Housewives making most of job-sharing initiative

RESIDENTS in communities along the Mahaicony River are happy to be beneficiaries of one of the smartest and most practical measures recently announced by the Government of Guyana – the provision of part-time employment to several persons in need of work across the country.

Vice-President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, had said that roughly five billion dollars would be spent on the payment of stipends for an estimated 11,000 persons who will benefit from the initiative.
The income from such an engagement is $40,000 for 10 days of employment per month. The Pepperpot Magazine caught up with several women at the building which houses the Gordon Table Nursery and Primary Schools.

With school now closed, the women were busy doing general cleaning of the building. They are required to work for four hours a day, five days a week, on a fortnightly basis. They explained that there are two groups of workers who would take turns each week to get the work done. Here are the comments of some of the women who are involved in the initiative:

Nandodrie Mangru, of Pine Ground: I am a mother of four. My husband does boat work. I am usually at home. He alone works; sometimes he gets work and sometimes he doesn’t. I am happy about the part-time work; at least you can come out and work and get something. It’s a one-year job. I feel so good about it; that I can support my husband.

Rohini Deosaran, 25: I am a mother of two. My husband does watchman work at the pump; only that. I am home with the chores and the kids. You have to try; it’s very hard. We are happy for this job to assist us. To go out and come in with the gas situation is very hard now. Everything is getting harder. We would go out for once a month to buy food. We are now working on the school and when school re-opens, we will work outside, cleaning up the yard and digging drains, etc.

Roneka Ram, 27: I am a mother of two from Pine Ground. I am from Wales, but I married and came in here. My husband is employed at the government pumping station, but the cost of living raise so high that the little bit money he works for can barely make ends meet. The part-time job is really something good. I am happy for the opportunity because you’re at home all the time and when you finish your work, you have nothing else to do, so at least you come out, and when the month reach, you have some money to collect. You don’t have to depend on your husband money alone to make ends meet because things very hard now.

Regina Sookram, 30: I have four children, including a 15-year-old who is sickly. I get public assistance for him, but the expenses are too many. It’s expensive to get out on the road. When you go out and come in back, by the time you buy some pampers and medication, the money is finished. The other children are 16, 12, and 11. My husband catches fish, but when the rain falls, you don’t get a lot of fish. Whatever little you get, you have to accept; what are you going to do?

Somowattie Charandeo, 30: I am a mother of four. I have one child in high school and one writing exams. My husband is a labourer; he would do any kind of work. His work is not steady. I’m glad for this work because you know something will come in; there is nothing more to get anywhere. We have to make much with the little that he gets. All the foodstuff gone up. The boat takes $5,000 to go out and $5,000 to come in and then the taxi from the Green Mill to go out to the Mahaicony public road is $2,000 one way. Because it’s so hard, we don’t really get out of here.