“I get up every day about 5 o’clock, feed my children, clean up the yard and then study where I will get food from for the rest of the day,” the words of 21-year-old Latchmin Soman, a mother of three who had been living at Anna Catherina Sea View, close to the seawall some for some five years.

Soman ,who lost her parents at the age of 10, spoke to Stabroek News last week near her tiny shack close to the seawall, which was constructed of a few used boards, zinc sheets and some ‘salt bags’. Her home was flooded by huge waves which overtopped the nearby seawall following a spring tide which Soman stated was something she had never experienced.

As she sat on the seawall with her one-year-old son Tameshwar tucked at her side, Soman related how challenging life has been for her and her husband; the trials she experienced after her parents died; growing up with different relatives since their death and living at Sea-View since becoming a parent.

Soman said she was born in the village of Philadelphia, West Coast Demerara and lived there with her parents and her two sisters – one older in her 30s and one younger, one year her junior. She said her parents tried their utmost to provide for her and her siblings.

In 1999, her father became ill and subsequently died and according to Soman, her mother may have “think too much about it” and she too passed away the following year. She said she did not fully understand what was happening at the time but after her parents died she soon grasped the value of having one’s parents since, according to her, family values and the morals required by children from their parents are difficult to come by after they have passed away.

Soman then moved in with a relative who had a few children to maintain and life became more difficult by the day and she soon dropped out of school. “Sometimes people just want you by them to clean and scrub and wash clothes, but them don’t think that you is only a child and you need an education,” she said.

She said her older sister moved on with her life while her younger sister stayed with other relatives.

Soman said that children who grow up with their parents must always value the inputs and the daily struggles their parents endure to maintain the family. She stated that at 14 years old, she started “seeing” someone from a nearby village and they then decided to live together, finding accommodation at relatives. But with the little money coming each month, they ended up moving to Anna Catherina, where her common-law husband lived. She said that she assumed the responsibilities of the common-law-relationship with open arms, since, according to her, something positive needed to happen to make her life worth living.
Quality education

Soon after, she gave birth to her first child, Anil, now 5 years old, and according to her, she has made several vows to have her children reap the benefits of a quality education. Her second child, Tonya, then entered the family circle in 2006 and she was soon followed by Tameshwar. According to Soman, having children around brings joy to her heart. She said she does not plan to have any more children in future, noting that her future currently lies in the hands of God. Three-year-old Tonya attends the Anna Catherina Nursery School while Anil attends the Leonora Primary School.

Soman’s husband was out at sea when this newspaper visited the area on Monday and according to her, he finds it difficult to find a job whenever it’s the out-of-crop season at the sugar estate.

Soman took Stabroek News to visit her home and as she explained her daily activities around the small abode, she stressed that owning her own house is like a dream. She said that she applied for a house lot last year and feels the possibility exists that she will be afforded one by the Housing Ministry, since “God wouldn’t see me and meh family like this and leave us to suffer”.

She displayed a small fireside close to her home where she cooks her daily meals. Next to the structure, a few boards lay halfway over a trench where she washes and where she stores water in several buckets. Soman receives drinking water from a small pipe which runs across the trench separating her home from a neighbour’s yard.

On the outside of her home, a few Christmas decorations swung in the sea  breeze while her two little dogs lay on the mud close to her front door. “Is almost one o’clock and me ain’t cook nothing yet fuh lunch,” she stated as she recounted the horrors of last week’s spring tides. She said her entire home was pummelled by the waves and water accumulated in parts of her home while the water level in the nearby trench rose gradually and flooded her entire yard and her fireside. She said that for the few days the spring tide was in effect, she prepared breakfast, lunch and dinner around 7 am each day, noting that she and her husband were forced to place their fireside on higher ground. She said she and her family survived the entire ordeal, “by the grace of God”.

With a determined look on her face, Soman stated that life will get better for her, adding that the Almighty will provide for her and her family .She said that after her parents passed away, she expected life to be “tough”, adding that she had prepared her mind to “face the music”. She said that while she was not afforded the opportunity to complete school, she still knows how to cope with the rigours of life.
Update

Since the interview with Stabroek News on Monday, Soman and her husband visited the Ministry of Housing and were afforded a house lot in the Parfait-Harmonie housing scheme on the West Bank Demerara. She now contemplates how she and her husband will raise the $49,000 required to pay for the house lot, but notes that while the family may face difficult times moving to the West Bank, “at least we will have someplace to call our own”.