DONNA Perry, a councillor with the Linden Regional Democratic Council (RDC) is upbeat about community development and does her part to reduce flooding in her village.

She is a resident of Silver City, Wismar, Linden and her house is located at the hill foot, which is flood-prone when it rains heavily.

Similarly to Silvertown, a neighbouring village, Silver City also was named due to the bauxite dust settling onto the then zinc houses that made up the village in the 1950s when the bauxite company was flourishing.

It is said that the bauxite dust glistened, thus, the name derived as Silver City as a result of the appearance it created.

Perry related that people from all over the country came to Linden to work in the bauxite plant in Linden and settled in Silver City like most villages in the region.

The village had zinc houses back then, and as time changed, all the modest houses were replaced with contemporary ones.

Perry has been living in Silver City since 1995, when she relocated from Blueberry Hill.

“When I first came here there were a lot of little houses, resembling a squatting area and it has a small trail, no roads. I was told to build at my own risk since the village was not regularised,” she said.

Perry disclosed that as the years went by the place was developed and people began building better houses and the landscape changed.

“This place nice to live, but when we have rain the sand and water come downhill from Buck Hill, a high point and it is a huge mess which causes flooding. I had to dig drains around my house to prevent flooding,” she said.

Perry stated that last year and the year before they suffered a lot due to flooding and she lost her garden.

According to the councillor, in the central budget money was allocated for two concrete drains to be built to boost drainage in the village.

The current drain is inadequate to accommodate all the water when it rains, and it leads to the Demerara River, which overlooks the village.

Perry now spends her days as a councillor and is involved in community development, after 25 years as a teacher in the public school system.

The mother of five is also engaging the youths and would often motivate them to equip themselves with a skill to become self-employed, because jobs are hard to obtain in Linden.

Perry is of the opinion that grants should be given to young people to start their own small businesses to earn, since most of them are qualified and sitting at home.

She has been a councillor for the past two years and is enthusiastic about empowering young people to make a change in their lives in that region.