– Making the most of life

COLLIS Forrester is a resident of Adventure Village, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, who is employed with Bosai Minerals Group (Guyana) and for him that small community is his oasis and home. He is originally from Wales, West Bank Demerara and enjoys the quiet life as a farmer on a family farm of pineapples. The father of two reported that he would go to Linden for business and shopping and had just got home when the team visited. He has a well-constructed wooden cottage where he resides with his pregnant wife and two children.

“I love living here because you don’t have to study if you will get rob or anything like that,” he said. His family farm extends way down to the Demerara River and he would assist when it is bearing season and other times he works at Bosai Minerals Group (Guyana). The miner Meanwhile, Zebedee Milton, a miner, who is at home due to bad weather in the interior, said life at Adventure Village is fair.

The father of two added that he lives among an extended family of siblings, his elderly parents and others, whose houses are next door. The 39-year-old stated that his wife is pregnant, so he wanted to be close to home but finding employment isn’t so easy. Milton’s wife would harvest the cassava they have in the backyard to make cassareep and cassava bread which they would sell to bring in an income to the home. He pointed out that coconuts are used in the home and to make other things they need.

The Adventure resident reported that with the children at home, they need some educational activities to take up their time and it would be good if

an ICT hub is established, since they have no facilities in the community. The housewife Subrina Singh, who is relatively new to Adventure Village is settling in nicely in her newly constructed home. She moved to the community 10 months ago from Region One, Mabaruma, with her five children and husband. Singh explained that she was living in a small makeshift shack and recently she settled in her new house, a wooden cottage outfitted with a verandah.

Her husband is away in the interior working as an excavator operator and is expected home for Christmas. Singh relies on her small business, a shop and has started a chicken business with 100 meat birds which she would pluck and sell to earn. “Moving here we have more space, the place is nice and we are comfortable as is; we are trying to improve our lives by doing things to make a living,” she said. The shopkeeper Bernice Freso is also a resident of Adventure Village and has her own small business, a shop. The 22-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she wanted a job and got none and it was then the idea of a shop was birthed.

The mother of one depends on sales from the shop to support herself and her son. She also has a kitchen garden which provides vegetables for the kitchen. The Craft Maker
Christianni James is the craft maker of the community and an elder in the village, who was among the first settlers. The 64-year-old has recently renovated his house and is expected to re-start making hats, hand fans, baskets, sifters, and matapees from muckru he gets from the swampy area in the village. The senior citizen has a two-acre cassava crop which his wife utilises to make cassava bread and cassareep for sale.

He has been living at Adventure Village for the past 30 years; he used to reside in a small shack in front of the village, then when more people moved in, he relocated deep into the community. He is originally from Annai and moved around the country a lot while he was employed in the aviation sector for many years. The father of eight stated that his children are all grown, one of whom is a forest ranger with Iwokrama. James is also employed with Iwokrama on a part-time basis and due to the pandemic he is at home taking care of the fowls, the dogs and the plants he has in his yard. “Life isn’t easy, but you can’t give up, you have to try to make things better every day,” he said.