One week ago, Angelha Dhuman, a 28-year-old single mother of three and a domestic violence survivor, moved from working at a restaurant to opening her own at Bloomfield Village, Corentyne, Berbice.
The restaurant, which serves Chinese and Guyanese cuisine through takeaway service only, for now, has gotten a positive response from residents.
She told Stabroek News yesterday: “Business is doing well, I am getting a lot of customers…. Everyone likes my food.”
She is confident that despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it would continue to grow because “more people are getting to know about it.”
She sees the business as another blessing as she and her family only moved into their own home in time for the Christmas holidays last year.
Dhuman gained her skills in Chinese cooking from a restaurant she worked in after she walked away from her abusive marriage five years ago.
At that time, she never imagined that five years later, she would be able to open and manage her own restaurant. Her only thoughts then were to earn enough to provide for her three daughters, including a five-month-old baby.
She had spent a long time job hunting before she finally landed the job at the Chinese restaurant as a cook. Though it was difficult at first, she was determined to succeed.
She eventually developed a passion for cooking and got motivation through the positive feedback from customers about “how tasty the food was… I was even asked if I had any interest in opening my own restaurant.”
She brushed it off as a joke, but as she developed her skills, she realised that she should definitely take up the challenge.
“I considered the benefits of working for myself… and the independence I would gain with having a better income… I can only pray for a bright future,” she told this newspaper.
“I never believed I would have come this far. It was a lot of hard work and I did not have all of the money in the beginning but I didn’t let that stop me. But I kept praying and after that everything just started to fall into place…”
When people close to her learnt of her plans, they assisted and she was able set up the restaurant successfully.
She had told Stabroek News, she wished if she could have done more for her children because “they’re getting big and things getting harder… They have a lot of needs.”
She had also vowed to ensure that they continue their education so they would not have to suffer the way she did.
As if struggling on her own to provide for them when she walked away from her abusive marriage, was not enough, Dhuman had lost all of her belongings in a fire that destroyed the home they lived in.
She was devastated, but not for long, as many kindhearted people reached out and provided groceries, school supplies and other items to the family.
They had moved temporarily with her father who lives in a small house on a plot of land a few villages away.
The fire turned out to be a blessing in disguise, when some US-based Guyanese offered to build a house for her family on a section of her father’s land. Dhuman was extremely grateful for the gesture, noting that she could not have gotten the house built without their help.
But during the construction, her dreams were shattered after she was told that the main donor could not continue to fund the project. The house needed a lot more work including the installation of the roof, windows and doors. She could not afford the completion.
She spent sleepless nights worrying about where the money would come from and had become depressed. What was worse, was that she got the shocking news at a time when she was unable to work for three months because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was after an article about her struggles was published in this newspaper in July last year, that her life changed for the better.
Two of the readers provided the money to complete the house so the family could live in comfort. Her life then took a positive turn ever since and she stressed that she would not let the struggles she faced be a hindrance towards her achievements.
