– single mother shares her story
By Lakhram Bhagirat
One of the most painful decisions for parents is the dreaded one of parting with their children, but more often than we realise circumstances force parents to part with their children for various reasons, and Nakeshia Best is still coming to terms with that decision she was forced to make.
The single mother from Skeldon, Berbice in Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) took the fateful decision to send two of her three children to live with their maternal grandmother after she could no longer afford to provide financially for them. You see, Best was one of the thousands of workers who were unsympathetically handed redundancy letters when Government decided to shut up shop at the Skeldon Estate at the beginning of this year.
“The last day I worked was December 29 (2017) and since then I looking for work. I was a part of the fertiliser gang for over five years and that money I used to use to take care of the children and after I stop working I just can’t afford it anymore. It just hard,” Best tells me.
All adults, particularly those with a family, set out certain goals and have dreams that they work towards and Best had those same dreams, but all she could do now is try to survive and not get kicked out of the apartment she rents. She said that during her short tenure as a part of Guyana’s largest workforce, she initiated the process of acquiring her own land but then tragedy struck.
“I had a big dream and a lot of dreams of getting my own land and building my own house and afterwards estate close down and everything just washed away.”
Now she barely works for $2000 per week as a domestic help. Best related that she would launder clothes for a family every Wednesday and Saturday and that is all the income she has been getting ever since the beginning of the year.
To provide more insight into the reasons that forced her to part ways with her two eldest children who are only eight and 14 years old, Best tells me that her rent is $10,000 per month and she earns about $8000 per month. Apart from meeting her monthly rent, she would have to buy food and ensure that the children attend school as well as meet the demands of her three-year-old.
“Life changed completely and because some days the children them going to school and some days they can’t and till eventually the two big one I had to send them by my mother in Georgetown and get a transfer and so for them because it is really hard for me up this side,” the 29-year-old tells me.
She said that employment opportunities were scarce in her area and even further afield thus making earning any money harder. Best has applied for a number of jobs, since her unfortunate and abrupt termination, but has received no response as yet.
“Since June I applied for a Special Constabulary Officer position and until now them didn’t even call and say yes that we have the job or no we don’t. That is how the whole Berbice is and we can’t do nothing about it at all. We just have to go with the flow and see where life takes us, but all I can say is that things hard. It really hard here and we need to get a break because we suffering here and nobody coming up with no plan to help,” she says.
Best would have received all of her severance pay from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo), but it was so meagre that she utilised it all paying bills, rent; shopping for groceries and sending her children to school. Now she has zero savings and as the breadwinner of her family, she is struggling to keep the roof over her head and that of her three-year-old.
She says now all she can do is be strong and persevere because she believes that bad phases do not last for long and she is strong enough to weather this storm and come out with minimal damage.
“I may feel broken now, but I will find a way to put the pieces back together. I will get back to a state where I can take care of my children again and we all can be under one roof. I miss them a lot and because of the money situation I can’t even see them when I like, but very soon, very soon,” she said optimistically. (Times Sunday Magazine)
