Fifteen months after the shutdown of the Wales Sugar Estate, former workers, many of whom reside in the community, are continuing to face the economic burden of reduced finances and scarce employment. The same can be said of the market sellers at Wales, who have collectively stressed their continued challenges into the second year of the West Bank Demerara (WBD) estate being shuttered.
At the time this newspaper caught up with Jocelyn Boston, she was preparing to leave her stall for the day. In a sombre tone, Boston, who has been vending for over seven years, bemoaned her continued struggles which increase with each passing day since the closure of the Wales estate.
“We would be so happy; this place would go [back to] normal. We punishing bad here. You buying a bag of Boulanger and when it used to take you two days to sell out, now it taking you from Friday to Friday,” she stressed.
One female seller, who is also a farmer at Sisters Village, linked the social issue to the closure of the estate, noting that many young people are “liming on the road” because they “have nothing to do.” She also highlighted that when Wales was operating, as private cane farmers, many young people could have sought them for employment, especially in the out of crop season.
Original Post