Thirty-two year-old Marsha Archer’s only dream is to complete her studies to become a lawyer, but while she has no difficulties with the academic requirements her struggle is to pay for those studies. Struggling is familiar territory for Marsha; for as long as she has known herself money has been an issue.
It was for that precise that reason she strove to educate herself; she hoped that this would have been her way out of poverty. Today she is close, but still very far from achieving that dream on a road where she would have encountered several bumps. But even though she fell countless times she did not remain down.
Marsha is in her final year of her studies at the Hugh Wooding Law School but is in desperate need of assistance to pay her tuition fees.
Growing up, Marsha never had life easy but like in so many single parent homes she saw a mother who worked tirelessly to provide for her children even though the tides were against her. Her mother made straw hats to sell and Marsha remembers her “plaiting all through the night… until around 3 am and then she would go on the streets to sell these straw hats and it was not seasonal it was her daily job.” Some days she sold nothing.
The gift of a small sum of money from Marsha’s godfather saw her mom establishing a vending stand at the Stabroek Market where she still sells today.
“My mother always ensured she pressed our clothes, even if she had to go at the neighbour, but we were always neat and tidy and people would never know our circumstances,” Marsha told the Sunday Stabroek in a recent interview.
As she grew older she realised that her way out of what appeared to be a cycle of poverty was education and she threw herself into her studies. “I knew I wanted to do something to help my family and make them know you can do something if you strive to work hard and that education is the only way that you can actually really improve your life.” She did not get into her “dream school” after writing Common Entrance but after three years she was able to attend the Bishops’ High School “because I just felt I wanted to get there so I worked to get there.”
For most of her life they had no electricity and Marsha recalled she studied with two kerosene lamps at her desk and when she wrote the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) exams, she aced them, even though she could not have done it without the financial support of a cousin.
A simple “I am proud of you” from the then Bishops Headmistress Ms Massiah when she got her CSEC results were like magic to the then teenage Marsha who recalled that while her mother was always proud of her when she heard those words from a teacher, “I felt like I can be somebody.”
Initially, she had registered to study computer science at the University of Guyana (UG) but a lack of finance forced her to take a leave of absence and seek a job. She worked at the Guyana Power & Light Company during which time she earned a Diploma in Accountancy and later a Degree in Business Management with distinction.
Set by then on becoming a lawyer, Marsha applied to study law at UG and she was accepted. By then, she was lecturing part time at UG and was successful in obtaining her law degree. She was sixth on the list of 25 Guyanese students to gain entry to the Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad.
The Full Gospel Church then gave her US$2,500, and her father also played a part.
Downhill
However, while her colleagues were celebrating, things were going downhill at a fast rate for Marsha. She was unable to take up her spot at the law school even though she and those who loved her made a valiant effort.
Marsha would only say she had a “a little set back and pitfalls during that year,” but whatever it was, it saw her losing her part-time lecturing position at UG and she was unemployed for some time even though she was highly qualified. However, never someone to quit, she pulled herself together so to speak and secure a position with Attorney Dexter Todd and later at the Guyana Forensic Science Lab. After a few months, she migrated to Barbados.
Law on her mind, Marsha wrote the entrance examination for the law school and she was once again successful.
“I wrote the entrance examination in Barbados in 2014 and I got accepted but I didn’t have a dollar to move from there and my two friends Arlene Mathews and Alecia October they were in Guyana pushing to see what they can do. They bought me the ticket to move from Barbados to Trinidad to see if I could get a leave of absence or to see what could be done,” the determined young woman said.
There was no leave of absence to be had and Marsha said she knew it would have been then or never. She recalled that were it not for Keziah Williams in Trinidad she might have ended up on the streets as she attempted to put her admission on hold.
“She was there crying with me when I was crying with the administration trying to see if they would give me time to pay,” Marsha recalled adding that it was another friend who purchased a ticket for her to come home.
Back in Guyana, Marsha said, she pounded the streets asking and later begging for assistance to take up her studies. As she moved from business to business, doors were figuratively slammed in her face until the owner of Mohamed’s Enterprise opened his heart to her. He listened to her and gave her US$5,000 and told her to register. It was not enough but it gave her a start. She paid her tuition fees and Keziah Williams took her in. Keziah’s father also helped but it was Attorney Gem Sanford-Johnson who helped her to get her first apartment.
“I struggled through it,” Marsha said. “I didn’t struggle through the academic part; that I did not find difficult. I got just one B in that year but the challenge was the maintenance, you know, worrying where your rent coming from; worrying in January if you are going to get the finances to pay for that semester…”
Coupled with that Marsha’s relatives in Guyana were also going through some difficult times which saw her mom and niece and nephew being thrown out onto the road.
“That was really challenging because the way they were put out in this very inhumane manner—they put their stuff on the road—and now the land is just there, and they just broke down her house and put her on the road,” Marsha said almost in tears recalling that they took all the material things she would have bought in her working life to help her mom to make the house livable.
Marsha has faced some curve balls, a big one being losing one of her sisters to cervical cancer in 2008. This sister left 3 children behind. Last year, her sister’s eldest son, Jamal Archer, was killed at age 15 in a car accident.
Marsha is also the mother of a nine-year-old boy, who lives with his paternal grandmother and while she knows it must be difficult, she lets him know she loves him and hopes he understands that she just wants to make life better.
“I think I have made my child feel that he is neglected… but I love him. His father is not in Guyana so that makes it worse for him because he is missing both parents, but I try to collect him when it is possible and let him know it is for a time and things would be better,” she said.
She said his grandmother is amazing and takes very good care of him.
“I am still grateful to God for the path he has made me walk through because it is to a better life; there is going to be a better life,” Marsha said confidently even though she is worrying about how she will find the finances to finish her studies.
The owner of Mohamed’s Enterprises has stepped in again and assisted her with some funds and there are others who have pitched in with small amounts; Marsha says she will try to get a job. The law school’s administrative staff and the student representative council also assist her and other students who face financial difficulties. Two other friends Latoya Roberts and Talesha Williams have also been very helpful.
“Thank God that Mr Mohammed opened his heart again and I find him to be the most generous person. He has this way of doing things that seems so equitable… He is a really, really good man,” Marsha said of the owner of Mohammed’s Enterprise.
It is not that she wants to beg and while she is aware that some may want to criticize her for the path she has taken Marsha will continue to plod on. At the end of it all she plans to give back to this country especially in the area of helping children who are vulnerable. Marsha can be contacted at [email protected] while her Republic Bank account number is 7636970.
