THE community of Soesdyke is well known, to say the very least. For many years, it has stood out as the primary road marker and vital pitstop for those travelling from Linden to Georgetown and down towards the sister village of Timehri. However, the community is more than booming businesses, bustling streets, and vibrant shops; it has a rich past. It is a community built on family values, evolving from a settlement of agricultural homesteads built by Guyanese from all corners of the country to what it is today. The Soesdyke of today is a bright, bustling, and captivating place full of life, welcoming people, and thousands of unique stories of its residents.

Most days, Val Bristol sells passersby and strangers alike her famous doubles, complemented by a warm, welcoming smile. Raised in Soesdyke, her family, like so many Guyanese families, is a diverse mix of people. Val’s mother ventured all the way from St. Vincent and the Grenadines where she was born and raised. Although lucky to call the beauty of St. Vincent home, Val’s mother sought to raise her children in what was called ‘BG’ at the time.

As Val explained, she was born in St. Vincent but left at an early age. “My mother brought us, me and my siblings, here to Guyana. She brought us here because, in those days, people would leave when there was any problem on their island. It was six of us; I am the second one. My mother came when Guyana was still British Guiana and she met my father who was from Ann’s Grove.” Val and her siblings have all since returned to St Vincent, seeking to form a bond with the country of their birth. But Val says Guyana will always be home, regardless of where she goes or even where she was born.

The warm river breeze, caring villagers, and culture of togetherness are just a few of the things that really make Soesdyke what it truly is — a village where people take care of each other. These deep-rooted community values greatly influenced Val’s childhood. Her early days attending schools in neighbouring communities were primarily spent doing things familiar to most Guyanese and Caribbean youths: long days under the sun and in the sand and riversides were a major part of her cherished childhood memories.

Recounting a few of these experiences, she stated, “Growing up in Soesdyke was really nice. There were more children in the community. We had plenty of small children in the village. For example, my siblings and our neighbour’s daughter grew up like neighbours; that is how good we used to live. Everybody was like family; everybody was aunty and uncle.” This close-knit way of living has seemingly not only persisted, but has strengthened greater bonds among neighbours, giving new meaning to “it takes a village to raise a child.”

In fact, this sense of community is how the community of Soesdyke was developed. According to reports from Val and a few other residents, much of Soesdyke was once owned as private land, with just a few families owning large plots. This soon changed with the growth in population and the introduction of new families. In an interesting and captivating display of community values, large landowners either gave, sold, or leased much of their land to the village’s newcomers. As Val explained, “Plenty of the land around this area was owned by a man named Crosbie. He sold and gave out land. That is how we have Crosbie Street.”

The village’s past, forged from unity, can still be seen and felt in countless ways. Many more streets garner their names from people who have called the community home and have made some major contributions to making Soesdyke what it is today. The often unexplored parts of the village have streets named after many people; names such as Van-Doimen Street, Crosbie Road, and Chris Corner are more than markers on the road; they are reminders of good legacies amidst the community.

That adamancy to make an impact on the community continues to this day. One of Soesdyke’s most famous football fields is still privately owned land. As Val elaborates, “The young people in the village play football, and right now, the field they are playing on was given to them by one of the families in the country. The family is [sic] overseas, and they gave it to the community so that the children could use it.”

Soesdyke is a fantastic example of the fact that a community’s development rests on the backs of its people, or, as Guyanese would say, ‘One one dutty build dam.’ The Soesdyke of today is so bright and bustling that it has become synonymous with businesses. However, the community did not start this way. With the collaboration of thousands of people over decades, the community has earned its reputation, all because of a few neighbours who cared.