ONE day, Vanester Lucius went to a salon to utilise the services and observed a hairdresser braiding the hair of a customer and said to herself she can do it.

With that thought in mind, the mother of one looked on for a while– maybe longer than she should have, she admitted– but then she went home.

Lucius started braiding in her verandah and was very confident she would get better as time goes went by and she did.

It was at her home she began practising braiding until she had a firm handle on it and before you know it she had customers flooding her premises to utilise her expertise.

Lucius said she watched some YouTube videos on hair-braiding and she became familiar with many styles and what was trending.

The self-taught hairdresser said she is the only person in her village who provides such a service and she has a small shop in her yard where all hair-braiding is done.

The 37-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she can handle all styles and she doesn’t use any chemicals, because of personal health reasons.

The Ulverston resident stated that customers would come from all over to get their hair braided, so she had to open a shop to accommodate them.

In 2014 she constructed a small wooden shop in her front yard and has been a hairdresser who specialises in braids for about eight years now.

“Customers would come with their own style for braids or would ask me to give them a style that would match their face structure and what is trending today is long braids, way down to the waist and it takes four to five hours to complete such braids, she said.

“I grew up in Manchester Village but I was born in Essequibo and at age six my family relocated to Manchester and I got married and now reside in Ulverston, a village away,” she said.

Lucius added that she started a course in braiding, but due to COVID-19 the sessions were put on hold, so she will have to complete the course before she can display her qualification.

She can also do interlocking, extensions and practically any braids styles. She expressed plans to make her shop cosier by adding an air conditioning unit, products and services.
Lucius’ braid shop is currently closed as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic,but will re-open when it is safe to do so.

Tamesh and the GuySuCo chalk notice board
Meanwhile, also in Ulverston Village, the Pepperpot Magazine met Tamesh Mohabir, a security professional who works at night and is the son of a senior sugar worker.

Affixed to his fence is a notice board; it was put there by the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) many years ago to alert cane harvesters when they have to work.

That day, the board was written up by a foreman, a day before which read “Mon (cut load)” which simply means cane cutters had to work on Monday to cut and load cane which was harvested from the cane,fields.

“Growing up, my dad worked with GuySuCo and he retired as a senior staff and as long as I can remember, the notice board was on our fence and the cane cutters would pass to see when they had to work,’’ he said.

Mohabir explained that the cane cutters would come out to catch the truck for 04:00hrs to make their way into the backlands to load the punts which transport the cane to the factory.

The father of two related that life in Ulverston is good and during the lockdown, they have had good Samaritans come to the village and donate face masks and hampers to residents, so they are not forgotten and he is grateful for that.
Mohabir resides with his father, who is 77 years old, in the family home, the same one in which he grew up.