By Alva Solomon
The villagers were up since 6:00h. The women grabbed their forks and rakes while the men shouldered the responsibilities of cutting the grass along the roadway. It was an event that sparked pride and joy among the villagers of Cabucalli, a small community within the Santa Rosa Village of Moruca.
In villages within this sub-region of the North West District, the cooperation among residents is always admired by many, including visitors and the villagers themselves. As such, Saturday’s exercise was one that the residents of Cabucalli were determined to undertake, and the aim was to clear the roadway within the village.
“We would normally do kyap to clean our road here at Cabucalli. Residents would come out to clean,” primary school teacher Natalie Matthews told this publication.
Matthews and her brother Gerald, who is also a school teacher at Santa Rosa, organised the event. The siblings informed other residents of their plans, and according to Matthews, the cooperation was successful. She said the men, young and old, used the available weeding machines to clear the shoulders of the 500 metres of roadway.
“While the men weed, the women and children would rake and throw away the grass,” she reiterated.
Such exercises can come at a cost, and be it small or large, the residents would pool their funds to ensure all the necessities are in order. According to Matthews, the major expense at Saturday’s exercise was the pot. Laughingly, she said the residents cooked a sumptuous pot of cook-up rice.
In addition, she said the guava fruit is in season at Cabucalli, the residents processed the fruit and made a tasty drink to “wash down the cook-up.”
Matthews said the kayap activities are done as soon as the need arises, but she noted that when it rains the grass grows faster, and, as such, the residents would undertake cleaning up exercises to ensure the community is spick and span.
She said, too, that Moruca is this week hosting the highly anticipated Moruca Expo 2022, and a large number of visitors are expected to converge on the villages there. Matthews noted that the residents want to ensure the visitors have a lasting impression of the village.
As she chatted with this publication, Natalie said the ‘pot’ was finished and the food was ready to share.
With a smile, she said the villagers enjoy working as a unit. “We enjoy working together,” she said as she prepared to devour her share of food after a hard morning of toiling in the hot sun.
