By Gibron Rahim

MOTHERHOOD is not easy, as any mother is very well aware. It requires wisdom, patience, sacrifice and no small amount of problem solving skills. Despite the challenges they face, many mothers wholeheartedly affirm their devotion to their children. Joyceline Singh is one of these mothers.

Joyceline is originally from Plaisance on the East Coast of Demerara. She recalled that she used to live on Prince William Street. She and her family left Plaisance when she was around nine years old, moving to the community of Sophia. “We grew up there,” she said referring to herself and her siblings. “[We] went to school at Redeemer Primary and then Campbellville Secondary.” She currently resides, along with her husband and children, in East La Penitence.

A mother of five, two daughters and three sons, Joyceline has very busy days. In addition to her working full-time, being a wife and mother is also a full-time responsibility. She has been a domestic worker for the past eight years. She related to the Pepperpot Magazine that, before her current occupation, she worked as a security guard. Joyceline noted too that her job skills extend beyond those two areas. She has worked in bakeries and factories. “I’ve worked at many places,” she said, “but I did security [work] for quite a while and now I’m doing domestic [work].”

On a typical day, Joyceline rises early and prepares breakfast for her family. She also gets her youngest son ready for school and then her husband drops her off at work and returns to his workshop located at their home. After a full day spent at work her husband picks her up and they proceed home where she prepares dinner. After that it is time for bed. She also takes the time to go to church on some evenings.

Joyceline’s balancing of the roles of wife, mother and worker is not without its difficulties. “It was challenging especially pertaining to my children,” Joyceline told the Pepperpot Magazine of her past job as a security guard. “I [didn’t have] much time with them because when they were at school I was at home and when they were at home I was at work. By the time Joyceline would return home, her children would be asleep. “It was very challenging, it was a sacrifice that I had to make in order to provide for them,” the mother affirmed.

Even currently, Joyceline is not perfectly content with the balance between work and motherhood that she has managed to establish. Even though she and her husband share the domestic duties, she related that having to balance work and life at home can still be difficult for her. However, circumstances have required her to make difficult decisions. “Between myself and my children, we don’t really have that bond or that close relationship because I’m working and not there every day,” said the mother. “But I have to work it’s a case where I have to.”

Joyceline needs to work for her children’s benefit. As is often the case, parents like Joyceline and her husband want to build better lives for their children than the lives they had when they were young. “If I don’t work they will have a lot of needs and I don’t really want to put them through that,” she explained. “I went through that and I don’t want to put my children through it.”

As time has gone by, Joyceline has been able to see the benefits of their hard work paying off. “They’re able to go to school every day, they’re able to have meals and their certain needs are being met,” she said. Her and her husband being able to provide the children with their needs affirms to Joyceline that she is doing a good job. “When they come with a certain assignment and so on I have the money that I put into that, I have the money that I put into their education.” This includes investing in lessons and other activities that benefit the children educationally.

Joyceline emphasised that the benefits that she and her husband are able to provide the children with, require sacrifices in other areas. Indeed, knowing that by working they have been able to provide for their needs has not made the sacrifices any easier. One of the greatest sacrifices has been being able to spend time with her children. “That time in being with them, sitting with them, I really don’t have that,” Joyceline said. “That’s very hard for me.”