The working women of Mabaruma
Broomes Hotel on Broomes Hill, Mabaruma (Delano Williams photos)
Broomes Hotel on Broomes Hill, Mabaruma (Delano Williams photos)

WHILE in Mabaruma, hers is one of the first faces you will see at the Broomes Airstrip, since she is the agent in charge of bookings for Sky West Charter Service.

Rosalinda Yahya, called “Nunica,” is a resident of Mabaruma and has been working with Sky West Charter Service for about 10 years.

“I would make bookings from out of Mabaruma to Ogle with the use of Trans Guyana carriers and we fly every day,” she said.

Yahya added that the job is a 24-hour one and there is no such thing as a day-off, but it keeps her going beyond the call of duty because at times some customers would call in the ‘dead of the night’ for emergencies, or to simply make a booking.

Rosalinda “Nuncia” Yahya

“I meet a lot of people. Some are difficult because we have a contract with the Ministry of Public Health and sometimes we have patients who are in dire need of medical attention. As such, we have to fly them out at the earliest, but some passengers who are not ill don’t want to flex. They do not want to allow that sick person to board the plane to the city, to get to a hospital for medical attention,” Yahya said.

She explained that usually, they would take off the last two passengers who have booked to give the sick person preference.

“Another thing here too is that we have the shortest airstrip in Guyana and we have a smaller ‘payload,’ so we are hoping we can have the airstrip extended to accommodate more weight and bigger planes. Only cargo and tri-lander aircraft land here and they only take 2,000 pounds out of here with the 13 and 20 seaters. For incoming flights, we cater for 200 pounds per person as it relates to weight for passengers,” Yahya said.

Meanwhile, as it relates to the airstrip facility which was recently renovated, she explained that although the edifice is adequate, there is a constant power outage.

“We get blackout from 05:00hrs to 11:00hrs, then in the night again, so with this unstable power supply it is a great inconvenience for us,” she explained.

Yahya told the Pepperpot Magazine that being born and raised in that community, she feels at home although she had a life in the city where she used to work with the Forestry Commission.

She returned home after her father passed and now with her mother and siblings away, she is home alone, but doesn’t mind, since her job keeps her busy.

Broomes Hotel
Zeanni Broomes is another hardworking woman in Mabaruma. She manages the family hotel in that community.

Broomes is an all-rounder at her father’s hotel on Broomes Hill, Mabaruma, where she is the cook, the cleaner and just about everything else, while also being a full-time mother to a young boy.

The old Broomes Hotel still standing

“I returned here from the city in 2013, because I wanted to take a break when I couldn’t fully cope with taking care of a child and having a full-time job at Air Services since it was a shift system,” she said. “I came home and never get a chance to return to that life. Even though there are a lot of advantages of living in Georgetown where most of my friends are, I find solace here in my hometown. At times, I could do with a change of environment and I would go to town, but my life is here now and I help out with this business with my father by my side,” Broomes said.

She added that the Broomes Hotel has been in the family for generations and it was once a two-storey wooden building which is still standing- then they constructed a two-flat concrete edifice which has 21 self-contained rooms.

Broomes Hotel provides full-time employment for eight staffers, and offers a catering service; the kitchen is open until 22:00hrs and there is an outdoor bar which is open until late depending on customers’ attendance.

Broomes reported that business is good in that community, but with the fuel shortage, the power company there is rationing the electricity supply and there are constant blackouts.

As such, they have to use a generator which incurs a cost to purchase fuel, but their objective is to make guests comfortable during the stay at the hotel.

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