By Michel Outridge

MALVALY Laud is a resident of Silver Hill, Soesdyke-Linden Highway and it is the only place she has lived all her life.

The mother of five told the Pepperpot Magazine that her parents are from the community, she was born and raised in Silver Hill and today has her own family.

The mother of five has a small business which she operates from her home and it supplements her husband’s income.

Laud makes home-made traditional bitter cassava bread, with which she supplies supermarkets and other retail shops in Linden and in the city.

As a successful participant of the Hinterland Employment Youth Service (HEYS) programme since last July, she is versed in preparing Indigenous cuisine and would assist the villagers when they have an event, such as the celebration of Indigenous Heritage Month.

She stated that her grandmother was instrumental in hosting ‘heritage’ annually, but since she passed away two years ago, she has stepped up to the task in terms of arranging the event.

Laud explained that the villagers would come out and lend their support and the celebrations would attract a lot of people residing on the highway.

“Usually, ‘heritage’ is held on the last Saturday of the month and this year we will not have a big event like last one because of the pandemic,” she said.

Laud added that the women of the community would come together and prepare Amerindian cuisine and a cultural show would be arranged featuring a fashion show, a pageant with games such as a Pepperpot-eating competition, fire-lighting, arrow and bow shooting, among others.

“Our local foods and drinks would be on sale, but this year we will not have a grand event but we will try to have a small gathering at least, which is held on the lawns of my house,” she said.

Laud disclosed that her late grandmother, Carmelita Laud, who died at age 67, started organising the ‘heritage’ in 2009 and was also an active member of the nearby Roman Catholic Church.

She promoted cultural development in Silver Hill and was wise beyond her age and was deemed the matriarch of the village.

Today, her grand-daughter would share her ideas with her fellow villagers to make the ‘heritage’ event possible.

Laud is an entrepreneur making cassava bread, which is packaged, labelled and placed in a pack of three after which it is ‘wholesaled’ to merchants.

Luckily, they do not incur any cost for the bitter cassava, since they grow their own in the farmland they have at the rear of their house.

But at times to meet the demand they would source from the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) on the highway or other farmers within the village.

“My husband works on a farm, so he has an idea of farming and we collectively tend to the cultivation,” she said.

Laud said despite some hiccups such as no electricity or potable water supply, they live a simple life.

“The cost for buying gas for the generator is high and sometimes we have no choice but to stay in the dark and we ‘make do’ with whatever we can afford,” she said.

Laud reported that Silver Hill is a quiet, beautiful place to enjoy a good family life and it was evident her family unit is closely knit.

One of her five children, a young boy, O’Neil, was petting his pet parrot which he had on his hand.

The parrot, Sherry, he said is his friend and they enjoy many adventures within the confines of their big yard space which has many trees and other greenery.

The coal-miner/farmer/landscaper

The Pepperpot Magazine also met Dan Stanton, a coal miner/farmer, landscaper, and also a resident of Silver Hill.

He is originally from Leguan, Essequibo River and went to Linden for a wedding, after which he visited a relative in Silver Hill.
Stanton related that he got to like the place,so he left his home village and relocated and has been a villager for the past 28 years.

The 58-year-old explained that he hardly leaves the village and the last time he went out was last year.

He has some chickens, he would do his coal-mining and has a few acres of farm land where he cultivates sweet potatoes, yams, plantains, bananas and other fruits and vegetables for the kitchen.

“This is a kind of place where the birds would wake you up before sunrise and it is very much a part of nature, among other things,” he said.

The father of six added that he would do his coal-mining and whenever he gets landscaping jobs he would do that too.

Stanton added that he would gather wood from the forested area or at sawmills for his coal-mining, which he does in his backyard.