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All these I enjoyed, coupled with that certain intriguing, ancient aura of Cane Grove village when I visited the area recently. I was also arrested by its rich agricultural potential and vibrant signs of ongoing economic development.
But, like they say, amidst the beauty and mysteries of every village there is always a forlorn tale to tell, and this will unfurl, mingled with its tremendous positivity, as we tell the tale of our visit to Cane Grove Village.
Where located?
Cane Grove is an agricultural community in the Demerara-Mahaica Region Four of Guyana. Standing at sea level on the Coastal Plain, Cane Grove can be found along the Mahaica River, about eight kilometres upstream of its mouth. His Excellency John Carter, Guyana’s first ambassador to the United States and a key figure in the pre-Independence turmoil that characterizes pre-1966 British Guiana, was born in Cane Grove.
Cane Grove is actually a very large settlement made up of smaller locations, inclusive of Strathavon, Hopeland, Virginia, Coconut Dam, Manager Drive, Sawai, Waterside Dam, Cane Grove Estate, Back Street, and a few other locations.
The Diaspora of Cane Grove holds an annual reunion in New York City, and proceeds go towards funding various charity projects that help the current residents of the village.
According to the Daily Argosy dated Thursday, March 7, 1946, Cane Grove was, in years gone by, a very vibrant plantation until it was closed just around that era.
Following is a copy of a largely signed petition forwarded to the local directors and those in London of Messrs. Booker Bros., McConnell & Co., Ltd., the plantation was officially closed on February 20, 1946. This closure, of course, caused a dire effect on persons who were employed there and depended on it for a livelihood. About twelve thousand people were solely dependent on the estate for a livelihood, three thousand of whom resided on Plantation Cane Grove and in Virginia Village, while the remainder were drawn from Villages as far as Buxton to the west and Mahaicony to the east. There were also workers on the plantation that came as indentured labourers, descendants of slaves.
Many of them struggled to start new lives, since employment on the plantation was their main means of earning a living.
The other sugar estates were not able to absorb all the employees who were thrown out of employment by the closing of Plantation Cane Grove.
After the 1934 floods, the estate was in a terrible physical and financial state; but after it had been reconditioned, the yield was doubled, the peak year being 1939. After its reconditioning, the businessmen of the district increased their investments, and by the closing of the estate, those men suffered considerable losses.
The entire village of Cane Grove was drained by the estate, and after its closure it was almost impossible to carry on peasant farming successfully.
Old Cane Grove
It’s always a thrill to listen to the tales of what villages were like before they evolved into their now semi-modern or stately appearance. Ready to give word on Cane Grove was 71-year-old security guard Isaac Ramessar, attached to the Land Development Office, who said that in olden days, Cane Grove was a very large cluster of logies (small houses consisting of mud walls and thatched roofs), and they were scattered far apart in many cases. The roads were not managed properly, and the settlement suffered continuously from flooding due to improper drainage and irrigation in the village. Some areas were very swampy, and the dams were a sight to behold during the rainy seasons.
According to Isaac, agriculture was always the order of the day, and almost all of Cane Grove was involved in large scale rice farming and the cultivation of cash crops in the likes of pepper, calaloo, bora and other vegetables and kitchen seasonings.
Ramessar said that villagers were forced to travel to Mahaica in most cases to access groceries for household use, since there were really no shops yet in the village like those that are present today.
Villagers were in the custom of using donkey- and horse-drawn carts to transport their agricultural produce to the Mahaica market and other areas, since the drivers of the few available vehicles were not too keen of braving the rigours of the bad roads, especially when it rained immensely.
Those engaged in rice farming would use tractors, in a few cases trucks, to transport their harvested paddy to various areas, like De Hoop (Mahaica), and even as far away as Burma, Mahaicony.
Many rared poultry for home use and for sale, and the neighbourhood squabbles between
Cane Grove today
Today, Cane Grove is a vast spread of lush, green mystical rice fields; sprawling pastures engorged with foliage and bushes, and in some cases trenches; and canals overgrown with weeds, grass and other plant parasites.
As the car chugged its way gingerly over the main road, which is really bad in many areas, I basked in the glory of the fresh wind and the young rice plants swaying lazily to the whims of the cool breeze.
Several seemingly enraged cows stopped our travel at least twice, and glared at us with rolling, suspicious eyes, daring us to come closer. I huddled in my seat as the driver got out, grabbed a plank by the roadside and used it to chase the cows which went clattering off with tails high in the air.
On each bank of the two main canals that flanked the public road, very large gardens sported a wide variety of vegetables, and bora seemed to be the order of the day, as compared to the smaller patches of cassava, peppers, boulangers, and other ‘garden species’.
The canals in some areas sported lots of grass and weeds, and the driver let on that the NDC body was not doing its duties as expected.
That aside, the journey was a pleasant experience, but when I disembarked the car in front of the Cane Grove Police Station, my bliss was short-lived as I was hit by the scorching rays of the midday sun. A walk through the very large area left me all sweating and exhausted, but not before I had soaked up its still somewhat ancient ambience that seemed mixed with an ever evolving spectacle of apparent economic development.
There is only one Chinese restaurant in the area, and that explained why the price for the Chinese cuisine was double those in the city. And villagers seemed quite comfortable with that arrangement. Not me!!! Yes I was hungry, but when I was told the price for mixed fried rice, I left speedily as if bitten by a centipede. I settled for a much cheaper snack when I returned to the Mahaica Market Square.
Cane Grove has a very shabby NDC Office, Post Office, and a police station, and there are quite a few outlets that offer entertainment and relaxation, but the most popular seems to be the Jesmantar Hangout Bar.
There are a few rum shops that sell a wide variety of the spirits with mouthwatering cutters to make its consumption even merrier. And of course there is the Hakh’s Rice Milling Complex, which meets the needs of the village’s many rice farmers.
Persons are still engaged in poultry rearing, as could be seen with the many cattle, fowls, sheep and goats running around in open spaces or chomping on lush, green grass on the dams and open pastures.
There are a few stalls that sell groceries, and also a few that sell confectionary to the children that seem to be always present in the dusty streets.
Interaction
Interacting with villagers brought out quite a lot of interesting stories, and some villagers offered to take me to the locations for which they voiced their grave concerns.
Amongst them was Isaac Ramessar, who seemed to be having a tussle with his neighbor, whom he claimed had fenced in his lot but had left several posts standing on Isaac’s lot, preventing him from building a dam and fencing his plot.
Ramessar said he had confronted the man several times to remove the posts so that he can go ahead with his work, but his lamentations have fallen on deaf ears. Asked why he did not approach the NDC body to look into the matter, he retorted, “Them… Shupppppppss… Dem is a total waste ah time. Dem nah duh dem jabs properly, and dem neva deh ah de affice”. According to Ramessar, the office is hardly opened by those working there, and residents who go there are most times ignored. A check at the NDC office revealed the building was locked tight with a large padlock on the door at 13:10 hrs.
No one seemed able to provide contact numbers for members of the NDC body, and everyone approached either laughed mockingly or had very unsavory remarks to utter about the NDC in Cane Grove village.
Merlin Boodnarine, a vendor who sells snacks and confectionery outside the Virginia Primary and Nursery Schools was very concerned about the state of the dam leading to both schools. She deemed the unpaved dams intolerable for use by students during inclement weather.
“We talk till we weary and de NDC Chairman nah duh nutting! You see when rain fall sir, dis whole place muddy, and dem children a fall down when dem come fuh buy snacks! Some ah dem even ah inja themselves!”
Merlin and all the other vendors were intense in their ridicule over what they say is carelessness on the part of the Ministry of Public Works in their village. Vendor Indira Surujpaul was adamant that something needs to be done before someone becomes seriously injured.
This vendor and almost all the residents that reside at the Waterside Dams claimed that, in early May of this year, folks from the Courtney Benn Construction Engineering entity contracted to work on the dam dug it up and have not returned since to complete their expected works.
Residents came out in numbers and informed that, as a result, the dam is now almost like a trench, and those doing rice farming are being hindered since they cannot drive their tractors on the dam. There is an alleyway beside the dam, but a small trench separates the two, and the bridge there cannot withstand the weight of vehicular traffic.
Indira was very angry, and did not mince matters in voicing her disapproval. “Dem people dis a beasts, and dem nah care bout nobady hea! Since early in May dem dig up dis place heah, and when rain fall de dam become ah trench. No vehicle can’t come out deh and dem rice farma gat tuh rent tracta and combine fuh do dem wuk, putting demselves in moh expense!
“De fine strip ah land wha lef does get slippery and muddy when rain fall, and dem school children ah fall down and mess up dem skin. Beside dah, nobady can drive pon de dam, suh all dem vehicle just deh park up hea like statue.”
Villagers complained that there is great need for proper maintenance of other dams leading into the backlands, since they become ‘very messy’ during the rainy season.
Residents at Waterside Dam complained that there is no electricity in some areas and the place could be ‘pitch black’ on very dark nights.
Although there is a conservancy in Cane Grove Village, some residents are complaining of flooding in many areas, and Back Street is one of those areas named as angry residents described how school children have to trudge through mud and water during heavy rainfall to get to school and other areas. Residents are, however, thankful than many access roads have been paved, but they are still appealing that same must be done to Waterside Dam and the main access road to Cane Grove. They are also appealing for standard playfields and a new post office building.
Dust nuisance
A few villagers said the dust particles flowing from the vents and chimneys of the lone rice mill in the village are seriously affecting their young children and infants in Back Street. Madan Kumari Ram was very ‘riled up’ about the matter, and was demanding a resolution.
“The big people can handle it, but our young children and babies are suffering terribly because of all the dust coming from the Hakh and Son’s Rice Mill. This is a serious health hazard and it needs to be addressed immediately”, he said.
Approaching a manager, Feyaah Hakh, with the issue, he noted that four years ago the entity had a serious ‘dust issue’ that was affecting residents. He said that the EPA instructed the mill to properly seal their extractors, vents and cyclones. This has been done effectively, and was approved by the EPA body. He added that his mill employs over one hundred employees and offers services to rice farmers of Cane Grove, Mahaica and even Berbice.
Employment
Agricultural cultivation and poultry farming are popular occupations in this village, but some have sought employment in the schools and administrative offices outside of the village; mainly in Mahaica, Mahaicony and in some cases Georgetown.
Farmers doing large scale business would normally sell their produce in Georgetown and at the Mahaicony and Mahaica markets. A few would sell small portions to villagers before whisking off the bulk of their items to higher bidders.
Entertainment
A mostly East Indian populated village, Cane Grove is noted for its massive weddings that will spill even into the dusty streets, lasting sometimes for days at a time.
That aside, several birthday celebrations will pop up every now and then. Villagers will congregate in large numbers most weekends and will drink alcohol to the limit and explode into wild dancing and cavorting.
These large groups however will consist of males who are eager to spend a little of their weekly or fortnightly earnings.
Some who prefer the limelight will occasionally visit the city for a little extra fun and excitement.
Yes there are in this village issues that need addressing, but that does not stop its people with their strengths and patience from maintaining its very impressive and attractive allure, or boast of their strengths through their vibrant agricultural and economic potential.
