By Michel Outridge

CALVIN Smithet wanted a better quality of life for himself and family; as such, he left his home village Matthews Ridge, Region One (Barima-Waini).

Today, eight years later, he has a home in Waiakabra Village, located on the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, a quaint hilly community that is sandwiched between Hill Foot and Yarrowkabra.

He describes life in that neck of the woods as great, because he has a small business that is operated by his wife and he has a thriving garden in his spacious backyard.

Smithet told the Pepperpot Magazine that it wasn’t easy to leave his village and move to another and that he had to start from scratch, but it was worth it.

He has a house and they sell cold beverages, confectionery and vegetables at their small roadside stand in front of their house.

The father of three related that life in Waiakabra Village is like anywhere else, because you have to work to earn, to adequately provide for your family.

“Things okay here, but my main concern is to have electricity like others in this village and with the four sandpits at the back of the village as you can see, the road is now sand since the once all-weather road was destroyed by the large trucks traversing there every day,” he said.

Smithet added that they have cellphones with both GTT and Digicel networks, but no internet hub for the schoolchildren, but that they have potable water supply which is a blessing.

“Recently, a garbage disposal service came to the village so that is a paid service so people here don’t really dump rubbish around, as you can see the place is clean and we promote cleanliness,” he said.

Smithet related that a lot of people pass through the village because they have Camp Kayuka at the back, but often some cannot reach the location because the road is in a bad state.

“The people here are ordinary folk, who make a living by working on farms and others go outside the village for work with some private companies and some plant,” he said.

He has a budding garden in his backyard, full of vegetables such as bora, calalloo, peppers, banana, and tomatoes among other crops.

“We are contented and we try to make a living because you cannot sit down and complain, you have to work, do something to bring in a dollar in the home to get by,” he said.

Smithet and his children would plant in the backyard, while his wife manages the roadside stand they have.

The Mechanic of Waiakabra

The Pepperpot Magazine during the visit to the community also met Lorenzo Kellman, a mechanical engineer, who was still celebrating Father’s Day with a friend.

The duo were having some alcoholic beverages, chatting and playing music from a bluetooth music box via a cellphone, under a shed in the community.

The 46-year-old reported that he was not working that day and having enjoyed the Father’s Day celebration with his family, it was a held-over event.

“Life never have a problem with me, you have to apply yourself and do something to earn because things change and it doesn’t remain stagnant all the time,” he said.

Kellman told the Pepperpot Magazine that in 1990 he enrolled at the GuySuCo Port Mourant Training Centre, Berbice.

Four years later, he graduated as an Agricultural Mechanic and today he earns from that skill, fixing machines and other things within the village and its environs.

“I had the potential and I was encouraged to pursue higher education and here I am today, fully dependent on myself and earning, more so, working with myself,” he said.

Kellman added that since he was a child, he had the presence of mind to fix things and his mother used to call him “Home Care” because there wasn’t anything broken in the house he couldn’t fix.

“You see everybody born with a talent, so they have to explore the possibilities and apply themselves. Practice makes perfect and you have to perfect that skill and there you have it, an ingrained gift that you can earn [from],” he said.