TOSHAO  of St. Cuthbert’s Mission, Mr. Earnest Dundas has affirmed that, over the past couple of years, his Amerindian community has witnessed incremental improvements in the infrastructure and provision of services, which has led to an overall enhancement in the quality of lives of the residents. Making the pronouncement on Saturday, during the advent of their Heritage Day celebrations, he noted that there has been advancement in many areas, including access to water and education, among others.
Toshao Dundas explained: “There have been improvements in the village in water, for instance, five years ago I had to fetch water from the well to my home and that is a good distance. Now I have water coming to my home and that is improvement.  While not all residents get this, we know there still is much room for improvements whereby all can have water some time in the future.”
A solar pump installed in the community fills the tanks for distribution to various outlets in the village.
Through this system, the water in the tanks is distributed to the residents through “gravity feed” but this, according to the Toshao, is not powerful enough to supply all of the residents with the much needed commodity.
“The pressure is not strong enough to reach about two miles away but if pumps were installed it would help,” he stated.
There are presently 12 storage tanks which supply water to the residents every three hours, after which they are refilled
As to the improved condition of the road he noted that access to the village is now faster and easier, as taxis are working from there because of its development.
He said: “This has made life a bit easier, within half an hour persons can reach to the (Soesdyke/Linden) highway.”
In addition to this, all the children in the community have access to three levels of schooling at the nursery, primary and the new secondary school in the village.
As to the benefits of this, he said: “The secondary school has done much. So far, we have had two sittings of the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) exams by students from the village. They have done well, seeing that they did not benefit from any special teaching and  they were able to write four subjects and one boy came out with grade twos; that was good.”
With the improved staffing at the school, these grades are expected to improve and the level of education should be higher, Dundas added.
About staffing at the health centre, he confirmed that there are now two workers stationed in the community as opposed to last year when only one staff was available to render care to the community members.
“Though we know there is still so much more to be done, we are grateful for all of the improvement over the years and we want to say thanks to this Government for not forgetting us and for improving our community of St. Cuthbert’s Mission,” Toshao Dundas stated.
In response to the announcement made by the Minister of Housing and Water, Mr. Irfaan Ali, of plans to construct 30 additional homes in the community, the Toshao pointed out that this is yet another initiative of the Government to improve the lives of all of the people, including Amerindians.