By Michel Outridge

BARE Root, East Coast Demerara, is a normal village like many others not excluding its ‘chill spot,’ which is located on Grant Road, somewhat into the backlands of the community.

It is a place where villagers meet and have candid conversations and to unwind after a long, hard day of work.

When the Pepperpot Magazine visited the community recently, the team met several residents — mostly men — who were out and about and some were at the very shop.

One of those persons was Justin Williams, who said the village is not as bad as some people talk about it and it is a regular place with problems and needs.

“We need a few things that can be beneficial for us in terms of infrastructure; a school and a playground are priorities with a few others,” Williams said.

The 41-year-old stated that firstly, they are just normal people there and it would be nice for them to get some attention. For instance, the utility posts in this village are precariously hanging on for ‘dear life’ and they pose a real danger to all residents.

He pointed out that within the past 15 years he has been living in Bare Root, he hasn’t seen development which can improve the lives of villagers and that is cause for much concern.

“We are trying to sustain ourselves, but imagine $500 for a taxi to come in Grant Road, which is like a mud dam. In some parts and it is a one-vehicle stretch which has numerous large-size potholes. It is void of street lights, so imagine coming in here late every night. Is like you and God alone walking,” Williams said.

From the stories he was told about Bare Root, it is that when people started occupying the lands nearest to the vast backlands, the name was developed as a result of a village domino game over 40 years ago in which roadside people were up against those that resided in the backlands.

“We had to get a name and so it was roadside versus back lands people, and at that time they had a movie called ‘Bare Roots’ and that is how the name left on the village. This Grant Road was formerly called Golden Apple Road and it was a mud dam and all now it is still like a dam,” he said.

Williams is a mason by profession and also does some landscaping work and he said that when there isn’t much to do, they would meet at the corner shop.

Williams admitted that while nothing sinister goes on at the corner shop, it is the place where villagers share information and ‘get in the know’ and that in itself is relaxing.

Need for a school
According to Ivan Grandison, one of the other men at the ‘Chill Spot’, there is the basic need for villagers to benefit from a school directly in the community, because education is important and children are best schooled when they are comfortable.

“We don’t have a school in the village and a playfield and we have land at the backlands area, the roads need attention too. By the cemetery they got a plot can accommodate a daycare or school,” Grandison said.

The mason said during the wet season, he usually rears game birds to supplement his income and would even get into trenches in the village and clean it for a fee.

“Life is normal around here. It is, however, strained, since we need facilities, educate the children and youths, no school and we can be so much more if we get these facilities, nothing that some youths growing without the lack of education and ‘dem gon do stupidness,” Grandison said.

“The area in a suffering stage that can’t hide. We need to take up the lands and not let other people come in and occupy it. We need our lands for agricultural purposes, we are a farming people, we know about back-breaking work using our hands to make a living from the soil. We also need a market to sell our produce, so that we can be comfortable right here, “he said.

Meanwhile, Brian Charles, also a resident of Bare Root, is a shop owner at Middle Street, whose kitchen garden is thriving and he sells his produce in his small shop.

“Life in Bare Root is trying, we in de puzzle, trying to fix it and we looking for better for our children,” Charles said.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that his shop is his main source of income and he also does farming on a small scale and plants ochro, calaloo, bora and corolla,that he sells in his shop.

“We need a library, a playfield, the children must be equipped with the necessary tools to foster education, so they can grow up [and] become career-oriented people,” he said.

Charles added that since the current administration took office, they have seen their interest in the people and although it is slow, they have seen progress.

He explained that two years ago he opened the shop and is there tending to customers all day; however mundane, he is not bothered, since it’s his job.