CHERYL Alphonso has lived all her life in Victory Valley, Wismar, Linden, and has roots in the village where her fore-parents once lived.

The resident has a small shop and that is her only source of income and the community supports that business.

The mother of five told the Pepperpot Magazine that life in Victory Valley is good once you have an income and it is a place that is frequented by a lot of people. The locals know each other, so visitors are spotted right away.

Her home and shop are conveniently located just near the entrance of the village, which is also called ‘Jaffa Corner.’

The farmer/bush medicine doctor
At the edge of the village deep in the valley is the home of Dawn Lambert and her extended family.

The 62-year-old is a farmer and she likes the natural setting where her home is and it took her many years to upkeep and cultivate the land to what it is today, a lovely garden of plants, fruits, flowers and vegetables.

She grows her own food and utilises the spring water and she would walk and sell her produce in the village.

The mother of nine told the Pepperpot Magazine that she is not from Linden, but it is her home now and came to the valley when she was six years old.

She recalled it was a little after the disturbances in 1965 and she went to school and then started working.

Lambert said when she started a family, she did many jobs to send her children to school.

She used to cook and sell food and did security work for some time.

Lambert is the grandmother of 20, the great grandmother of two and today she is a pensioner and a farmer, who earns by selling her produce.

She has a lovely cottage which is surrounded by hills and it is well-kept, a very tidy place which has many trees and a very picturesque view.

“This valley is safe, I would leave the door open and sleep and around here, nobody would trouble you or take anything because we live well and we know each other and the neighbours are very cooperative,” she said.

Farther into the village, Lambert has a large farm and her son and his wife cultivate ground provisions and other crops.

In her spare time, she would make tonics from plants and bushes around her for children and would do massages only for children.

She does part-time herbal healing and it is a generational tradition handed down to her by her Amerindian grandmother, who has since passed on.

Lambert is a country girl from Alness, Corentyne, Berbice, and settled in the valley very young.

Her mother is 83 years old and is not in good health and she would take care of her daily and she resides a few doors away, right in the valley.

Lambert stated that she has plans to spruce up the place to make it a tourism hotspot by constructing a better bridge over the spring and creek and will add even more plants.

She has maintained her surrounding to a good standard and it took a lot of time and effort as well.

Lambert will, however, re-name her section of the village ‘One Foot Hill,’ because of the abundance of “eddoe leaf calaloo.”

In her neck of the valley there are three types of “eddoe leaf calaloo”: black stem, white stem, and coco.

“On a daily basis they would sell about $10,000 worth in ‘eddoe leaf calaloo,’ so food isn’t a problem here, we have lots of things to eat, we grow a lot here,” she said.

Lambert stated that they grow organic foods free of harmful fertilisers and chemicals and they use only mould, bush ash or drop leaves on their plants.

“In this section of the village, we have about 12 houses scattered in the valley with dozens of people, but we live good and in peace, life is quiet here,” she said.

Lambert disclosed that when she was 17 years old, she saved up her money and bought lands in the village and has seven acres cultivated and now they are living off the land.

“I have been drinking from the earth, this natural spring water all my life here and never got sick and still use it to date, so everything is fresh and organic with no preservatives,” she said.

Next door to Lambert is the home of her son and his family. His wife is Alesa Mondook, a native of Yupakari, Lethem.

The 27-year-old woman told the Pepperpot Magazine that she has been living in the valley for a year now and the natural setting is similar to that of back home.

However, she is used to her way of life, such as eating fresh-caught fish out of the water and hunting, which is missing in the valley.

Other than that she is quite happy and they grow their own food as well.