Little Biaboo

 A resident makes his way along the Mahaica Creek
A resident makes his way along the Mahaica Creek

Little Biaboo is a picturesque village in Mahaica on the boundaries of Regions 4 and 5, separated by the Mahaica Creek. The farming community sits between Handsome Tree and Big Biaboo and is a haven for its 100 plus residents.

On arriving at the car park in Mahaica, I boarded a taxi to Little Biaboo. Though the village is located in Mahaica, the only access to the community is a road leading from De Hoop village in Mahaicony. However, if travelling by boat, one can access the village without having to leave the sub-region. The taxi fare from the car park to Little Biaboo is $1,500 for the almost half-an-hour drive.

I got out at the very end of the village, stepping onto the rutted road and walking towards the bridge that separates Little Biaboo from Big Biaboo. The view was breathtaking. The village seemed like a water world; black water was everywhere, in the creek, ponds, canals, drains and in the flooded rice fields. High above birds chirped and down below in the water and out, frogs

competed with deafening croaks. Boats were tied outside of homes. Everywhere else there were rice fields, vines of bora running along bamboo stuck in the ground, a small-scale plantain plantation and coconut trees. A queue of vehicles lined one of the mud dams. They belonged to residents of Big Biaboo, but because rainfall had made the dam inaccessible, they were forced to leave their vehicles by the bridge and trudge to their homes through the mud.

Grace Khan grew up in Little Biaboo. She was born in Farm, Mahaicony as her mother had gone back to her parents’ home to have her baby delivered via midwifery; she was just weeks old when she began life in Little Biaboo.

“It’s a very peaceful area. Growing up here we walked the mud dam to go to Little Biaboo Primary and Secondary schools. In my time there was no nursery school. We wrote CP and GCE right there. Today they have a nursery school there. I taught for seven years at the nursery school,” Khan shared.

A mother of three and grandmother of five, Khan recalled that while the village had mostly Hindus, everyone lived as one. She was a Muslim who converted to Christianity and now attends the Little Biaboo Word of Faith Ministries Church. The village also has a temple and a mosque. “It didn’t matter which religion you were,” she said, “you celebrate Phagwah, Christmas, Eid, everything you celebrate together. It was real fun. Though I grew up here I didn’t farm until I got married to my husband from Bush Lot, Berbice… Then he come to live here, and we started farming. We plant mostly bora, a few other cash crops and fruits like pear. Persons come right at the bridge that separates Little Biaboo from Big Biaboo to buy wholesale. They collect the produce and pay when they come back the next time.”

Decades ago prior to the village having potable water, many of the families dug huge ponds in front of their yards where they stored the fresh water. The ponds served the purpose of watering the farms during any drought that would have seen saltwater finding its way into the creeks and canals. However, it was noted that this rarely happened.

During the recent drought where some villages were unable to farm, Little Biaboo did okay as it has numerous bodies of water. There was a time when the village would flood two or three times a year, but not since the construction of the Hope Canal, she said.

Speaking of transportation, the woman said that there is a school bus that picks up schoolchildren and takes them back home. The bus runs at 6:30 and 8 in the mornings and also caters for workers. At other times, persons would call for a taxi or use their own vehicles or boats. Getting groceries is no issue as a mobile shop passes through the village on Fridays.

Residents of Little Biaboo have access to many fruits and vegetables, but there are times they would purchase some from a woman who traverses the village often. Khan also shops at the Mahaica Market whenever she takes her parents to the clinic.

She said safety is not an issue, as they would sleep with their windows open. There was once a police outpost in the village, but it has not functioned for a number of years. Asked whether it was because the place was relatively safe, the woman laughed and shrugged, not knowing the answer.

Khan, like most of the residents, depend on solar panels for electricity. She has the same number of appliances as any person who uses the electricity grid, and they are all powered by the panels. In the rainy season, she said, persons would try to conserve on using appliances like fans and washing machines. Despite all this, however, Khan expressed that she would still like the village to be powered by Guyana Power and Light. She is also eager for the potholed roads and mud dams to be fixed.

Shamir and Zelaika Husain sat under their house, safe from the rain but with great view of the swollen creek. Shamir is a native of Little Biaboo. He is the oldest resident in the community at 88 years old.

“When I was growing up, I attended Little Biaboo Canadian Mission School. The place here has always been quiet,” he said. “We lived so loving together here; we still do. Most of the people here are East Indians; just a few Amerindians. I started working on the farm while I was still in school; I was 13. I used clear my daddy land. I used to chop down big, big pimpla bush. I work very hard. Three o’clock in the morning I [used to] get up and go 600 rods from house and milk cow and fetch that milk on meh head; 5 gallons of milk.”

The man noted that for most of his life he did farming, planting rice and cash crops. For 14 years, while still a farmer, he operated the family’s dragline. Of all years his most exciting activity was hunting. He recalled bringing back wild ducks, saying that he would leave to go hunting in the mornings and return by night.

He recalled too that while working on the farm and at home, he would come across “Dutch bottles”. Sharing a story that dates back to just 20 years ago, Shamir said: “It had a big tree, about 6 people span around the tree. It had a big hole inside, where the spirit of a Dutch man was believed to live. People used to carry rum, cheese, cigarette, all kind of things for the Dutch man. A man cut down the tree and couple morning after he dead.”

Turning to the village’s ponds, Shamir said they once had many fish and he would fish in them. However, with the occasional flooding prior to the koker being put in, many of the fish washed away into the creek and now there are none.

Zelaika said: “I grew up in a village called Farm in Mahaicony just by the roadside. It was quite different from here. I was 17 when I got married. It was rather hard living here. It was bushy, bushy and you only hear birds flying around and making noise. Life here is basically working in the backdam or in the garden.”

Zelaika was a seamstress and could also sew wedding dresses. On the ‘matticore’ or ‘dig dutty’ nights and on the wedding day she would also fix the brides’ hair and do their makeup.

“It’s safe and peaceful to live here,” the 84-year-old woman continued. “Disturbance time in Farm they burn all my father’s property out. There were three houses in the yard and all three burn down. During that time my father and two sisters were in the house. When the people came, they cut off the light so when my dad look out of the door, they shot him two times, a bullet to his head and another to his chest but he didn’t die. When he died later because of old age, he died with the bullets in him; they never took it out.”

Her sisters were spared.

There were many others who lost their homes and their lives during that time, she said. The woman said she would stand at her bedroom window and see the sky red from the fire. Little Biaboo was never affected by this. However, at one point, someone had set fire to an old abandoned house, which made the residents think that the rioters had reached their village. Fearful for their safety, the villagers went to the Husains and hid in a bond where they kept their farm combines. Fifteen families with 8 to 10 children each huddled together in the bond. They later learnt the true nature of the fire in the village.

The Husains have 8 children, 3 of whom are abroad; Grace Khan is one of their children.

I picked my way through a flooded street towards the home of Ramesh Shibsahai where he stood outside chatting with friends. He grew up in Little Biaboo.

“During my younger years,” he said, “we only travelled by canoe, there was no road. We travelled to school, to the market, to everywhere with the canoe. When the place was dry, we would sometimes walk to school, but this would mean walking through neighbours’ yard as we had no road.”

Shibsahai is a rice farmer and persons would go and buy his paddy. In addition, he operates bird tours. Using his boat, he would take persons along the Mahaica creek. Tourists from the US, England, other parts of Europe, the Caribbean and Guyana would arrive in Little Biaboo for these tours. The man noted that the area has more than 100 species of birds and on one of these tours, a birdwatcher could often spot 30 to 50 species.

“The road badly needs fixing,” he said, “it’s our means of transportation. We need electricity because when the rain falls, we cannot always use a fridge.”