Pearl residents enjoy entrepreneurship

By Michel Outridge

THERE came a point in her life when the odds were against Junice Welcome, a mother of three. She found herself changing jobs and having to find people to take care of her children, while she worked with others. But then she had an idea which was later made a reality when she opened her own day-care and playgroup in Pearl Village.

Two years ago, the Kiddie’s Treasure Day Care and Playgroup building was completed and the small business opened its doors to serve working parents who reside in Pearl and the neighbouring villages.

Welcome honed her skills working with special needs children as a volunteer at Sorsha Williams Kids Foundation School for Autistic Children in the city.

There, she spent three months and benefited from training and was asked to join the organisation as an employee, but declined and decided to open her own daycare and playgroup.

“I know having my own business will be beneficial for me and my children, because my youngest is six months old and having to get people to take care of him while I went to work was hard and the travelling was worse, so I had to become self-employed,” she said.

Welcome stated that there was space in her mother’s yard at Pearl Village, East Bank Demerara, and she constructed a one-flat concrete building for her business.

The place is outfitted with a kitchenette, a television, beds, cribs and other amenities to make the place comfortable and fitting for children to stay when their parents are at work.

Unfortunately, the place closed its doors in March when schools were ordered closed by the Ministry of Education as a result of COVID-19.

Presently, Welcome is awaiting word from the Child Care and Protection Agency to re-open.

Normally Kiddie’s Day Care and Playgroup is open from 07:00hrs to 19:00hrs to cater for working parents who would drop off their children before going to work and would pick them up after.

“We cater for parents who work late, so the little ones going to Pearl Nursery School would come here after classes and stay until their parents collect them,” she said.

Welcome, along with a qualified teacher, would ensure that the children are occupied with teaching aids and other forms of learning throughout the day.

They also have adequate toys to occupy the children’s time during the ‘play segment’ and also gave them some television time.

Welcome told the Pepperpot Magazine that since their two years in existence, they would ensure that the children participate in all events such as Christmas, when they have Santa Claus and a Christmas Tree and everything else to make the occasion memorable.

“When I first opened it was challenging, but I got past that hurdle and at times we get new admissions and other times we have a few children, but taking care of children whether they are normal or have special needs is no bother, because I am really passionate about children and having the daycare and playgroup is a dream come through for me,” she said.

The 32-year-old would prepare the children for kindergarten by ensuring that they know small words and their spellings.

Kiddie’s Day Care and Playgroup in Pearl Village admits children from as young as four months old to four years nine months old for their aftercare and playgroup.

Home catering at its best
The Pepperpot Magazine also encountered a mother of four who is multi-talented and has returned home from The Cayman Islands.

Shennon Richards-Greene is usually away in The Cayman Islands where she works as a professional chef, but due to the pandemic, she is home and has started a catering service for birthdays, weddings and other events.

She is the mother of Junice Welcome and the daycare and playgroup is in her front yard in Pearl Village.

“Growing up I was told by my elders you have to know to do every little thing in the home, especially when you have children you have to know to sew and I developed my skills on the sewing machine and am also a seamstress,” she said.

She has been a resident of Pearl for the past 10 years and it has become her home — a quiet place she likes.

She is originally from Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara and also resided in the city and the house she occupies was inherited from her grandfather, who used to live there and she had to move in with him as he got down in age and eventually passed away.

Richards-Greene was also a nurse and a teacher, who is in Guyana for a while and is finding things to do to occupy her time.

“I do cakes and so for weddings and birthdays and food for social events, as well as from home and work on orders, so I hardly have time to idle,” she said.