Mary Paponette was born and baptised in Arima 78 years ago.
Shortly after her birth, her family moved her to the remote community of Cumaca in Valencia. While the rest of the country embraced the technological changes since 1943, in Mary’s home along the Northern Range, not much has changed.
She still depends on a kerosene lamp to guide her through the night and all water is collected from spouts connected to her home.
Her community has been aptly christened the ‘forgotten Cumaca’ by its residents. There is no electricity and no pipe borne supply of water and large portions of the roads in the community are inaccessible without an all-wheel drive vehicle. Residents said a cost benefit analysis was done in the community when they applied for an electricity supply from T&TEC. However, because the houses are so far away from a regular electricity supply, residents were told it would cost too much to run lines in the community.
Guardian Media visited Mary’s home on Wednesday. The road leading to her home was boxed in by fallen trees that were hastily cut by residents after the roads were blocked. The debris has reduced the roadway to single lane traffic in most places.
At her home, Mary was warm and welcoming, embodying the ‘countryside’ mannerisms that are so familiar and well-loved.
It was this welcome that enamoured Irvin Davis, the owner of solar company Davis Ecolife, to Cumaca several months ago.
Davis was told of Cumaca and the struggles of its residents. Three months ago, his team installed solar street lights in the community, bringing light to the roads of Cumaca for the first time in its history.
Davis wants to take his project further by installing solar powered systems in the houses in Cumaca. Each system will cost roughly $25,000 and Davis has pledged to have the installation done at no cost by his employees.
But raising funds for this project has been a difficult task.
And while the residents remain hopeful, their struggles continue.Several years ago, Mary and several of her children ‘chipped up’ to purchase a used generator. The roar of the machine is deafening and it is only used for an average of six hours each day. During that time, the family can briefly benefit from some of the comfort that electricity has afforded the rest of the country—including watching television and charging their phones.
“It’s a few years now we using generator, we never had live current here,” Mary told us. “We used to use lamp, flambeau, candle...you see I have my lamp here? I does use it every night when the generator cut off around 10 (pm).”
Mary said if the generator breaks down, her family can go months without any type of power. Her yard is now lit with a solar street light installed by Davis- it’s the one light she can count on.
From her front gallery, Mary has cradled children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She hopes to be able to see some real change in her lifetime.
“It will be really good if we get the solar, the fridge could get enough current to work and we won’t have to worry about not opening it or the generator going down and having to use up the meat before it spoil,” she said.
Even deeper into Cumaca, another Mary, this one much younger, lives with her three children.
Despite the distance, Mary Hinds told us pre-COVID, she used to travel to Chaguaramas every day and back for work.
Now, her schedule has been reduced to three days a week and she has been forced to send her two younger children, ages 11 and 13, to stay with their father so they can access electricity and an internet connection for online classes.
“It’s the hardest thing not to have them with me, because all their lives they have been with me but they can’t get through with their classes here,” Hinds said.
Hinds has a small generator at her home but like the older Mary, it’s a luxury that is reserved for only a few hours use every night.
She said gas for the generator costs her upwards of $500 a month, a cost she struggles to keep up with.
“You know when you have to buy food and with this COVID, things get a little bit different, so its very hard for me,” she said.
She too is hopeful that Davis can raise the funds to install a solar system at her home.
“We could have electricity, sometimes you have to do stuff during the day that you have to hold back for the night. We will all love to have something like that, because since I know myself, it has been darkness if you don’t have enough money to have a generator or money to buy gas or diesel,” Hinds said.
Father of four Richard Tarncaso has also called Cumaca his home since he was a child.
He uses rechargeable batteries to give his four young children, ages eight, five, three and one, a sense of what a ‘normal’ life would be.
Once his batteries are charged, Tarncaso can turn on his television and use a lightbulb. But those comforts are fleeting.
“We have a TV but they can’t watch it for it long, just a short period of time until the battery dies,” he said. “Since I growing up I know up here to be like this, in this kind of timing we living in, things supposed to be modernised, it will be good if we good some kind of help.”
He said he too was looking forward to having solar power at his home.
“If we get it, life will be plenty better, we could be able to have access to current day and night,” he said.
Davis Ecolife’s head electrician Cordell Alleyne made the journey into Cumaca with us. It’s a road he is now familiar with, although he admits to getting lost for ‘hours’ during his first visit.
But like his boss, he too feels as though he has found his second home.
“Something that stayed with me since the first time I came up here was how family-oriented they are. They don’t have the amenities like most people but they are so welcoming, they brought us here, they cooked for us, we are always welcome here, it’s like a real home away from home,” Alleyne said.
The company has identified approximately 30 homes in Cumaca that need assistance to afford solar power.
“A minimum of two kilowatts will be allocated to each home to start with, which will be able to facilitate them with the wifi box, lights, plugs, fridge, television so they will be able to listen to the news and be a part of the new COVID-19 lifestyle, where they have home schooling for the kids,” Alleyne said.
He said he has seen the difference the solar powered street lights made in Cumaca and he hopes the funds to install solar in the homes can be raised.
“The residents were so happy with the street lights and they want more, this is why we are asking the CEOs, the NGOs, corporate Trinidad and Tobago to come onboard to help us, to bring darkness into light in Cumaca,” Alleyne said.
Anyone wishing to contribute to illuminating the lives of the people of Cumaca can contact Mr Martin at 468-2389 or Mr Davis at 325 6424
