Lush, green enticing scenery sped by in a hazy blur as the car sped up the countryside filling our lungs with the pure country breeze.We lurched around the dangerous road turns at Letter ‘T’ and Adventure villages and up the Abary Bridge at such an alarming rate that I had to reprimand the driver for speeding to which he rudely mumbled some ‘mumbo jumbo’ under his breath.

I certainly didn’t care for his mutterings since I was more interested in getting to Fort Wellington safely to which I was bound for my ‘village focus interviews.’
Fort Wellington, located on the West Coast of Berbice has a population of just over 100 residents and is located about 54 miles from Georgetown and is the administrative centre of Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) .
The Regional Democratic Council (RDC) office is located in the village as well as the Fort Wellington Hospital, police station, magistrate’s court, National Insurance Scheme office, Guyana Elections Commission Office and a Post Office.
It also has a People’s Militia building and a plant nursery that is operated by the National Agricultural Research and Education Institute (NAREI) as well as a branch of Anthony’s Funeral Home.
Though Fort Wellington is not a really large village or densely populated, it is indeed the ‘administrative buzz’ of Region 5 and attracts are large influx of farmers and businessmen, conducting business with the various administrative offices and institutions that are located in Fort Wellington.
We landed in this simple but impressive village while the midday sun was scorching and the streets were bare of activity save for the areas around the Fort Wellington Hospital, Police Station, National Insurance Scheme and the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) offices.

Fort Wellington Of Years Gone By

In the years gone by Fort Wellington was just wide open pastures with dense shrubbery and vegetation, sometimes clogged canals and the scatter of hoses which was popularly referred at the Fort Wellington Housing Scheme.

It was one of the Berbice villages that possessed lots of waste lands, quite perfect for farming and crop cultivation. Save for the presence of the then shabby Fort Wellington Community High School with its bustle of students, one had to walk quite far before encountering a house and residents.
The village had always took on a forlorn and dismal look except for the little activity that surrounds the hospital as patients visited and left the institution. Even amongst the cluster of houses next to the hospital, there seemed to be no moving around of residents since the few were always in their farmlands, or taking up their places in varying offices.
But there was always a seemingly economic buzz and fuss surrounding the RDC Office, Police Station and Post Office even when they were just shabby buildings. Today, these buildings have been renovated and extended and the ‘business bustle’ is even greater.
The former police station is now in ruins, but it has been replaced by a spanking new structure a short distance away. Even the magistrate’s court which is also a short distance away, is a ravishing new facility. The NIS office too is very impressive and offers many services to its customers, even as it deals with their appeals, provide invalidity, constant attendance, survivors and funeral benefits.
They also make available sickness benefit and spectacle and dental care services. Mothers can enjoy maternity benefits, while others are offered injury, death and disablement benefits.
Today one would be amazed at some of the very posh houses and other building that have popped up in Fort Wellington. The open pastures, in many cases, are being transformed into impressive housing settlements, which in due time will ensure this village hold its own against the well established others.
There is no supermarket or clothing or variety stores as yet but these are things to come in the near future as the hopes of residents will dictate. And Fort Wellington is indeed the ‘administrative haven’ for all Region 5, since it is this location that tends to the needs of normal residents, farmers and varying business officials.
There are a few small shops that sell kitchen supplies and fast food, but there is need for more established entities.

Fort Wellington Hospital
Our first stop was at the Fort Wellington Hospital and instantly I was taken aback by its now almost stately and very elaborate appearance.
In the late 1980s the Fort Wellington Hospital was just an almost shabby looking institution that housed a mortuary and a few other departments, and was fitted with a delivery room for pregnant mothers.

Today due to Government intervention the facility is accentuated with an X-Ray Department, Rehabilitation Centre, a Foot Centre, comfortable Waiting Area, Accident and Emergency Unit, VCT Unit for HIV/AIDS Testing and Counselling. There is also a department that caters for Tuberculosis patients and a Dental Section to aid in perfect dental care.
Camille Semple, a Ward Maiden for over 18 years was more than elated to speak to us. She related that things have improved greatly at the hospital and both staffers and patients visiting the facility are now very comfortable.
“Things were not as bright as they are today, as compared to this hospital several years ago. Today we have a standby generator to aid us when blackout occurs, thus preventing mishaps with if the ‘power cut’ comes when doctors are in the middle of medical tasks that require the use of electrical power. Added to that, we are now equipped with six doctors on call so the service is much more efficient and speedy.”
This hospital which operates on a 24-hour basis in times gone by was operating with only two doctors which created a long wait for patients intending to receive medical attention.
According to Semple, there were many cases in the past when nurses and doctors would be doing infant deliveries and the power would shut off. She recalled the mad rush and scramble for phones and flashlights to provides lighting to complete the very technical tasks. She said that sometimes they had to beg persons with vehicles to pit the beam from their headlamps into the direction of the delivery room windows so they can successfully complete their job.
Complicated cases in terms of infant deliveries are however sent or referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC). The reason the complicated cases are sent to the GPHC is because the Fort Wellington Hospital does not have a theatre and therefore cannot execute life=saving surgeries.
This institution also is not fitted with a blood bank so they would not risk surgeries since most of them will require blood transfusions for the patients being attended to.
Midwife Karen Haywood, reminisced on the development of the hospital and is joyful of the fact that conditions have improved greatly. “I can remember as far as in 2002 when I came here we used to sweep the concrete floor with pointer brooms and the amount of dust it generated, was suffocating. Now we have tiled floors all around and everything is spick and span. Gone are the days when we used torchlights and “flambos” (kerosene lamps) for deliveries. The GPSU’s efforts have ensured that we now have a much better hospital with almost all the amenities needed.”
At the Rehabilitation Centre staff members gladly shared their satisfaction of now having and very comfortable and still new building to work in.
Previously such staffers were operating from a ‘small house’ as they chose to put it and had welcomed the new building which was built several months ago. There are still a few challenges in that they would love to have their location made a fully air-conditioned and a few complained that there is the problem with spacing when they have a large influx of clients at one time.
This department also has an Audiology Department attached from which workers can do ear testing and hearing aid fittings.
Services offered at this depart includes also Occupational Therapy, Physiotherapy, and Speech and Language Therapy.

The NDC Office

At this office, Tyrone Ritch, from the Engineering Department spoke with us and stating that while the job of this entity can be challenging at times, they nevertheless try their best to please their employers, customers, and clients, and those soliciting help in various forms from the entity.
According to Ritch this office is primarily focused on ensuring all runs smoothly in the Fort Wellington community and its environs and do everything in their power to ensure their duties are done properly.

He added that while several projects have been initiated, which includes their $1M and $3M Subvention Projects in various locations in Berbice. He noted that so far this programme which targets the development and repairs of roads and community footpaths have made a significant impact in areas like Tempe village, Seafeild and a few other locations along the West Coast Berbice route. This is an ongoing process.
According to Ritch a party is detailed to visit the villages, examine its features and infrastructure and from reports submitted the works are executed in the areas.
That aside this very well established entity offers administrative and manual employment for residents of Fort Wellington and many other villages in Berbice. There are also cases where persons from as far as Central Mahaicony are employed within its walls.

A Charming Character
Whilst walking into the NDC compound there was this seemingly extremely charming man and he was doing everything to get my attention. But I was on the go with little time to conduct a series of interviews so I just hurried on my way.
As I was leaving there he was smiling again and blocked my entrance, and being me I was just beginning to explode with impatience when he shouted, “Hey Norma nephew, you ah play yuh na know me nuh.”
Well that brought me to an abrupt halt and my impatience quickly disappeared. Drawing up closer it immediately dawned on me while he had seemed vaguely familiar when I passed him earlier on.
It turned out he was Richard Sears, who from my childhood days in Hopetown would have known as ‘Putox.’ He was a close friend of my aunt, Norma Goodridge and would visit the home most times when I am there. He was popular for telling stories around the fire as they gobbled up my aunt’s hot puri and fried fish she sold in a small stall in front of her home.
We hugged and began chatting and that was how I found out that since I left the village he had taken up the job of a beverage vendor, pushing a large refrigerator on a makeshift cart with wheels he had created to move the ‘large cooler.’
Sears has been doing this job for the past 15 years and though it sometimes becomes challenging, his love for it and natural unrelenting spirits surely keeps him going.
“This is a very hard job and sometimes many days it’s difficult to net any form of proper sales, since every day is not Christmas. Having to face the elements of weather at times can be sometimes cruel to my health, but this is my job, this is what I have been doing, and I have survived despite the many challenges”.
Sears gets up around 06:00 hours in the morning and packs his cooler with beverages and hits the road by 07:30 hours. He nets a few minor sales along the way and makes his first major stop at the Fort Wellington Secondary School. Of course with this weather the students are bound to cool down, so they make purchases.
Next he moves on to the Fort Wellington Hospital and obtains much sales there too from patients and staffers as well. However, most of his day is spent at the gate leading to the NDC Office and he certainly gets lots of sales from the customers going to and from that office, staffers, and from persons visiting the Post Office.
He has to deal with the problem of persons crediting his beverages and disappearing or taking ages to pay in some cases, and this certainly deals a harsh blow to his ego.
“You know in the countryside out of love for our brethren, we would normally credit a few items. I got regular customers who pay up on time, but are some would take ages to pay and give me a good cuss out when I approach them for my money. And there are others who would refuse to pay and disappear altogether without paying”.
Nonetheless, Sears continues to ply his trade since this is the only form of livelihood he has known for the past 15 years.

Village Gossip

In every village there is always room for juicy gossips, and in some instances these gossips are fuelled from actual events which occurred in the area.

While questioning a few housewives, many of whom reared a little poultry, I realised that there still seemed to be much buzz and rancour surrounding a doctor who hit a pedestrian with is vehicle and attempted to drive away. Even though the incident occurred since in May this year, the housewives were still seething with anger at such cruelty from a man of such an esteemed profession.
And Samantha Williams made no qualms in covering her disgust over such inhumane actions on the part of the doctor. “Imagine that eh, he is a big doctor and can do something like that. How terrible of him…. If he can hit down a person and leave them to die, what else can he not do? Well eh, eh.. If someone gets him mad he might deliberately give them a wrong injection. That man is a beast!!”

And these heckling ladies were referring to the incident where it was alleged that in May of this year Dr. Ramesh Sugrim (a prominent Berbice figure) was arrested at a police roadblock after he reportedly fled an accident scene in which a woman died.
Dr. Ramesh Sugrim, 60, of Williamsburg, Corentyne, Berbice, had appeared before Magistrate Benn at the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court, West Coast Berbice to face charges of failing to stop at the accident scene and failing to render assistance. While he was likely to face charges of causing death by dangerous driving, the matter at that time was engaging the attention of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
And 51-year-old Marslyn True of Foulis, West Coast Berbice, , reportedly died on the spot at Moor Park, Number 37 Village, West Coast Berbice as a result of being hit by the doctor. Reports into this incident had dictated that around 20:15 hours on the day in question a policeman travelling behind the doctor saw the accident and noted the car number PMM 8310.
On noticing that the doctors had failed to stop at the incident, contact was made with the Fort Wellington Police Station where a roadblock was quickly set up and the doctor was apprehended.

Challenges
Fort Wellington despite its impressive appearance, has challenges, which according to farmer, Brentnol Sobers may not be plenty, but needs addressing. The farmer feels there is need to enhance the dams leading into the back lands of the village so that farmers will not face the rigours encountered during the rainy weather.
He noted the need for supermarkets and grocery outlets since villagers are forced to travel to Bushlot some distance away for supplies.
That aside, Fort Wellington is quaint and impressive, especially with the constant bustle and ‘business like ambience’ that seems to always surround this community.