A safe, scenic village

This week the Pepperpot Magazine visited the active village of North Timehri, East Bank Demerara, to highlight the way of life of the people and features of the community. The village is located 41 kilometres from Georgetown. The name “Timehri” is an Amerindian word meaning “paintings and drawings” on a rock. And it is said that the first settlers were of Amerindian origin.

North Timehri is the last village on that corridor and it is divided into several sections and North Timehri in itself is quite large with a squatting area that is populated and is home to many mixed ethnicities.
North Timehri goes uphill and downhill and in the middle of the community, there is a deep valley that is called Sandpit and people reside there too.

It is a village with many nooks, crannies, back alleys, valleys and tracks that lead from one place to another.
Over the years, the village has expanded as more people from across the country began occupying the land and erected houses.
Today, the village has indeed grown in population and more houses are going up and it is a nice place where most things are within reach.

The residents reported that the roads in the community were at an acceptable standard, but when the CJIA expansion project started the huge trucks and equipment passing through left the roads in a deplorable state.
The community has many small shops and almost all groceries, meats and fish are sourced in the village but schools and health services are sourced on the main access road or a village away, Soesdyke.
The people of North Timehri, East Bank Demerara, are farmers, security guards, some work at CJIA, at Bounty Farms Ltd, small-business owners, sawmills on the highway and other skilled professionals.

North Timehri is an idyllic place and the people are very friendly and welcoming. It has the CJIA which is a major airport that was formerly called Timehri International Airport. The Timehri Prison is located in this village, as well as a branch of the Guyana Fire Service and the army’s base Camp Stephenson.
It is also home to the South Dakota Circuit, where numerous international competitors meet and participate in motor-racing events each year. The track is located on a former part of the airport.
This community also houses the Jubilee Resort and Fun Park.

The CDC
The team met the Chair of the Community Development Council (CDC), Carmen Simon, who stated that she is also the Chair of the North Timehri Coop Society.

Simon is known for doing a lot to empower women and young people in the community.
She disclosed that the village has about 420 houses and the population is about 6,000.
She explained that some people came from the Demerara River, the Pomeroon River, Berbice, Region One and other places across the country to settle in North Timehri.
The people are of all races, making the occupants of mixed ethnicities, but they peacefully live among each other.
Simon is also a businesswoman, who has a shop, a hardware store at her home and is well liked among the people.
She is also a community worker, who volunteers her time to assist others and would encourage people to learn a trade, do something to earn and would even seek employment for some.
Although Simon is not originally from the area, she moved there some years ago from Kitty, Georgetown, and has made Timehri North her home.

“People around here have no real issues and we live in unity and everybody here does do something for work and it is a mixture of people who reside here,” she said.

Timehri North has many shops, churches, small businesses and an active Community Policing Group.

Simon said the unemployed women were empowered when the Government of Guyana (GoG) through the Ministry of Social Protection established the Timehri North Co-operative Society Limited Salted Fish Processing Facility; it is funded by the Sustainable Livelihoods and Entrepreneurial Development (SLED) Project.

Since the start of this project, 10 previously unemployed women became gainfully employed and are now equipped with a skill to earn a living.

The women, all from the community, prepare the different types of fish after which it is salted, dried and packaged for sale to mostly wholesale buyers, then distributed countrywide to be retailed.

Behind this village, are the Timehri Prison, the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) and other companies including, the Laparkan Shipping section.