New Scheme, Patentia is not so new anymore; it has been in existence for more than 50 years and is home to hundreds. The community is bordered by a squatting area, old Patentia and Skull City.
New Scheme was the highlight of the entire West Bank Demerara back in the 90s. A late resident called Sadhu, who had some amount of mechanical and technical skills, had built a merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel. People travelled from all over to have their children get on the amusement rides. Holiday and some weekends were always busy. Vendors would turn up to sell cotton-candy, popcorn and sno-cones.
Sadhu lived with his family in an old bus he had turned into a home; his children and grandchildren still live there. He also built mini go-karts, some of wood and metal, for his children who were in primary school at the time. They would go riding along the West Bank road sometimes, which saw much excitement among their peers looking out from behind the school fence.
A usual day back then saw women up clapping rotis before dawn for their husbands to catch the estate truck; young men would be playing basketball on the tarmac in the afternoons. Things have changed a lot, one resident lamented.
When I visited, young men were sitting under the shade of a tree. Nearby, a barber was busy giving a new haircut. The basketball ring stood rusty in its corner on the tarmac, only a memory now of the decades gone by.
Dyanand Sham sat under the shed at his house with four other men chatting about the day’s events. Though he was born in Number 74 Village, Corentyne Berbice, he moved to Patentia (the old scheme) when he was three years old. His father had moved the family so that he could work at the Wales Sugar Estate. In 1991 Sham moved to the New Scheme.
“When I moved here, we didn’t had light or water. Today we have all of that and more. We have the dispensary, Wales Police Station and [Goed Intent] Health Centre situated just minutes away by car. The nursery, primary and secondary schools are in walking distance, the cemetery close by, also the Wales Community Centre Ground. We have a grocery store and other shops in the village. There’s a barber shop, a wash bay and a pharmacy here too,” Sham said.
The man said he began working with GuySuCo in 1986 as a cane harvester and continued until 2016. Now he does various jobs such as fishing, painting and weeding yards. He goes fishing right in the Demerara River where he catches Cuirass, Banga Mary and Basha, which he sells in the village; he does this 3 to 4 times a week. His work life, the man noted, has changed drastically. When he was at the estate, he worked in the mornings and relaxed the rest of the day. He said also that he was always sure of work and that money would be available, but now he is always wondering when the next job would be available or if he would catch enough fish. “It’s really hard now. Since the estate closed, me got to fight all round to make things work,” he said.
Aside from employment, Sham said, it’s nice to live in New Scheme, it’s a safe community to live in. He wishes that plans to build a road that leads to the koker, close by where he lives would be followed through. His children, he noted, attend Patentia Secondary School; one is a third former and the other in fifth form. Both have examinations within months from now, Sham said, but there is no one in the area offering lessons. There used to be a former teacher in the Old Scheme, ‘Nando’, who offered lessons, but he stopped some time ago, Sham said. He wishes his children could have access to lessons.
Dodsley Primo hails from Buxton. He settled in New Scheme 32 years ago. The village, he said, was sparsely populated at the time but over the years he has seen much development. He moved to the area, he said, because his wife was from squatting area and with her being an only child, they thought it best to live close to her mother.
Primo was a soldier for a number of years. He also worked at the Demerara Harbour Bridge for six years. After settling in New Scheme, he worked at the estate but not for long as he realized construction paid better. He helped to build houses and make furniture until he became a contractor himself. At 72 years old, he is still involved in construction although he does most of the lighter work now. The man said he would like to live a few years more since he still has a few more things he would like to do. But he also said that if he was going to live a bit longer, he would like to have enough strength to do what he plans to do and take care of himself, adding that if he was going to have to depend on his family to look after him then it would not be worth it.
He attends the Kingdom Hall Church in Nismes with his family.
On the opposite side of the scheme, children played at one house. Carmen Ally, their grandmother, looked on while chatting with her sister who was visiting. Ally was born in Santa Mission where she grew up until she got married and moved to New Scheme.
Life at Santa Mission, she noted, was different as their only mode of transportation was by boat. At the time she arrived in New Scheme, there was no water or light and she depended on the water in the canal nearby which was always running and fresh. The water, she said, was black then unlike its current smoky brown colour. The canal back then was always clean and not filled with weeds and garbage like it is today.
“The people here are cooperative people. We always look out for one another,” she said. For many years her husband worked at the estate until his retirement. Now the couple run a shop.
Life here is as comfortable as it gets, Ally said, and she is content just the way it is. The village is equipped with many services such as electricity, water and telephone services; there are street lights along the road. Her wish is for the canal to be cleaned.
Ally spends most of her time at home. On Sundays, she attends the New Life Full Gospel Church with her family. Once in a while, she visits Santa Mission.
Shaunda Warde was born in New Scheme. Her grandparents moved to the community some 50 years ago. Her grandmother hailed from Craig on the East Bank Demerara and her grandfather from Linden. He had moved to work at the estate and had first settled in the old scheme.
Warde lived in New Scheme until she was 8 years old. She was attended Patentia Primary before transferring to Sacred Heart Primary and later the Bishops’ High School. When she was 16 years old, she returned to live in New Scheme.
Warde has a cookie business, which she began in 2007 where she first provided cookies to the canteen at the Caricom Secretariat. Now, with the help of two workers, she supplies cookies to Bounty Supermarket in Kitty, Distribution Services Ltd, Massy Supermarket at Providence and Oasis Express.
Though she doesn’t market her cookies at the shops nearby, Warde said she has a fair idea what the market is like, mentioning that with the closure of the estate shopkeepers and customers alike would complain about the drop in sales or not having enough money. Warde had wanted to start a business in the area but based on the word in the street she decided against it.
The Wales market is far from thriving, the woman noted. “Now it’s so hard. A lot of people used to be multi-income families, now it’s like one person or so working. One of my friends… because of the raise of fares said she didn’t know $20 more could have cost her so much. Her brother used to work at the estate; he’s not working anymore. You just can’t have as you used to have anymore,” Warde said.
She noted that her life is different from that of many others and she considers herself fortunate, but she worries about those who are not fortunate. Friends, she said, have complained that the newly-installed electricity meters seem to record then using almost three times the amount of current.
She said too that there are not enough recreational activities for children and youth, mentioning that while there is a community centre where karate classes are offered, with a gym and a ground where youths can play football and cricket, there is not much else. The ground is owned by GuySuCo. Warde said that she would like to be able to take her son to a park with swings, trampolines and see-saws but for anything of that sort persons have to head to Georgetown. It is sad, she said, that while everything is going on in the city, West Bank seems to be forgotten. She said that since Pizza Hut opened across from the Demerara Harbour Bridge (DHB), persons have somewhere to go and added that recently when she visited it was packed. She wishes other businesses would open branches on the West Bank as it is always a headache to get to Georgetown because of the traffic on the DHB, while the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling is in a deplorable state. Joe Vieira’s Park is on the West Bank, but it is usually kept closed until Easter. “Give us something like Merriman Mall over here,” she pleaded, “or give us our own cinema so nobody ain’t got to spend all that money to go to Georgetown. Every time you want to go somewhere to lime you got to go till to the seawall.”
