LAST week the Pepperpot Magazine visited a section of Amelia’s Ward, Linden, called Cinderella City which can be found aback Lover’s Lane. This community sits comfortably on a hill with a picturesque view.

Amelia’s Ward, Linden, is said to be one of the largest housing schemes in Guyana, and it is home to people from all walks of life.

Amelia’s Ward is a large community which runs very deep and has various sections. It is reported that the village got its name when the late President, Linden Forbes Burnham, visited the village and met a woman named Amelia and her children, then later named the village after her.

To get to Cinderella City, there are three access points: Lover’s Lane, Main Street, and Graham corner. Cinderella City is a neat little village that has a few shops, lots of dwelling houses and like-minded people who have been there all their lives.

Gladwin Webster
Gladwin Webster, a stay-at-home poultry farmer, is among the first people to occupy the village when it was still in a jungle-like state.

The 66-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that Amelia’s Ward is the biggest housing scheme which started in 1969 with two phases because of its size.

Webster and a handful of folk were the only occupants who settled in the rear of the village after clearing sections of the land.

He stated that the two phases are Vrezina Scheme and the Self-Help Scheme, and the village began to develop after the highway was opened in 1968.

Webster disclosed that, today, the area has developed and has been regularised. Residents benefit from all the basic amenities such as electricity, potable water, internet, landline phones and cell phone services.

The villager reported that the Self-Help Scheme was developed partly by the bauxite company. Locals who worked with the company had to put in a certain number of hours and the materials were provided for the construction of their houses.

The father of 12 stated that he has been residing in Cinderella City for the past 42 years, and when he moved to the area, a few families were already there when it was a squatting area.

Webster stated that they have more than 70 families residing in Cinderella City to date, and it is a close-knit community where there are some newcomers.

He is a poultry farmer who is rearing more than 300 layers at his residence in three large chicken pens for both meat and eggs and he picks up a few crates of eggs daily for sale.

Webster is originally from McKenzie but relocated to Cinderella City after marriage, where he settled to start a family.

“As a young man who was now starting out life with a wife, I didn’t want to live with family, so I decided to go and occupy a plot of land in Cinderella city, which was overrun by big trees and a lot of bushes and it had only a small track to walk,” he said.

He tied the knot in 1981, had a small cottage, and later relocated to another section of the village where he now resides.

Webster was a Constable with the security section of the Linden mayor and Town Council. He moved on and became an insurance agent, also called a “life under-writer” after which he was a vendor selling vegetables and ground provisions and all groceries except salted goods.

He told the Pepperpot Magazine that in 2015 he decided to call it quits and it was time for him to become an entrepreneur and start his own small business from home.

Webster became a self-styled poultry farmer after 30 years of working with the private and public sectors.

He used to rear pigs at first and then tried his hands at meat birds, which was a viable income garner.

Webster became disciplined and started his routine of feeding his chickens on time, between 07:00hrs to 08:00hrs and in the afternoons.

The poultry farmer would ensure his chickens have been administered their vitamins and medications for maximum production of eggs which would last for two years.

Shaniece Bamfield photos saved in a folder in Graphics as Cinderella City in March 7, 2023.