WALTER Foo is a senior resident of Bamia. The 79-year-old stated that he is not originally from Bamia, but has lived there since 2001 after starting a relationship with a villager.

Foo is originally from Wales, West Bank Demerara, but came to Linden in 1966 to work in the bauxite industry back then after his wife passed away.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that adjusting to the quiet life wasn’t easy and he was looking for an employment opportunity and that was in the days of former President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, when the Soesdyke-Linden Highway was being built.

“I came here in ‘Harriage [R.H.] Car [r]’ days, one of two boats, the other called ‘Independence’ used to ply the Linden to Georgetown route via the Demerara River. In those days the boats used to take a day to reach the city from Linden and passengers used to cook, gamble and do all sorts of things on the vessel. I remember travelling on those boats – it was around 1966 and I joined the bauxite industry in 1967 and I was working in the Coomacka Mines,” Foo said.

Reflecting, he related that in those days, on the left side of the Coomacka Mines, there were the Montgomery Mines, which had some excavators that were shipped from Germany and used to move the sand and clay from the bauxite.

He said, “Just imagine those machines break down and they chop it [sic] up and converted [sic] into scrap iron and sold it. Those machines were supposed to be preserved so the generation of today, as well as tourists, could have seen what we had,” he said. “I am one of the pioneers in the bauxite industry in which we change from railway mining to truck mining in 1969, with Caterpillar trucks. Railway mining is when they pick up the bauxite in front-end-loader and place in the car which the locomotives does pull but that problem with it is when it derails it does hold up the whole mining process. The trucks are faster and right now they are still engaged in truck mining.”

Bamia Cemetery

He added that since he came to Bamia he tried to make life comfortable for all. With that in mind, he transformed an empty, unused plot next to the AME Zion Church into a cemetery, which is the only burial ground in the community.

Foo noted that now everybody wants to bury their dead there because when they didn’t have the cemetery, folks had to go to the Christianburg Cemetery, which is muddy and not very accessible.

However, the plot isn’t very large, as such, it can only accommodate a limited number of graves in the next two years.

In highlighting the needs of the village, Foo said the Bamia Multi-Purpose Community Centre is considered the “meeting place” for villagers.

He related that the upper flat of the two-storey edifice is used as the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hub for students and residents and the lower flat is used to house nursery and primary schoolchildren.

Foo told the Pepperpot Magazine that there is overcrowding and the need for another school, since there is no secondary school there and the nearest one is in Linden.

The elderly resident also voiced his concern about having specialists to cater to sick villagers, because there have been instances where people in need of urgent medical attention have died before reaching the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as a result of traffic congestion and the distance.

He stated that the nearest hospital is in Linden and they have a monthly outreach at the Bamia Multi-Purpose Community Centre, where nurses visit, but that is not sufficient.

Water needs

He also stated that the community is without potable water supply and residents depend solely on rainfall for drinking water and the creek for water for household chores.

According to Foo, who is the security guard attached to the Bamia Multi-Purpose Community Centre, the rainwater is polluted with dust and rust, making it unsafe for consumption.

He explained that when the current administration took office several ministers visited the community where there was a village meeting and there they aired some of their concerns.

Foo added that the potable water supply issue was one highlighted and the government delivered on its promise to equip residents with black tanks to store rainwater.

However, during the dry season, the water stored in the tanks are not sufficient; as such, they are forced to purchase drinking water and they suffer loss of their crops which often dries up.

Social issues
Foo told the Pepperpot Magazine that the youths in the community are engaged in ‘smoking’ heavily more than ‘drinking’ and it is a cause for concern.

He related that most of them are unemployed and they have a lot of time on their hands to be idle and also there is a large number of school drop-outs.

Food disclosed that he has a farm and often his produce would disappear and he suspects that it is the work of folks right in the community.

He plants pineapples, mangoes, and bitter cassava among other fruits but there is a problem with acoushi ants (the type of ants that take away all the leaves of plants) and akurie also feed on the cassava.

Foo also said that before his eyes close he would like to see a united people, since racism and corruption are two “monsters raising their head” and if persons do not recognise and address these issues, they will not be happy in the promotion of equality.

“I grow with my grandmother, a woman of African descent and since I come to Linden I see a lot of racism and problems among our people and it is not a nice way to live,” he said.