By Michel Outridge

THIS week, the Pepperpot Magazine visited the quiet, close-knit village of Le Destin, East Bank Essequibo.

Le Destin is bordered by Farm and Organgestein villages and is home to descendants of the Rahaman and Yusuf families, who once owned the village.

The community is small and has only one street, that is, the Old Road which has a few houses.

Le Destin is home to the head of the Guyana Cancer Institute of Guyana Dr. Syed Ghazi and a handful of people, who are mostly related.

There are less than 50 houses and about 100 residents, mostly Muslims and are said to be very cooperative people, whose fences have gates to each other’s yards.

Le Destin is about two miles from Parika and it is French for the word Destiny.

The people of the village are simple folk with everyday jobs who make ends meet by planting kitchen gardens and some are self-employed, as well.

The team first met Aftab Azir, who was returning home from cutting grass for his pet rabbits, a daily routine for him.

He recently took a liking to rabbits and acquired two and was supposed to construct a pen to make them more comfortable.

The 52-year-old reported that he resides with his sister and her husband and they co-exist quite comfortably.

He added that he has eight sheep in his back yard and would tend to them and would like to buy two more rabbits, which he will make his pets.

“I am from his village, the only place is lived and it will be the same until the end because there is no stress here and we live in peace and do whatever we have to survive and I am used to this quiet life, “he said.

Aftab stated that he is self-employed and is pleased he is not working with anyone.

The team also spoke to Meer Amza Husain, he is the brother-in-law of Azir.

He is originally from La Grange, West Bank Demerara but has been residing at Le Destin for the past 20 years.

“This place nice, people go about their daily routine in relative ease and there is no quarrel or that sort of thing because most people here are related and we live like a big family,” he said.

Husain added that some Spanish people recently moved into the village and are renting a house, other than that everyone is familiar with each other.

He is a man of many trades but these days, he is a landscaper but work isn’t steady because of COVID-19, things are on a standstill.

“I does get a few weeding jobs but not much and I try to content with that and do other things to bring in a salary,” he said.

Husain related that most people in the village work outside the community and some are self-employed and are rice farmers while others have small businesses they are trying to keep going.

He reminisced that back in the days, he used to be a truck driver with DIDCO and used to visit many parts of the country delivering goods and services and was a tractor/trailer driver with GUYSUCO and used to take cane cutters to the backlands to cut cane.

Husain stated that he was also a minibus driver that plied the route 32 and 42 routes and is au fait with a lot of people and places.

These days, he is taking things easy wing to the current situation with the novel coronavirus and the outcome of our elections.