Pelelu Tepu

Around 1965, the Dutch colonial government and the American 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 took revenge, and even though nobody was killed, most of the population fled to Brazil where many remain. 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. For this project, two women from Tepu completed a six-month training program as solar engineer at Barefoot College in Tilonia, India. == Notes ==