History This Week No. 2008/38

– Tales from the Sugar Estates   Part 1
By Lloyd F Kandasammy

The estate represents a complex dynamic of social, cultural and economic strata in Guyana’s rich and distinguished heritage.  ‘It was a history rooted in blood and brutality, for the plantation system was designed primarily to humiliate and subjugate workers to the will of the planters’.

This article is the first of several based on research undertaken to chronicle the lives of the estate workers, all of whom are retired, and well within the golden years of their life.  For many the estate represented survival, hard work, with little pay and benefits.

One of the motivating factors behind this project was to try and envision the life and existence of some of Guyana’s estates through the eyes of its workers, their tales and experiences. Oral history remains one of the best sources of events, which of course need to be thoroughly analyzed but it allows for the person’s experience to be brought to life. A total of twenty five persons were interviewed, representing work experiences from plantations Wales, Cane Grove, Diamond, Ogle, Enmore, Blairmont and Skeldon.

This two part article will offer a summary of the research undertaken to provide a glimpse into the life of these estate workers at Cane Grove and secondly at Ogle, Wales and Diamond. For the purpose of confidentiality the names of those interviewed have been altered.

Life at Cane Grove
During the colonial era, this sugar plantation was originally the property of Messrs George Booker, Ludovico Porter, Franklin and Mc Connell. With a total area of 679 acres this former sugar plantation remains unchanged in its layout and design, despite the fact that sugar is no longer cultivated.

Upon entering Cane Grove one gets the impression of a land lost in time. The shops of the former estate stand, tightly shut and the narrow brick red roads, fashioned over time with potholes.
A journey into the rest of the area reveals much more. The former manager’s house stands neglected, partially occupied with offices of the Neighbourhood Democratic Council and a few classrooms. The large expanses of arable land which once fluttered with the stalks of the endless cane groves are now almost entirely covered by rice fields.

Of special interest is the existence of the long range houses which once housed the immigrant labour force imported by the colonial elites to keep the wheels of the sugar industry spinning after the emancipation of the enslaved African populace.

These stand, some unused and neglected falling apart whilst others have been divided amongst residents, but with the area at the main entrance of the logies having been divided with small crooked wooden picket fences.

It is in one of these small logies that I met Jamanty, comfortably resting in a dark blue hammock tied between posts under the structure. I bend as I enter, as the area between the neatly dabbed floor and the floor of the structure is very low and take a seat. What she reveals to me within the course of the next two hours is most interesting.
At age 80, her faced covered with the wrinkles of time squints as she recalls her days working at Cane Grove. She indicates that both her father and her grandmother were originally from India but she shrugs, whilst speaking she cannot recall from which area or their names.

She further reveals that she commenced working at Cane Grove, at an area then called ‘La Bombay’ at age 16. During that time she said girls and boys worked together undertaking various tasks assigned to them by the estate’s manager. These tasks included moulding cane and weeding cane beds. She laughs as she states that ‘long time ago you used to be paid two bit and a half to twenty cents for a day’s work according the number of rows that were cleaned.  There was one flat rate she stated in later years, a rate of twenty five cents per day and ‘you had to work very, very hard.’

Back then she recalls that food was a lot cheaper than it is now. For example she stated that flour cost seven cents a pound, salt four cents a pound and a packet of matches was ten cents.
She stated as she grew older the work changed and that she would ‘work even and straight with any man on the estate’. Dry season was described as being the toughest season to work, when you complained to the manager, she laughed whilst speaking, he would simply direct other workers to pour water on the soil to loosen the hardened earth.

Many times she recalls, her face lighting up as she speaks, ‘we would play sick and throw we self down on de ground and hold ya belly and cry out in pain.’ She gets up from her hammock and gesticulates, but she becomes a little silent, the manager would immediately upon hearing about the call of sickness quickly order the person to the hospital. Then, she stated he would accompany you to ensure that you were looked after. For every call of sickness, she laughs again, there was one cure Quinine.

She stated that you just could not play sick and then not go to work, it was only after the doctor or the nurse stated that you were unfit to work then you would be allowed off for the day. But, she noted you had to drink the Quinine in front of the estate manager. She laughs; stating that it tasted terrible but if you did not drink it, then it meant you had to go back to the estate.

Jamanty noted that injuries were common and that she was badly injured through cuts and infections on the field. She stated, pointing to her thigh and legs that the leaves of canes often cut sharp like knives. ‘Back then shoes were expensive, so one didn’t wear shoes, you cut cane barefoot.’

By the age of 20 Jamanty recalls that apart from working on the fields of the estate, she weeded and cleaned canals for an extra dollar. She indicated that she rose early to prepare to work, at about 3 O’ clock every morning to cook and clean for her and her husband whom she married at age 17, through an arrangement with another family. She does not go into detail and I do not pursue the subject, as I presume she is not comfortable discussing it.

By 6 0’ clock, each morning she stated they would leave for work, to that section of the estate to where they were directed by the manager. She stated that there were few breaks, just about 10 minutes for breakfast and lunch and then  they worked until sunset before walking back home.

Pregnant with her first of six children at age 18 Jamanty laughs and states ‘it’s not like now where girl child can get three to four months leave, back then when you didn’t work you didn’t get paid’. She chuckles, stating that sometimes she would be back at work sometimes two to three days after giving birth, leaving the baby with the other children or a group of elderly women who looked after babies whilst they were at work.

Referring once again to the conditions of work, she recalls that the duties on the estate were tough. She indicated that sometimes when the manager inspected the day’s work and he was unsatisfied then one would have to do all the work again.

As relates to social relationships on the estate Jamanty laughs stating that ‘if a boy and a girl get together without permission then the boy’s family would have to leave the area and move to another part of Cane Grove known as ‘Virginia’, a private place, as directed by the manager to avoid problems, because they would be put out by the rest of the people of the estate.

Leaving Jamanty’s house I leave and walk along the road to one of the smaller wooden cottages. It is there that I meet Parby, another female who worked on the sugar estate of Cane Grove. She is 81 years old; a mother of eight children three girls and five boys and a grandmother to twelve children and great grandmother of seven. Recalling her years as an employee on the estate she squints as a group of children appear as anxious as I am to listen to her fascinating account of estate life.  Her stories bear a lot of similarities with Jamanty.

Like Jamanty, Parby commenced working at an early age. She was a part of what she called the ‘creole gang’ which she described as a group of young people who worked on the estate moulding estate fields. Their tasks she recalls consisted of fetching manure and later lime to the beds of the estates where ratoons were planted.

At the age of sixteen Parby indicated that she was married, a result of an arranged marriage between her father, who originated from England and another family on the estate. The wedding was small, she notes that she didn’t really knew her husband but she got to love and know him over time. At that time she noted that work was really hard for her. She noted that as a wife she had to wake very early in the morning, around 4 am and prepare food for her husband and herself before assembling in the ‘gable’ an area between the logies. There she stated the manager, one Mr Goodrich, would ride up on his white horse, neatly attired in a hat and clean pants with a shiny pair of black boots, and direct them to a particular part of the estate. She recalled that the estate driver would lash one’s feet if they were slow in the fields.

The logie, she noted, consisted of one room, one window and one room which served as a bedroom and a living room. Cooking was done on a fireside at the side of the logie and mud and cow dung was used for dabbing the floor. She moves her hand in a circular motion stating that the finished work would be just as hard as the concrete under her house at present.

Each logie, Parbatie noted, had a number written on it. It was this number that the manager and other workers would call every morning if the occupants of that logie were late in assembling or ill. If they were ill Parbatie noted that the manager was very caring and that he himself would visit with a doctor to ensure that they were looked after.

Parbatie, laughs, loudly as she recalls the rate of pay which was at that time 1 shilling. She stated that she worked every day except Saturdays and Sundays. On Saturdays she noted that she was always busy washing and cleaning before leaving for the market at Mahaica.

She stated that a ‘donkey cab’ to Mahaica market cost about 8 cents and to save money she and other women would often walk back from the market with their load on their heads in a big basket. Food back then she remarked assertively was cheap, much cheaper than it is now she explains that sugar was three cents a pound, cooking oil six cents a pint and six cents for a pint of kerosene oil.

In cases where they could not afford goods Parby noted that there were several big grocery shops all of which were run by Chinese who sold a variety of things ranging from cloth to food. These proprietors would often extend credit to all of those who worked on the estate so that goods could always be accessed even when one did not have sufficient funds. Clothes she stated had to be purchased and cloth was cheap, often twenty cents a yard for cloth, which was kept crisp with the use of cassava starch, pressed with an iron heated over a coal pot.

In describing life on the estate Parby comes alive. At Christmas time she noted the estate management usually gave the workers two weeks off and she laughs as she recounts two pounds of sugar. ‘All year around you cut sugar and they give you sugar at the end of it all’, she stated.  The festivities on the estate around Christmas consisted of the masquerade bands which were made up primarily of children dancing like the ‘long lady’ and ‘cow’. They would, she noted, walk around the whole area and you would give them a little change and they would leave.

At Cane Grove she recalled the workers would often be given two days to sport for the New Year. The first day was usually marked by a fast by both men and women and the second day was all party day, a tradition she notes which continues up to today. The main dish of the day consisted of chicken, ‘creole chicken’ which was only eaten at Christmas because otherwise it was too expensive.

As relates to social relationships she notes that girls were not allowed to attend school as their parents were fearful that the girls would learn to write and read and that they would start writing boys love letters. In the circumstance, only boys were allowed to attend school.

It is not like now, when boy and girl is date she noted. Rather back then marriages, she stated were arranged between families with dowries of silver jewellery. In cases where there was an unplanned pregnancy between unmarried couples then the estate manager met with the boy and girl and encouraged both parties to get married.

Most ceremonies were conducted in the rites of Hinduism, there was, she stated, no restriction from the manager. In fact, she noted, that many of them would often look at the ceremony and other festivals of people walking on coals with their bare feet.

In describing her life Parby further reveals some interesting social practices of estate life. For example she stated that should two neighbours fight then they would both have to meet with the manager and one of them would be removed to another logie range. Furthermore she noted that whilst African Guyanese and Indian Guyanese had no problems they lived apart, in separate areas.

Additionally she remarked that flour bags were used for a variety of purposes including the making of underwear, head ties and pillowcases. The pillows as well as the bedding for mattresses were made of dried grass which was pressed with irons.

She noted that with Goodrich, as manager, they were not allowed to bathe at the canal; rather they had to fetch water and go back to a series of baths and toilets, separate for men and women which were constructed at the back of the estate. None of the estate toilets had doors and when ever one needed to use them, she remarked, they used the one furthest away to avoid persons having to pass and see you.

In other cases one would simply hold out a shirt or jacket on a stick to show that it was occupied. She laughs loudly stating that at one time, another worker, an African Guyanese man came to work and complained about the toilet. It was after then that zinc sheet doors were added.