IT WOULD seem like we women always got tuh be fighting fuh we rights. It is hard tuh see a woman like Ann Riley in the newspapers fighting fuh something dat she worked suh hard for over the years, now tuh let it go fuh next kin tuh nothing.
In this life, all o’ we does fall pon hard times at some time or the other. It is like, today fuh you, tomorrow fuh me, ’cause wha’ aint catch ya aint pass ya, doan fear. Especially wid the lot o’ bills coming at ya like missiles; left right and centre. ya cahn dodge dem nuh matter how hard ya try.
I know Ann Riley good, good; she has always been a fighter, a go-getter and she worked hard from the time she was at the Light and Power fuh all o’ dem years. She is one woman I know, who always had dat entrepreneurial spirit. Long before the lot o’ people did selling any kind o’ hair bout here, Ann was bringing in and selling hair and all types o’ jewelry; she was still singing at the time too.
It had tuh be dah go- getting spirit dat push her tuh leave the steady job and start Moods and Options there pon Independence Square. Lemmuh tell ya, talk bout class? All sorts o’ people used tuh be in there fuh the shoes, the bags and doan talk bout the hats at all, the best. Then she opened one in Lower Broad Street and what is now Trimart and I think one was in Speightstown too.
I aint know wha’ went wrong but all I could say is this. While it is hard tuh see ya hard work, ya sacrifice, ya business guh long down the drain, ya always believe dat at some time ya might be able tuh pick up and start all ovah again. But when it comes now tuh ya home, oh Lord, man, it is painful, especially when you know the real and true value of it and the blood sweat and tears dat went in tuh it.
Duh got a lot o’ people in Ann’s shoes today; some o’ dem who just hopelessly throw duh hand in the air and surrender tuh the lending institutions. Duh just aint had the fight in dem and today duh living in some lil apartment or house, paying rent again, hear? Duh barely making it; while every day, painfully watching duh blood, sweat and tears; their years of sacrifice, their investment gone long just so and get sell out from under dem, just so the books in the lending agencies could balance and look good.
Ann girl, you aint alone, duh got a lot like you out there who smelling hell tuh pay dah mortgage when the month come and the lending agencies pon duh backs, threatening dem daily. But you say ya gine fight? Well, fight! You is a fighter, you have always been a fighter, you have it in you and ya is a strong woman.
Look my dear, while I cahn put a piece o’ change in ya hand tuh help ya, I will be praying hard fuh you because it aint only you, the same thing could happen tuh any o’ we who got a piece o’ property dat we borrowed money pon and nice it up so we could enjoy the evening o’ we years in. But now dat things have gotten suh hard, a lot o’ we scrambling, aint know where tuh turn and the debtors aint care how you get um, duh want duh money and doan fear, duh relentless.
Girl, I know wha’ you going through, a family o’ mine just lost she nice, nice property dat she and she family work hard, night and day tuh build and now at this stage in duh life, dem had tuh sell it and gone back renting all ovah again. It really hurt me because I could remember dem starting out living in a lil old wooden house dat attracted all kinds o’ vermin. I could remember one night duh went in from work and find the whole ceiling sitting down pon the dining room table but duh overcome it and eventually build a nice lil house, only tuh lose it recently because o’ these hard times we facing and the threats from the banks.
I see this same thing happen before when Erskine Sandiford was Prime Minister; I didn’t know some o’ the people who lost duh homes but it still hurt me, but now, it is closer tuh home cause I know some o’ the very people who going through it now.
Doan give up Ann, while dem relentless in their persuit tuh sell out we properties fuh less than duh worth just tuh get dem money, we have tuh be relentless in our prayers. You know bout dat. We cannot give up; we gotta believe dat God will somehow come through fuh us. We cannot lose heart nor faith, we have tuh fight back, not in ourselves but through Christ, dat is our only hope and we gine make it.
You see the amount o’ great houses out there pon the market fuh sale? Huh!
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
