BEING a Councillor attached to the Grove/Diamond Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) requires volunteering your services but being the village pastor as well, Angad Ram incorporates volunteerism to his advantage to minister to the community.

AS a people person, Ram established the Health and Welfare Committee of Kaneville Gardens in the early days of the late President Cheddi Jagan’s regime.

It was formed following a community meeting with Jagan to regularise the then squatting area.

Ram told the Pepperpot Magazine that he had been living in Kaneville Gardens for the past 25 years and was the pastor of the New Testament Baptist Church in the village, which is the largest, in terms of buildings.

The Councillor reported that way back a plot of land was allocated for a playfield, but nothing was ever done to make it into a suitable place for sports and recreational activities for the community, and it was now overgrown by bushes.

The plot is located at fourth field, on the southern end, at Toucan Street and has been abandoned for 20 years.

“We really need a playground with a community centre building for skills training, a place where the youths and children can go for sports and recreation because this village has a large population of children and young people,” he said.

Ram added that 70 percent of the population in Kaneville Gardens are children and young people and it was imperative they get somewhere to go to engage in activities that will be beneficial for them.

He stated that the names of the street were given by the then Community Development Council (CDC) members and named after the many species of birds found in Guyana.

Ram is also the President of the Parent-Teachers Association (PTA) of Samatta Point Nursery School and is a local contractor by trade.

The Councillor reported that there was a great need for a police outpost to be established in Kaneville Gardens owing to the high crime rate within the community.

He related that the village also needed street lights for the safety of residents who traverse the area in the nights, especially those who have to walk home, after work, after hours.

Despite some challenges within the community in terms of having certain facilities to enhance the lives of the locals, the village had seen its fair share of development over the years.

He remembered when they had to roll up their pants and walk through ankle-deep mud, but today, they have good roads and the other basic infrastructure needed to boost the lives of the people.

Ram is the holder of a Doctorate in Human Psychology and has a degree in Theology.

The father of four told the Pepperpot Magazine that he had been a Councillor for the past three years and finds the volunteer work to be fulfilling where he makes representation on behalf of the locals at the NDC level.

Ram disclosed that through his intervention, after 25 years, piles of garbage – large fridges, freezers and other bulk refuse – which were lying by the roadside were removed and taken to the dumpsite.

He pointed out that eight tractor loads of garbage were removed from Kaneville Gardens.

Ram is, however, willing to lend the use of the church building to facilitate skills training for the youths in the community because he promotes youth development and would like the idle minds to be meaningfully occupied.

Shelvin Oxford, the shopkeeper
Shelvin Oxford is a local of Kaneville Gardens and a shop owner who has a small shop in the community, which is considered the ‘chill spot’ where villagers meet up for a cold drink.

The father of two told the Pepperpot Magazine that he was from Agricola, but he wanted to get out of that village because it was during the crime wave.

The 45-year-old added that he heard that he could go and squat in Kaneville and he took a chance and was still there to date.

It was in 1993 that he moved in with his family and later he built his own little house in that village.

His shop is located away from his home. The shop is at a prime location, road corner, convenient at Hummingbird Street, Kaneville Gardens.

Oxford sells groceries, and beverages among other things.

“Life here is how you make it, I don’t trouble nobody, and I stay put and earn honestly,” he said.