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Speightland/Lower Kara, a peaceful riverine community
Village Focus
By Vanessa Braithwaite
Kaieteur News – Located a few miles down the Demerara-River, is the scenic and peaceful riverine community of Speightland/Lower Kara Kara. Home to about 400 residents, the community is nestled between the farmlands and the peaceful Demerara River. Most of the residents are of Indigenous descent and depend on farming, fishing and hunting for a living.
The Speightland community
Also known as Block 42, Amelia’s Ward, the community can be deemed a close knit one. As a result, the crime rate is relatively low.
The community can be accessed from either the river via paddle or engine boat from Mackenzie, or it can be accessed from Amelia’s Ward (the sand pit area). Residents, however, prefer to use boat, as it is more convenient and affordable.
Susan Marks, a resident, said she has been living there for 23 years. Her family is the first to settle in the community.
Speightland resident, Susan Marks
She said families get their daily bread from small and large scale farming and fishing activities. They would take the produce and sell them in the Mackenzie area. “I don’t do a large scale of planting, but they have other guys who are more down, they would do a large scale and when they plant, they would harvest it and carry down to the market and sell it. Some would sell wholesale and some would sell retail,” she explained. Marks said the farmers would use the boats to transport their produce to the market.
Jewan Singh called ‘Grand-dad”, has been living in the community for over 15 years and is also a farmer.
Speightland resident, George Jacobis
He would sometimes brave the scorching sun and other adverse weather conditions to tend to the soil, despite being advanced in age, just to feed his family. “I plant plantain, banana, cassava and I does do lil gardening,” he said with pride. He would normally sell in the community, but during the May/June rains, Singh’s farm, along with the majority of others in the community, was inundated and he was unable to support his family during that period. “Right now, I does get it very hard; it is very hard, I am a senior citizen, I does get my pension and that is what is surviving me and my family.”
Across the other side of the river, is the farming community of Dallawalla, which was one of Region 10’s main farming hub. Years ago, the food produced in Dallawalla, would sustain more than 50 percent of Linden’s demand and there was no need for food to be imported from other regions. However, poor drainage and irrigation resulted in farms being flooded regularly and farmers were forced to abandon their lands for greener pastures. One farmer, however, who remained and continues to battle the challenges, is Mr. George Jacobis. He farms mainly cash crops and ground provision, but like other farmers during the raining season, he experienced significant losses. “Right now, is only the eddo really withstand the rain, everything else under water,” the veteran farmer related.
For the residents of these riverain communities, life does not go by without a fight. Limited amenities, access roads and other challenges can make us appreciate how easy life can be for those who reside in central Linden.
Young Flemming, has been living in Lower Kara Kara all his life and described river life as tough. “At the back here is tough, you have to toil every day to keep your head above the water. Farming is very challenging. In Linden, during these May/June you drop the farms because of too much of rain,” he said. The young men of the community would have to seek other means of earning during this period, he related.
As a result of these hurdles, the majority of the community’s occupants are middled aged and the elderly, since many of the youths opt to leave after completing school. However, Roshanna Manbodh, a young woman, decided to stay since, according to her, she loves the peacefulness of the community. For fun, she, along with her friends, would keep house parties and other social activities such as community sporting competitions to keep the community spirit alive.
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