PIKI SEEI, Suriname (AP) — Standing atop a giant block of wood, 63-year-old Alingo Doekoe bent over and swung a traditional pick, skillfully chiseling away shards of timber. Bit by bit, a board for Adji-boto, a traditional Saamaka game with roots in West Africa, was taking shape.

Here in Piki Seei — the Saamaka name for the village officially known in Dutch as Pikin Slee — tembe, the Saamaka tradition of woodcarving and decorative art, has long been part of everyday life.

The Saamaka are one of six tribal peoples in Suriname whose ancestors escaped slavery during Dutch colonial rule, building independent communities in the country’s forested interior more than three centuries ago.

Mostly practiced by men and passed from fathers and elders to younger generations, tembe can be seen in everything from benches, paddles and boats to combs, doors and the wooden houses that line communities along the river.…