By David Pappanah
Like most other villages on the Corentyne, Lancaster is peaceful and quiet. The lifestyle of the people is pretty simple, according to its residents. Flanked by Whim on the west and Liverpool on the east, the village is about 40 minutes drive from New Amsterdam, and is located at the centre of Region Six. Lancaster is multi-ethnic in character and is home to over 300 families. It is the community from which Moses Nagamootoo and Mahendra Veeren Nagamootoo originally came.
Most people earn their living in agriculture, such as large-scale rice farming, or cultivating cash crops or keeping livestock. In addition, some are engaged in offshore fishing.
Mala Rameshwar, a resident of Lancaster for two years described the area as great to live in and said she loved it. The lifestyle, she said, was good and place was peaceful. Rameshwar, who operates a beer garden and grocery shop, said that everybody from the smallest child upwards would try to keep themselves occupied. She added that “most young girls would get theirself involved in church activities, because the area does not offer much job opportunities for them. The young lads would find theirself working with rice farmers, especially when school is out, or they would sometimes go over in the afternoon and play games/sports at the Liverpool Community Centre ground.”
When asked about crime in the community, she replied that it was not rampant: “You could leave your stuff outside and nobody troubles it… I can’t remember when last there was a robbery here.”
The resident did complain that there was no proper drainage in the area, because a lot of bushes had taken over the drains and the NDC did nothing about it. She added that she found it difficult to find a roadview house lot even though there were some vacant ones around, but they were covered with bushes. She thought that local Guyanese should be given priority in acquiring land rather than overseas-based Guyanese.
A bit further up lives Elisa Henry, who was fixing a light in her car when SN arrived. She told this newspaper that Lancaster, where she has been living for five years, is “just good” to live in. Everybody gets along fine, she said. She assists with the family rice farm and goes to a cooking class in her spare time. Like Rameshwar she too confirmed that the churches in the area played a significant role in occupying the teens’ spare time. Some of the young teenagers, she said, would go and pick up coconuts and sell them around the neighbourhood. She expressed the view that the area needed a lot of development, and that there should be something for the slow learners in community. She thought that the government should open up a learning centre in Lancaster because of the many school dropouts.
Henry also drew attention to the need for proper drainage, because when it rained the area flooded quickly and the rice farmers at times lost many acres of rice as a consequence.
Geeta Parsaman, who has been residing in Lancaster for about 30 years, and her mother Mabel, were preparing lunch for the family when this newspaper caught up with them. Geeta found the area to be a really nice one since the days when she was a child. She noted that long ago the village was not as populated as it is now. With more people around life was much better, because nobody had to go and fetch water from another village or firewood, she explained. The area is now equipped with telephone lines, electricity and water, and therefore the children had more time to play because they did not have so many chores to do. When it comes to schooling, she said, the children would attend the Auchlyne Primary School while the teenagers would attend secondary schools in other villages or towns.
Her mother Mabel said she found the area quiet and trouble free. “The people here live nice with one another… nobody would trouble you if you do not trouble them,” she said.
Another resident Gaitree (only name given), who has lived in the area for 25 years also described her community as peaceful and a relaxing place to live. Her family used to be involved in livestock farming, but after a lot theft some time back, they decided to sell their animals and start buying and selling for the retail market. She did note that theft in the community had reduced dramatically since then.
When asked how they accessed fresh produce, she said that some people, including children, would walk and sell produce in the village, and they did not have to go to the market on a regular basis. “People walk and sell everything here. They sell meat, fish, and vegetables and even unto food,” she said.
Allan Corlette who was on his way to the backdam to tend his farm told Stabroek News that the area was very quiet. Not much happens around the village, he said, but everybody tries to find something to do. He added his voice to the view expressed by other residents, that the NDC needed to look into the drainage system because it affected everyone.
As SN was leaving a little girl named Selena was catching fish with a hook in a nearby pond. At the time she had only caught one fish and was trying to catch another. When asked what she was going to do with her catch, she said she would cook it for dinner. She told us that it was her August vacation, which she was enjoying, and that she would sometimes help her mother to sell vegetables in the village.
Lancaster also boasts a medical laboratory called the Bio-tech Medical Laboratory. The owner, Rohan Persaud Sookdeo, said that it had been around since 1996, and that he chose the village because it is located in the central part of the Corentyne/New Amsterdam area. The laboratory provides service on a 24/7 basis to the public and even does home services. Sookdeo said that the laboratory offered all kind of tests including HIV, pregnancy, heart, cholesterol and others. It also gave employment to a few residents in the area.
The village also has several liquor shops, mini-grocery shops, a tattoo parlour, barber shop and more than one carwash.
There are churches as well as a mandir.
