300 years ago, a young woman from West Africa liberated herself from a dreadful plantation in Suriname. Ma Paanza – with feathers of rice braided into her hair – and her husband, Adyako, fled into the rainforest.

Throughout centuries of colonization, capitalization, armed conflict, and government neglect, generations of Maroon women have safekept and cultivated Ma Paanza’s aleisi (rice in the Samaaka language).

Now, with limited-but-meaningful support of the Surinamese rice research institute, Albertina Adyako is on a quest to preserve these rare seeds and Ma Paanza’s legacy for eternity.