ON your way to Berbice, there are a few roadside pit stops that many travellers make to grab some good home-style creole food and cold beverages. That’s when you know that you have reached Number Five Village, home to many friendly faces and much more.

While on a visit to the village, the Pepperpot Magazine met a resident, Lealand Johnson, who is passionate about development of the community.

Reviving the traditional “Village Day’

Johnson related that he will not rest until the customary ‘Village Day’ is revived in the community, because it used to showcase their rich culture, talent and usually brings people together in celebration.

He explained that the ‘Village Day’ stopped abruptly about three years ago and he is making preparations and mobilising fellow villagers to get on board to revive the event.

Johnson added that the ‘Village Day’ used to be a ‘big’ thing and he would like to see it like that again. He noted that they also have plans to invite President David Granger to the village soon and hopes that his request will be granted.

“The ‘Village Day’ will be a three-night event, which will start from Friday night featuring folk songs sung by villagers accompanied by drumming. The Saturday night will be the road lime, where all local foods will be on sale and on Sunday night a cricket match will bring down the curtain on the Village Day celebrations at the ball field,” he said.

Number Five Village
Johnson stated that Number Five Village has about six churches, a nursery school, a primary school,  a health centre and one of the best playfields on the West Coast Berbice.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that the village does not have a secondary school, but the nearest one is located at Number Eight Village and the other at Rosignol, about a 10-minute drive away.

Johnson reported that over the past few years, Number Five Village has seen some infrastructural developments: where they had some streets –- which were previously mud dams — paved, as well as the construction of a wooden bridge which joins the villages of Numbers Four and Five, among other internal infrastructural works within the community.

“This village is one of the oldest villages along this corridor, because its first inhabitants were the Dutch and it is a place of a lot of talented people. It is a working village where people find things to do to upkeep themselves and families,” he said.

Johnson noted that even though they have seen much-needed development in the community, the villages of Number Three, Four and Five need to be regularised in order for them to get their land titles.

Johnson and his wife operate the roadside Uprising Annie’s Restaurant, that very famous ‘pit stop’ that many persons make while travelling to Berbice.

Johnson told the Pepperpot Magazine that the village has produced some home-grown folk, who have retired as officers and is home to the top striker of the Guyana football team, Kevin Layne. The community has a lot of other talented young men and women who are nurses, soldiers, cops, cooks, and farmers and they are also good at cricket and football.

The businessman related that this year’s Emancipation was not celebrated in that community; however, he went to Union Village, Corentyne, Berbice and was proud of the activities they put together for President David Granger and other invitees.

Johnson added that although they don’t have a village leader,  they would come together and make things happen when needed. He added that they are a resourceful people, who believe in having their own livestock, cash-crop farms and shops.

He pointed out that some villagers are employed at the Blairmont Estate and others have jobs in offices, as well as their own homes as seamstresses and cooks.

“Main thing we don’t get no thieving here, it is practically a safe place to live, where everybody knows each other and it is a very peaceful place to be,” he said.

However, the resident voiced the need for a lecture hall within the village, where events such as weddings and other events can be held and said that the perfect place for it is the spacious ball field.