Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 03, 2011 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom
You are a young girl, just out of school and you live in one of the new housing schemes in West Demerara. It is called La Parfaite Harmonie
It is a combination of a French word ‘Parfaite’, meaning perfect and Harmonie having to do with music.
This is a massive housing scheme in which tens of thousands of new homeowners live but life is far from perfect and the daily challenges of residents are far from being music to the ear.
There are no industrial estates around, no major commercial districts and very little opportunities for employment. Like so many regions in Guyana, all the main stores and business establishments are strung out along the main public road which stretches for miles.
Jobs are hard to come by within the Region. The situation was compounded by a lack of proper planning when the new housing schemes were introduced in a predominantly agricultural region. Little thought, you feel, seemed to have been given towards creating industries that would generate jobs to avoid persons having to travel long distances to get to work.
As a young girl living in La Parfaite Harmonie, you have to leave home at least by seven o’clock in the morning if you hope to get to work on time. You work, like so many of your friends just out of school, in the city since this is where the jobs are.
The commute is tedious. Hundreds of vehicles traverse the Demerara Harbour Bridge each day during peak hours. It takes a long time for such a relatively short journey because of the traffic.
Work starts at nine o’ clock and you have to leave two hours before to ensure that you reach on time to secure your job. Only yesterday, a young girl came into the store asking whether there were any vacancies. You saw the boss glance in your direction. What was he thinking? Was he thinking about letting you go.
You have tried to be on time knowing that the penalty for not being punctual could be the breadline. What are you going to do then?
It is a good job. The hours are long and the work hard but the pay is good.
Even though the commute is long, you can still take care of your needs and help out the family on your salary. But the long commute limits the amount of free time that you have.
Not only do you have to awaken early in the mornings, but you also arrive late back home in the evening. In fact, it takes far longer to get home in the evening than it takes to get to work in the morning.
The traffic on the East Bank is stressful in the afternoons, and even with the police directing the flow, you find yourself stuck in traffic for a long time.
Part of the problem is that there are numerous vehicles stopping on the public road between Ruimveldt and Providence. And every time a vehicle stops, it causes a back-up of traffic. At other times there are large container trucks parked on the sides of the roadways, also contributing to snarls in traffic.
There are many businesses alongside the East Bank Public Road. And the buses and cars stop to make their purchases. A new school has now opened on the East Bank Public Road. There is also a new business open selling water. You can stop and have your water bottle refilled.
And if you want a loaf of bread, you can either ask the bus driver to go into one of the petrol stations or you can make a pit stop since a new vendor is selling bread right on the reserve.
By the time you get home, it is dark and you are tired from the traveling. All you can do is eat a meal and retire to bed.
In your sleep you dream that the government is establishing new housing areas along the already busy East Bank thoroughfare. In fact, some 10,000 persons are expected to be added in a short period of time to the traveling population using that road which is the only link between Ruimveldt and Timehri, a distance slightly less than twenty-five miles.
When these 10,000 persons are added to the daily commute what is it going to become? You wonder in your dream, of the traffic situation. How long will it take, then, for you to get to work? If you are late because of a snarl in the traffic what excuse can you provide? Your boss is not interested in the traffic. “Leave home early!” you once heard him bark to one employee who offered that excuse for her late coming.
You dream of a new bridge across the river but in your dream, you do not see any plans to create large scale jobs in your region that would aid in reducing the traffic situation.
Then you awake but realize that there is no time to ponder on what could be or what should be. It is another day. A long commute awaits. A tiring day lies ahead and an equally tiring commute back home after work. And what is it that they call this place where you live? La Parfaite Harmonie?
Where is the BETTER MANAGEMENT/RENEGOTIATION OF THE OIL CONTRACTS you promised Jagdeo?
Apr 19, 2024
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