Sylvan Rai is an overseas-based Guyanese who is often in Guyana, and when he is here, Experiment Village, East Bank Berbice is his favourite place to be.

He is originally from Lighttown Village, also on the East Bank Berbice and has some land in Experiment, where he has a house and is rearing some cows.

Rai told the Pepperpot Magazine that he was preparing the land to bring in some cows before he left the country again.

He stated that he grew up in New York, United States of America but is from Guyana. He spent all of his adult life in the foreign country, but he would come back often.

“This place brings me peace and the quietness and when I sleep here, I am well-rested. When I wake up and this is what I like, no noise and not a lot of people,” he said.

Rai reported that they were cooking a pot of rice and some chicken curry for the day before they embarked on some work around the yard.

His home is also a safe haven for dogs which are usually strayed by people, who would dump their unwanted dogs on that stretch of road. Somehow, he explained, the dogs would find their way to his place, where they would be fed and they would make it their home too.

There are no other houses in Experiment Village, East Bank Berbice and being the lone occupant of the small village, Rai doesn’t mind at all.

However, there are many farmlands in this village, mostly unutilised, and privately owned.

Juliansburg Village
A little further down from Experiment is Juliansburg Village, a small community with one large family of parents, their children and their families.

This village has five houses occupied by Nochan Ramdatt, his wife, their four sons and their sons’ wives and children.

Even though they don’t have the basic necessities such as potable water supply, electricity, internet and landline phone, they are quite happy being away from a thickly populated village.

This extended family has adopted a simple way of life and they depend on rainfall water for use and they use solar power for lights.

Juliansburg is bordered by Macaw and Plegt Anker villages and a series of small communities with a handful of houses and locals who have lived their entire lives there.

This is also a farming family who grows crops and then sells them to earn, but at times, the sun dries up their harvest and there are little to no crops left to sell.

Ramdatt told the Pepperpot Magazine that for some time, he did not enjoy a bountiful harvest from his farm and would employ four persons to work with him when he gets a good crop.

His main crops include ground provisions and cash crops.

In this section of the road, there is no asphalt; it is a rough patch that is difficult to navigate and the locals are asking for the road to be upgraded, which will significantly enhance their lives.

They also need electricity, potable water supply and internet service.

Ramdatt stated that Juliansburg is about 18 miles from New Amsterdam and they don’t have a public transportation system like other villages. Taking a taxi or a canter truck to transport their produce to the market is very costly.

They have a small solar network to power light bulbs and rainwater is used for household consumption.

The cell phone signals are poor and often there is no connectivity and at times if they want to make an urgent call they have to climb a tree to do so.

Ramdatt said he inherited the land from his parents, who passed away 15 years ago, and his parents got the land from their foreparents, so they occupy ancestral lands.

When the team visited, Ramdatt was preparing their mandir for a religious service next month.

He was engrossed in repainting and repairing the wooden building which his family owns.

Delano Williams photos saved in a folder in Graphics as Berbice Juliansburg etc in Feb. 21, 2023.