By Michel Outridge

Too often we tend to forget the work of our postal workers who deliver the mails to our homes whether it is raining or there is bright sunshine.

These professionals play an integral part in society as they are tasked with house to house mail delivery, five days of the week.

This task is not a walk in the park it entails long hours and exposure to the elements of the weather delivering mails through several communities stretching for miles.

As a postal employee or what we would refer to as the ‘Post Girl or the Post Boy’ their efforts are almost not recognised enough.

As a frontline worker attached to the Wales Post Office, Allison Osborne is taking the necessary precautions to protect herself from the novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

She is also wearing her face masks and has her sanitising spray to cleanse her hands when the need arises.

The 34-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she would begin her day at 7:00hrs at the Wales Post Office after sorting out mails and would leave the location for her daily mail delivery.

This is after she would have completed household chores including cooking at home.

Osborne is a resident of Bagotville Village and was at the time serving mails in Sisters Village when the Pepperpot Magazine spotted her.

She was on her personal bicycle delivering mails in the village as part of her daily task.

The mail delivery would cease at 16:00hrs when she is off-duty and heads home to her family.

The mother of three would deliver mails to the villages of Sisters, Good Intent, Belle Vue, Stanleytown, Le Retraite and Toevlugt, all on the West Bank Demerara.

Osborne related that she never knew she would become a postal worker but at the time she was job-hunting and she was introduced to the job.

“I was looking for a job 10 years ago and had a few options and I applied for the postal job and got it and began that job,” she said.

She stated that instead of walking, she purchased a bicycle and it is easier to deliver mails.

When asked how she would cope with the sun she said she has grown accustomed to the humid conditions.

“Delivering mails every weekday, I became familiar with the residents and so we are friends and when it is hot some of them would offer me a cool drink or beverage and it is a nice gesture which demonstrates that people do care about others,” she said.

Osborne has a friendly disposition making her very approachable and easy to talk to.

“This job is not boring because I get to meet and interact with people in different villages and I find it interesting because I like my job and over the years I have made a lot of friends,” she said.

Osborne said that she would make her job more enjoyable by listening to music through her cell phone via earphones while riding through the villages.

She is very familiar with the layout of the house lots and the names of residents in the villages she deliver mails to.

Osborne knows exactly where she has to deliver mails and does that as quickly as possible to ensure all mails are delivered on time.

“I don’t venture into yards at all because of dogs so I never was bitten by a dog yet and I would leave the mails in the post box or on the gate where it can be found. If people are at home I would hand them the mails,” she said.

Osborne is a mother to three girls ages 16, 14 and four years old and they are at home until she returns home from work.

“I like my job and I will continue doing it for as long as I can because it is my only source of income and I don’t see myself as a doing an odd job, it is a serious job which requires professionalism and good communication skills,” she said.