De Willem

These young ladies were having fun on the trampoline at Jaden’s birthday party.

Story by Tifaine Rutherford

with photos by Arian Browne

I bet that you have never heard of a road called ‘Carilla Street,’ unless, that is, you are from De Willem.

A culturally diverse community, De Willem on the West Coast of Demerara is bordered on the north by the Atlantic Ocean, on the east by Zeeburg and on the west by Meten-Meer-Zorg. It is home to nearly 2000 persons of mostly East Indian descent, the majority of whom are employed at the Uitvlugt-Leonora sugar estate and the vibrant fishing port at the Zeeburg koker.

The residents here say that the village got its name from, “dem [Dutch] people who