Children of Mavungu is about the last primary school year of Yoseva 14 years old, Kenny 13 years old and Maticha 14 years old in Pikin Slee, a village deep in the tropical rainforest of Suriname. Three hours drive and another two hours sailing from the capital Paramaribo. Pikin Slee is located on the Upper-Suriname River and is one of the many villages that were created when enslaved people fled the plantations during Dutch colonial rule and sought a safe place to live, far from the plantations.

The children are therefore descendants of escaped slaves, also called Maroons, and the traces of this are still clearly visible and tangible in their daily lives. The cultural traditions in the village, due to its isolated location, are the best preserved of the culture of various African countries; at school the language of instruction is Dutch, the language of the former colonial ruler, but at home the children speak Saramacan, a language that originated among the Maroons on the Upper-Suriname River. The knowledge of (survival) life in the tropical rainforest is passed on to the children by their (ancestors) parents. The ancestors in turn brought the knowledge with them from Africa and partly learned it from the indigenous people in the areas where they settled.

Kenny, Yoseva and Maticha are small knowledge carriers of culture and nature, knowledge that will soon be lost due to the exodus of villages like Pikin Slee to the city. The world children are prepared for at school is miles apart from the world in which they grow up. There is not yet a secondary school on the river, so the children must leave the village after this last primary school year to continue with school (far) outside the village, in Paramaribo or elsewhere in the country. Before the time comes, Kenny, Yoseva and Maticha still have a lot to do in their last year of school; they not only have to get a good final report, but also find a school in the city and a place to live there.