By Michel Outridge

Joan Beete and her husband, Hilton France have settled in the village of Boerasirie, East Bank Essequibo and these days they are taking care of their grand and great-grandchildren and tending to their farm.

Joan Beete told the Pepperpot Magazine that she had a small shop in her yard which served as her business but it has since closed.

She had to seek employment is attached to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) and is based at Stabroek Market in the city.

Beete said from a common law union with Hilton France they have two children from which they got 10 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

She related that she moved to the community a few years ago and it has become her home because she is comfortable there and it is the quiet kind of life is to her liking.

“This is a small scheme with 32 houses so the people around here live simple and do what they have to earn honestly and we have no real issues here but things are a bit slow at this end,” she said.

Meanwhile, Hilton France is a pensioner and is enjoying his retirement and these days he is into gardening, bird rearing and does odd jobs around the house.

When the Pepperpot Magazine visited he was in the process of repairing a wooden table with some power tools.

After spending 23 years in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) he retired as a Sergeant in 1992 and before his exit from the army he would have served at many border and interior locations.

“I joined the GDF in 1969 and I worked at some of the far-fetched areas such as Ekereku, Eteringbang and many others and I have a lot of stories to tell but now I am here at home doing things to pass the time,” he said.

Apart from fixing things around the house, France is a good gardener and has cultivated his back yard into crops of vegetables and fruits.

“We don’t buy greens and some fruits because we have those in our garden and I also mind birds as you can see a few hang up in cages, it is a hobby and I can fix many things and I am also a qualified electrician,” he said.

France told the Pepperpot Magazine that before he retired from the army he benefitted from a training course which qualified him as an electrician and he has since put that skill to use in his own home.

“I want to advise the youths to dedicate themselves to work and get off the smoking thing what they doing and go find work but they have a lot of problems choosing and so. The thing is they have to seek employment, to start somewhere, to do something and in time they will develop themselves and get a better job but they prefer to do other things rather than work,” he said.

The only bugbear for the couple and their family is the damage done to their landline telephone service for a year now.

A waste disposal truck accidentally damaged the landline connection and to date, it has not been restored, as such, they cannot benefit from internet service.

Bette and France are taking care of their grands and great grands, one of which was with them and will be going back to the US next year to be with his mother, who is in the US Air Force.

Among other things, France is an old motorcycle man, who once had a very shiny and fashionable motorcycle but as time elapsed and he became more mature he gave that up and is enjoying the simpler things in life.