Despite poor response…
THE SPIRIT of Africanism was alive and well in the village of Vergenoegen, on the East Bank Essequibo last Saturday evening (Emancipation Eve) as scores of residents of African descent took to the streets in jubilation for a Candlelight Parade in observance of Emancipation 2010.
Assembling at Guy’s Square, the parade moved off at precisely 20:00h, wending its way through the streets with the usual jollification and fanfare characteristic of Africans in a celebratory mood.
There was rich African music, fingertip drumming, singing, dancing and chanting of Afrikaan mantra — all part of the villagers’ attempt to keep their culture alive.
And ideally adding luster to the occasion was the wide array of colourful and attractively designed African costumes displayed  by men, women and children alike, and even the very old – all eminently proud of their ancestry.
After a hectic time parading through the streets of Vergenoegen, participants,  equally enthusiastic and keeping the torch held high, marched, with verve, back to Guy’s Square where a rally was held to culminate the day’s activities.
Among key village personalities slated to address the rally were: Programme Coordinator and representative of the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA) Ms. Coreen Teishmaker, who is also a Vergenoegenian;  Headmistress, Ms. Clarene Dazzell; and the Reverend  Beresford Winter, Head of  the oldest African Church in  Guyana, the Smith’s African Methodist Episcopal Church at Vergenoegen, which dates back to the 1870s.
On Emancipation Day (last Sunday), a Thanksgiving Service at the AME Church was officiated by the Rev. Winter, who has been pasturing at that church for the last six years. After church, all roads of course led to the National Park here in the City where the national Emancipation observances were in full swing since ‘bird wife wake’ as they say in Guyanese parlance.
Like other cultural groups countrywide, the Vergenoegen group also had a booth at the National Park where they offered choice African cultural dishes for sale. Back in the village the following day (last Monday), ACDA hosted the senior citizens of the community.
Excited at being able to pull off the Candlelight ceremony, given the circumstances, some of the older citizens, including the Reverend Winter and his wife, Arlene; Ms. Doris Cameron, and Messrs London and Bascom, who claim that the culture has been slowly dying over the years, recalled that for many years now, folk activities and figures such as Masquerade Bands and Mother Sally and Long-Lady, which should normally feature on Emancipation Day, have been coming out on Christmas Day instead , during what has been dubbed ‘Vergenoegen Village Day’.
That day has now come to be the most popular event at that end of the coastland, with persons travelling from all across the country to celebrate it with villagers.
The elders explained that the significance of the Candlelight Parade is all about keeping the flame of Africanism alive.  Rev. Winter is among persons calling for the establishment of Community Centre in the village which could, among other things, serve as a venue to keep the African culture alive, and to open a library in a community where there is a predominance of young people.
Bemoaning the lack of recreational facilities for young people in the village, he reasoned that, if there is a Community Centre, the young people can be taught craft, health and educational programmes, including those having to do with HIV/AIDS.
He noted, too, the importance of being able to meet at a place where the art of drumming can be taught and passed on.  He recalled that just the Sunday before, there was an activity at the Church, and because there are no drummers in Vergenoegen, one had to be brought all the way from Buxton for the occasion.  The last recreational facility they had available to them was the Perseverance Hall, at which banquets and such other festivities were held, has been dismantled for more than two decades.
“The art of drumming here in the village has died, without being passed on to the younger generation,” Reverend Winter said, adding: “And when it comes to cultural food, many young people today do not know about coo-coo and foo-foo; they do not even know what is a mortar.  It’s too bad, because when you lose your culture, you lose everything.”

Origin

Vergenoegen is Dutch word, meaning ‘Land of Contentment’.  The community is also familiarly referred to by villagers as ‘Veggae’.  A rural community located in Region Three (Essequibo Islands/West Demerara) and on the east bank of the mouth of the Essequibo River here in Guyana,  Vergenoegen is the third village you meet on the East Bank of Essequibo when travelling west, having crossed West Coast of Demerara boundary at Boerasirie.
It is bounded by Zeelugt and Tuschen in the east, and Philadelphia in the west, the majestic Essequibo River to the north, and the new Tuschen Housing Scheme in the south.
Like many other villages that changed ownership during the expatriate rule of the Dutch and English here, the village was initially colonized by the Dutch in the 1800s, and after they pulled out, and the English took over, it was bought by an Englishman named Patterson from Yorkshire, who also managed the Cornelia Ida Estate further up the Coast (depending on which direction you’re facing) for 27 years.  He later died and was buried in Philadelphia, the village after Vergenoegen going west.
Given the warmth and camaraderie which characterized the early people of Vergenoegen, as the years rolled on, people of other ethnic origins gradually moved into the village, to the extent that today, the population — which is of a multi-ethnic mix —   stands at about 8,000 with everyone living in peace and harmony.

Religion


The people of Vergenoegen are very God-fearing, and it is little wonder that the first AME Church to have ever been started in Guyana was built in that small village.   Today, the village boasts several other denominational churches, including The Salvation Army, the Philadelphia Scots, Full Gospel, Seventh Day Adventist, Wesleyan, Muslim and Hindu.

Famous landmarks

Stelling Road, which extends out to the former Vergenoegen Stelling, is probably the most popular street in the village.  It was so named, the village fathers claim, because  in the early 1900s, all vessels plying the various riverain communities such as Leguan, Wakenaam, Bartica and the Essequibo Coa
st, moored at the Vergenoegen waterfront (ahead of that road) from whence they conducted their agricultural and commercial activities.
When eventually the Parika Stelling was built, the facility at Vergenoegen was dismantled.  However, to date, some degree of commercial fishing activities still take place at the waterfront, which remains a virtual landmark. Among other relics are the remnants of a jetty, which is still used by fishermen today.
Quite a scenic place, the Vergenoegen waterfront is clean, serene and well known for the therapeutic qualities of the gentle breezes that waft across the seacoast, and from whence the Island of Leguan could be spotted.

Economic mainstay

Vergenoegen continues to make a significant contribution to the rice sector with two rice mills. To date, one constructed since 1948 is still up and running, providing employment for many.  The Vergenoegen Rice Farmers Coop Society is reputed to be the oldest cooperative society on the coastland.   For young people, there is not much choice in terms of job opportunities. The men who are not absorbed into the rice industry, either turn to cattle farming, migrate to the goldfields, or resort to the very dangerous job of joining fishing crews seeking catches in the Atlantic.  Just about four months ago, a resident of Vergenoegen had a harrowing experience when he and other crewmembers narrowly escaped a fiery death at the hands of pirates who torched their vessel at sea, claiming the life of their captain in the process.

Essential services and infrastructure

Vergenoegen boasts, among other things, the oldest land development scheme and a land development office; a sawmill, a health centre, village office, gas station, bakery, Chinese restaurant,  GWI multi-million water treatment plant and water well and a Post Office, which is located in Tuschen but can only be accessed through Vergenoegen.
There are also all-weather roads which allow for comfortable travel around the scheme, and much is being invested in the construction of modern housing, causing the village to take on a truly a residential appearance.

Schools, scholars and celebrities

The village now has three schools:  The Vergenoegen Nursery, Philadelphia Primary, and Vergenoegen Community High School.  The people of Vergenoegen have always placed a high premium on education, and therefore the village today boasts an enviable academic and celebrity record as follows:
•    Mr. Clarence Trotz, former Headmaster of Queen’s College and St. Stanislaus’ College, with a Masters Degre in Physics. In the 1940s, he won a County Scholarship to Oxford University, and on completion of his programme of studies, returned to the then British Guiana (BG) to take up appointment as H.M of Q.C. and later St. Stanislaus College.
•    Former Chief of Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Col. Edward Collins
•    The first Headmistress of St. Roses High School, Sr. Hazel Campaign
•    Mr. LFS Cabral, the first in Guyana to obtain a degree in Civil Law
•    Mr. Dwight Coelho, a graduate of Queens College, proceeded to study abroad,  qualified himself in General Medical Practice, and now resides in Germany and travels around the world as a Medical Consultant
•    Reverend Beresford Winter, Pastor of Guyana’s heritage Smith’s AME Church for the last six years.
•    Mr. Sharief Khan, former Editor-in-Chief of the Guyana Chronicle
•    Miss Odessa Phillips, a Law Student crowned Miss Guyana World in 2002 and Miss Guyana Universe in 2004.
•    Mr. Adrian Thompson, the mountaineer who, at Guyana’s first Independence, climbed Mount Ayangana to hoist the national flag.
•    Minnet Mohamed Hafiz, a Supreme Court Judge in Belize
•    Two-Brothers conglomerate owner, Shiraz Ali
•    Former Guyana Under-19 cricketer, Rafi Mohamed
•    Former national karate champions, Bruce and Jan Joseph
•    Andel Cameron, an able-bodied national bodybuilding champion

Treasured finds
Among some of the most treasured items in the average Vergenoegen home are the ‘Dutch bottle’, used and disposed of by the Dutch people during their tenure and today an almost priceless commodity.