Meet some of the delightful women at Mora Point Health Centre

FRANCINE Charles had never worked a day in her life since she got married and moved to Pine Ground, in the Mahaicony River, 11 years ago. Economic hardships, though, became too many to bear, thus forcing her to get a job to support her family.

It wasn’t too difficult for her because she was fortunate enough to find a job she knew how to do. With job opportunities very limited in these parts of the country, the mother of four was happy to take up a cleaning job at the Mora Point Health Centre.

Originally from Moraikobai, a village further up the Mahaicony River, Francine chose to use her time as a housewife to adequately care for her husband and children, ages 11, seven, five, and three.
But when the floods struck last year, destroying the family’s cows, ducks, chickens, fruit trees and other plants, it seemed as if their lives were turned upside down.

“My husband plants rice, but now he cannot do so. We usually get two crops per year but couldn’t get that since last year, so it’s very hard because that’s what we depend on. I never worked before until recently when I had no other choice than to support him in making ends meet,” Francine told Pepperpot Magazine in an interview at the health centre lately.

“I decided to take a chance and come out to work because things are very hard,” she continued, ever so happy that her mother-in-law has willingly taken up the task of lovingly caring for the children in her absence.

Almost in tears, Francine spoke about what she described as an unfair situation that has bothered her ever since the flooding, where she alleged that the bigger farmers were the ones to benefit from the government’s relief measures. She has no issues with the government itself but criticised the people who were chosen to overlook the initiative.

Her husband received $100,000, but the other benefits promised were not given to her family, although she said many who hardly suffered losses got the bulk of the benefits. “We still call them, and they keep telling us they will look into the matter. It’s very sad that the poorer class of people cannot get access to whatever the government is giving,” she expressed.

Francine tries not to dwell on the situation and instead focuses on how she can assist her family, especially on getting her children the best education possible. “I plan to give my children their education and support them. We bring them to school every day, whether rain or sun and try to help them with their school work and assignments.”

Meanwhile, Francine’s colleague at the health centre, Hemawattie Jadunauth, is a 21-year-old Community Health Worker (CHW) who has been serving the community for the past three years.
A resident of Yarrow Creek, right there in the river, the 21-year-old did work study at the Mahaicony Hospital after completing CXC and then trained at the West Demerara Regional Hospital for six months as a CHW.

Growing up, she wanted to become a nurse, mostly due to the experiences she gained caring for her sick, bedridden grandmother. She was just about ten years old when she had to do almost everything for her grandmother.

“Now, I am here at the health centre helping people on a daily basis. We look after patients in the community. We don’t turn back anyone. We see about three to five persons coming. I love looking after people, including babies, and being able to interact with them and give advice,” she shared.

Naomi Singh, of Water Dog Creek, located on the left bank of the Mahaicony River, is another CHW who supports the health centre. Her mother works as the sweeper/cleaner for the Mora Point Nursery School and her sister is a trained teacher there, so together, they all come to work in the morning and leave together. (The nursery school is located a stone’s throw away from the centre.)

Due to circumstances, Naomi said she didn’t do well at CXC but was very happy that she could still be of service to the community as a CHW. “I really love it here. I am very proud of how far I’ve come because I didn’t pass my CXC but I got this job and I am really happy to be here.”