YOU can’t miss them — a row of over two dozen or so well-appointed houses just off the eastern half of the East Bank Public Road in the vicinity of Herstelling.They come in all shades under the sun: whites, blues, greens, browns and peaches. And though not unusually large or opulent, their classic designs speak volumes.

They occupy an area just after the now popular Providence Housing Scheme, and in front of Mocha/Arcadia, on lands that were once part of a flourishing sugar estate.

TODAY’S HERSTELLING
Unfortunately, our focus this week is not on this community, which was created as a private scheme and sold to individuals and families who could have afforded it, but the area due west of it — a community that has certainly come a long way.
For the sake of convenience, we’d like to call the area in question ‘Today’s Herstelling’, a place where sugarcane plants were uprooted, construction foundations positioned, and houses erected, thereby creating what seems to be, by today’s standards, a comfortable, middle-class community.

According to Lachman Sammy, who has lived there all his life, Herstelling was, as we’ve already established, once a thriving sugar estate. His parents worked there back in 1947, when he was born; and as far as he can remember, it was managed by the then Sandbach Parker and Company, perhaps one of the oldest British firms here at the time.

He distinctly remembers living in a logie with his parents. According to the late Randall Butisingh, logies were essentially “mud-floored houses enclosed with zinc sheets, which were worse than the stables which housed the mules.” Transformation would, however, begin in earnest around 1952, when the deeper western end of the village was developed and house-lots were allocated to individual families.

Having come a long way on the trajectory of development, with modern citadels standing out above a few traditional cottages, one health clinic, some religious gathering places and a private school, Herstelling is still yearning for much more.

TIME FOR CHANGE
Sammy says now that local government elections are in the offing, he sincerely hopes that change would come for his community, which is in dire need of certain infrastructural necessities. Drains are clogged and prone to weed infestation, and an evident absence of proper garbage disposal results in residents getting in the habit of dumping refuse in trenches and on parapets at various points in the village. Even the Mocha canal, which drains into the Demerara River through a sluice, has not been spared the abuse.

An underdeveloped playground in neighbouring Farm is used by youngsters, or a regular game of cricket is played in the streets, keeping some at home. There is need for a public school, a proper playground, and adequate drainage system. According to Sammy, the drains have not been excavated since 1994, after the last local government elections were held.

Sammy, who was once chairman of the Herstelling/Grove Local Authority, and Regional Vice-Chairman for Region 4, said he would like to see responsible individuals being elected at the 2016 local government polls.

He has nothing but praise for the new electoral system, which he describes as “a better system that allows for wider participation.”

Social problems of gambling and excessive drinking among both males and females, and illegal rum shops within the community, among other issues, will be fixed, he hopes.

LOCATION
Herstelling stretches from the Mocha Canal in the north to Hassan Street in the south, and ends at the beginning of ‘Jardin d’Province’ within the community called Farm.

Known over the years as a predominantly Indo-Guyanese community, Herstelling boasts approximately five main streets, some of which are named after the older residents and others according to their more outstanding features. Hence we have names like Creek Dam, Rum Shop Street, Kajim Street, Haji Street, and Hassan Street.

The East Bank Demerara community, which is flanked by Providence, Farm, Mocha/Arcadia and the Demerara River, is crowded with homes; and while some families have decided to enclose their ‘bottom-houses’ and make them into apartments, others are opting to rebuild structures to provide more space for their growing families.

This East Bank community is usually quiet, but occasionally experiences a crossover of the brash and sassy lifestyles, as youths mostly flock the weathered bus-sheds tucked in the corner of Creek Dam as regular stomping grounds for a unique Herstelling chill.

A resident at a grocery shop said the community is a good place, but with social problems addressed, it can grow into a greater domain. He has been living there for 35 years.

By Shauna Jemmott