By Michel Outridge

Hemwantie Singh, better known as “Aunty Leila,” resides alone but is thankful for her neighbours who look out for her.

She recalled one day when she was feeling unwell and fainted in the house and fell. She was unable to get up and called out for help and the neighbour responded and took her to get medical attention.

She suffers from hypertension and diabetes and also underwent surgery to remove her left breast after cancerous tissues were found.

As such, she is unable to lift her left hand because she isn’t fully healed, but is trying to do things on her own.

The 65-year-old said her husband collapsed one morning in the washroom and died last November and it has left her tramautised.

When the Pepperpot Magazine visited she was in the process of preparing some vegetables for a meal. Though it seemed she was not well, she was still very pleasant.

Before her surgery, Aunty Leila used to be active in her yard where she has a wide array of flower plants and fruit trees.

She added that living alone isn’t always best, but she has no other choice because her only child, a daughter, who was 19 years old committed suicide by ingesting a poisonous substance.

“Right now if people come and buy a few plants, I sell, because it helps with my expenses because I cannot work,” she said.

The team also met a family of four, who entertained us in a friendly chat at their home at Hope New Housing Scheme.

Monica Hemraj said she is originally from Mahaica, also on the East Coast of Demerara, but moved to Hope New Housing Scheme two years ago and adjusting has been good.

She added that she has one school-aged daughter and the other one is a teacher and with schools closed, they are at home assisting with daily household chores.

“As you can see we fork up some banks here in the yard to plant some callaloo and water melons and we had to build up the land, because it was very low and before we came here it was a swamp,” she said.

Hemraj does her shopping at Mahaica since she is familiar with the area.

Meanwhile, her husband Deodat Hemraj is a mason, but was at home preparing to go fishing.

He stated that whenever there is no work he would take his car and do a few trips to bring in money to his household, because they have to take their daughter to school, among other expenses.

“You does have to try one thing or another to earn and we are doing things to make life better,” he said.

The couple has some land space which can be used for small-scale farming and they will begin soon.

Their plot sits at the end of a street and it is one of the cleanest places one can come across.