Story and photos by Joanna Dhanraj
Prospect means outlook, scene, or vision but our first view of the East Bank Demerara village was not a clear one. The houses, buses, dogs lying in the streets, flowers and school children were all blurred by smoke emanating from somewhere; just where, we couldn’t tell. There are more than 2,000 residents in Prospect.
At the entrance to the village a resident, who prefers to remain anonymous, pointed to a section of the canal separating Prospect and neighbouring village, Covent Garden that was being cleaned of its stubborn weeds by a man. According to the resident, the weeds in the canal are so thick that one could walk in the canal. A resident, he said, was responsible for the little portion that the worker was cleaning since he wanted his part of the canal to look clean.
However, it was obvious that the worker could only clean the top of the weeds since the roots were too imbedded in the mud. The last time the canal was cleaned was just before the 2015 elections and although according to the resident, when the Neighbourhood Democratic Council used to clean the trench it was only cleaned of its weeds but wasn’t dug thus the build-up of the mud.
The resident said that when he was a little boy he used to play under the culvert, running “up and down” beneath it, this is impossible now since it’s all clogged up. He also made mention of the broken up road in front of him that needs repairing and according to him widening also since the road is a main access for vehicles and school children.
Natasha Thorne had just stepped off the road into her yard when we caught up with her. She lives here with her two children, her husband and his extended family. According to her, when she moved here 14 years ago the place was much like it is today. “It was quiet and reserved. We don’t have crimes here,” she said.
Prospect, she said, has six streets and is a multicultural village. It has no place of worship for its 2,000+ residents but they do not have very far to go since the churches, temples and mosques in the nearby villages accommodate them. The people here, Thorne said, are very friendly. “You don’t find neighbours busing out each other,” she added.
What she said has long gone out of style is the way children play. She grew up enjoying outdoor activities. Her children like many other children she said don’t know about that kind of life. They prefer to watch the television or be on the iPad.
Thorne wishes a few improvements could be made to better the living conditions in Prospect. “The drainage is very bad. The clogged-up trench breeds a lot of mosquitoes. The last time the trench was cleaned was early last year. The road is in a terrible condition also. Persons come and patch it but it getting back the same way,” she said.
Jennifer Jegroo, who lives in the same street as Thorne was wiping the dust off the benches in front of her house when we sat down to talk. Aunty Jenny as many call her came to live in Prospect many years ago. The now clustered street she said had just one or two houses when she arrived. “As we grew up we see people start mekking up deh lil house a little better. We used to get up like four in the morning to go and line up for flour and oil next to Guyana Stores. The store used to open until seven but we used to go early to get a front spot in the line. Every week we got to go line up for it,” said Auntie Jenny. She adds, “We never had play days as children growing. My mother used to sell at school so she used to fetch a basket on her head and we used to help she with she bags. We used to walk from here in Prospect to Providence Primary School.”
The reserve in front of her yard that was neatly weeded only recently and also that of her neighbour’s on the other side of her street was all Auntie Jenny’s doing. She pays a brush-cutter operator to upkeep her street and was disgusted by the condition of the canal and the road.
“The drains and the roads are in a ridiculous state,” she lamented. “The trench was cleaned just before elections and hasn’t been cleaned since. When rain falls the streets with its potholes flood and since the road is higher than the yards; the yards flood too!”
However, she maintains that her village is fairly quiet and nice.
Leaving Auntie Jenny we walked across a bridge over another weed-fill canal that connects the first two streets in Prospect to the last four. Walking along Third Street to take some pictures of the three schools that are situated at the end, we come upon Fizul Mohamed sitting on one of the old cars parked at the side of a mechanic’s residence. Mohamed, who lives a few streets further down, was enjoying an afternoon conversation with another resident.
Now 50, he was born in Prospect and reminisced about his good old boyhood days long gone. “In we days the environment was healthier,” he said. “Long ago we had the black water used to come from the backdam. We used to swim in the trench We had four kokers operating in the village, now only one operates.”
Turning to the canal situated nearby, he said it’s an eyesore. “The trench is clogged up and the sewage from the schools runs into the canal. When the workers clean the canal they only weed it instead of digging it so it shallow and the grass grow back quick. It used to be a cleaner place before. The water in the trench used to be clean. Now the mosquitoes breeding by the millions,” he lamented.
He also made mention of the School Street or 110 or First Street as it is also called. “In the mornings the road is packed with children and vehicles trying to cross and pass each other. It’s like a main road for Prospect. It need to widen. It got some big, big holes and when rain fall it get worse,” he stated.
“But living here is still nice. Prospect is a good village. It quiet. Everybody like to cooperate. If somebody play dem music lil hard and you ask dem to turn it down, dey don’t make any problems; dey turn it down,” he added.
On our way out of Third Street residents pointed out an electricity pole at the bridge, that leans over and looks like it will fall at any time. They would like measures be put into place to deal with it since it is a risk for residents passing through School Street, especially the children.
