Deodat Bissondyal is a farmer and a member of the Community Development Council (CDC) and plays a vital role in representing his community.

The 63-year-old was medically discharged from the Blairmont Sugar Estate in 2015 after he had an accident on the work site and that caused him to suffer a broken leg.

He worked for 43 and a half years at the Blairmont Sugar Estate and began working at 16 years old.

The father of seven stated that he has three sons in Trinidad and Tobago, another child in the United States of America, and three girls residing in Guyana.

He recalled that Balchyock Village was established eight years ago, when the administration fully developed it, but people lived on the land way before that.

Bissoondyal is one of the first settlers there and he moved there when there were no houses and only thick bushes.

He has been residing in Blairmont for 21 years and before his industrial accident, he depended heavily on the sugar industry for his daily bread.

These days he does small scale farming and would catch fish in the backdam and does the general upkeep of the yard while, his wife takes care of the kitchen and cooking.

He said life is quiet and peaceful in the community which is small so they enjoy a country life and would only go out to shop on Saturdays when there is a big market day at Rosignol.

Bissoondyal, from the looks of it, takes pride in keeping his surroundings clean and his yard and home is a very tidy place, one of the cleanest places ever with everything in its place and no grass in his backyard.

His yard has many fruit trees and vegetables and he would make fruits juices and store it in the refrigerator to use daily.

He has a lovely home and he seems very happy.

The early retiree, Jasoda Kishore
Bissoondyal’s neighbour is Jasoda Kishore. She has a modest cottage and lives alone.

The 59-year-old is a retired cleaner at the Blairmont Sugar Estate and these days, she is home doing household chores and cooking.

The mother of two said she makes do with her pension and her sons, who reside in Trinidad and Tobago, would send money for her monthly.

She has a crop of bananas in her yard and she would harvest and sell them at the market to earn.

“I does eat little bit and live long and that is a motto that has taken through life. I do not live beyond my means and it is a humble way to live,” she said.

She, like most neighbours, is an early riser and would get up to do chores and cook before the sun is up.

Before 07:00hrs she and the other women living nearby would meet up and chat daily.

Anita Bickram
In another street, there is Anita Bickram and her family.

The 53-year-old is preparing to have the one-year religious service for her late grandson and was in tears as she spoke of him.

The boy was six years old and mysteriously took ill at age three and was in and out of the hospital without medical professionals finding any complaints until he passed away while he was a patient at the New Amsterdam Hospital.

Bickram said that she has lost a son too, who was also ill.

The mother of four stated that she was residing with her daughter in Cayenne assisting on a farm for eight months and only returned to Guyana to bury her grandson.

“I really can’t get over the death of my grandchild because he grow with me and I really felt it hard,” she said.

She reported that coming back home was the best decision because life is even harder in Cayenne.

Bickram and her husband, Angad Kumar, 54, occupy the top flat of the house while, her daughter and son-in-law live in the lower flat of the building.

She is a housewife and her husband is a watchman at a fishery at Rosignol five days per week and they try with whatever they can, fishing, farming, making pointer brooms for the house and doing other things to be self-reliant.

Bickram stated that her husband went fishing and he made a catch which she prepared to dry, but with the rainy weather, she could not put it out in the sunshine.

The dried fish will be used in the kitchen with vegetables.