…as her dismissed sugar worker husband struggles to find a job
By Andrew Carmichael
Some women are considered great only when they excel in sports or academia, some achieve greatness by winning a beauty pageant; but a Berbice housewife and mother of four, who is none of the above, can justifiably be called a champion.
When one sees this 29-year-old sweeper-cleaner at a primary school in East Canje, one may think little of her, more so when one finds out that she has a husband who is not working, and she has to care for him and four children.
By any reasonable measure, Devonie Singh stands out as a great wife and mother. In December 2017, she took the decision to become the breadwinner for the family after her husband, Ramesh Hardyal, was given a termination letter from the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) when it closed its Rose Hall, East Canje operations, making his job redundant.
“A woman is not supposed to have to provide for her children when she has a husband, the husband is supposed to provide for them,” Devonie believes. However, in her case, the converse obtains. “My husband was working all the time, so it is not unfair that I am working now,” she declared.
Singh takes care of four children, three of whom are at primary school. And despite holding down a demanding job, she still finds time to assist them with their school work.
“A wife must be a wife for her husband, and if she has kids, she has to take care of them. It is her duty to look after them and to clean and to wash,” Devonie told this publication.
Five months ago, she sat with Hardyal as he despondently held his severance letter in his hand, and decided that she was going to take charge.
“That is when I decided that I have to get up and get going. It is four children, the youngest is just two years old,” she told the Guyana Times.
Devonie said it was a bit difficult finding a job, but she persevered despite the odds, knowing that there were hundreds of other persons in the community similarly hunting jobs.
Convincing her employer that she was the right person for the job in a community where the few jobs available were given to persons previously known by the employer was one of her first challenges. Devonie’s job dictates that she be at work for 07:30h, so she has to leave her Gangaram, East Canje home well in advance, and not return home until after 16:00h.
Because her husband is out of a job, this determined woman gets out of bed at 04:00h to prepare meals and then get the children ready for school. That for many is already tiring, but not for Devonie; she still has a day’s work ahead.
She does not earn as much money as Ramesh did when he was employed, and is also challenged to spend wisely the little money she earns.
“I have had to cut down on some things, like grocery and some of the things that the kids like, and plenty other things. They like to eat certain things, but I can’t provide that, so I just give them a straight meal. I want my kids to go to school, so I try to provide what they need for school. I use whatever little I have,” Devonie disclosed.
She is advising women whose husbands might not be earning enough for the family to go and get a job.
The family still has loans to pay. However, when Ramesh received the first half of his severance, he paid great attention to that, and is eagerly awaiting the second half to pay off his loans.
