By Michel Outridge

RYAN Van Sluytman, a resident of Charity and a Manager with Alfonso Group of Companies told the Pepperpot Magazine that his historical family roots are deep in the village of Charity.

Van Sluytman, giving some background on the village, said that Charity was owned by a man named Joseph Gouveia and he had a daughter named Lycia, who got married to Timothy Van Sluytman.

He pointed out that Gouveia later gave Charity Village to that same daughter and it became the home of the Van Sluytmans.

However, after many years the van Sluytmans gave Charity to the then British rulers for a land development scheme.

“We didn’t sell Charity, we gave them free of charge. Timothy Van Sluytman and my grandfather were first cousins, so it is in my bloodline and we didn’t arrive here, we are from here,” he said.

On another note, there is a constant face-off between vendors and the businessman who owns the Alfonso gas station. Consequently, he has had to secure the place with armed security because the situation was out of control with vendors and stalls were blocking the entire waterfront area.

Van Sluytman noted that the gas station is a private business and directly in front of it there is a floating gas station for the convenience of the riverine people, and the vendors were blocking the cameras, adding they have money transactions and for security reasons, the situation was not good.

“This is a private business and they can’t sell here, to construct structures on the sea defence here, it is illegal. A letter was issued to the NDC about three years ago, but they took no heed until the minister had to intervene; we create a stairway for the people and they came and block it,” he said.

Van Sluytman stated that he is a councillor with the NDC and a lot of people don’t pay their taxes, noting there are existing political disagreements among the councillors.

Apart from the few infractions, Van Sluytman related that Charity is a nice place with the same economic ventures and it is a place where you see people “sporting” on a Monday instead of the weekend.

He added that Mondays are the busiest at Charity, because it is the market day when farmers ferry out their produce and take “sin” goods.