By Michel Outridge

It was after a motorcycle accident that damaged his pelvis and limbs and left him bedridden for a year that Ryan Singh discovered he could no longer do strenuous work as he used to.

He used to be his father’s ‘right-hand’ man on their farm but then he had to look for less taxing work and it was then the idea of a roadside coconut and local fruit juice stand was conceptualised.

It was his best friend, Anil Singh called ‘Sunny’, who donated the wood for him to construct the wooden stand.

With the assistance of ‘Sunny’, Singh was able to complete the construction and a week ago they bought some water coconuts from villagers and began their small business.

Singh, a father of one sourced some local fruits and prepared some home-made fruit juices to sell as well.

“I am accustomed to farming because since I small I does be with my father and I help also with the cows and pigs but now I can’t manage that and the livestock was sold,” he said.

Singh stated that they have 10 acres of farmland on which his father cultivates vegetables and fruits.

Even though the motorcycle accident happened five years ago on Christmas night, he is often affected by it since he broke both legs and damaged his pelvis.

“I was in bed for one year straight and it was not easy to depend on others to take care of me,” he said.

But today, Singh is happy to be in good health and is making strides to earn since he has a family that is depending on him.

He makes juices from the fruits harvested from his father’s farm which includes watermelon, cane and pine.

Singh and his friend ‘Sunny’ will soon embark on their own farming of watermelons and melons, a sizable plot of land has already been identified for the venture.

The duo will clear the land and prepare if for farming within the new week and it will be a joint effort since ‘Sunny’ is a landscaper and has knowledge about farming.

The land is owned by ‘Sunny’ and the friends would also like to have their own coconuts to sell, rather than buying from others.

Singh’s roadside coconut stand has become a ‘stopping’ point for locals since its opening.

Most taxi drivers and other residents would meet up at the location daily to have cool coconut water or fresh fruit juice and engage in some chit-chat.

While there, the Pepperpot Magazine also met taxi driver Naresh Persaud, a jovial fellow who plies the New Amsterdam to Skeldon route.

Persaud added that with COVID-19, people have stopped moving from one point to the next unnecessarily, but they do only when it is essential, as such, it has put a dent in his pocket.

“People are not travelling as before so the work is not normal but I am trying still,” he said.

He would begin working from 6:30hrs to up until 16:00hrs because of the curfew and when the Pepperpot Magazine met him he had stopped briefly for a break before resuming work.

Even though Corriverton isn’t as busy as before the COVID-19 epidemic, Persaud and others still have to provide for their families and are going out to work, even for a few hours daily.

“Things not regular, but I am hoping we can get back to how it used to be, so people can have some form of normalcy to their lives; but we don’t have the coronavirus here in Region Six,” he said.