In the village of Versailles on the West Bank Demerara, Martley Mc Rae and his employees were hard at work in his block-making factory. McRae supplies decorative blocks, concrete spindles and hollow blocks for private homes and building projects; his business has been thriving ever since it was established 15 years ago.
He learnt the trade in Suriname where he lived from 1990 to 1997 and has passed on his skills to his workers. It has been his sole source of income since then.
Mc Rae who has been living in the village for the past 20 years is married with two children: one is studying communications at the University of Guyana and the other is a fourth form student at the West Demerara Secondary School.
Versailles, one of the French named places in Guyana, is bounded by the villages of Malgre Tout and Goed Fortuin and is just about a mile away from the Demerara Harbour Bridge.
With a population of around 2,000, Versailles, which is said to be a peaceful village, is bursting with activities.
The former estate had been owned by a Vieira; the grandfather of businessman and politician, Anthony Vieira, who operated the former Vieira Communications Television (VCT). Huge dishes used for the television channel still stand in the compound of the Victorian-style house from where a section of the business was run. The older Vieira had purchased the entire estate, including the village of Schoonord, as well as Goed Fortuin and Malgre Tout. The villages are divided by kokers.
At one end of Versailles is the koker where the fishing boats would moor and from where the fishermen carry out their activities. It was