The village lies on the banks of the Lawa River, which forms the border with French Guiana.

The village is also known by the name Anapaikë, which is the name of the late granman of the Wayana in Suriname, who died end july 2002.

[2] Kawemhakan was founded in 1958, primarily by people who lived in the village of the local chief Janomalë, which was situated further upstream the Lawa River.

The locally-based Mulokot Foundation under Jupta Itoewaki organised supply flights from other parts of Suriname instead.

[5] This school closed its doors at the start of the Surinamese Interior War, and was only temporarily reopened in the early 1990s as part of an international emergency aid package.