In the heart of Canal Number One, just seven villages from the Conservancy Dam is the charming little village of Jacoba Constantia. Almost all of its 25 five lots are occupied, and its residents have quite a love for flowers, a lot of which flowed from the yards onto the parapets.
Just how long the village has existed, no one knows for sure; probably as long as the canal has existed or before. One elderly resident did say that her parents lived in Canal Number One, just like she did, and mentioned that her father’s parents had arrived from India and later settled there.
Dhanraji Jagarnauth was resting in bed when I showed up but did not hesitate to get up and start a conversation. At 90 years old, she is the oldest resident of her village. She bore 12 children, but one of her four boys passed away. Two of her children, she proudly stated, worked at the Georgetown Hospital: Dr Rajnauth Jagarnauth and Nurse Tarmattie Barca, who have both retired. Nurse Barca retired just last June from her position as Chief Nurse. Some of her other children, she boasted, are head teachers of various schools and her son who was home with her at the time is a vet. “I tried hard with them,” she said.
