Living on the poverty line

By Anesta Henry | Sat, January 21, 2012 - 12:00 AM

Rice gone up,

Flour gone up,

Fish gone up

And me salary “too low”

– With apologies to PJ

THE WORDS FROM PJ’S WELL KNOWN SONG summarize life for thousands of Barbadians who work for less than $250 per week.

On the bus or the plane, under a bread fruit tree or in the comfort of a neighbour’s gallery, people could be heard complaining about the worldwide economic recession.

In this the first in a series of articles, the SATURDAY SUN tapped into the concerns of two lower income Barbadians to find out how they are coping with the escalating cost of living.

And the concerns among them are that they are having tremendous difficulties, forcing them to look for alternative revenue streams.

Twenty-seven-year-old Rosita (not her real name), an assistant on a farm, declared that she was tired and fed up with the “ridiculous money” she took home at the end of every week “after working hard and standing up for long hours”.

She says that for almost a year she has worked for nine hours a day (Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.), taking home “$150 when I work a full week and $43 if we only get to work for two days”.

According to the straight talker, “It ain’t easy working for so little bit o’ money; I can’t even go to the supermarket properly or pay my rent on time”.

“Some weeks if I don’t beg I wouldn’t got anything in my house to eat. The man I living with wasn’t working for a good while, so I had to depend on another friend to help. I would call my friend and tell he I ain’t got nothing in the house or for the little one and he would call me and I would go down the gap or somewhere and meet he. If not for he, I don’t know what I would do.”

Rosita says she was not the only person frustrated with the money she was working for or the circumstances under which she was getting it.

In an angry tone she explained: “Who the boss ain’t sending home because them working for too much money, going on them own because them can’t handle it anymore.

“You does got to work real hard. You does got to be on your foot all the time.

People supposed to get a full hour for lunch [but] we does only get to take 15 minutes and then come back inside and work. If you outside sitting down past 15 minutes them coming and telling yuh about coming back inside,” she said.

Rosita is not able to buy clothing or maintain her hair as she should on a regular basis. But she is adamant that her daughter must be taken care of, often saying during the interview, “I got to do what I got to do for her.”

“I talk to my li’l friend on the side and I know other people does do it. Some of the girls at work don’t care – them does tell you them got them two and three men because them got to get through. But sometimes when I look at it, some of them live with them mother and father and all them want is clothes and hair.

But I have my daughter,” said Rosita.

Little more than $100 Susan (not her real name), 49, who works on a manufacturing plant for a little over $100 after National Insurance contribution is deducted, said that sometimes she feels as though she is a slave.

“It does be hard but you got to make out with it. I ain’t got no choice right now. I have to take that money when the week come and buy every little thing from it.

“I was there for years now and the boss ain’t raising the pay. Most of the people who at the workplace doing what I doing does work for the same little bit o’ money. The money ain’t anything for me to catch van to get to work, so I have to walk,” said Susan.

Like Rosita, this mother of five, two of whom are still depending on her for their daily bread, clothing and shelter, says she, too, has a male “friend” whom she is extremely dependent upon.

Susan explained that going to the supermarket was sometimes a nightmare. And when her cupboard was bare, and there was no flour and sugar to make some bakes, her usual routine was to visit the Welfare Office to collect a food voucher.

“The other day I was sick and I went to NIS [National Insurance Scheme] but the people tell me that they ain’t paying in the money. So he taking out we money, but he ain’t paying it in.”

Meanwhile, Rosita was anxious to find out, “what Government doing to make these people pay poor people more money?”

“Everything gone up and still you ain’t getting paid so that you can meet your cost of living. Sometimes you can’t afford to buy more than $50 in groceries and I got one child. What about people that got three and five? Times hard and people can’t afford to be working for this little bit o’ money.”

• Do you work for less than $250 each week, or get a pension that is less than that? How are you coping on a day-to-day basis? What are you doing to earn additional funds or to reduce your food bill? Please share your story with us. Call 262-5986 or email: anestahenry@nationnews.com or sankaprice@nationnews.com.