By Michel Outridge
THIS week the Pepperpot Magazine journeyed to Green Valley Village, which is located in Wismar, Linden and it is indeed a very green valley with an abundance of trees, fruits, vegetables and vegetation.
This village goes uphill, downhill and then there is the valley, home to about 200 Guyanese mainly of African descent.
Despite heavy rainfall, the team managed to get to the village where there are no all-weather roads, just a makeshift walkway in and out of the village with many shortcuts that go uphill, downhill and throughout the valley.
There are many one-person tracks that lead to houses and most are at an elevated position and are not easy to traverse, especially in the wet season when they are very slippery.
Green Valley is a lovely scenic place that is very peaceful and the people are very welcoming and friendly, but reserved.
The small community is located in the middle of Silvertown, Half-Mile and Wismar Housing Scheme.
According to elders in the village, Green Valley was once uninhabited and was used as a dumpsite; then some places were cleared of vegetation and drains were dug and after land-clearing, people began occupying the place.
Over the years the village got some basic necessities and the village has two large natural springs with several smaller ones and before they got potable water supply, that water was used for consumption.
Although there has never been major flooding, accumulation of water happens in the valley when it rains heavily and the small drains cannot accommodate the water that flows into the valley from the highland.
Apart from these issues, the people have none other and at times there is some disagreement among the residents, but they would eventually resolve them and move forward.
The people of Green Valley are cooperative and they are managed by the Community Development Council (CDC), which is headed by Randolph Arindell, who is married to Linden Mayor Waneka Arindell.
Even though development in this community is slow, they have seen some over the years and they are somewhat contented.
There are not many shops in Green Valley and people would often leave the village for neighbouring villages to buy supplies for their everyday use and utilise the services in other villages as well.
At the entrance of the village, there is the Wismar Post Office, a nursery school and a community centre ground.
There are about 50 houses, most of which sit comfortably uphill and in the valley, small concrete structures that are well-painted and look like they are right out of a storybook.
The people told the Pepperpot Magazine that the village is small but peaceful and they are at home and have no desire to move. Most of the villagers are locals who have lived all their lives in the valley.
Even those who married into Green Valley are comfortable and seem very much integrated into the village.
The people of Green Valley do not buy coconuts or most fruits and vegetables, since they are grown in the community which is blessed with fertile soil and in almost every yard there is an abundance of fruits and vegetables, which is shared within the village.
It is a place where cashews, plums and whatever fruit is in season is left to rot on the ground because it is very plentiful.
Green Valley is also home to the Mayor of Linden, Waneka Arindell, and many public servants who are nurses, teachers, managers, police officers, soldiers and other skilled folk.
Due to the rapid unemployment rate in Green Valley, many young people have left the village to seek jobs in the city and elsewhere, while some elders have passed away and there is only a handful of senior citizens enjoying the ripe age of retirement.
Green Valley is an agriculture-based village but the produce is not sold but is is used in the kitchen or given away among villagers.
The village isn’t yet regularised and land titles haven’t seen handed out, even though some villagers have paid.
The only other valley in Wismar is Victory Valley, which is called ‘The valley of tears’.
