New Scheme, Hope Estate is a multi-ethnic community totalling approximately 200 residents from many different parts of Guyana. Most persons there depend mainly on farming for their livelihood while others work in construction, mining or are self-employed.
When I arrived, there were wisps of smoke in the air from the already harvested rice fields being burnt. Most of the men were said to be in the backdam and children were at school except for those at nursery level or younger. Women were relaxing, one or two in the shops, doing laundry, or tending to their gardens. Almost every house has a kitchen garden. Families who moved from Joe Hook and Grass Hook in the Mahaica Creek brought their farming skills with them. Others just took up the activity even if it was just planting enough to provide for their families. There is very little cattle or poultry, possibly because it is a housing scheme and there is not enough land space to rear them.
A few dogs prowled the streets in search of scraps. Some horses grazed in one of the empty lots and even before they were seen, they were heard. The potholes along the village road had collected water and two ducks fancied them as ponds.
