Agnes Dundas lives a humble life
Dundas standing in front of her humble abode
Dundas standing in front of her humble abode

By Wendella Davidson

Laluni resident, Agnes Dundas, poses for a photo as she hangs out her laundry (Samuel Maughn photos)

THIRTY-SEVEN years ago, Agnes Dundas and her reputed husband Joseph Domingo relocated from St Cuthbert’s Mission to the farming community of Laluni, located about half an hour by road aback of Kuru Kururu, a community also on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway.
The lure, then, was the availability of work with the once-thriving settlement that was then controlled by the Demerara Tobacco Company (DEMTOCO). While some farmers planted tobacco, some like herself and husband, worked for the company, Dundas said.

The pay was attractive, and my husband and they were able to settle on a portion of these vast backlands, on which we built a humble abode and where we still live.

But after Demtoco left in 1994, they were forced to eke out other sources of income for a livelihood; in addition, to do some farming, planting cash crops such a cherries, sorrel, cassava and other ground provisions on a small scale.

By then, too, the family size began to expand, said the woman, adding that she gave birth to 12 children— six boys and six girls, two of whom are now deceased.

Agnes Dundas

“I  started doing lil domestic work for people in the community and outside and then people start tell others who want somebody to work about me, so that is how I does get a steady work now,” she said. “I does try my best whenever I go to work for people, because I know if I work good, people to continue to call me to work for them.”

She added though, that due to the distance the community is located from the public road, and the deplorable state of most of the inland roadway, she is forced to pay $1,000 daily from whatever she earns for transportation.

She noted that although life is tough, having lived there for all those years, she and her husband have no plans to go anywhere else. “We done put we roots here, I have nowhere else to live, my children done big,” she added with a smile.

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