– Doing many jobs to earn an honest living
FOR Alicia Grant, the prospect of working for other people was not very appealing. After returning to her country of birth, she started her own business via a store from her home in Farm Village, Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.
The mother of one told the Pepperpot Magazine that she was schooled in Guyana and lived in the city until she migrated to St. Maarten. After 21 years, she returned home to have a fresh start in life.
Grant explained that after the last hurricane on the island, she returned to Guyana and started a store selling household items, groceries, clothing, footwear, cosmetics and other things.
Four years ago, she took the leap of opening her own store, and so far, she is doing well even though things are a bit slow at times due to the effects of the pandemic.
She resides in the upper flat of the two-storey house and operates her store in the lower flat.
The people in the village support the business and she is very grateful for that. Having to work from her own home is good for her.
Grant would make purchases from the vans and trucks selling goods that would visit every week and fortnight and when she has to stock up on other items, she would go to the city to buy.
At this store, it is a one-stop shop experience where every little item can be found and purchased with prompt service by Grant herself. She single-handedly manages the store.
The only thing about working alone is there are no day-offs, and she doesn’t close the store unless she has to go out shopping.
“I get by running this store every day, and I am cordial with the people here, and things are just good otherwise because they support my business,” she said.
Florence Halley
Meanwhile, in the same village, just across the public road, is the home of Florence Halley, a 67-year-old who is taking care of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren these days.
This city girl relocated from Regent Street to Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara, 36 years ago, and it has been her home since.
The mother of six told the Pepperpot Magazine that she has 15 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren, some of whom were at her house that day visiting.
Halley related that her parents relocated to Mahaicony after the 1964 disturbances. It has been her comfort zone since she was among the village’s first settlers.
She has a kitchen garden and is rearing some meat birds, creole fowls, and some plantains and bananas in the yard.
In her younger days, Halley had several jobs, including working at a grocery shop and taking care of babies at a Day Care Centre. Otherwise, she was mostly a housewife, tending to the children and home.
Her husband, a retiree, James Fraser, retired after 17 years attached to Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) as a security personnel and spends most of his days in the verandah relaxing with his feet propped up on a stool due to severe pains.
James explained that two years ago, he underwent a surgical operation. Ever since, the pains in his knees have been overbearing and he is walking with a walking stick.
“It took me about 20 minutes to get out of the house to come to the verandah just to sit because of the pain. It is hard for me to move around. The verandah is the place where I would watch out every day and enjoy the breeze, kind of like my headquarters,” he said.
James added that life is good except when it rains, the place floods. In his bedroom had some floodwaters recently, and it worries him when that happens.
Apart from flooding, Fraser stated that life is quiet in that section of Mahaicony and he likes it that way.
Hazel Esraido, the snackette operator
Working from home is the best option for Hazel Esraido, 55, who has a roadside shop with a snackette.
She would get up early and prepare egg ball, sponge cake, salara, boiled and fried channa, dhal puri with chicken curry, and cheese cone.
Esraido told the Pepperpot Magazine that she grew up in the village and she has grown to love the place.
She was, at the time, grinding four pints of split peas via a manual hand mill in her shop.
That would be used to make dhal puri to sell in her snackette.
She had a small glass case vending food and snacks at Midway Snackette right in Mahaicony but decided to start her own small business at her home.
“I have to survive no matter what, things a bit slow, but I don’t prepare a lot of snacks, just enough to sell and the people here, as well as passing visitors who would come and buy,” she said.