– The women of East Canje are great cooks

SHALINI Devi is very good at what she does and she is well sought after when it comes to preparing delicious foods for functions including weddings, birth anniversaries and ‘jhandis’.
The 40-year-old can cook just about anything and her foods are very sumptuous, so much so people would hire her to cook for them whenever they have a function.

Devi is well-known in her village, Adelphi Village, East Canje Berbice, because of her cooking and as a local of the community.
The mother of three is a part-time homemaker employed by a relative and whenever she has to cater for an event, she would be on her feet from morning until all the foods are prepared from scratch, then she would be able to go home after a long day of cooking by the open fireside.

Devi told the Pepperpot Magazine that she specialises in all local cuisine and can make such in large quantities and, recently, she catered for 500 people at a wedding.
“I can do quantity and quality and do it for a reasonable fee for the day but some people are paying a mere $5000 for the entire day, which is too small for a whole day of work,” she said.
Devi also makes good curries be it seven curry or meats, and would be asked to do all the cooking at functions for the family and the community.

She is also a homemaker, taking pride in her surroundings and spending time caring for her plants, and cooking for her home.

Phulmattie Haimchandriji
Meanwhile, Phulmattie “Dolly’ Haimchandriji is also an excellent cook and she would be hired for many functions in and around the village.

She related that she scaled down in terms of going out to cook at functions these days due to ill health.

“Because of years of being in the heat and then using cold water during cooking by the open fireside, it caused me to develop a wheezing and I does get shortness of breath,” she explained.

Haimchandriji would use her time to stay in and prepare meals for her household, including her elderly parents, relatives and brothers.

She reported that Reliance Abandon Village, East Canje Berbice, is a quiet countryside village with four internal streets which were recently upgraded to cement.

Haimchandriji stated that before the streets were upgraded, they were filled with huge potholes and were in a bad state.

She is pleased that they benefitted from upgraded streets and says they are not prone to flooding and generally it is a good place to reside.

Reliance Abandon Village has electricity, landline phones, internet, potable water supply and there is access to health centres and other facilities.

The Post Office is nearby and easily accessible and there are a few shops where much-needed items can be sourced.

Bulk shopping is done at New Amsterdam and almost everything is within reach in that village.
The Rose Hall Sugar Estate is nearby and it has a police station, the Magistrate Court and the health centre a stone’s throw away.

Haimchandriji told the Pepperpot Magazine that most people in the small village are related through marriage and blood.

She stated that it is a safe place to live. There aren’t bandits there except for the few kitchen thieves and the people are very neighbourly and kind to each other, making it a close-knit community.

Haimchandriji added that most people migrated while some died and there are a few newcomers but other than that there are no unfamiliar faces in Reliance Abandon.