By Michel Outridge

WHILE on a walkabout in this small yet large village, the Pepperpot Magazine met Lloyd George, who has a business in the community.

This friendly and mild-mannered resident said back in its ‘hey day,’ the village was sparsely populated and over the years more people came, constructed houses and settled there.

Today, the houses dot the land which runs along the canal that extends way down into the backlands to other villages.

The 64-year-old is retired and has a grocery shop which is managed by his spouse and a welding/fabricating/vulcanising shop he is in charge of and it provides employment for a young man from the community.

George disclosed that over the years the village has developed and is more populated now than before, because more folk have moved in and remain even though some have left.

He has been residing there all his life, his parents are from the village and he grew up there, got married and is still there.

George is the retired area manager of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC) and was stationed in Georgetown. He retired in 2007.

He recalled travelling after walking out the long, long road to the public road to get a bus and going to the University of Guyana (UG) and would return home sometimes at 04:00hrs and still had to go to work the next day.

“This road was a dam and nothing about it has changed over the years and the only time it was properly done was in 1992 and it deteriorated rapidly after and was only repaired from time to time by grading the fine bricks that make up the road,” he said.

The father of six related that two of his children are overseas and the next is living with him and they are comfortable, since they live at a place they like and the place is a very peaceful and breezy.

“Some people have migrated from this village but the people who remained here are from the village and others came here to reside,” he said.

George told the Pepperpot magazine that Vive-La-Force welcomes visitors and it is a lovely little village that only needs a better road to make it more accessible.

He added too, a place for youths is also needed so they can spend quality time doing something meaningful such as a training centre.

“For me it is not where you came from, but it’s what you made of yourself,” he explained.