AT 76 years old, many people her age would rather bask in retirement and stay at home to enjoy their old age but not Yvonne Bryan, who is still young at heart and still has that zest for life.
The mother of five told the Pepperpot Magazine that being a vendor is her way of keeping busy and doing something she loves instead of being bored at home.
Bryan was born and raised in Linden, a place she likes a lot and feels quite at home.
She grew up in both Retrieve where her father is from, and Christiansburg, on the other side of the river, where her mother was living.
Bryan is passionate about her work and would even commute to the city to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables three times weekly for her customers and is the only vendor in the Wismar Municipal Market that sells the cheapest.
As a young girl growing up, after school, she would go to the very market to help her mother sell. She was a stallholder and spent most of her days there, making a living.
Bryan disclosed that unfortunately, her mother passed away when she was 65 years old and she is originally from Sandhills, Demerara River.
She is the grandmother of 10 and is residing in Amelia’s Ward, Linden with her daughter and a grandson.
“I used to visit this market a lot. From school in the afternoon, I would come here and be with my mother, who had a stall and I always decided in mind I wanted to be just like her, independent,” she said.
Bryan told the Pepperpot Magazine that she enrolled in the Guyana National Service in 1990 and served in the army for years before she left in 1992.
However, she migrated to Trinidad and Tobago and then to the United States of America (USA) and returned to Guyana in 2012.
It was then she used to sell clothes and other brand name items she brought back from the US, but people were not interested in that and she switched to selling fruits, ground provision and vegetables.
Bryan reported that she would usually buy produce from her fellow Lindeners and when she has to, she would journey to Georgetown to make the necessary purchases from farmers.
“I believe in providing a reliable service and whether it is sun or rain I am here to serve the people and I sell the most reasonable here in the market because people have to eat and even if they do not have all the money, I would give it to them,” she said.
However, on Fridays and Saturdays, Bryan would sell by the riverside that is just opposite the market to attract customers and the rest of the days she is in the Wismar Municipal Market.
“I like this job. I make it easy, I come and I set up my stand with my fruits and vegetables and I meet people and I get to talk to them and I make friends easily and I am satisfied,’ she said.
Bryan disclosed that she doesn’t have to work, but she wants to and sees it as a hobby more than an actual job.
Sherry Fullington
Meet Sherry Fullington, a local of Victory Valley, Wismar, Linden who says the village is mostly quiet and the men would go in the interior for work and return later since there aren’t many jobs in that region.
She is a certified electrician who is not doing that kind of work anymore and decided to invest in a stall in Wismar Municipal Market where she is vending household items, clothing among other things.
She acquired the stall in 2006 and has been vending ever since. Despite things being slow, she is still hopeful it will get better.
In her younger days, Fullington worked with the bauxite company and was successful, having enrolled at the Linmine Technical Training Complex in Linden.
Fullington would source products from the city for her stall and she has a humble and quiet life and is a member of the St. Matthews Presbyterian Church in Christianburg, Linden.
“Selling here as you can see isn’t a fast earner but it is still something for me as a job and I am waiting on age to quality for my old age pension,” she said.
Fullington reported that she has been working since she was 14 years old and these days, she is not about to do any strenuous work.
Her day starts at 05:30 hours and she would prepare to head out to the market to sell where she would relax having prepared meals for the entire day in the morning before leaving.
