WALTER Moses has lived a full life, working hard mostly, but these days he is relaxing at home in Block 22 Wismar Squatting Area because his grandchildren and children have asked him to stay at home.

The 79-year-old is a native of Kara Kara Creek, but he relocated to Block 22 Wismar Squatting Area and is one of the early settlers there.

He has been living in the village for the past 30 years and when he first settled there, he constructed a little house which was adequate for his family back then and the place was overgrown with trees and thick forest and it had just a small track leading into a small clearing in the area.

Moses added that there were just a few persons and they had cottage-style houses and eventually more people learnt of the place and began occupying the lands and today it is a populated village.

To be exact, Moses told the Pepperpot Magazine that there were only three small houses, and that was in 1984 when he moved from Blueberry Hill to there and made it his home.

Moses will be celebrating his 80th birth anniversary on February 17, 2022, and he is looking forward to that day.

He is the father of two daughters, both of whom work in the interior as he did when he was younger and they reside with three houses in one big yard in an extended family setting.

Moses has his own house and is the grandfather of 15 and the great grandfather of 10, most of whom were running around the yard playing.

“I stopped going bush two years ago when my grandchildren begged me to stay home, because they wanted me to stop working, and I did fulfil their request and I am here just doing things,” he said.

Being accustomed to hard work, it is not easy for Moses to be at home, but he is almost used to this new way of life and seems to be adapting well.

The village elder used to cut wood and make paling staves, handles for gardening tools and bora sticks and other things.

“

Most of the people I came here and reach have since passed away, the old Amerindians, and they have other people here now, but some of their families still live here,” he said.

Moses revealed that they have about 100 Amerindians residing at Block 22 Wismar Squatting Area and he is believed to be the oldest.

He stated that the village is developing and from when he first moved there to now, a lot has changed because more people are living there and it is a mixture of ethnicities.

Moses disclosed that the village is a place of children, they have a lot of children and they need a place to play, since there are no ballfields or playgrounds in that community.

The elder told the Pepperpot Magazine that these days he hardly ever worries about anything and would spend his time quietly reflecting on life.

His wife, Cecilia Smith, 80, is always by his side to lend support and she takes care of things around the house.

The Moses clan seems to be a happy bunch and they also have a shop and there is always a lot of activities in this big yard with the many children that reside there.

This elder is in good health and he seems way younger than his age.

Dawn Holder the seamstress
Dawn Hector is a resident of Block 22 Wismar Squatting Area and she was busy that day trying to finish some dresses she was sewing for a wedding.

She is an enterprising woman who also operates a private internet small business from her home and is in the process of constructing a five-bedroom guesthouse.

Holder has been living in the village for the past 28 years and is the mother of seven.

She is originally from Georgetown, but grew up in Berbice and relocated to Linden when she was 17.

Hector related that she would take orders to make dresses, especially bridal, but since the advent of COVID-19 things have been scaled down a lot and these days she would get a few jobs but not like before.

“Sometimes I used to have to complete 16 to 23 dresses for weddings, but now I would get seven the most because of the restrictions to large gatherings and so on,” she said.