FOR 61-year-old Lolita Williams, age is just a number and she became living proof of this adage the day she went back to school to educate herself in becoming a better entrepreneur in order to enhance her culinary business. Lolita currently attends a Small Business Management course at Computer World and once the course is complete, she intends to return to her home in Kaburi Village (Region Seven) to put her skills to good use in managing her shop.

In the meantime, Lolita’s days are spent taking care of her three grandchildren and attending classes in Georgetown. “At my age, it is not impossible to achieve my educational goals because the hardest part was to get registered and now I am attending classes and I am comfortable with learning and I must admit it feels good,” Lolita told the Pepperpot Magazine.
The businesswoman is also known for preparing delicious roast beef, fish and tuma pot which she sold at a location in Robb Street. Due to unforeseen circumstances, however, she was forced to close the venture.

Lolita is convinced that her tuma pot is the ‘thing’ not just because it is an indigenous cuisine but because of her special ingredients. Her love for cooking also finds Lolita catering for some persons from the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’Affairs from time to time.

And every year for September, which is declared Indigenous Heritage Month, she participates in the three-day event at the Sophia Exhibition Centre where she showcases her culinary talents and also sells her delicious foods.

She said that annually, she looks forward to participating in the Indigenous Heritage activities because she gets to interact with folks from both the city and the hinterland locations.

Giving a background about how she started to prepare roast beef, tambaqui fish and tuma pot, Lolita said that having lived almost all her life in the hinterland she is accustomed to certain things and brought the recipes for roast beef and other traditional goodies with her to the city.

She related that when she lived in the Rupununi, their way of preserving meats is to salt it then hang it out to dry after which it would be stored for cooking purposes because they do not have electricity and it is their conventional way of preservation.

Lolita added that meat is stored in salt bags until it is needed for cooking. She explained that they mostly use the meats with farine or cassava bread.

This spritely grandmother said that she originally came from Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) but grew up in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), and came to the city to spend time with her son and his children.

Her hometown in Region Seven is Kaburi Village, 32 Miles Potaro, where she went to school and lived with her family until adulthood.

Lolita said that living in the hinterland is much different than living in the city but she can cope even though she has grown accustomed to that way of life where things are much simpler and there is no rush. Moreover, she is committed to honing her entrepreneurial skills, so she can pair them with her love of cooking and go back home to enhance her business.

“I would never stop making roast beef, fish or my tuma pot because it is a joy for me and people would always ask for it and for that I will continue to prepare these dishes for those who like it,” she said.