When Beverly Bentham decided that she was going to own her own home, she did whatever it took, including sometimes walking in almost knee-high mud to access the land. But with self-determination and help from others, she finally had a roof over her head and a place to proudly call home.
She, like many others, moved to the community of Bare Root, East Coast Demerara, when there was no infrastructure but filled with the determination to have their own home they never faltered. Today Bentham, a mother and a grandmother, is well established in the community and always one to help others she has formed a charitable organisation called Azeliah’s (which is the combination of the names of her eldest grandchildren) Charitable Foundation through which she does just that.
As she spoke to Stabroek Weekend, Bentham was at pains to explain that she did not want sharing her story to put the community and its residents in a bad light.
“Me sharing with people is just because of where I come from, you know. When I think back to how I grow up, I just want to help people, it is just in me. But when I helping people I don’t want to take away their self-esteem I want to help, not make them feel bad or anything,” an emotional Bentham said as she recalled her childhood days.
She described Azeliah’s Charitable Foundation as one that focuses on giving back. Through it, people are helped with clothes, food items and children are also assisted with school supplies. Bentham’s door is always open to others, so much so that her husband has indicated that he would not be surprised to return one day and find they no longer have a house because she gave it away.
The foundation has been up and running for about six years and she depends on assistance from local and overseas-based friends and her church, the New Testament Church of God in Norton Street, which she said she been very supportive over the years.
“It [the foundation] all come about from the way my life started…,” she said.
Bentham was candid about her childhood, sharing that she is the eldest of 13 children and many days it was a struggle to just survive.
“I punished when I was growing up, to say the least. And when I went up to Bare Root and I look around it was like a flashback… and I was like, no, if almighty God brought me here I have to do better. The fact that I am here, I must do something better. I don’t want to just be a resident going to work and coming home and saying good morning. I need to do more than that,” she said.
She has a sister who lives in Linden and who is involved in charitable work as well and Bentham said their work is not for fame or gain, but because they know where they came from and they would have been happy if people had reached out to them.
Her father was an artist and Bentham said there were days when he did a banner for a show and then anxiously waited for it to end so that he could retrieve the cloth to be used as sheet for some of his children to lie on. As she recalled this, she became emotional as she also revealed that they shared the clothing they wore among each other.
“So when you see these things and sometimes persons come to you and they say something, sometimes I don’t want them to go in depth about the situation to me, because I have so much compassion because I know where I came from… So I would tell the person not to tell me everything, I would just ask them what it is I can do for them,” she said.
For her, helping people should never strip them of their self-esteem and “even this [the interview] that I am doing I don’t feel too comfortable because I don’t want the people of the community feel I am belittling them in no form or fashion”.
Owning her own home
Chronicling her journey to becoming a homeowner ten years ago, the mother and grandmother recalled that at the time she was living in the city with her in-laws, but she always wanted to own her own home.
In their quest for a piece of land, Bentham said, they approached the Ministry of Housing and even at one time went into Sophia and weeded a piece of land only to be told after all the work was completed that it was already taken.
She was later contacted about Bare Root and though she had never lived on the East Coast, Bentham said she jumped at the opportunity because at the time she was thinking, “I need to be at me.
“You know there is a saying, two captains can’t steer one ship? So myself and husband cannot steer his parents’ ship, we have to steer our own,” she expounded.
When she visited the land, Bentham said, she saw a lot of mud into which she fell several times, but she was not daunted as for her where there is a will there is a way and looking back now it was all worth it.
Several people were already living in the community, but it was not developed. There was no electricity, no potable water nor roads and she shared an experience where she was taking material to start the foundation of the house, but the truck became stuck, and the driver was forced to offload on the roadway.
“The only thing I could have done was to run down the dam to see if I could get some relatives of mine to come and help me take it in because it was a good pull. Lo and behold, by the time I get to my relatives and got back there, I saw the spot where the material was…,” Bentham said.
She cried because she had spent a lot of money on the material and to transport it, but not for second did she think about giving up. They had to wait for about three months before they could purchase the material again.
And even before the building started they had to purchase a water tank and then pay for water from a truck so as to ensure that the contractor had access to water to build.
“It was very costly and tough and some days I got frustrated… and you know my husband was the first one to give up, but I said no I fighting this battle through. I got to see this through I not giving up,” the woman said.
Many days after work she would be head up the East Coast and return to the city in the night and on the weekends she would put the children to work pushing wheelbarrows to take material onto the land.
The mother of five adult children said it was a struggle, but they survived. They eventually moved into an 80% completed three-bedroom house and she recalled that on the day she decided to move, her husband was not ready; he was still hesitant about leaving all the amenities they were used to, to go and live where there were none.
“He was accustomed to the city life… The morning I told him I wanted to leave, he was preparing for work and he said okay you all do your thing but I not ready…,” she said.
Bentham took him at his word and packed up and moved from D’Urban Street to Bare Root, leaving just the bare minimum behind for her husband to survive, but thankfully before the night ended, he joined his family.
“When I moved in that night, I was like ‘hallelujah I living at me’,” the 51-year-old woman said.
It was a struggle to settle in as access to transportation was very difficult and while they have their own transportation today, Bentham said she cannot forget the days when they had to walk long distances to get a vehicle. They also coped without water and electricity and did what was necessary to survive. The hardships did not last forever and today, she said, her husband does not even want to be in the city.
Bentham runs a shop out of her yard and while the profit is not major she wants to continue to keep it open as she feels it provides needed service to residents. She hopes to access a photocopying machine and a printer to cater for the children in the community who are forced to walk long distances to access such services especially in these times of online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She is always busy with the foundation’s work, but still finds time to do craft and floral work inclusive of wedding décor.
“When I am not in the shop, I am outside doing something, or I am studying for church… The church is my family. I travel every week to Norton Street, that’s my church family. I am one dedicated woman because they have been with me through thick and thin and they are one of the strong supporters of the foundation,” she said.
Only recently she was honoured by the church with a plaque in recognition of International Women’s Day, observed on March 8.
She encouraged people who are involved in charitable work to continue because the need is there, and the bible encourages that is better to give than receive.
Speaking about the community of Bare Root, Bentham said regardless of what people say it will rise beyond expectation.
“God is with us and there is nothing good that He would withhold from His children…,” she said.
Should anyone wish to assist Bentham’s foundation they can contact her on 611-9976 or at the New Testament Church of God on Norton Street on Sundays.
