Strathspey

Story and photos by
Mandy Thompson

 He is bachelor who knows every detail about keeping a home and the various culinary skills with which a woman would be familiar. His modest home is a reflection of his housekeeping talent which he acquired from growing up with his grandparents.

Joseph Hope lives in a neat, tidy and nicely arranged home in Strathspey, East Coast Demerara. The village is sandwiched between Bladen Hall on the one side and Coldingen on the other. Residents said that the community is very quiet, but Hope noted that every village “must get a bad egg.”

What is striking about Strathspey is that one section of the village does not have any access to electricity or potable water. Residents on the south-eastern side of the village said that they are lacking these basic facilities because they are squatters, and they do not have the required documentation for the lands they occupy.  As it is, the squatting area has more residents than the original part of Strathspey.

There is a primary and nursery school for children in the village, and the Bladen Hall Secondary School is a stone’s throw away. There are no health care facilities in the community so residents go to Non-Pareil or Enmore, which they have traditionally always done.

The economic activities in the village include farming and small business owners, while some residents are private and public sector workers. There are only a few shops around, all of them very small scale. The most substantial business venture is a hang-out bar called the Skyline Boys.

With regard to religion, Hinduism is the dominant religion of villagers followed by Islam and Christianity, residents said.

Hope was watching television with one of his friends at home when we paid him a visit. He did not hesitate to welcome us into his house for a chat. It is hard to believe that he is a bachelor, with neatly arranged chair sets and coffee tables that were matched with the curtains, usually a reflection of a woman’s touch. The convivial man said that he keeps his house in that manner because he likes nice things. During the course of the year, Hope said, he would also rearrange the furniture and change his blinds to give the place a little makeover and a fresh look.

He attributed his housekeeping skills to growing up with his grandparents and his life as a child, that involved doing such things. He  does not regret it now, he said.

Hope is a retired contractor who spends his time now at home. He told us that he grew up in the village and was living in the same house he renovated and now calls his home.

According to him, the area was very different in those days and there were a lot of rice fields on the eastern and western sides of his house. In fact, his home was the only house in that area.

Hope recalled that in those days there were no roads and mud dams were used for transportation purposes. But as the years went by, the population of the village began to increase and services such as the telephone, electricity and water became available to most villagers.

Growing up as a child, he said, was very enjoyable because “You use to play you lil cricket, marble or feel lil fish.

Long time when you go in de trench and feel u catch some big hourie and sun fish. Now you don’t see dem fish dat. Long time was the best days,” Hope said.

He also said that in those days, every home had a kitchen garden so buying vegetables was not essential. “You din had to buy nothing. Life was more economical. Those were the days when one blue two dolla could a feed six people. We had the last of the good days,” he remarked.

Hope’s grandfather was a baker and used to operate a baker’s shop from their home. His grandfather would bake the bread and he and his mother would walk the streets and sell it to residents in the neighbouring villages.  But selling bread was not always something he wanted to do because “when you use to be playing and time come fuh sell you nah want go…” he said.

His grandfather’s baker shop taught him a lot of things because he used to be around when the bread was being prepared. He explained how the kneading of the dough was done in troughs and baking used to be done in an outside brick oven.

In describing the general atmosphere of the community, Hope said that illiteracy is very high in the community and when elders try to correct the behaviour of young people they opted not be corrected.  “Some of dem can’t spell rat,” he said.

Doodnauth Harbahadur is a farmer who has been working on his father’s farm from an early age. He took up farming as a profession after he finished school, and plants vegetables which he sells at the Bourda Market to wholesale buyers.

His trips to the market are undertaken two to three times per week, and require him to leave around 2am. Once he is at the market, he begins to ply his trade which would normally finish around 6-7am. Most days when he returns home, Harbahadur said he goes into his farm to water the crops and put mould on them, while his wife takes care of their three children.

Currently, he said that the price for his produce is very low, adding that the peak period is around May to June.  This farmer happens to be one of the many residents living in the part of the village that has no access to water or electricity. In order to make his life more comfortable, Harbahadur said he has bought a generator which powers his television set and a light bulb. As for water, like many other residents in that section he fetches it from the part of the village which has piped supplies.

On the other side of the village, little Crystal Edwin was swinging on an outside swing at her aunt’s home. Her aunt Tina and her grandmother Sister Lucille were sitting under the house watching her. The family appeared very relaxed as they enjoyed the cool air that mitigated the heat of the sun.

A bold and chatty Crystal told us that she is five years old and attends the Strathspey Nursery School. She added that she likes to go to school but her teacher would give her lashes and make her stand in front of the wall. Her aunt and grandmother said that this is because of her chatty character.

Crystal also told us that she would like to become a hairdresser and do nails when she becomes older. As of now, she likes to dress up and comb her hair and would dress her many dolls and comb their hair too. Her aunt Tina who is a housewife and looks after Crystal said that the little girl is fascinated by fashion and “dressing up.” Tina’s husband works as a minibus driver.

At one point during the conversation Crystal asked nicely for her picture to be taken and when this was finished she asked for several more while she adopted different poses. She even took the time to show us her modelling skills as she gracefully converted her aunt’s front yard into a catwalk with her hands akimbo.