BORIS Basant leads a quiet, simple life in Goed Bananen Land. He is a pensioner who retired as a joiner.

He spent most of his adult life in the furniture business, which caused him to develop pains in the body.

He moved to the community in 1974 from Gangaram Village, which is a few villages away.

His family is originally from New Dam Village, and all those people were relocated to Gangaram Village in the early days.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that from what he knows, Goed Bananen Land wasn’t a squatting area,it was an estate owned by the Dutch.

The 74-year-old is very comfortable, having worked all his life, and that day he was in his hammock reading the local newspaper when the team visited.

He is a father of three, and his children are all grown and married. He resides with his wife, a retired headteacher.

Basant described life in Goed Bananen Land as being good, because it is a safe neighbourhood where the people know each other, and it is a small village of working-class people.

“The people are friendly and cooperative, and there is no real problem here as you can see, neighbours live like family and everything is good,” he said.

Uncle Shamo
Uncle Shamo (only name given) resides at the last house by the drainage canal which separates Betsy Ground from Goed Bananen Land, and he is a village elder who is well-known.

He is 79 years old and was a welder, who has a workshop at his home but due to arthritis pains he had to quit and is retired.

He has two children and scores of grandchildren.

Uncle Shamo reported that at age 36 years old, he got married to Chandradai Haniff, but has a full life where he socialises a lot and had many friends, most of whom migrated or passed on.

These days, he doesn’t go out at all due to the pains in his legs and would spend his days at home, relaxing in the hammock.

He has lived all his life in the village and is familiar with the people, and is a respected senior.

Avis Edwards, a kaleidoscope of colours
The home and yard of Avis Edwards are perhaps the envy of the neighbourhood.

It is one of those places you simply have to look twice before taking in all that there is to see; the colours, the contrast of different plants and flowers against all shades of green-the favourite colour of its owner.

She is a resident of Canefield, a small village on the way to Goed Bananen Land Village, her house is on the roadside of the main access road and it is hard not to spot.

Edwards, a shy but well put together woman, spends a lot of her time caring for her plants and flowers which are displayed in her yard on stands, sills and every space.

She would buy most plants and flowers and has dozens of them in all shapes, colours and kinds.

“Since growing up I am a plant person; take after my father and when I am with my plants I feel really good and it helps me to live a good life,” she said.

Jokingly, her children would often say she spends more time with her plants than with them, but that is far from the truth.

Edwards told the Pepperpot Magazine that often people would stop by to ask for pieces of plants and she doesn’t mind giving, but all her plants were sourced from plant shops.

When she is not tending to plants and flowers, she is in the backyard looking at the kitchen garden; she has some cash crops and had harvested some ochro, and she had enough for home and some to share.

Edwards’ yard also has a lot of fruit trees, and the entire place is spic and span, so clean, it smells nice.

Having retired after 35 years of teaching in the public school system, Edwards has a lot to do, but gardening is her favourite pastime.

“This house was my parents’ then it was handed down to me and I did a lot to bring it to this state; added on the bottom flat to my liking and did many things to complement the design over the years,” she said.

The house is a wooden structure that is painted in all shades of green, the favourite colour of Edwards, who did it according to her liking and it is quite a place.

It has two gold-coloured lions at the iron-wrought gate and there are two dogs for security, but none is needed, since the village is very safe and nothing ever goes missing.

Edwards ‘place is lovely, one of a kind, where there are flowers and plants from the outside and all over the yard, neatly lining the ground and parapets.