Patentia vendors share the ups and downs of the trade

GAITREE Loaknauth is a vendor of Patentia Village, West Bank Demerara. For the past 40 years, she has been occupying the same roadside stand where she sells vegetables and ground provisions.

The small market is located at the entrance of the village which has a few stalls on the tarmac which is within the village. Loaknauth sells daily from 07:00hrs to 11:30hrs  and usually buys produce from village farmers or sources them from in the city.

“This is the market area in this village and although it is not crowded residents come and support us to get their greens and whatever else is needed to make a meal,” she said.

The villager related that the community isn’t lacking development and people do what they have to provide for their families.

She stated that most people in the village have established their own businesses and are earning while others have jobs in other places.

Another vendor, Avinash Singh, who was once a sugar worker, has started a small business selling plucked and live chickens and eggs.

He pointed out that chicken is sourced from outside the village and he started that business about six months ago and so far, “things are picking up”.

Singh reported that he had to provide for his family and looked toward entrepreneurship as a result. “Being a vendor, one has to exercise patience and wait for customers and some days are slower than others but we make do,” he said.

Singh is one of many vendors that have small stands in Patentia West and spends most of the day at the stand.

Patentia West is home to a mixture of people of African and East Indian descent but has recently seen an influx of immigrants.

Residents told the Pepperpot Magazine that the Spanish people are willing to work and are doing so right within the village.

“These people are doing work our own local people don’t want to do and it shows they are willing even with the language barrier,” a villager said.