At the entrance to Balchyock Village, Blairmont, West Bank Berbice is the modest cottage owned and occupied by Leslie Lochan, a sugar worker who had worked the night shift and was taking rest in his hammock, in his small verandah.
The 30-year-old is unmarried and lives alone in his small wooden cottage and is without potable water supply and electricity but is still comfortable in his own house.
Lochan told the Pepperpot Magazine that he was residing with family members in the same village but decided he wanted his own place and built a small house to relocate.
He works as a labourer at Blairmont Sugar Estate and still had to prepare his meal and get some rest before doing other chores such as filling and fetching water from his neighbour’s yard.
Lochan added that he has to work the 14:00hrs to 22:00hrs shift and was preparing to do just that because he has to work and still be able to manage his household chores.
“I wanted to live alone, away from family, so here I am with the little I have and in time I will be able to afford utilities and be even more comfortable,” he said.
The housewife
Further up the street is the home of Satyananti Ramdahan called “Sabrina”, who had woken up at the crack of dawn and had cleaned up, prepared breakfast to send her husband and son off to work and was making lunch and dinner.
The 40-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she would prepare vegetables the night before, so when she gets up to cook, she is ready to make a stew and roti/rice to finish in time to send her husband to work at the nearby Blairmont Sugar Estate.
Her husband is a mechanic at the estate for the past 30 years and he would do his gardening and go fishing when he is off duty and do things around the yard.
Ramdahan stated that she is the mother of three, two boys and a girl, who got married two weeks ago and is residing at Rosignol.
Her eldest son is a security guard at the estate and her youngest son is a packaging worker at the same sugar estate.
The Balchyock resident added that she has some chickens and ducks rearing in the backyard but lost some ducks two months ago due to the rains.
“My husband does the gardening but now it is too rainy to plant much because only the thick leaf calaloo survived,” she said.
Ramdahan explained that they do not buy fish since her son goes in the back dam with the cast net and usually makes a reasonable catch, she uses for the pot whenever they need.
During his last trip, he made a catch of hassar, long tail, conga and ‘kurass’.
She stated that life is quiet and peaceful there and they do not have minibuses plying the route except cars and they would use that to get to Rosignol and other places and the men would use their motorcycles and bicycles to get to and from work.
Ramdahan has one of the most well-kept, cleanest yards and her house is well put together, as well.
She added that she used to live in the squatting area at Blairmont and 26 years ago she got married and when they were allocated a plot they relocated to Balchyock Village.
It has been 13 years already and when she moved there, it was dense forest and they do self-help to clear the land and bring it to the condition it is in today.
The stay-at-home mom
Meanwhile, down the same street is the home of Saskia Kissoon, a mother of one.
She is a stay-at-home housewife who has a 13 years old son, who spends most of his time on the internet.
She has plenty of time to do chores and cook and still has time to engage the neighbours in friendly chat like they were when the team visited.
Kissoon said she would only leave home when she has to pay bills, buy groceries or visit relatives in New Amsterdam.
She had already prepared breakfast and was thinking about a meal plan for lunch/dinner since her son is picky with certain foods.
The 40-year-old stated that she is very comfortable in the village and has good neighbours, who are like family, so she feels safe and protected.
She said it is a place where she doesn’t have pesky, miserable, noisy neighbours but good people and it is easier to live in harmony.
