SHIVANIE Persaud is the proprietor of the only grocery shop in Bangladesh Street, Stewartville South, West Coast Demerara and she has her work cut out since she is tasked with both household chores and shop-keeping.

The 43-year-old reported that she has lived in the village for more than 20 years and named the shop after her only child, a daughter, Chelsea, who is 14 years old.

Persaud added that her husband is a carpenter and together, they earn honestly and have a very simple way of life.

She is, however, grateful for the people in the street and beyond who support her small business daily by making purchases.

Persaud likes the peace the village has and wouldn’t change that for anything.

Next door is the home of Roseann Dias, a mom of four, whose husband was entertaining her brother, who was visiting from Essequibo Coast.

The 53-year-old, who was in the company of her husband’s mother and her grand daughter, told the Pepperpot Magazine that she has been residing in Bangladesh Street for 30 years and remembered they moved in July 1987.

Dias stated that life is fair in that part of the country and she likes the village because it is quiet and they have all the basic necessities to have a comfortable life.

“The people around here live to suit themselves, but it is quiet, and there is no such thing as a ‘bad neighbour’,” she said.

Meanwhile, her husband, Anand Kumar, had some beverages and matching cutters for the day and they had put on a small boom box for music while catching up on a long-deserved chat.

Baljit (only name) is a resident of Bangladesh Street, Stewartville South, West Coast Demerara and he has been living in the village since 1991.

He is self-employed via his bar in the lower flat of his two-storey house.

Baljit is a local of the community but used to reside in a different section of the village and was employed as a sugar worker for 42 years before he retired.

These days, Baljit is enjoying his old age and taking things slow while tending to his newborn grandchild, a little girl.

He describes life as good and he is friendly, except he would stay in and just mind his own business, his way of “preserving peace” he said.

Anita Deosarran
Meanwhile, along the drainage canal bordering the Stewartville New Housing Scheme, Line Top and Stewartville South is the Uitvlugt Side Line Dam and there is a row of dwelling houses.

Aback of Uitvlugt Side Line Dam is Uitvlugt Pasture and there are a few connecting bridges linking the villages.

On the Uitvlugt Side Line Dam is the home of Anita Deosarran, a mother of three with four adoptive children from her deceased sister and her own daughter.

The 45-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she is a stay-at-home full-time mother who is caring for a physically-challenged granddaughter who is a cancer survivor.

Her husband supports the home and he is a cane cutter who does part-time labourer jobs whenever the estate is not in operation, like the out-of-crop season.

Deosarran reported that she is rearing ram goats and a few cows to offset their expenses and would sell the ram goats.

She explained that when her sister passed away more than a year ago, she left three children and since their father had died earlier, there was no one to take them in.

Deosarran disclosed that life is fair in that part of the community, but when it rains, the water would reach up to their gate and at times in the yard.

Along this sideline dam, there are about 20 houses with about 50 residents including small children and they have been asking for a concrete walkway.

Deosarran related that they have electricity, potable water supply, internet but no landline phone and road.

Her daughter is married and lives in the same yard and she is the mother of two.

Bibi Taslina, the home-maker
On Stewartville Line Top there is the home of Bibi Taslina, a housewife of three, who was busy with some household chores.

The 42-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she is originally from Leguan Island, Essequibo River and moved to Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, 19 years ago after marriage.

She stated that she is the caretaker for the house she is occupying and the one next door and her husband is attached to the Stewartville/Cornelia Ida NDC as a CIIP worker.

Taslina reported that the property she occupies was owned by a couple who had a private school housed in the yard but is closed.

“Things are okay here except the village addicts would come in the yard and pick all the fruits from the trees, especially mangoes and if you say anything they get verbally abusive and violent,” she said.