By Neil MarksA Victoria schoolboy tries in vain to read the inscription on this monument in Victoria that is thought to be dedicated to the African slaves who bought the village. The inscription was washed out with time and no one bothered to restore it. Under some of the tallest breadfruit trees you would find in the East Coast Demerara village of Victoria, a group of men “bubble” an ital pot – cook-up, with chunks of breadfruit – as they take shade from the harsh Tuesday afternoon sun.As the food simmers, they finger into their mouths roasted breadfruit, coated with peer sauce. “People in the village need jobs,” laments one man. Another man, Patrick Solomon, identifies himself as a tradesman; he is taking the day off.“Sweet boiling cassava,” he assures, is not in the pot. In fact, “Sweet boiling cassava” is the name of a band in the village. The band has been performing for a few years now as part of the numerous activities designed to take advantage of the designation of August 1 as Freedom Day. Several cardboard posters are nailed to the lamppost at the street head. There is the “Annual Free Up” and then there is “Soiree Time at Punter’s Place.”A little up the road, a man emerges from the backdam with a good load of mangoes wrapped in a t-shirt on his head.“Aye, you selling?” cries out a woman, all dressed as if heading for church. Her two neatly dressed children are with her. They collect five mangoes and pay $100.“Yes, people still go to the church,” she says, looking at the Victorian Christian Brethren Church, which looks as if it would soon collapse.But it is not the only one looks destined to fall, literally. The village is littered with old churches, many of them falling apart. For the older folks,Discount NFL Jerseys, it is a sad state of affairs. The churches are an integral link to early life in Victoria, the first village to be bought by freed African slaves in this country.“That was the slave church,” one wheelchair-bound woman lamented, as she observes the afternoon life in the village. The old wooden church has been demolished and replaced by a concrete structure.“Like is only St George’s they want to keep,” said a woman tucked away in an office in the Victoria Cultural Centre. She was referring to the famous St George’s Cathedral in Georgetown, hailed as one of the tallest wooden buildings in the world.“The people in the village showed a great desire for church worship and used to travel as far as Le Ressouvenir, 11 miles to the West, to attend services conducted by the Reverend John Smith. At the same time, some of them were taught to read and write,” wrote former head-teacher, William Nicholas Arno, in his book “History of Victoria Village.”The Congregationalists built the first church in the village and gave it the name of Wilberforce, an abolitionist who fought for the freedom of the slaves. Thereafter, the Wesleyans, Plymouth Brethren, Lutheran, Catholic,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, Methodist and Anglicans also built churches.“Boss Africa,” who was adopted as the Village Father, headed the school that was carried on at the Wilberforce church.Today, the state of churches in the village implies a very different culture.A group of men from Victoria cook under breadfruit trees during an afternoon lime. Much of Victoria’s history is lost. In the compound of the community centre, a 14-year-old schoolboy struggled to read the inscription on the monument thought to have been dedicated to the 83 slaves who bought the village towards the end of 1836. The inscription disappeared with time, a signal of the lapse in any real effort to preserve the village’s history.But now, an ambitious initiative, a village conference and other activities, is underway to arrest the challenges facing Victoria. Abraham Poole, who was born in Victoria, points to the sloth and failure of residents to sense and respond adequately to transformations that have been occurring within the national and global economies.He suggests that this is the main reason for the decline of the village economy, and one reason for the ensuing social,Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping, educational, and moral problems that besiege the village.“The emancipation of African slaves will form part of the context in which deliberations will take place, and doubtless be an unpleasant reminder that their descendants have not fully capitalized on the costly investment of their ancestors,” Poole posits ahead of a village conference slated for tomorrow.What is now Victoria was a cotton plantation called Northbrook. The plantation’s 500 acres was bought by the freed African slaves.The slaves bought the plantation from the money they saved, having started to receive money four years prior to emancipation on August 1, 1838.David Grainger, who has written on the village, point