SEENARINE (only name) loves utilising his yard space to grow plants and flowers and he has incorporated the habit as part of his daily life since he had spent his boyhood days assisting his mother to do the gardening.

The 75-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that he has moved away from planting vegetables as his mother did and decided to grow flowers, all kinds, in and around his yard, as a hobby and to beautify the environment.

Outside his home, he planted some flowers in handmade wooden boxes he made along the roadway, and it makes a difference because it adds that extra bit of colour to the place which was once without anything.

Seenarine told the Pepperpot Magazine that he started working at the then Guyana Telecommunications Corporation (GTC) in 1972 at Central Radio Station, Thomaslands, Georgetown.

He added that he was transferred to the Personnel Department with a promotion in 1974 as Senior Clerical Officer and after a few months, he asked to be transferred to Revenue Accounting Department at 69 Brickdam.

Seenarine reported that after a few years in that department, he was placed in the cashier area, where he did the money collections for Bartica and Essequibo.

However, in 1991, the company was divested to Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT). He was later transferred to the Final Accounts Department and was in this section until he reached age 65. He retired in October 2012.

He related that he worked with the company for 40 years, enjoyed every bit, and is utilising his benefits these days as a pensioner.

Seenarine is an unassuming man who spends his time gardening and doing simple household chores. Whenever he is up to it, he cooks meals he likes but no cooking is needed because his daughter would provide all meals daily for him.

The elderly gentleman stated that he would prune the trees, which form a barrier at his fence with the neighbours, to keep it to a certain level and he has been planting flowers for a long time.

He explained that as a boy, he liked gardening with his mother, who spent a lot of time growing vegetables which she sold at Leonora Market. They used to live at Leonora Pasture.

Seenarine noted that his father worked at the sugar estate and lived in a logie-style house in the British colonial era.

He related that his mother was a very hardworking woman who passed on good morals and brought them up in the right way with discipline.

Seenarine pointed out that his mother cultivated cash crops on both sides of the yard to earn and he assisted her because he enjoyed gardening as much as she did.

“My mom was a good person, she used to sit and talk to us about life and what is expected of us as we grew into adults, and she instilled good values at a young age and she also liked the place to be very clean, it made her feel like home,” he said.

She passed away in September 2006 but left a legacy of her memories.

Seenarine reported that he came from a family of 11 siblings, of which only seven are alive. His father passed away a long time ago when he was still young.

The resident of Shantytown, Leonora told the Pepperpot Magazine that he got married in 1975 and wanted to have his own house/land and occupied a plot of land when people started to squat in the village.

Seenarine stated that in 1978 when the village was regularised, they moved away from illegal squatting, and he acquired a plot of land and constructed a house which he is occupying.

The father of two added that it has been 45 years since he came to settle in the village and it has been good so far.

He noted that his wife passed away in November 2020 and he is still adjusting to being alone but prefers to stay positive since he has things to do to pass the time and finds joy with his flowers and plants.

“It is peaceful here, the neighbours are good people and we do not quarrel at all since they are respectful in and out of the village,” he said.