This is the third in a series of interviews with women who have been supported by the Ministry of Human Services being published in recognition of Child Protection Week, which is being observed under the theme, ‘Positive parenting; saving tomorrow, today’
If Roma* sees her name in black and white she might recognize it, but there are no guarantees. She can neither read nor write, and her lack of schooling left her in such a state that several of her nine living children were given names days after their births when she was able to verify the names with people.
In the case of one child, it took nearly a month; Roma simply went around calling the little girl ‘baby’ until she could come up with a name. She failed to register many of the births and is now trying to acquire birth certificates for a few of them. The process is “frustrating” according to her since the records are proving hard to find.
But it is hard to criticize Roma; she was wrenched from her Leguan home four decades ago by her father when she was still a toddler and later abandoned. She was only able to attend school up to the Primary One level and a few years after that it was the streets.
“I live with me mudda for a lil while but had to move out,” she recalls, noting that she turned to the affections of a man in the area at age 16 years and soon became pregnant. She had the baby and struggled to raise her alone after the man died in a trawler accident. She turned to another man for support and got pregnant a second time.
With the exception of the oldest child and about two others including the youngest, Roma has no idea what the ages of her children are. She is a bit ashamed of this and briefly lowered her head after admitting she was at a lost. She looks weary and the lines in her face are defined; testimonies to painful stories.
After the squatting area in which she lived was cleared out by the administration Roma many years ago ended up on the streets in a permanent way. She had fallen in love prior and ended up on the road already a mother and pregnant.
Some days she got food and on other days, around $1,500; Roma spent the money on milk and baby diapers. “Ah didn’t really use to eat back in dem days an after a while ah lose me appetite, it was like deh food didn’t staying down,” she said during the recent interview. The constant state of hunger made her struggle to eat food when she had access to it.
During the years of hardship she still managed 11 pregnancies, but two of the babies died after they were born. Another two were born premature and a few others were diagnosed with severe malnutrition in the early months of their lives. Roma and her husband, also homeless, had several of the children while on the streets.
Knowing she would be unable to care for some of the children Roma dropped three of them off at a city home and never looked back; she also gave away a girl to an overseas-based Guyanese. The three children were adopted shortly after.
On the streets home for the family was a collection of cardboard, plastic, boards, boxes and a few drums which they assembled every night in the vicinity of Bourda market. At sunrise, it would be torn down and tucked away in a corner. Roma said it was shelter and that the family was provided with some form of protection from the weather at nights. “It was nat de right place fuh raise children but we try…,” she said.
But their young daughters were being targeted by men and as they grew the girls explored more of the city often unaccompanied. The children were not enrolled in school and also spent their days begging on the streets for food and anything people were willing to offer. Someone reported Roma to the Ministry of Human Services and close to two years ago the ministry decided to seize the children.
“Ah fight them fuh me girls because I didn’t want nobody tek dem. I even went and complain to Sharma because I de want me girls back,” Roma recalled. She cried and fought hard, but the ministry decided to keep the children in the state’s care; they allowed Roma to visit and continue a close relationship with her children.
Roma continued to beg for a living and lived on the streets for some time before the ministry started to assist her with finding a home. She managed to secure a plot of land and with their assistance the family got a home. Roma said they moved in some time ago; she is currently residing there with her husband and a three-year-old.
Roma’s husband worked odd jobs while they were on the streets and since the relocation he has found work as a watchman in the area. She said they are trying with the ministry’s help to change their status and to move away from “de street life”. But in Roma’s case, old habits die hard; she is still begging whenever she gets an opportunity.
However, she has not been on the road for over a month now and is trying to figure out another way to live. She has some experience doing domestic work, but said nothing has come up along those lines. She was tempted to go out begging last Friday but decided against it; she admitted to travelling to the city and even approached someone but backed out before actually asking.
Three of Roma’s older children are currently in state care; the others who were there have been adopted. In another year, at least two of her girls will be old enough to return home and are expected to move into the family’s new home and start their new lives. Both of the girls have training in various areas.
One of her sons, also in state care, has excelled and was recently awarded a scholarship at a private city school. Whenever Roma reflects on the life the family once lived she cries; today she is a proud woman and mother.
*Roma’s real name was not used in the article to protect her identity.
