“Through life, from boyhood to manhood you have to work and maintain your family,” Alphonso Moffat affirmed. “Not only to work and telling yourself that you’re earning money and leaving your kids them behind, you have to ‘do fatherhood’.”
This is a principle that Alphonso learned from his own father, who he said did an excellent job at instilling the value of strong family ties in him.
“I come up from young like that– seeing my father work and put his paycheque on the table and maintain [his status] as breadwinner of the house,” Alphonso said.
Now, Alphonso has three children of his own; they are aged 25, 22 and 21. And he highlighted that he hopes that he would have inspired them to be better individuals who understand the value of family, just as his father did.
In his younger days, he said he enjoyed the “lustful world” before finally deciding that enough is enough. As he grew older and became a father, his outlook on life became more focused and positive.
Being a father is the best thing that could’ve happened to him, he said. He also noted that it is something that will stay with him “till the end of time”. Moreover, his wife passed away in 2005, and resultantly, he was left to raise his children by himself. It wasn’t easy, but he has no complaints.
He raised his children while being a humble food vendor. “For years, I was doing vending. I sell bora and fruits,” he noted. Nowadays, he is a humble coconut vendor. You’d find him just around the junction of Robb and Hinck streets, with his coconut cart replete with the yellow or green ‘nuts’. And since 2007 to the present day, this profession of his has been what has supported and maintained his family.
He said that, to many people, his job doesn’t look like much, but it’s an honest living. And through this work, and with disciplined spending, he was able to build his own house and purchase a vehicle while still providing a comfortable life for his family.
“You have to work and make sacrifices and all things will fall in place,” he posited. He also noted that whether raising children and hoping to instill good values in them or working for a daily bread, the key is to love and enjoy what you do.
He also maintained Psalms 23: “Thou shall not want” and highlighted that as the authoritative figure in the household, it has always been imperative for him to remember not to be envious of people who may appear to be in a better situation than him. Instead, he shared that he has learned to focus on what is in his family and work towards improving his own household.
“Life is all about experiences,” he said wisely. “It’s about how you make it, and you have to make sacrifices to achieve what you want.”