Story and photos by Dacia Whaul
The small village of Barnwell has a population of less than two hundred people accommo-dated in houses dotted along the East Bank Essequibo public road. It is primarily a rice farming community and is located between Philadelphia on the east and Greenwich Park on the west. Most residents are of East Indian descent, this newspaper was told, and practise the Hindu faith.
“It was just 11 houses,” said Sunita, who was born in Barnwell 46 years ago; “you could have pointed out everyone by name.” Sunita told Sunday Stabroek that life was peaceful and quiet when she was a child, and the only noise to penetrate the peace was the voices of village children playing games or bathing at the blackwater creek, used by all to fetch water for washing. It was at that creek that Sunita and other village children created memories to last a lifetime. “We use to fetch water for our parents,” she related,