By Michel Outridge

WINDSOR Forest is a countryside village located on the West Coast of Demerara and it is the home of rice-farming and a multi-ethnic community of skilled people.

It is densely populated with about 3,000 residents, predominantly of Indo-Guyanese descent and a combination of all other ethnicities including, Chinese, Portuguese and they have also seen their fair share of Venezuelans.

The people there are mostly large-scale rice farmers, a handful of cash-crop farmers, small-business operators and persons who work within both the private and public sectors.

Windsor Forest is between Ruimzeight and La Jalousie villages and has basic infrastructure such as roads, electricity, potable water supply, telephone services, both landline and cellphone.

Windsor Forest has a primary school, a nursery school, a health centre, a community centre ground with a ballfield, the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) Nouvelle Flanders/La Jalousie, the Water Users Association which is housed in the old ticketing office of the railway train, taxi services, beauty salons, barbershops, two Chinese supermarkets, Chinese restaurants and vast backlands.

The village starts from the public road and ends way down into the backlands which accommodate large-scale rice-farming.

The architectural landscape of Windsor Forest boasts large houses with intricate designs — both in wood and concrete — and sprawling edifices with equally beautiful landscapes.

In almost every yard there is a tractor or some large vehicle and the surroundings are well-kept and maintained.

About three-quarters of the residents are self-employed, owing to the fact that they grow their own fruits and vegetables; there are some poultry and cattle farmers as well.

The first person the Pepperpot Magazine met at the entrance of the village is a roadside snackette owner, Rookmin Shivanauth, called “Pinky.”

She is a friendly woman who inherited the family business when her parents passed away.

The snackette has been in the family for more than 20 years and was first managed by her parents.

She has been in charge of the business for just over a year, which was when her father died.

Shivanauth said Windsor Forest is the only place she has lived all her life, adding that even though she married a man from outside the village, he became a resident of the community.

“This place safe and I feel secure because we have no thieves or those things here and we live in peace without any major issues,” she said.

Shivanauth told the Pepperpot Magazine that she would start her day very early in the morning when most people are still asleep to prepare her snacks for eggball, pholurie, cassava ball, fish ball, chicken ball, to go with fresh coconut water and cane juice.

“You can walk anywhere in this village at nights or even in the day and no one will trouble you,” she said.

Shivanauth added that the place is so safe, they have had an influx of Venezuelans who are renting and working in the village.

“I have to wake up at 03:30hrs to do the cooking, but it is worth it because I never in my life worked with anybody and I am not about to start,” she said.

Before operating the family snackette, she used to sell CDs and DVDs at the Parika Market for eight years and sold greens at the Charity Market for four years.

Shivanauth stated that her mother died five years ago and then her father passed away last year, leaving her the snackette.

She has a brother who operates a similar business from his canter truck at Diamond, East Bank Demerara.

Shivanauth opens her snackette from 07:30hrs until her snacks are sold out and would repeat the process the next day.

Right next to her roadside snackette there is a large tree which provides adequate shade for some taxi drivers, who would park their vehicles there and enjoy the country breeze.