It is 1996 and I’m standing at the side of the Rivulet Road in Couva at 5 am. There is only a peek of sunrise; faint ribbons of light span the blue-black sky. A disorganised orchestra of insects and frogs continues with almost deafening pitch in the surrounding cane fields. Interspersed among the towering cane stalks are flambeau lanterns mounted on sticks; the reflection of their flames on sugar workers’ cutlasses almost seem to dance to the sounds of the blades being whetted on bended knee.
It is my first time covering the ceremonial opening of the sugar harvest. These men have left the comfort of their beds to plunge face-first into the itchy-scratchy embrace of the broad cane leaves. Four and a half hours later, as the sun delivers its worst, it is quitting time.
Some workers will wait out the hotter periods of the day and return in the evening. There are even night shifts, working to feed the greedy grinders of the Brechin Castle Sugar Factory.
This memory was exhumed as I sat through a public consultation on the proposed Sugar Heritage Village and Museum. The project is being led by the Ministry of Tourism. Price WaterhouseCoopers (PWC) has been brought in as a consultant to put together a master plan for the Brechin Castle, Couva site.