–fishermen urge African Businesses Roundtable

FISHERMEN within the Mahaica- Berbice region are wasting no time in engaging the recently

formed African Businesses Roundtable (ABR) in resuscitating the lucrative fishing trade within their communities.

A group of fishermen from the Belladrum community sent out an urgent request to the ABR to have them examine the poor state of what was once thriving fishing industries in several Afro-Guyanese communities within that location.

Following preliminary meetings with the ABR, the men were urged to organise themselves by first gathering all their colleagues from the various villages, and all those who are interested in joining the trade.

The men will also organise themselves according to their skills, whether boat builder or otherwise. Another meeting will be held on Saturday, November 10 in Belladrum for further empowerment of the communities.

The ABR is seeking to aid the fishermen in accessing finance for investments and finding markets for their products.

The aim of the organisation is to use its business networking to allow for the flow of business opportunities; that is, larger businesses helping smaller ones to grow.

The Belladrum fishermen told the ABR that the communities are in deplorable states with little to no developmental opportunities.

“We are not doing any business here. This (Belladrum) is a stagnant community,” 88-year-old Joseph Grenville told the Guyana Chronicle.

The community elder was seated front row during the first ABR meeting with the fishermen in Belladrum two Saturdays ago.

He told this newspaper that he was there to lend his support to the fishermen since he was aware that the community is in dire need of workable economic strategies.

Grenville who lived in Belladrum from the age of 10 remembered the community being a vibrant, united one. He said that there were several cottage industries since people purchased from each other.

He even spoke of a community bell that was rung to summon the community together.

“My grandfather Nelson Daniels was a boat builder, people knitted seine with their fingers,” Grenville said. He said people farmed; highlighting that currently there are several sections of transported land, some carrying as much as 350 acres belonging to the Belladrum community. But according to him, for as much as “20 to 30 years, not a seed has been sown”.

Grenville said it has been hard on persons to get financing, while finding markets for products has proved problematic. The community was left to deteriorate, he indicated, before noting that many residents had to venture into other areas such as mining to make ends meet.

“(Now) everything they want they have to go outside the community to buy. You want cement or sand, you have to go to New Amsterdam, till to Rosignol Market for fish and greens, and Bush Lot. We don’t have anything here,” Grenville urged.

The community elder lost his left arm in a train accident when he was 12, but that did not stop him from holding supervisory positions with various local companies in the area of carpentry.

He said he did a little fishing, farming and other activities when he retired and that is why he will make it his duty to see the fishermen forge ahead with their plans.

The December meeting to be held in Belladrum will see other communities such as Washington, Golden Fleece, El Dorado, Weldaad and Foulis, among those participating.

According to information received, the ABR will soon be making its way to Essequibo after a request was made from that region. It is understood that Essequibo may have a thriving boat building establishment there.

The ABR is a product of the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA).

Apart from the fishing industry, village economies under the ABR will involve farming communities; while villages are heading into banking and other financing mechanisms, manufacturing and other productions are also on the table.