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‘Nowhere else to go’ for some Plastic City squatters

Plastic City squatters are rapidly leaving the Best Village foreshore to build their houses after being granted land last year but a few who remain on the muddy garbage-strewn shore say that they cannot afford the price of house lots.

The squatting area is buried deep within a swampy forest of mangroves on the West Demerara, concealing old rusted zinc shacks and wood-patched houses. Cocooned in the thick swamp of mangroves, is a moss covered concrete pathway, leading out to the river.

For years, the villagers had cried out for relief from the sewage-filled water surrounding their homes and for running water and electricity. Some had said

A house in Plastic City
A house in Plastic City

that the Housing Ministry had collected their telephone numbers after they filled house lot forms but never got in touch with them. The others, who refuse to move, say that they want to remain and were hoping that the ministry would grant them land right there.

Lorene Cameron said that he has lived at Plastic City for 15 years and every time the place became flooded children would get sick. “We like this now but it isn’t long… it ain’t forever. We wouldn’t be like this forever,” he said. He is building a house at Parfaite Harmonie on the West Bank Demerara and it would soon be completed.  “Things gon’ change. This ain’t forever,” he added.

A group of young boys hanging out along the concrete walkway leading out to the river. The pathway leads to a stone structure which the residents call the ‘First Baby monument’ at the end of the squatting area.
A group of young boys hanging out along the concrete walkway leading out to the river. The
pathway leads to a stone structure which the residents call the ‘First Baby monument’ at the end of the squatting area.

Susan Ramdas, who said that she had spent ten years living in the swamp, is also building her first home. She said she had received a house lot and would leave Plastic City as soon as construction is completed.

The 27-year-old lives with her husband and four children in a rusty zinc shack. “We don’t like living here. Who would? We only remain here because we can’t afford to rent a place,” she said, noting that her husband worked as a cane cutter and couldn’t afford much. “Money doesn’t easy here… Most of the men work and the women stay home and look the children. Mek sure that they go to school and eat,” she explained. “I didn’t choose to live like this. I have been living here since I was small. Me and my sister always wanted to leave and we did, but I came because sometimes there’s nowhere else to go.”

Shanta Ramdas’s home.
Shanta Ramdas’s home.

Her father, she said, died last year of pneumonia, leaving her mother to live alone and search for work. “We gon move though and mek a start,” she said, hopefully.

But for now she has to watch the skin of her children and other children along the concrete pathway break out with waterborne diseases and ringworms.

Shanta Ramdas, Susan’s mother said she was comfortable living in the swamp and that the “large” price of house lots was oppressive. “I can’t read and write so what type of job could I get to find the money to buy one? Not everyone fortunate, you know,” she said, adding that she was happy that her children would soon no longer be squatters.

Ramdas also said that she had no latrine and would use her neighbour’s as well as her neighbour’s bathroom. “Things rough in here. Children would still have to get up early in the morning and fetch buckets pon buckets of water to go school.,” she said, pointing out that young boys in the area would have to fetch the buckets of waters on their bicycles. “And if they don’t have that they would fetch it on their back.”

She lives in hope that one day they would be given light and potable water. “It’s really a strain to fetch water from till over on the train line,” she added.

A section of the garbage-strewn swamp
A section of the garbage-strewn swamp
Susan Ramdas and one of her daughters.
Susan Ramdas and one of her daughters.

Nazetta Gill, a 26-year-old who has lived in Plastic City for nine years, says she can’t afford any place better. “Our children don’t get to play after school because the ground is always muddy and dirty,” Gill told Stabroek News, while pointing to the yellowish-brown swamp that surrounded her home. She said that she was not happy with her living situation but stayed because she could not afford better. Planting, she said, was her hobby during the day before she moved to Plastic City. “I’m not happy here because I can’t plant anymore. If I try the spring tide would come in and kill them.”

She lives in a small patched house that has only one room. However, she happily stated that her husband was building a larger house a few yards away so that their four children would have a room to sleep in.

Squatters say that they are most affected in August when the water would rush onto the shore and flood the area, where it would eventually mix with faeces from latrines and settle around houses.

“This place isn’t healthy for people with children and everybody get children here,” a man said.

However, Ronald Alfred, who grew up in the area, said that he did not want to leave because Plastic City was all he knew. “I grow up here and I’m comfortable because we ain’t get nothing to be afraid of. No thieves,” he said but lamented that his major problem was getting running water.

“We just ga bare we chafe now, that’s all,” he said, adding that he enjoyed catching crabs when the spring tide came. Alfred has lived 19 years in Plastic City.

A boy looks through his window
A boy looks through his window

Avril Archibald, another resident, said that years had made people accustomed to the harsh life. “We accustom living in the area. Everyone already make their foundation. They tell us because we could make board house but not concrete,” she said.

She said that even though they were squatters they still deserved basic necessities like other people and pleaded for government officials to visit their area and assess the conditions they were living under. She added that officials from the Ministry of Housing had collected their numbers and promised to call but never did. “Some people moving out because they get through with them house lots but some of us still here and some of us want to stay,” she said.

Source:

Replies sorted oldest to newest

@Totaram posted:

Yes , it is.  How could they sleep at nights in Pradoville while these people live like this?

very soundly. You lied about the PPP encourage the people to squat on Guysuco land. Now you are trying to blame them for something the PNC did.

R
@Ramakant-P posted:

You are far from the truth.

Dufus, this is a PPP/C legacy. The pictures were taken in 2014.

How can Ali sleep at night in his mansion when these conditions exist just hundreds of feet away?

Mitwah
@Ramakant-P posted:

very soundly. You lied about the PPP encourage the people to squat on Guysuco land. Now you are trying to blame them for something the PNC did.

Look who is talking about lying--Kakakant the pathological liar. 

T
@Mitwah posted:

This speaks volumes of your heartless mentality. Life does not last. It's like a dream that will come to an end.

You asked the question and I give you an answer to how can Ali sleep at night.  It has nothing to do with me. You are becoming stupid now.

R
@Ramakant-P posted:

Banna, you and Mitwah are always wrong.  Anything you say or accuse the PPP of comes back to haunt you.

You and the PPP can do nothing to haunt me.   Keep that kind of talk for your nitwit friends.   

T

These are some nice houses. Look like a camp site.

Susan Ramdas, who said that she had spent ten years living in the swamp, is also building her first home. She said she had received a house lot and would leave Plastic City as soon as construction is completed.

The 27-year-old lives with her husband and four children in a rusty zinc shack. “We don’t like living here. Who would? We only remain here because we can’t afford to rent a place,” she said, noting that her husband worked as a cane cutter and couldn’t afford much. “Money doesn’t easy here… Most of the men work and the women stay home and look the children. Mek sure that they go to school and eat,” she explained. “I didn’t choose to live like this. I have been living here since I was small. Me and my sister always wanted to leave and we did, but I came because sometimes there’s nowhere else to go.”

Shanta Ramdas’s home.
Shanta Ramdas’s home.

Her father, she said, died last year of pneumonia, leaving her mother to live alone and search for work. “We gon move though and mek a start,” she said, hopefully.

But for now she has to watch the skin of her children and other children along the concrete pathway break out with waterborne diseases and ringworms.

Shanta Ramdas, Susan’s mother said she was comfortable living in the swamp and that the “large” price of house lots was oppressive. “I can’t read and write so what type of job could I get to find the money to buy one? Not everyone fortunate, you know,” she said, adding that she was happy that her children would soon no longer be squatters.

Ramdas also said that she had no latrine and would use her neighbour’s as well as her neighbour’s bathroom. “Things rough in here. Children would still have to get up early in the morning and fetch buckets pon buckets of water to go school.,” she said, pointing out that young boys in the area would have to fetch the buckets of waters on their bicycles. “And if they don’t have that they would fetch it on their back.”

Mitwah

You guys are behaving that this is only a recent event under the PPP. remember these people were here during the 5 plus years of the PNC and nothing was said. There was complete silence. Hypocrisy is abundant there.

FM
@Former Member posted:

You guys are behaving that this is only a recent event under the PPP. remember these people were here during the 5 plus years of the PNC and nothing was said. There was complete silence. Hypocrisy is abundant there.

This existed during the 23 years when the PPP was in power. It was highlighted in 2014 when Granger made a walk thru.  These folks were promised house lots by both the PPP and PNC. They are still waiting.

The Housing development program is not for these folks.

Mitwah
@Former Member posted:

You guys are behaving that this is only a recent event under the PPP. remember these people were here during the 5 plus years of the PNC and nothing was said. There was complete silence. Hypocrisy is abundant there.

Did PNC flood those poor people out?

cain
@Mitwah posted:

This existed during the 23 years when the PPP was in power. It was highlighted in 2014 when Granger made a walk thru.  These folks were promised house lots by both the PPP and PNC. They are still waiting.

The Housing development program is not for these folks.

The PPP will be giving 50,000 house lots to Guyanese in need for the next 10 years.  Who are these folks you are talking about? Why are you continue to lie blatantly every day?  You should be ashamed of yourself.

Your ignorance and stupidity are causing annoyance, anger, or another strong reaction, especially deliberately.

R
@Ramakant-P posted:

The PPP will be giving 50,000 house lots to Guyanese in need for the next 10 years.  Who are these folks you are talking about? Why are you continue to lie blatantly every day?  You should be ashamed of yourself.

Your ignorance and stupidity are causing annoyance, anger, or another strong reaction, especially deliberately.

The PPP politicians and PPP cronies are on the first tier. Just like the last time.

Ali passes by Plastic City almost everyday.

Mitwah
@Mitwah posted:

The PPP politicians and PPP cronies are on the first tier. Just like the last time.

Ali passes by Plastic City almost everyday.

You have no content in your stupid response. 

Your ignorance and stupidity are causing annoyance, anger, or another strong reaction, especially deliberately.

R
@cain posted:

Did PNC flood those poor people out?

They did not care about anyone's well-being besides their own. The people destroyed crops worth millions of dollars. Now that the sugar industry is about to make a comeback, GUYSUCO needs the land to cultivate a variety of canes for seeds. They are being given lots to build on. Let them try to put their shoulders on the wheel and do something for their children. Let the children have pride and dignity growing up.

FM

After 10 years and 2 govt’s… Review squatters still to be relocated

After 10 years and 2 govt’s… Review squatters still to be relocated


…As inhumane conditions worsens

In a recent visit to Riverview, Ruimveldt by Kaieteur News, reporters were left dumbfounded at the conditions under which the Riverview squatters live.

The entrance buried by the silt mud from the canal

An aerial view of the Riverview squatters

To make matters worse, the main entrance bridge to the community was completely buried in “soppy mud” from a canal recently cleared by an excavator.
The foul smell emanating from the silt mud and piled up garbage that can be seen almost everywhere prompted reporters to question residents about their living conditions.
One man said that he has been a resident of the area for more than 15 years. He claimed that the former government– the People’s Progressive Party (PPP)– had promised to relocate them to a better place but failed to fulfil its promise.
The man further said that the current administration, A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) also promised to do likewise. But to date nothing has been done about the Riverview squatters.Supporting the man’s claims is a 2009 Government Information Agency (GINA) article.

A section of the community

The article stated that the then Minister of the Ministry of Housing, Irfaan Ali, promised that, “focus will be placed on the Ruimveldt Squatting area in Riverview”
It was discovered by the then PPP administration that the persons squatting along the dam were preventing the cleaning and de-silting of the drainage canal.
In 2015, the administration changed, and in 2016 the APNU+AFC government embarked on a plan to eradicate squatting in Guyana.
A number of areas were targeted, including Riverview, The Lamaha Canal and the squatters on Broad and Lombard Streets.
In 2018, squatters from Sophia and Broad and Lombard Streets were scheduled to be relocated.

Conditions under which the squatters live

Many were earmarked to be relocated to Cummings Lodge after the Government had collaborated with Food for the Poor to construct some 72 homes at $1.2M each.
But according to Riverview squatters, they are still on the waiting list.
Some residents told Kaieteur News, that they are not depending on the government to be relocated. Many had applied for house lots some years ago.
But it seems as if their applications have not been accepted by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA).
They said that they are conscious of the fact that their living conditions are “worst than that of a dog” but because of their current economic status, they cannot afford to rent a house elsewhere.

Source:

Mitwah

These people are getting million-dollar homes.  What are they complaining about or are they?  I believe that it is the Opposition that is looking for things to complain about foolishly and openly.

Mitwah et others complain about squatters before 2015 and when the Coalition took over, they stopped their bytcjhing.

R
Last edited by Ramakant-P
@Ramakant-P posted:

These people are getting million-dollar homes.  What are they complaining about or are they?  I believe that it is the Opposition that is looking for things to complain about foolishly and openly.

I love your idiotic responses.

Mitwah

There is no civilization in “Plastic City” in Vreed-en-Hoop

One of the things in life you are constantly aware of when you are a daily commentator is how quick time leaves human society. You go on the keyboard and you punch in the date next to your commentary then you realize four months have gone since you bought a Christmas gift.
As I typed in the date of this column on the top of the page, it was just yesterday that I was buying Christmas gifts for the two women I love so much – my wife and daughter.
Most of all, for me it was just yesterday, I was in the election campaign speaking to people in Berbice, Linden and Kwakwani and having great fun with Mark Benschop and Bernadette Reid, daughter of former Prime Minister, Dr. Ptolemy Reid, on the campaign trail.
Look where we are today. It soon will be four months since that election came. As I typed in the date on my column, I realized that so many things have gone by since that fateful election on November 28. For example, I have been dismissed from UG. The great trade unionist, George Daniel, was in Guyana with plans to settle back in Guyana. Aubrey Norton, seasoned radical, is no longer in Parliament; Raphael Trotman is the Speaker of Parliament; my friend from teenage days, Malcolm Harripaul, who campaigned for APNU (he served under Granger in the GDF) has remigrated.
On Monday, while the Bharrat Jagdeo libel case was going on in the High Court, Malcolm rang to apologize that he couldn’t be in court as promised. He suggested that after the afternoon session of the case, he would like me to come to Vreed-en-Hoop where he lives to see one of civilization’s tragic moments, Plastic City.
I had never heard about a place in Guyana named Plastic City. I am a cocooned city boy that knows very little of Guyana outside of its capital.
I left the High Court after the libel hearing was adjourned and took a water taxi from the back of Stabroek Market to Vreed-en-Hoop. The authorities have banned the use of speed boats so they have these large carriers we refer to as water taxis. The speed boat literally gets you from the market to Vreed-en-Hoop in 48 seconds. The water taxi makes it in three minutes. The larger vessel is slower by two minutes, but safer.
I haven’t used the speed boat across the Demerara River to West Coast in ages. It cost one hundred dollars but the operator refused my money saying, “Freddie you must travel more often with the ferry.”
I plan to do just that, but I don’t know what ferry he was talking about.
Malcolm was there waiting for me at the old Vreed-en-Hoop stelling. We jumped into his racing car. It was the first time I have seen the inside of a racing car. On the passenger side in front, the car is equipped with two types of seat belts. I found it funny. One goes across your belly and one covers your stomach. I once told Malcolm that he should stop his yearly entries because I never heard of him winning a contest since racing began at the circuit near the airport in colonial times.
Plastic City is just off the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling, going north, literally a quarter of a mile from Vreed-en-Hoop Secondary School.  The school needs a coat of paint. But I guess so does most schools in a country named Guyana where Minister Robeson Benn said that we have a high level of technology in rescue operations that other nations in South America cannot match.
To get to Plastic City, you walk on the old Dutch jetty going north towards the Demerara River.
The stench of abject poverty hit me as soon as I passed the first shack. Don’t go to see Plastic City if you have a faint heart. This is a manifestation of poverty that has to be one of the most disgusting in the entire world.
About twenty families live on the Vreed-en-Hoop mud flat, each in a single shack measuring six feet by eight feet. There is no drinking water. The place is filthy with no sign of civilization. I was psychologically traumatized at the sight of the children in each shack.
Normally, children put a smile on when strangers visit their compound, but not the kids of Plastic City. Their eyes were vacant, their smiles non-existent, their very being questionable. Guyanese should not accept the existence of this Faustian hell. It is Hades where torment and torture destroys the soul of its inhabitant.

Freddie Kissoon March 08 2012

Mitwah
@cain posted:

Both governments have failed these people,let's see if anything will be done now that it has been brought up once again.

Plastic City is just off the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling, going north, literally a quarter of a mile from Vreed-en-Hoop Secondary School.  The school needs a coat of paint. But I guess so does most schools in a country named Guyana where Minister Robeson Benn said that we have a high level of technology in rescue operations that other nations in South America cannot match.

I have a friend who born and grew up at Vreed-en-Hoop. He left Guyana in 1971 to study in England. He said he went back there a few times to visit but never heard about this place.

A robust housing program is needed for poor people. Back in the day, I have seen Lojees with better living conditions. The Town Houses here reminds a lot of Lojees linked up like 3 or 4 Semis.

Mitwah
@Mitwah posted:

Plastic City is just off the Vreed-en-Hoop stelling, going north, literally a quarter of a mile from Vreed-en-Hoop Secondary School.  The school needs a coat of paint. But I guess so does most schools in a country named Guyana where Minister Robeson Benn said that we have a high level of technology in rescue operations that other nations in South America cannot match.

I have a friend who born and grew up at Vreed-en-Hoop. He left Guyana in 1971 to study in England. He said he went back there a few times to visit but never heard about this place.

A robust housing program is needed for poor people. Back in the day, I have seen Lojees with better living conditions. The Town Houses here reminds a lot of Lojees linked up like 3 or 4 Semis.

Even places like Black Bush Polder that the Jagan government started in the 1960's is having on-going problems.  The PPP NDC been there for almost 20 years and have his own way, that is not available to others. Mustapha as replaced RO was a lost cause to the farmers, who would change meeting locations suddenly when he don't want to meet the people.

This guy has no appropriate education to be agriculture minister and farmers going to have  a hard time dealing with him, as a square peg.

Tola

A lot of these NDC and RO are recycled cronies. They are Lords over the pheasants and do as they pleased and giving the PPP a bad name. Hope Ali open his eyes and get rid of most of them. It's true they change meeting places frequently with short notice and many folks don't have the means of transportation.

Mitwah

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