By Michel Outridge

THIS week the Pepperpot Magazine journeyed to the small roadside fishing/farming community known as The Jib. There the team spoke with residents, who were all too willing to chat about their way of life, among other things.

The Jib village is on the Essequibo Coast, a few villages from Charity. The village has about 500 residents mostly of Indo-Guyanese ancestry, but there are a handful of Indigenous, Afro-Guyanese and people of mixed race residing there.

The Jib is divided into two sections, that is, the side with the public road which is bordered by the seawall and the Atlantic Ocean and the housing scheme, which consists of a few streets after which there are vast farmlands and rice fields that stretch as far as the eye can see.

The people there earn their livelihoods by planting cash crops, rice and most of the men are fishermen, while others have small businesses and some work outside the village.
The Jib has the countryside look with traditional architecture of wooden houses and some larger houses made out of concrete blocks which are brightly painted and well kept.
The Pepperpot Magazine upon arrival in the village met Richard Chattergoon, who lives just over the concrete bridge where the village starts, separating The Jib from the village of Paradise.

The Jib is between Paradise and Exmouth villages and is described as the smallest village on the Essequibo Coast and the quietest. Chattergoon related that The Jib is a small and quiet place to live and he has been there for the past 30 years. He added that his parents are from the village, his father is still alive and they are a family of fisherfolk.
The 60-year-old stated that presently, the tide is very rough, as such, it is not a good time to be at sea, but when he does he goes out about two miles into the Atlantic Ocean, where he would bring back his catch of banga mary, ‘karass’ and other fish.

“I have market for my fish, I have a guy who comes and takes the entire catch for which I sell by the pound, so I wholesale all the fish I catch,” he said.

Chattergoon told the Pepperpot Magazine that he has only cellphone service since there is no landline phone service there, but they have electricity and potable water supply.
He added that the streets in the village need to be re-surfaced but other than that things are good once one is earning a living.

“This village small, so everybody is familiar with each other and they are neighbourly. I can say but people here are old-fashioned and simple, so there isn’t any major problems or conflicts,” he said.

Chattergoon related that The Jib is his home and he is comfortable there, even though the place is kind of slow and small.