By Frances Abraham
with photos by Lakhram Bhagirat
Located on the East Coast of Demerara is the village of Beterverwagting (BV) (a Dutch name meaning ‘Better Expectation”), better known to residents as ‘Barron.’
Sandwiched between La Bonne Intention and Triumph, this community is home to approximately 20,000 people and measures a half-mile by eight miles in extent. With a predominantly African population, most persons belong to the Christian faith, and around nine churches can be seen in the village, ministering to their spiritual needs.
Catering for BV residents’ corporeal needs, there is a health facility where a midwife is available on a 24-hour basis and one on-call doctor.
There are few recreational facilities, however, with only a single football field where the young men enjoy a game or two in the evenings.
Apart from a substantial hardware cum general store, the other shops dotted around are small enterprises.
According to Village Chairman Bruce Adams, BV was bought in 1838 by emancipated Africans who depended solely on farming provisions. “It was two miles in township and six miles in cultivation,” he said.
These days, the land is left uncultivated as the farming generation has passed on and their families have moved away from that sort of lifestyle.
“This was a farming community and we had people who lived solely on farming,” 58-year-old Hazel Robinson told Sunday Stabroek as she
reflected on growing up as a child in the community.
She explained that the trench which can be seen flowing in front of her house, was once used by farmers to access their farmland, but now it has become overgrown with thick vegetation and can no longer be used for this purpose: “As it is now, no
farmer can use it. The trench was clear and they used to use boat.”
A bridge across this trench holds much significance for the older folks of BV, some of whom helped in its construction. A group referring to themselves as the 8th May Movement, built the arched structure to commemorate the farmers who used the canal.
“It was built in that form to show that farmers used to travel under there… That generation of farmers died and their children did not carry on the tradition… they moved away from this in the late ’60s or early ’70s due to not using the farmland,” Robinson said.
Instead, she continued, BV residents had taken up positions in various
ministries and organizations in the city, entirely changing the culture of the village.
With this transformation, the youths too have grown accustomed to a more modernized lifestyle. With institutes of higher learning now available, young people in this area have been provided with options for
acquiring skills, but sadly, this newspaper was told, many do not make much of the opportunities afforded them.
Robinson explained that there are three nursery schools, one primary school and one secondary school, which was once a community high school.
“This school in the ’70s was what they called the guinea pig high school, because they started to experiment on children who weren’t academically inclined. Here is where they used to do home economics, agriculture, carpentry and everything else. They used to say if ya can’t use ya brains, you will use your hands and many people were successful in that field,” she said.
Currently, the Qualfon Quality Contact Services, which is located in this
village, employs a large number of youths, mostly young women, and serves as a good training ground, said Robinson.
She explained, however, that the majority of the youths fail to complete their secondary education and in most cases, are left unemployed. These persons roam the streets and often resort to drugs.
“They just sit around and smoke. If they get a $100 is that. It’s not too much of the cocaine but marijuana. Some of them are skilled because if they get a lil painting job or so they would fall in for a day or two,” she noted, adding that though this problem exists, the crime rate in the village is relatively low.
“I’ve been in different organizations and sat and talked about this and tried to reach out but I think that a whole generation has been lost in that situation, so for you to get into it is hard. We have to try with the other generation,” Robinson observed.
She said that she can’t help but wonder what could have possibly led to such behaviour, but noted that the only option to help the next generation was to use the youths of today as examples.
