Situated in the heart of Wismar Linden, nestled neatly between several communities on the western shore of the mining town is the little community of Victory Valley. Formerly called

Valley of Tears in the early years of Linden’s existence, Victory Valley is the home to the myriads of creeks, springs and streams crisscrossing the hilly landscape which birthed the idea of the original name Valley of Tears. As a result of the negativities derived from the name Valley of Tears which seemed to describe a place of lamentations and depression, the Indigenous residents of the community changed the name to Victory Valley which puts forth a more positive outlook.

The establishment of Victory Valley came as many of the other communities in Wismar which initially accommodated modest dwelling places for men who sought employment at the then bauxite company Demba. Since Linden was a company managed town, the only residents allowed on the eastern shore known as Mackenzie were employees of DEMBA so those gaining employment would later migrate over to Mackenzie, but the unfortunate ones would remain on Wismar. Since their hope of gaining meaningful employment was not materialised, poverty was rampant on the Wismar shore and more so in Victory Valley.

Shacks, pit toilets, dilapidated buildings and infrastructures were common sights of Victory Valley. As time progressed and the men started making families, their only hope was pork knocking in the interior. Many of them journeyed to the “gold bush” in search of work leaving their families behind for months. Many of these were successful and things started looking up for the once impoverished community. Pit latrines became flush toilets and shacks became houses. There was now running water and electricity and the sandy access track became a paved road. Some of the women decided to open up small businesses to bring in income while their spouses were in the interior and so money was circulating more in Victory Valley.

The children were now accessing education so their futures were more secured. Crime was at an all-time low and the small community became closely knitted with every one looking out for each other. Mrytlyn Scotland who lived in the community for 6 decades reminisced on those good old days. “Long ago it was better because ya d getting hundreds in ya hand and ya coulda still make it do, but this time ya getting the thousands and because of cost of living, it harder, parents can’t send children to school, can’t find things to put in the kit and all of that,” she related

A turn for the worst
After a while, the men were not gaining employment in the interior back dams as several large scale dredge owners and companies began claiming the land they previously worked on. With most of them working in the back dams most of their lives, without acquiring a skill or academic qualifications, they quickly became unemployed. Unconstructive social activities became rampant and on every corner were limers and gamblers and drugs became popular. “The young men use to go in the gold field and when they come out they help their families but now they can’t go because people own the land and no jobs in out here so they end up liming and gambling and smoking,” Mrs Scotland mentioned.

There was an upsurge in crime and the police were often seen conducting raids in the Valley which created a bad image. In fact, the Valley was now labelled as ‘Linden’s getto’. Social ills such as teenage pregnancy, domestic violence and school drop outs were dominant and according to one resident the Valley soon became a ‘condemned community.’ When Guyana Chronicle visited the community on Tuesday, the roads were in a deplorable state, in fact the taxi driver was even hesitant of driving pass a certain point stressing that the road will damage the car. “Car in want come in the road and me knee bothering me and car in want drop me in so I does say like we is condemn,” 71 year old Scotland said.

While she spoke of the social ills of the community, she said that it is being exaggerated. “Valley has so many different route, you could meet Blueberry Hill, you could meet Wisroc, you could meet in the Scheme so anybody do their story they running in the Valley to make the escape and then when they get ketch ya hear is the Valley, yes you would get one and two bad things like any other place, drugs does do like any other place,” she said.

Given limited attention
According to the residents the officials are just promising to look into the terrible state of the community’s infrastructure but those promises are not being materialised and they believe that is it because of the stigma attached to the community. “To my mind nothing is not doing, nothing in the line of development, job creation, nothing to say well after school where these young people can go ” another resident Lulu Bynoe concluded. In addition to the deplorable roads, there are no street lights and in the nights it is extremely dark to walk in even as cars refuse to drop the residents in.

Bynoe related that the Community Development Council is not functioning as it should for the betterment of the community as there are personality clashes among members which is affecting the development of the community. Currently the lone Community Centre is not being utilized by the community as it should as some members are usurping powers over its management. “They have some people operating like that Centre belongs to them like is their father or mother build it, we are a part of the CDC group and we trying to raise funds and get the youths involved and we trying but they get a next set of people on the one side behaving real ignorant and just causing problems,” Bynoe said.

The Community Development Council Secretary Yvonne Duncan explained to this publication that CDC is not functioning as it should and fund raising activities are being hindered. She also spoke of the limited recreational facilities for the youths who are left with nothing much to do but idle. She believes that if the residents work together and there is more support from the authorities, Victory Valley will become a place of more victories than sad stories.