‘Bush cook’ and a game of cricket on the seashore were the order of the day for young boys living in Annandale in the 1980s.
Chandranauth Ragnauth, 33, was one of those boys. He recalls running along the shore 22 years ago to catch a ball that had been hit into the air by one of his peers. As he dove for the ball, he could barely hear the distant yelling behind him against the sound of the waves raging toward the shore. But he dropped it—and suddenly the sound of the waves was drowned out by the angry scoffs of his teammates.
Ragnauth was born and raised in Annandale, a small village on the East Coast Demerara, with a population of approximately 1,200 mostly of East Indian descent. It is bordered by Buxton and Lusignan.
According to elderly villagers, many of them lived in Buxton in the early 1950s but moved to Annandale in the mid-1960s. One woman, who asked not to be named, said she was a young woman when she moved from Buxton with her family to live in Annandale. She said they built a house and started a new life. She said she used to help her mother sell greens in the Annandale market and 40 years later, she still has that stall at the market— it is how she earns her living.
“Life in Annandale is peaceful. It’s a quiet place,” she said, standing by her stall.
The market is soon to be moved to the Sideline Dam, a few streets away from where it was originally set up. It is being constructed over an abandoned canal, which was once used by GuySuCo years ago and is currently a dumpsite.
Ragnauth recalled swimming in that large trench with his friends. He said many weekends, if they weren’t on the seawalls, they would be in the trench, playing.
Saturdays, he said, was reserved for fishing and whenever they “got a catch” they would cook it, “fireside style” and make a pot of cook-up rice or curry and rice. However, as he got older, Ragnauth said, the seawall rendezvouses stopped and he would find himself riding to Mon Repos in the afternoons to meet his high school sweetheart. Today, Ragnauth who owns several boats, is married to that same girl. They have three children.
The canal was not only a popular spot for young people, it was also used by the women in the village to wash clothes long ago. Farida Persaud, 38, lives near the trench, and she reminisced on the days when her mother and other women would go there in the afternoons to wash clothes and fetch water. She said the children used to bathe in it until the sun went down and before 6’clock everyone would be in their houses.
Persaud said many of the women in village would either sell at the market, stay at home, or do domestic work to “ketch them hand to buy things for the house.” She said everyone in Annandale loves to plant flowers and gardens
in their front yards and so many of their streets are decorated with flowers and fruit trees.
Children in the village mostly attend the Annandale Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools and Persaud lamented that there is no recreational space for them in the village. There is no community ground or playing field.
Persaud also mentioned that there is a shortage of teachers in the primary school and many of the children would not get homework and assessments to do in the afternoons. She said she chose to send her daughter to Mon Repos Primary because of that issue.
“We need a playground for the children and we need teachers for our children because when they come home in the afternoon there is nothing for them to do,” she said.
The village also does not have a health centre; most of the villagers would either go to the Buxton Health Centre or the Lusignan Health Centre. There is, however, a private medical centre where blood testing and ultrasounds are offered.
Most of the men in Annandale earn their living by fishing; spending weeks, sometimes months on end at sea. A few of them have jobs in Georgetown. Years ago, many of the men were cane cutters. Early in the mornings, a GuySuCo truck would pass through the streets to pick the men up and they would spend the entire day in the fields.
Ramesh, only name given, has been fishing for 20 years. He said work usually begins at 4 o’clock in the morning, when he would leave home and head out to the seashore with other fishermen. “I have spent 20 years on the sea… This is what I born and grow between,” he said, adding that his father used to carry him to fish when he was a small child. He said fishing is a popular occupation in Annandale.
Meanwhile, even though Annandale is a quiet place to live and the people are friendly and welcoming, petty crimes have increased over the years. Some villagers say they are afraid to walk late at nights, while some believe that outsiders are committing the robberies.
Hamraj Singh, 59, said, “If you walk late they would carry away your underwear whilst years ago they used to carry away your shoes.”
Many robberies take place on the Sideline Dam at nights because there are no street lights and some villagers mentioned instances when women would get robbed in broad daylight. Many complained of young men on bicycles riding up to them and robbing them.
The community policing group, they said, is no longer functioning and there is a need for street lights. “It would be good to get the street lights because people would feel safer,” one resident said.
Singh, who migrated to Trinidad some 20-odd years ago, returned to Guyana a few weeks ago to visit his family. He would constantly travel back and forth between the two countries to drink with his Guyanese friends because “the rum is cheaper in Guyana.” He said Annandale, has become a “graffiti of garbage” and the trenches are filled with rubbish. “I’m a Guyanese and I love my village because everyone knows me but …this place is not good to live and raise a family.” he said.
Nevertheless, his memories of Annandale remain sharp in his mind. He could remember nights when the streets were safe and children would play ball and tag on the road. He could remember
the clean drains and the friendly people.
Annandale has many small shops and liquor restaurants through its streets. Most young people would hang out at these shops in the afternoon and at nights. The community has two churches and two temples.
