LITTIE Chanmatia Ramnarine is a stay-at-home mother, grandmother and wife who has a small business of plastic chair rentals and selling pepper sauce, achar and pickles via a small roadside stand at Number 59 Village, Corentyne, Berbice.

The 70-year-old told the Pepperpot Magazine that she has grandchildren to take care of and needs the financial boost because her husband is ailing and cannot work.
She decided to start a venture from home to earn, and it has been fair despite being a slow business.

Ramnarine also has a small shop selling confectionery and cold beverages, among other items and the people of the roadside village support the small business.
“After my husband took ill and could no longer work, I thought of what to do and after sometime I decided the best option was working from home via a shop and do some home-made pickles and sauces to sell to assist in earning,” she explained.

The 70-year-old reported that she would buy fruits from the neighbours when in season and use it to make homemade pickles, and then bottle them for sale after the curing process.
Ramnarine would make mango, golden apple, gooseberry and garlic pickles and have in stock mango achar and bird pepper, hot pepper sauces and lime sour.
The mother of five told the Pepperpot Magazine that back in the days they used to rear cattle on a large scale but when her spouse advanced in age he started to complain of intense pains in the feet.

She stated that he could not take care of tending to the cattle and they had to do away with it eventually as the task became unbearable for him.

Ramnarine said all her five children are grown and leading their own adult lives with husbands and wives but she has two of four grandchildren living with her and they are her responsibility.
“The most I can do for them is assist them to have a foundation in life, that is, education and they have a home and they get all their meals even though we are not wealthy, “she said.
Ramnarine also has three great-grandchildren.

She pointed out that life is not blindingly bright but can be considered fair because she is doing what she can with the resources at hand to earn.
Ramnarine disclosed that doing the right thing takes time, and it is usually a royal run-a-around to get her small shop licensed.
The elderly woman explained that she had to make several trips to New Amsterdam to visit the High Court and then the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) to acquire the paperwork for her small shop and she doesn’t even sell alcohol.

“At my age, it is hard as is to do the chores plus tend to the shop, take care of the grandkids and do whatever needs to be done let alone have to make the commute to New Amsterdam, miles from Corentyne where I live,” she said.
Ramnarine stated that she is hoping that the agencies can become de-centralised so she can visit the Corentyne office rather than having to make the journey to New Amsterdam, which is grossly inconvenient for her.

At this juncture, Ramnarine is doing her utmost to contribute to the lives of her loved ones and she is utilising her inbred skills to do just that, all from her home even as a senior citizen.
Her strength and refusal to give up is quite admirable, and kudos to Aunty Littie as she is referred to for all her efforts to have a good life.
Hancia Mursaline, the home-maker

While passing #48 Village, Corentyne, Berbice it is difficult not to notice the huge decorative plant pots that adorn the fence of a lovely house that sits comfortably on the public road which belongs to Hancia Mursaline and her husband.

Mursaline told the Pepperpot Magazine that she likes nice things, so she bought seven of the unusually large and colourful plant pots to put on her fence, making it quite a sight, a vision of loveliness.

The 67-year-old added the new feature to her fence about a year ago and she has no regrets about overdoing things to make her living space a bit more pleasing to the eye.

The mother of one stated that she loves plants, flowers and trees and makes every effort to get newer plants to add to her flower garden, which is an entire plot of land.

The plant pots aren’t the only unusual thing at the home of Mursaline, she also has a newly acquired rickshaw, one of four in the country and registered as CL 5001, red in colour and used for family outings.