TAJMATI Bahadur better known as ‘Kajol’ is a homemaker and a resident of Champayne village, Branch Road, Mahaicony. She takes care of the children and home while her husband is a rice farmer and is often in the fields.

She resides on the entrance which takes you to Champayne West, a narrow all-weather road which goes up to a certain point, after which it is a muddy dam; along this stretch are the nursery and primary schools and some dwelling houses.

The 27-year-old, who is heavily pregnant, told the Pepperpot Magazine that she doesn’t mind not having close neighbours and she likes the quietness of the place.

She reported that the only noise is from passing tractors and other farming equipment that use the road near her home. Other than that, it is absolute peace.

Bahadur stated that she is from Branch Road. She married seven years ago and began living in Champayne village, Mahaicony and found it has been been fair so far.

She would ride a motorcycle to take her son to school located at Champayne Bottom, about three to four miles daily and similarly pick him up.

She reported that her five-year-old son is a handful at times and they have enough space where he would ride his bicycle in the street near her home.

It was exactly eight months ago that Bahadur lost her baby and she is still in grief; she is of the hope she will be able to have a good delivery this time around.

The resident of Champayne village disclosed that there is no health centre in the village and as such, she would attend clinic in the city.

Sharo Persaud, the milk lady
In the same village is the home of Sharo Persaud, a very enterprising woman who sells fresh cow’s milk daily around the village via her bicycle.

Every morning, after her husband would milk the cows, she would get the five-gallon bucket of milk and go around house to house to sell it and her routine would not end until all the milk is sold.

The 34-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that they have a plot just for housing the 28 cows they have, which is also located in the same village but away from dwelling houses.

A pint of milk is retailed for just $100 and it is fresh cow’s milk with no additives such as water.

Persaud explained that both she and her husband would tend to the cows daily and at night, they have a small cottage where her husband would stay to provide security for the animals.

The mother of six said she is doing whatever she can to make ends meet financially and has a kitchen garden with vegetables and some ducks, chickens and a few kittens as pets.

Her husband is a labourer. Two of her six children are grown and working while four are of school-age.

“I like it here; you can do anything here to earn. There is space and the people knows each other and it is a very safe place to live and we can even fish with our cast net for fresh water fishes to make a curry or fry,” she said.

Camilla Baksh and her son, Mohamed Khaleel
Meanwhile, Camilla Baksh told the Pepperpot Magazine that back in the ‘black and white’ days, all the people that settled in Champayne used to live in the West, the place which is called Champayne Bottom, where the school is located.

She reported that it was years after when the village began to develop slowly, people decided to relocate to the front of the village and they build modern houses and some of the colonial-style houses are still standing and well-preserved.

The 60-year-old pointed out that the place was different back then with a lot of bushes and no roads, but they always had farm lands and the people depended on farming heavily even then.

The mother of three related that life was somewhat different than now and things were simpler when she married in 1982 and began living in Champayne village.

Baksh added that where their house is located was a rice field and Champayne has always been a rice-producing place. She is originally from Brittiana village.

Her son, Mohamed Khaleel, 37, told the Pepperpot Magazine that these days he has taken up the responsibility of farming since his father is of age.

He stated that Champayne is a quiet place to reside and they are accustomed to the still and calm of the place.