Albion …a peaceful community built on the foundation of sugar

Jun 12, 2022 News

==Village Focus==

By Malisa Playter-Harry

Kaieteur News – Located some 11 miles from the township of New Amsterdam, Albion Village, located in East Berbice Corentyne, Region Six is nestled between the villages of Nigg on the eastern end and Kilcoy/Chesney on the western end.

The Albion Food Court and Lounge which has been abuzz since it opened its doors

The Fresh Direct Ice Factory which also sells beverages

A tractor passing on the Albion public road

The newly constructed Albion Police Station

Aunty Elvie is one of the oldest residents of Albion

The Cropper Primary School located at Albion

This small and quiet community has within its confines, the Albion Police Station which was recently rebuilt into a modern facility. There are two nursery schools – the Albion Front Nursery, and the Albion Back Nursery – and one primary school – the Cropper Primary School. When visiting the community, people can find at least one mosque, two churches and two Hindu temples.
The Albion Sugar Estate is a major employer in the area and that estate was among the three estates that were kept in operation when three others were closed a few years ago. Many estate workers from the closed factories in Skeldon and Rose Hall Canje were absorbed by the Albion Estate.
The estate was founded in the second half of the nineteenth century following the closure of the Port Mourant Factory. Along the Albion main road, which leads to the sugar factory, there is the Albion Sports Complex which is managed by Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo). The facility is utilised for sporting events such as cricket, fitness, regional and international entertainment shows and the annual Berbice Exposition and Trade Fair which is hosted by the Corentyne Chambers of Commerce.Within the past two years, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Albion has been abuzz with economic activity since the establishment of an entertainment spot – the Albion Food Court and Lounge. People from across the region and even out of the region would visit the community to just enjoy the electrifying atmosphere. The business place is now a hub that attracts prominent persons and with the Z-One Chinese Supermarket located in the bottom flat of the two-storeyed concrete structure, people have labelled the location as “the place to be”. Just next door is the Fresh Direct Ice Factory which supplies bagged off ice cubes to customers. The entity which also sells alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, has been in operation for several years.
Just recently, a gym was opened and has connecting businesses, a stationery and print shop along with a Superbet gaming outlet.
Aside from the sugar industry and the buzzing businesses, other economic activities people engage in are fishing, gardening and livestock rearing. However, as the country develops, young people of the community have ventured into professional working paths such as teaching, etc.
Eighty-seven years old Basdai Bhikari, who is well known to the Albion community as “Granny” or “Aunty Elvie”, although currently bed-ridden, was quite eager to share her story about living in the village she described as ‘peaceful’.

A deplorable street that residents want the authorities to fix

An Albion Sugar Estate worker, making his way home, poses for our camera

She recently had a fall that caused an injury to her hip. Nevertheless, she was happy to speak with Kaieteur News, which she did with a pleasant smile on her face. The village elder, who was born in the year 1935, said that she tied the blissful wedding knot at the age of 18. But according to her, the union with her husband only lasted 10 years. He died leaving her to care for their only child, a daughter.
Aunty Elvie, the name she is most commonly called, said that she had lived near the Albion Estate but after she’d gotten married, she moved to her parent’s house located along the Albion public road with the Albion Police Station as her neighbour.

The sugar factory that employs many Albion residents

“There were never so many houses,” she said, as she recalled living a simple and peaceful life during her younger years. She said then, that there were only two businesses, and both were shops where you could purchase things to eat or cook. Her husband, prior to his death, like many others, was employed at the Albion Sugar Factory while she remained at home taking care of her daughter – which was a norm for the women during those years. Her husband, she said, also did rice farming to help boost their financial standing.
She added, “the majority of the people worked in the estate and very few mine stocks (reared livestock). When I come here the neighbour was mining stock and people did fishing and so forth…people also did a lot of gardening.”
Aunty Elvie, said that prior to her moving near to the police station, there was a health facility attached to the sugar factory where people in the community sought medical attention. But as time went by, some residents from the community began migrating to other villages, in search of better living.
“It was a remarkably simple and nice life I had, the people use to live peacefully among each other, it was like a cottage, 10 houses use to deh in one cottage. Some people owned two houses like us,” she related.Reminiscing on her early days, she revealed that “Though it was hard at the time, I enjoyed it because my mother never sent us to work anywhere, just to school, and after school, she sent me to learn to knit like jerseys and petticoats and so on. When I finished that she sent me to do sewing,” she recalled.
Having lived in Albion for more than eight decades, Aunty Elvie said that she has seen much development with more businesses and more people from various levels of society living and contributing to the economic development of the village.
Describing living next to a police station as “marvellous,” a smiling Aunty Elvie shared that the law enforcement men and women have been immensely helpful to her. This is owing to the fact that since her fall, they have been the ones assisting her by sending someone to uplift her pension for her every month at the post office located at Nigg, which is located a village away.
Although Albion is a peaceful community, there are some challenges that residents face. These include deplorable streets and drainage and irrigation issues. Another resident, who has been living in the village for over 20 years, said she is forced to pay persons to clean the drains in front of her house since the Neighbourhood Democratic Council has never done any cleaning. She added that she along with other residents have made several complaints to the local authority, but their pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears. There are also several cross streets connected to the main streetway leading to the Cropper Primary School that are in a deplorable state. Residents said they are pleading with the authorities to address their issues.