Preserving ancestral roots in Enmore

By Avenash Ramzan

The Roman philosopher, politician and orator, Marcus Tulius Cicero, once said, “Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. If no use is made of the labours of past ages, the world must remain always in the infancy of knowledge.”

With this in mind, and embracing the fact that knowledge is power, a group of Enmore residents is working assiduously to ensure the younger generations of the East Coast Demerara village do not remain in a state of infancy regarding their community’s history.
Working under the name, Peepal Tree Monument Garden Committee (PTMGC), the 12 Enmore natives have undertaken an ambitious project, which, when completed, will provide the current and future generations with a better understanding of their past, and the struggles their ancestors endured on the sugar plantation.

Enmore and history
Enmore history states that the Enmore Pasture is the oldest housing scheme in Guyana, based on the fact that it was the first place where a few Indian labourers were allowed to build bush houses with mud walls and floors and thatched roofs (coconut branches), known as logies.
In the same period, these Indian labourers also built a mandir and planted many trees and flowers within its environs. The biggest and most memorable tree was the peepal tree, and the mandir next to it became known as the Peepal Tree Mandir.
The mandir, while serving the needs of the Hindu devotees by providing a place for worship, extended welcoming arms to everyone, regardless of race and religion, by offering humanitarian services. It also provided shelter and food for the needy.
Throughout the uprisings of 1948 when five sugar workers were gunned down, the Peepal Tree Mandir played a very important and supportive role, which has been almost entirely forgotten. As such, the PTMGC was recently formed with the aim of bridging the gap between the old days of indentureship and the fast-paced modern world.
“The mandir was built with the blood, sweat and tears of our devoted ancestors. We owe everything we are today to them, and it is our bounded duty to preserve this mandir spot as the Peepal Tree Monument Garden in their memory and honour,” the PTMGC explained via a bulletin.
“We wish to preserve the mandir spot, and the rich heritage and history our ancestors left us by creating in memory of them, sugar workers and the Enmore Martyrs, the Peepal Tree Monument Garden, which will be a flower and tree garden, with benches, tables, children’s play park with swings, see-saw etc. There will also be an ancestral monument to commemorate the struggles of sugar workers and our ancestors against injustice and oppression; and a research centre with a library and computer lab.”
The group also hopes to recreate the logie, fully furnished as it was in back in the days.
“This is to ensure that our children and the generations to follow will see a mark of their history and where they came from. Least they forget and think that life has always been with shopping malls, fancy cars and houses, fast food, brand name clothing, internet, Facebook, cable television, computers, google.com and blackberry phones,” the bulletin added.

Links to the sugar industry
When sugar workers had disputes long before 1948, these disputes involved ‘lock outs’ by the sugar planters.
The Peepal Tree Mandir management and the Enmore community received immense assistance from the very few Enmore shop owners who generously donated food items to the mandir, which in turn ran a soup kitchen to satisfy the palates of the children first and then adults, until the disputes were over.
Dr Jang Bahadur Singh, a veteran trade unionist at the time, always answered the sugar workers’ call, not only at Enmore, but all over the country as well. He would support many of these soup kitchens financially and in kind.
Singh usually took credit from the merchants in Georgetown like Resaul Maraj and Company, Lall Bahadur Singh and Company, the Boodhoo brothers, Rambharose Misir and Company and others. He would take donations of clothing and other supplies from hardware merchants and others.
The Peepal Tree Mandir management had started the soup kitchen and humanitarian service against the wishes of the plantation owners, and severe pressure was put on the Mandir Committee to cease its assistance to the striking workers by the Estate manager.
However, the members of the Mandir Committee stood their ground and explained to the estate management that the mandir belongs to the people who have served it over the years and it was now the mandir’s duty to serve its people.

PTMGC calls for support
This ambitious project to bring life to a piece of history will cost the PTMGC millions of dollars to execute, but the members are confident that with the support from individuals, corporate entities and the citizens of Enmore, it will come to fruition.
Chairman of the PTMGC, Deoraj Nauth, told Guyana Times Sunday Magazine that the committee would stage several fundraisers during the coming months; the first of which was a Family Fun Day held August 1 at the Enmore Community Centre ground.
Nauth, a secondary school teacher by profession, said the committee welcomes any form of assistance –be it cash, material or even labour.
“This is not a Hindu thing; it is recreating a historical place, and we are calling on persons and businesses to support us in whatever way they can. We, as a committee, will be holding several fund-raising activities as well to ensure this project becomes a reality,” Nauth explained.
Persons or businesses wishing to contribute to the PTMGC can contact Nauth on 618-5592; Vice-Chairman Rayon Samaroo on 626-0429 or Secretary Bhagwat Persaud on 629-1420.
The PTMGC has already received support from R. Ramlagan General Store, BM Soat Auto Sales, Caricom Auto Sales, Ramchand’s Bodyworks, Vick Taxi Service, the Trophy Stall, Motor Trend, Navin Fuel Pumps, A. Singh Electronics, Renee Misir and Ryan Sewdyal.
The other members of the PTMGC are Treasurer Adityanand Singh and Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Tularam Harrichand. The Committee Members are Ravilall Shamsundar, Savitrie Ramlall, Baldeo Ramlagan, Dhanmattie Ramlall, Koolrajie Seenarine, Dinesh Chandrashakar and Pooran Deonarine. (Taken from Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)