By Michel Outridge

SATWANTIE Narine was born and once lived in Guyana but had migrated to Venezuela, where she had settled. Now she has returned after the hardship in that country and is back in her country of birth residing in The Jib Village.

The 57-year-old said she has been in The Jib for only three months and is slowly adjusting to the quiet country life in the community where she is a rice/cash-crop farmer with her sibling, who also fled troubled Venezuela.

Narine had been living and working in Venezuela for the past 33 years where she shared a home with her husband and her brother. She related that their mother passed away recently and they decided to move into her house and start utilising the land to farm since they must work.

Narine added that they are also rearing ducks but do mostly farming which is not an easy task and it is hard manual labour and long hours but she is accustomed to hard work and will not give up. The vegetables and fruits garnered from the garden are for kitchen purposes and the excess is sold within the village, she said.

Narine pointed out that while she is trying to get her garden in order, some goats from the village are venturing in her yard and consuming her crops even though the place is fenced and there is ample space to graze goats in the village.

“Another issue is that the people planted coconut trees on the edge of our rice fields and I have a crop going right now and that needs to be settled,” she said.

Narine and her brother toiled endlessly to plant eight acres of rice this season and are hoping for a good crop to bring in much-needed cash to support the home.

Recalling her life back in Venezuela, Narine said she worked part-time as a sweeper/cleaner in offices and homes, but enjoyed her life there and she also liked living in Diamond, East Bank Demerara, where she used to stay until she moved to The Jib.

“I used to stay by the second bridge in Diamond, the place bright and nice and it was nice there, but then I had to move to this small, quiet place but it is what it is with life; it is never guaranteed that things will not change,” she said.

Narine said she understands she needs to adjust to the country life here in Guyana and will spend all her time developing her garden and keeping busy in an effort to earn and start all over afresh, since reminiscing will not do her any good.