A green, pristine hilltop community
This week the Pepperpot Magazine journeyed to Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Upper Berbice) to Wismar, Linden, to a village called Andyville, Koker Creek, to highlight the way of life of the people.
Andyville, Koker Creek Village, is set high on a hill and at the back of the village, there is a heavy flowing creek where there is a koker; it goes downhill where a small, steep trail is.
The community was named after the first settler, Andy Seaton, who was living in One Mile and as a youth, he and others used to go to the forested area to play football and cricket and also visited the creek.
Seaton reported that the village was used as a dumpsite and it was a thickly forested area; 20 years ago, he wanted to move out and he cleared a part of the land and settled there.
He lived alone in Andyville for many years until people began moving in by the dozens. It wasn’t until 2000 that the place became populated with the construction of modern houses and the land was cleared and prepared for houses.
The village has about 300 houses and more houses are being constructed with a population of about 500 and has small, one-vehicle internal streets numbering 20.
The village doesn’t have any all-weather roads, but it is a loam-filled kind of road leading into the village. It is very messy and is filled with many large potholes and it is the same inside the community.
Andyville Village has standpipes along the main streets where the locals would fill up and fetch to their homes.
The village has electricity, but no landline phones and some people have private internet service.
Schools, hospitals and other services are accessed at nearby villages of Blueberry Hill and Wisroc, which are neighbouring communities.
Just in front of this village is Prosville, an up-and- coming small village, which is also on a hill.
It was two years ago when the village benefitted from electricity and the place became even more populated and it is still developing.
The locals are squatting and would like the village to be regularised so more infrastructural development can take place and they can have land titles.
Andyville, Koker Creek Village, is a large community with many trails and alleys and many internal streets which go uphill and downhill.
This village is at an elevated level and is bordered by Blueberry Hill and Wisroc Housing Scheme.
Andyville, Koker Creek Village, is a place of greenery, many trees, the people have kitchen gardens of vegetables and on the street corners “fat poke,” fine-leaf thyme and limes grow bountifully, all over the community.
The soil is of a sandy composition, certain crops flourish and the trees are very healthy and grow to be very large, even the lime trees are huge.
The creek is located about a 15-minute walk from the hill to where it is downhill and it is a long way down. It is not a trip for the faint at heart, a steep decline.
But it is all worth it when you get to the creek itself. There is a koker and the water is cool, clear and fresh, conditions that are good for taking a dip.
It is a weekend spot for both locals and visitors and it is a meeting place for people who want to enjoy swimming in the creek, where the water runs, making it always fresh
Andyville, Koker Creek Village is a very beautiful place. The hilltop scenes are breathtaking and it is a good place to reside, because it is tranquil and safe.
The locals are multi-talented and do many honest jobs to earn and there are a lot of self-employed people who have small shops within the village, joiners, carpenters, construction workers and others.
The people settled there because they wanted to be rent-free and have their own plot of land; so many left other villages where they were living to relocate and enjoy a peaceful, family life.
