– Daily happenings in The Jib

By Michel Outridge 

AT 80 years old, Harry Singh is a spritely gentleman whose age doesn’t hamper him in any way. He is a small-business owner and a resident of The Jib Village.

Singh is a watch repairman at the Anna Regina Market, also on the Essequibo Coast and when the team met him he was on his way to the market to open his business for the day.

The senior citizen reported that he is originally from Canal #1 Polder, West Bank Demerara and worked in the city at the Guyana Water Inc. (GWI) for 30 years before retiring.

These days, Singh said he is taking it easy but has the presence of mind to work because he has his elderly mother to take care of and the duo live in a neat, well-painted house in The Jib Housing Scheme.

The father of six added that his children are products of two relationships. He described life in The Jib as good and as one of the smallest and quietest villages; a place where people don’t lock their doors or have to worry about bandits.

Singh said living in a small village is no big deal since people are familiar with each other and it is the kind of village where people keep busy with their farms, rice fields and other jobs.

“The people here don’t sit idly, they get up and do something to make a living and that is how it should be, no time to waste,” he said.

The Pepperpot Magazine also met Nelvia Jack, a mother of three, who was busy doing the laundry via a washing machine. She resides on The Jib Public Road and has been in the village for the past eight years and relocated from Mabaruma, Region One when she met her husband.

The housewife said life isn’t boring for her because she has a lot to do, even though her husband was away on a fishing expedition.

“I do my chores and then relax a bit and start all over again. I had a stall selling vegetables but things got slow and I quit that,” she said.

Jack added that after doing her chores which includes cooking, she will spend some time watching her favourite programme on television until the children get home from school.

‘Things are good there, I cannot complain because we live well and everybody is happy,’ she said.

Fazeema Zorina, another resident, lives with her extended family of nine adults and five children on The Jib public road.

They operate the only shop on the public road and she was there sweeping the yard while her daughter looked on.

The 21-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she got married and came to live at The Jib Village but is from Middlesex, also on the Essequibo Coast.

Zorina has a daughter who is one year and three months old and would assist her in-laws in the grocery shop and with the chores.

“We live together as a large family and we cook meals collectively and co-exist, even though I joined the family through marriage and everything is going good so far,” she said.

Zorina related that the country life is nice and it is up to you to make your life worthwhile by finding a job or something meaningful to occupy your time.

The Jib Village has several trees along the public road under which residents constructed wooden benches; it serves as a sitting area where they would have a chat or just take some good country breeze before retiring to bed.