WHEN 28-year-old Linda (only name given) was growing up, she dreamed of becoming either a teacher or banker; for 40-year-old Melissa (only name given), she wanted to be a chef.However, through a series of unfortunate socio-economic challenges that included becoming teenage mothers, and dropping out of school, today both single mothers work as security guards. In individual sit downs with the Guyana Chronicle, the mothers smile and at times are even brought to tears as they each tell their respective stories of being brought up in single parent households, feeling unloved by their mothers, becoming teenage mothers, dropping out of school and even persevering above thoughts of giving up on life. Though they don’t know each other and have never met, their respective life stories follow parallel backgrounds. And they are not alone, their upbringing is one common to many single mothers who have turned to working as security guards to ensure they are able to put food on the table for their families.

But with the profession often paying minimum wage, and in many cases calling for 12 hour shifts, it is not an occupation that is kind to single mothers, many of whom sometimes have challenges with finding adequate child care facilities for their children. “It’s hard, it’s so hard,” Wilson expressed. Wilson will be spending half of Mother’s Day working a ‘6am to 6pm’ shift. A mother of three school-aged children, she said it’s taxing juggling the job while taking care of her children.
“If I work the night shift, I have to come in the morning, prepare lunch, then I have to go over to get the wifi to do the school work with my children and I’m not getting rest. I probably might get a two or one hour rest. It’s really hard but I have to make it work,” she said. Wilson left her first security guard job after noticing inequitable treatment by her supervisor. It took her some time before she finally landed another job.

Though in the past security guard jobs were dominated by retired men, looking to supplement insufficient pensions, these days, women, particularly single mothers who did not finish school, are practically taking over the profession. As the requirements in the job market have increased for even simple jobs, increasingly younger women are now turning to the security guard profession where academic requirements are minimal. Some turn to it to escape abusive relationships or to be able to afford their own accommodation and escape depending on family members. A mother of three, Linda was just 25 when she entered the profession.
“Bills had to be paid,” she shared, as she tells her story. In Guyana, the security guard profession is also fraught with issues of abuses by the security companies, including continuous problems of late payment of salaries and non-payment of deductions to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). The issue persists since security guards are not unionised and are often intimidated by the companies to refrain from joining unions.
NEW GOAL
Linda does not hope to remain in the profession forever. Though she no longer aspires to be a teacher or banker, she now desires to one day become a social worker after having found a passion for helping persons in circumstances similar to hers. She also wants to be a part-time hair dresser and hopes to one day own her own home. “I want to finish building and getting myself in order. I plan on getting back to school and doing evening classes and doing a certificate course in the hair dressing programme,” she shared. Linda had only made it to Grade Nine before she was forced to drop out of secondary school. She related that she got caught up in “bad company” and became pregnant at age 14. Though happy to become a mother, it was not an easy road for her, particularly when her partner became abusive.
Even as she continues to hope to one day improve her own situation, she loves to encourage other mothers also facing difficulties to stay strong.
“Just know you don’t have to depend on a man for everything, we can make it on our own. Don’t give up. It had times when yes I wanted to give up and it brought me to tears but my kids are loving and they are understanding. Kids are a blessing so I encourage single mothers not to give up, there is light at the end of that road,” she reassured.

With four children, one of which is still in school, Mitchell first turned to the profession of being a security guard when the father of her first two children died, leaving her the sole breadwinner. She was a security guard for seven years before once again becoming a stay-at-home mother. However, when her second partner also died, she once again returned to the profession. Mitchell was 17 when she became pregnant with her first daughter. Mitchell said she too got caught up with bad company, due to the way she was treated by her mother. “I didn’t have no mother’s love, I grow with my grandmother. I don’t know if I was a bad child or not but my mother used to say I was a bad child. So from the age of 13 I’ve been living in Plaisance with my grandmother,” she shared. “I did want to kill myself, because how a mother is supposed to look after children, my mother never was like that for me. I don’t know if is because my father go way and left her when she was having me or something,” said Mitchell. She eventually dropped out of school when her mother was not finding her birth certificate, which would enable her to write national exams. Today, she has resolved to no longer worry about her dreams of being a chef, saying “Life goes on.” For her, the profession has not been a bad one and she is grateful for at least that much. She is just worried at times about her unpaid deductions to NIS.