IT was while going through Ocean View, Uitvlugt, West Coast Demerara the team stumbled upon Muntag Alli, who was comfortably knitting a cast net at his home.

The 56-year-old is quite an all-rounder who does construction work, but learned the skill of knitting cast nets as a boy.

Muntag Alli knitting a cast net at his home (Carl Croker photos)

Alli disclosed that he used to watch his father making cast nets by hand, a painstaking task that requires excellent handiwork, patience and good eyesight.

He reported that his father used to work with fishermen mending their cast nets whenever they returned from the sea and that’s how he learned to knit cast nets and began making them.

He added that depending on the size of the cast net he makes of nylon twine it would take days to complete one.

The father of three told the Pepperpot Magazine that when he is not making cast net he would buy and sell fish in the village to earn because he returned to Guyana after 33 years in Venezuela and is renting a place.

He explained that he is Guyanese, from Leonora, but left the country of his birth for a better life and migrated with his family to neighbouring Venezuela, but when that country began experiencing an economic decline, he was forced to return to his home country.

The resident of Ocean View, Uitvlugt, said when he returned things were hard finding a place to live and having to start over his life.

He explained that he lived here for 22 years then left Guyana and returned three years ago.

Alli added that he had to start over from scratch and is renting a downstairs and would do any work available to earn, since things haven’t been exactly easy.

“It would take two weeks to make a five-foot cast net and this is really my childhood hobby I would do from time to time and have cast nets in store to sell to make a living when I cannot get work,” he said. “This isn’t a run-of-the-mill kind of work, it is like being a tailor, sewing, but in the form of knitting and you cannot take your eyes off the cast net because with one wrong move you are in trouble,” he said.

Alli added that he would knit for a few hours straight then take a rest because his eyes would hurt and then start the next day; or if he has cast nets to complete, he would try to finish them the same day.

At the time, he was knitting a five-foot cast net that was hanging from a nail on a post and he was in the standing position using both his hands at the same time to knit the cast net.

Alli stated that he would knit cast nets that are up to 11 feet long and that would take weeks to complete.

“I would work, knitting up to three to four hours at a time to finish a cast net, but when I can’t any more I would take a break to rest my eyes,” he said.

He had in stock five finished cast nets for buyers, so when people come to make a purchase they do not have to wait for him to finish making the cast net he has.

Alli disclosed that they are trying to get a plot of land, so they can build a house to avoid paying high rent.

He added that the neighbours are friendly and they get along well, but their goal is owning their own house and they are making small steps to achieve just that.

Alli and his wife both seem content for the time being and are willing to rebuild their lives here in Guyana.