MY 10-year-old brother asked me a few months ago, “Didi, if you had a time machine, wey you would want go?” and I couldn’t help but think, ‘back in the good ole days’; not the ones I’d experienced, but the ones that my grandmother and great-grandmother often bragged about; the days of being able to sleep peacefully with their doors and windows open; the ‘days’ of telling ‘jumbie’ stories under the night skies and the days of not just coexisting, but of communities functioning as an extended family; of people from all backgrounds being regarded and loved for just being human, regardless of colour of skin and textures of hair.
For me, the good ole days would also mean being able to play endlessly under somebody’s daubed bottom house, and later falling asleep in their ‘bag’ hammock, as scratchy as I remember it to be. Even imagining it has put a smile on my face; I could almost feel the cold mud under my feet; the uneven ground that still felt as smooth as angora silk.

Then suddenly, my daydream vanishes as I fail to attribute a scent to the image I painted so fascinatingly in my mind. As a person who hoards old perfume bottles, I am very keen on fragrances. That is why I never use the same fragrance more than once, so each scent is almost like a time capsule; the smell of those cucumber mists from Avon takes me back to my high school days, and a whiff of Elizabeth Taylor’s white diamonds reminds me of the warmth of my mother’s hugs.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t remember the smell of an authentically daubed bottom house, and it made me a little agitated. I eventually shirked the thoughts of the ‘good ole days’, but then my Editor-In-Chief, Tajeram Mohabir, got me hooked on a conversation about traditions and customs that seem to have been lost with time. As fate would have it, he made specific reference to the practice of daubing bottom houses, and thought it would be a good idea for us to find persons who still engage in such intriguing traditions.

I immediately began asking around, but the more I asked, the more disappointed I became. It appeared as though every house in the country had a yard of grass or concrete. This meant that I would never be able to experience standing on a daubed bottom house ever again.
A few weeks would go by and I would be visiting the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo)’s Blairmont Estate, Berbice for a press conference. Of course, the ancient county would be the best place to search for ancient traditions, and so, I resumed my quest to find somebody who still daubs their bottom house.

HAPPY WITH POOP HANDS

As it would turn out, the taxi driver’s relatives were just the people I had been looking for. Their humble abode is situated in Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, and they seem to be enjoying a life quite similar to what I imagined the ‘good ole days’ to be. In a brief chat ‘Perdita’, one of the occupants of the home, explained the art of ‘daubing’, and asked whether I wanted to try it. I jumped at the opportunity and Perdita was kind enough to walk me through the entire process; from acquiring the ‘cow dung’ and making the mixture, to actually assisting her to daub her bottom house. And truth be told, I had never been happier to have poop on my hands.

“Me does do this one or mussy two time ah week,” Perdita said. She noted that even though many of the persons in the village no longer ‘daub’, she has found comfort in continuing the tradition taught to her by her parents and grandparents.
“Ah suh, me to; since me bin ah lil gyal me ah do this,” one of Perdita’s relatives interjected.
The tradition of using cow dung in construction and architecture, is a tradition that was brought to Guyana by East Indian immigrants who first arrived here in May 1838. These indentured labourers lived in ‘logies’, often referred to as mud huts.
After I was done daubing the bottom house, I stood there and took a deep breath. Sure, it smelled a little like poop, but there was some level of comfort and satisfaction in the smell.

AUNTY SURSATTIE’S OUTSIDE KITCHEN

Meanwhile, as I proceeded to another assignment at Port Mourant, I was introduced to ‘Aunty Sursattie’, an 85-year-old woman who resides at Guava Bush, a relatively small village along the Corentyne. As my colleague, Adrian Narine and I visited her home, she wasted no more than a minute before offering us some tea, her favourite beverage. We looked on in awe as she proceeded to her ‘outside kitchen’, reaching for the pot of tea that rested comfortably on her fireside.
A neighbour explained that despite having every bit of comfort inside her home, ‘Aunty Sursattie’ also chooses to indulge in the traditions that she inherited from her parents and grandparents.

The former GuySuCo ‘weeder woman’ remains active and highly interested in telling stories of the past and teaching us ‘younguns’ the traditions of yesteryear. As soon as ‘Aunty Sursattie’ heard that I was interested in learning how to ‘daub,’ she immediately signalled me to follow her back to her outdoor kitchen. She grabbed her bucket of cow-dung and proclaimed, “Come me guh show yuh how fi do this thing. Dem this thing nah hard, ayuh just gah fi larn how fi do am,” she said. Perdita and Aunty Sursattie are two of the very few people who continue to maintain a tradition that dates back to thousands of years ago.

COW-DUNG FOR ECO-CONSTRUCTION

As a matter of fact, “archaeologists have found evidence of mud brick buildings constructed as early as 10 thousand years ago in the Middle East and North Africa, where impressive buildings up to ten stories high have been recorded in an unbroken architectural tradition that continues today,” according to a comprehensive research done by the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, at the National University of Malaysia (UKM).
In India, the use of cow dung as a building material is referred to as eco-construction, and years ago, mud houses were considered to be quite resilient to climate change, since cow dung remains warm in winters and cold in summers.

With cows being sacred animals in Hinduism, the use of cow dung to pave walls and floors also have a religious significance. In some Indian villages, applying cow dung is part of the cleaning process for many households.
From a scientific perspective, cow dung is said to have the power to kill several types of bacteria that are harmful for humans. It is also said to be a repellent for small insects such as mosquitos, scorpions and centipedes. Cow dung is also used in many parts of the developing world to make fuel. Despite these benefits, concrete continues to be used as a more convenient construction alternative.