Mocha Arcadia is poised for eminent greatness

This week on Focus on the Village, our reporters took to the historical community of Mocha Arcadia, located on the East Bank Demerara to bring you stories about its people and their way of life. Stories written by M Margaret Burke and Michel Outridge.

ACCORDING to Reginald Daniels, one of the historians within the village of Mocha, it was in the year 1894 that the village status was and had its boundary established as it currently stands. Once a coffee production village, it is located some six miles from Georgetown and presents quite a comforting spectacle when viewed from the East Bank Public Road.

He outlined to the Pepperpot magazine, however that the British and Foreign Anti-slavery Society wrote a petition on November 4, 1887 seven years prior, stating, “After the terms had been decided upon, the Transport was advertised at the instance of the Government, and so desirous were the Government of throwing obstacles in the way of a settlement of your petitioners claim, that a wrong description of the land was given, whereby it was made to appear that the Government had acquired a larger position of the land than had been agreed for;

“That the remainder belonged to The Crown, and the surrounding Lands were also owned by the Crown, which was not the case, and which caused an opposition to be entered against the passing of the Transport by the representative of the owner of those lands, of which the Executive Government have purposely taken advantage, and instead of accepting a transport free from error, have expressed a determination to contest the opposition.”

This, he said was the how the village of Mocha was birthed, therefore though a yet still thriving place, there is still a sort of yearning for much more to evolve out of what was given to them as a village. The people of the village have expressed a desire to emancipate themselves from the ‘slavery of longing’ and into an ‘emancipation of accomplishments.’

Compensate to develop
Daniels has stated that the East Bank Demerara villages of Mocha and Arcadia, commonly referred to as Mocha/Arcadia, have over time been able to achieve much, in terms of their rich historical culture, changing sceneries, coupled with developmental activities such as better drainage and irrigation; roads; street lights and other amenities. He was quick to point out that there is still a need for further development, but that the village has moved to a better place over the recent years.

He noted that visitors to the village would need to travel some distance to meet the first section that is called Arcadia, then into Mocha, which has not lost its atmosphere of welcome, although still evolving from its old traditions.

However, continuing to express much concern over what he and others continue to see as ‘injustice’ meted out to them for what their ancestors fought for, he said, “We are aware that the return of ancestral lands would seem a daunting proposition. However, if generations before had stood at the boundary of what is daunting and is easy, slavery would protrude its ugly head into our time. Doing the right thing, in this case, may seem overwhelming, but it should not be sidestepped for an easy solution that acknowledges the injustice but preserves the status quo.”

He added that the unjust taking of ancestral lands has significantly affected the village and its inhabitants; and that the exceedingly long period the village have deprived of these lands has caused stagnation and decline in its fortune while accruing significant benefit to the entity that has possessed them and strongly expressed that there should be some compensation made to members of the community, which may aid in the development of a newly expanded community.

135 years later
“Every generation has an opportunity to write the history of its time. Bestowed upon us, is the hindsight to right the wrongs of the legacy bequeathed by our predecessors. What we do to write the history of our time is as important as the steps we take to cure the indiscretions of the past. We become complicit with the atrocities of the past when an opportunity presents itself to bind up and heal old wounds and we do nothing,” Mr Daniels noted.

He added that the villagers of Mocha/Arcadia continue to view with interest all that the government of the day has done for them with expressions of much appreciation. He added that there are many more positive plans in place for the village, which the villagers are now longing to see achieved.