By Lakhram Bhagirat
It was Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs, who famously said, “great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people,” and knowing the value of teamwork was what led five Amerindian young women to forming the Aishalton Self Reliance Youth Group, which began the journey of feeding visitors and the people of Aishalton.
Aishalton is a titled Amerindian community located in Deep South Rupununi Region 9 (UpperTakutu- Upper Essequibo). It has a land mass of 430.92 square miles and has a population of over 1,000 consisting mostly of the Wapichan nation and is approximately 60 miles Southeast of Lethem.
The Village has access to its own hospital, police station, sports ground, community centers, local electricity grid and the internet. It is considered the hub for other Amerindian Villages in located in the Deep South Area and is accessible by road and air. It takes approximately 18 hours to drive, and one and a half hours to fly from Georgetown to Aishalton.
Now that we know some facts about the village, let us get back to the five heroines of Aishalton. After being a part of the first batch of the Hinterland Employment and Youth Service (HEYS) students, Carmen Ritchie, Sonita Ernest, Mary Realine, Francelyn Francis and Adena Robertson pooled together their financial grants and started a Snackette.
“We decided after we finished the theory part of the HEYS training, the five of us from the village decided to pool the grants and we start the Aishalton Self Reliance Youth Group. After the group, we took the money and start building the Snackette and we open in June last year. Now is just two members active, me and Sunita, the rest of them move to town and doing other things,” Carmen said.
Since establishing the Snackette last year, the Group has had nothing but challenges but would have it no other way. They put in hard work and are determine to make it a successful venture. Carmen explained that after three of the founding members left, the work intensified and sales began decreasing. The decrease is due to the fact that because of their location, the accessibility to goods is hampered resulting in them not being able to meet the demands of their customers.
Carmen says the Snackette is different from all others because of the variety afforded as well as the price. Now the Snackette serves traditional Amerindian cuisines such as the pepperpot, tuma pot, cassava bread and farine. Additionally, there is the fusion of other cultures with food such as fried rice, cook-up, pasta, curries and pastries.
When the idea of the Snackette was for birthed, the group said the market demand was there and the people of Aishalton was hungry for variety without the hassle of travelling to Lethem. However, the initial demand has since decreased and now they are left to think about new ways of diversifying the products they offer to appeal to the villagers.
“We have trouble getting materials we need to get the business developed more. But we are trying and not giving up. We will make it. Now we are looking at how we can make it better because business slow down,” Carmen said.
Carmen now focuses most of her time in developing the business and according to her, it is just a year now but the plan is to keep the Snackette open as long as possible. She describes their food as the best because of the level of love they put into the preparation, making each dish as homemade as possible.
“Food is about love and we out that in our food so when the customers eat it they can say ‘this taste just like my mommy own’ and that makes us happy.” (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)
“Food is about love and we out that in our food so when the customers eat it they can say ‘this taste just like my mommy own’ and that makes us happy.”
