THE first resident the team met while visiting Cromarty Village, Corentyne, Berbice was Shelly Drepaul, a stay-at-home mother who has a small shop from her home conveniently located on the public road.

The 62-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that the house she is occupying is rented, and her son, his wife, and two children are living with her presently.

The mother of one added that her husband is a chauffeur; he usually works in daylight hours and would be at home at night.

Drepaul reported that things aren’t as before due to the rising cost of living, making it difficult to afford basic food items, and they are trying their best to make it.

She explained that they are in the process of constructing a new house on ancestral lands owned by her father right in the village, and, upon completion, she will be relocating to escape the burden of paying rent.

Drepaul has been renting for the past five years and will be more than happy to be living in her own house rent-free and she is looking forward to that.

“I honestly don’t like it here, at this location, and I am just living here before I have to, so when my house is finally finished, I will move there, at the back part of the community. I will be comfortable there,” she said.

She told the Pepperpot Magazine that Cromarty Village is a place of families and the home of farmers who either plant rice or cash crops and cultivate a lot of celery.

Drepaul added that except for the passing vehicles and loud quarrels among locals, the village is peaceful, and there is a mixture of Indo- and Afro-Guyanese people living together in the small farming village.

Shamwattie Balgobin, the shopkeeper
The team also met another local, Shamwattie Balgobin, who was still in the grieving mode following the death and burial of her beloved mother, who passed away a few days ago.

She is a shopkeeper and a mother of six, who has been living in Cromarty Village, Corentyne, Berbice, for a long time.

The 60-year-old said she was the sole caregiver to her ailing mother until her death and is also tasked with caring for her elderly father, who is 93 years old.

Her late mother, Phillis Toolsie was 91. She was the mother of 14 siblings, a vendor at the school and a housewife.

Balgobin told the Pepperpot Magazine that she is from Albion but grew up in Cromarty Village, Corentyne and has been living there for most of her adult life.

She stated that the village is a quiet place with hardworking people, who are mostly farmers, and it is not a high crime area, but they do have a few instances of theft among the locals.

Balgobin added that she is a housewife and she has a shop from which she earns.

Jaipaul Koomar, the celery farmer
The team also met Jaipaul Koomar, whose house and farm are located down a small alleyway called Mandir Street.

Koomar lives alone since his wife and three children are overseas and he is not alone because he has eight cats as pets and prepares meals for them daily.

“My family isn’t with me, but I have a lot of company, the cats, they would look over things and they are good company often,” he said.

The cash crop farmer stated that in addition to celery he would plant pak choi and peppers and he would sell in the village, but the celery is mostly sold to wholesale buyers from outside the community.

Koomar told the Pepperpot Magazine that the alleyway has five houses, a mandir and a shop and most people residing there are related.

When asked how he would describe his life in Cromarty he said, “I make life worthwhile for me, no matter what”.

The farmer believes that since Cromarty is a farming village, more should be done to upgrade the drainage system to afford them better access to farmlands and to develop the reef lands used for farming.

Koomar disclosed that the lands in Cromarty are privately-owned and divided into two sections.

According to the farmer, Cromarty was an English plantation and back in the days following slavery, most people were large-scale cattle farmers; the people sold the cow’s milk and planted cash crops for their living.

Koomar added that Cromarty derived from the plentiful gamma trees that were growing everywhere in the community.

“I love it here. This is my home, the very place I earn and I farm from right in my yard and everything that comes from the earth is good,” he said.