By Michel Outridge

ADELLA Phang is a resident of Morashee Village, East Bank Essequibo and has been living on the mainland for four years.

She is a security guard attached to the Morashee Health Post and works the day shift.

The 52-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that travelling to and from the health post is challenging because she has to wade through mud in a swamp-like environment.

The mother of four said she was forced to secure a small boat with a paddle she would use to get home from the health post after work.

She has been attached to the Morashee Health Post for the past two years and has been trying with the situation of being paid late every month.

Phang stated that the security job is her main and only source of income for her family and she depends heavily on it.

She works the 07:00hrs to 16:30hrs shift every day without a day off.

The village farmer

Meanwhile, the Pepperpot Magazine met a farmer, Rabindra Singh, a local, who has spent most of his life in Morashee Village

The 59-year-old reported that he has some lands which are often flooded, but would plant cash crops, bananas and plantains to sell to make a living.

Singh stated that he has been farming for the past 35 years and disclosed that the community needs a lot, since there is not much there to enhance the people’s lives.

The nearest secondary school is at Salem/Parika and it is a journey by boat then minibus, a cost is incurred by the parents, most of whom can barely afford to put food on the table.

Singh pointed out that he would at times take his produce via boat to Hubu Koker or Parika to sell when the harvest is bountiful, but with the rainy season, it is not so at present.

He disclosed that there is no electricity, no potable water, no internet services, just cellphone service which is poor and there are no roads in the village, just dams and swamp.

“To get here, I walked about a mile and a half through a muddy trail, so you can image [sic] the conditions here, but we try to make it and it’s not easy,” he said.

The security guard

The Pepperpot Magazine met another villager, Sherwin Williams, a security guard attached to the Morashee Health Post.

The 39-year-old stated that he has been a security guard for the health post for three years and has been living in Morashee for the same number of years.

Williams is married to a local and they have a daughter.

He is originally from the North West District, Region One (Barima/Waini), but relocated to be closer to his family; his mother has been residing at Morashee for a while.

“We are not well off people here, as you can see the condition we live in and when it rains how this place is wet and muddy, so we depend on our salary [sic] at the end of the month which is late by months, and it is not easy because I still have to work and support a home,” he said.

Williams added that when they do decide to pay he has to find his way to Ruby Village, where they have a small office, to collect his salary.

Apart from the challenges, Williams said he is never late for work and is at the location seven days per week.

He cannot yet afford to buy a solar panel, so he has no lights at night in his home and it is frightening because of the wild animals around.

Williams is one of the six families that benefitted from the government’s initiative for the COVID-19 relief cash grant and he is pleased to be a beneficiary.