Still reeling from the fallout of the closure of the Rose Hall Estate, in Region Six, some East Canje, Berbice residents say the effects of the current COVID-19 pandemic have added to their woes, leaving them in an almost daily struggle to survive.
After the estate, which provided employment for hundreds of persons was closed at the end of 2017, former workers found it difficult to transition from all they had known to other employment.
“About 95 % of people na work right now. It very hard for everybody,” Deonarine Moonsammy, 55, a cane harvester, of New Area Canefield Settlement, East Canje Berbice, told Sunday Stabroek.
Some former sugar workers did find jobs as hire car drivers or as tradesmen, such as carpenters and masons. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, some of those persons were once again put out of a job since almost all construction was put on hold up from the start of April until the start of this month. Additionally, due to the restriction in place hire car drivers are only allowed to carry a reduced number of passengers, thereby restricting their earnings.
Moonsammy is arguably one of the fortunate ones. After the closure of Rose Hall, he was transferred to the Albion Estate. He said the experience so far has been an exhausting one but that he is stuck with it since he has to provide for his family. “It’s very difficult because what we use to earn here [Rose Hall Estate] we don’t earn there now,” he noted.
“Because sometimes when you a travel you end up late and then you work less and then sometime when you meet in time them na get all the work for you so you still working less. The money we working right now is to just to survive, just pay you bills, eat and live; nothing more you can’t do,” he added.
Moonsammy supports a young child in primary school, “She just write Common Entrance. It was very hard because if we didn’t have internet, she woulda can’t cope so I don’t know them ones who don’t have internet how them coping. It’s hard all around. I’m very sorry for them,” he further said.
The man stressed that his hope has always been “a brighter future” for the next generation. “All we want is for the children them to have a better life than them parents and we can’t give that right now,” he said.
Another transferred worker, Harrinarine Beharry, a father of two, stated, that he too is finding it extremely difficult presently. “Me just a work fa survive. If we na get internet me children them can’t learn nothing. Me get one child going BHS (Berbice High School) and one going nursery and me na get internet me children them a use my neighbor internet. It very hard,” he explained.
According to the man, he is braving the hard times to ensure that his children receive a proper education so that they can better themselves and become productive members of society, “Me a work because me a hope for a better future for my kids them, that is all me a hope for,” he said.
Freeze
A farmer from Betsy Ground Village, Henry Lewis, 67, said that he is extremely grateful that only one person within the region has tested positive for COVID-19.
However, he lamented a decrease in sales of his produce. Additionally, he noted, that he plants in Speculation, East Canje Berbice and that presently the drainage in the area is completely blocked. He said when the farm is flooded there is no option for the water to be drained as “is only the sun does got to help we there.”
The farmer noted that he has noticed that items have increased in the shops in his village. “Let me tell you one story: During PNC time, the money was there but the goods were not there. Today the goods are there and the money is there but not in the people hands for them to go get the goods. The money ain’t flowing because the jobs shut down,” he said. “Things freeze. The importation is not like before but is something we can’t prevent and nobody knows when COVID will gone. It’s like any virus it can be dormant and then it can rise again,” he added.
Lewis pointed out that luckily he has been able to maintain himself throughout the pandemic. “Granny use to say “Contentive mind. So if you got to eat one plate one time, you eat half and lef half.”
Lalbachan Samaroo, 58, a sugar worker of Gangaram Village, explained that he was transferred to the Albion Estate after the closure of Rose Hall Estate but presently he is stationed at the Rose Hall Estate. “Them bring we because the sugar got to go in the bulk to ship off because them na had no alternative way for them to ship the sugar,” he explained.
The father of four stated that prices of groceries and other items have increased heavily in his area. “Everything raise and you money na raise,” he pointed out. “Them people say them buying it expensive and so them got to sell it back so and plus VAT.”
Narinedatt, 61, of Reliance Abandon, East Canje, Berbice, said, “The prices have jacked up more than the normal price than before. Things get very expensive and we not working [for] the kind of money to turn over. Imagine people who got four, five children. Then another disaster with the election situation, is like nobody cares for poor people out here, that’s how me see it,” he added.
The elderly man worked at the Rose Hall Estate for 22 years after which he retired and then sought employment with a security company. He stressed that he is extremely grateful that his salary has been maintained during this time as he has no one else to help him.
