lottery office.
Flag signals
The most striking of the many hills in Rooi Santu is the Seru di Seinpost, also called Midden Seinpost or Signal Post of the Middle Division. It is 102.71 m high and owes its name to a military signal post that was built here. According to a report of the Archaeological Working Group the signal post was not on the top of the hill but built twenty centimetres lower on the northern slope. It was part of two military warning systems from the early 19th century, which, from east to west, always used the same hills. These included: Batterij Oostpunt, the Oost Seinpost at Fuik, Midden Seinpost at Rooi Santu, Post Nederland on the Seru Koraal Specht, Fort Nassau and finally the Waterfort and Fort Amsterdam in Willemstad.
The first warning system existed from about 1796 to 1826. Communication was by cannon shots and flag signals, which is why a large flagpole stood on the Midden Seinpost. Right next to it the ruin of a guardhouse still stands, consisting of a single little room, but of the historic signal post itself nothing remains.
Around 1830 a new system was introduced: the, for that time, very modern optical telegraph. This is a tall wooden mast with three crossbeams to which movable round discs were attached (see photo). The optical telegraph used fewer lookout posts than the first system, namely Oost Seinpost, Midden Seinpost, Fort Nassau and the Waterfort. The optical telegraph was still used up to the First World War and was definitively demolished in 1940 (see also the accompanying composite map).
Where suspicious vessels were once sighted, you now have a magnificent view of the Caracas Bay with the Spanish Water, Montaña (Abou), Santa Rosa, Scherpenheuvel, Zuurzak, Jan Tiel and Koraal Specht.
Protected monument
On an area of 1,000 square metres on the Midden Seinpost the foundation of the optical telegraph, ruins of military barracks and various other archaeological elements still stand. Because of the military and commercial purposes in the 19th century the location has a high cultural-historical value, and it is moreover a historic example of the very first long-distance communication systems. On these grounds both the Midden and the Oost Seinpost are now protected monuments. The Midden Seinpost is maintained by Uniek Curaçao.
Sources
- Buurtprofiel Rooi Santu and report of the Archeologische Werkgroep: De Midden Seinpost
With thanks to: the Suares family, Yvette Margaretha, the Archeologische Werkgroep, Frensel Mercelina, François van der Hoeven, Rignald Sitoris and Unidat di Bario.
