She may not have much but for the past five years Vesta Yearwood, of Plastic City, has been making it a tradition to organise Christmas parties for about 75 less fortunate children in the community.
The former businesswoman, who has lived in the squatting area for about 45 years, said she started the initiative after recognising that the children were missing out on some fun.
Most of the residents of Plastic City, which is located on the foreshore of Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, are living in dire circumstances.
“They feel happy that I’m hosting the party for them. Their parents cannot afford to give them a good Christmas so they really look forward to attending. If I tell them the day before the party or even the same morning, they would dress up in whatever nice clothes they have and turn up,” she shared gleefully.
Yearwood, who operated a disco that she was forced to close, decided to use the space to host the parties.
With hardly any money on her own to pull off a party, she started a drive to collect donations so she could make it special for the children.
In the past, she has received contributions from entities including the Bernice Mansell Foundation, Puran Brothers’ Disposal Inc. and Sterling Products Ltd.
When this newspaper spoke to her, she was planning to approach them and other businesses to assist in putting smiles on the faces of the children once again. What was striking about Yearwood is that even though she had suffered a stroke, from which she has started to recover, it did not stop her from organising the party for the children.
Some of Yearwood’s friends are very supportive of her effort and would “come and assist me with the cooking… I would give them (children) a proper meal… they would get chicken, fried rice, chowmein, drink and ice cream.”
They would also get a party bag, consisting of cake, candies and other goodies. The jolly time continues with a Santa gracing the occasion. The children get to take photos and receive presents from him.
She noted that government entities as well as private people and businesses would also take foodstuff for the residents and toys for the children. Recently, someone made a donation of mattresses to some families.
A love for Christmas
Yearwood goes the extra mile to make the season bright for the children because she loves Christmas. She looks forward to having a joyful celebration with her friends and family and she plans to “cook and eat as usual and bake cake” and have lots of goodies.
She would start cleaning two weeks before Christmas and her friend, Lorraine Brandt and one of her granddaughters, helped with the cleaning and decorating this year.
Brandt, a seamstress by profession, said business “is not so bright. Right now clothes selling so cheap at the Chinese stores. Everybody would go and buy their clothes and they put on and they gone.”
She would barely get “one one sewing or sometimes people want a stitching or I would get curtains to sew at Christmas time.
She is also skilled in making black cake and would usually take orders at Christmas time. She would get about three or four customers and sell one pound for $7,000.
She shared that she would “soak my fruits with rum or wine. I would buy a bucket of fruits from the store and blend it up with some of the alcohol and soak it with grind spice, mace, clove, nutmeg, essence, orange peel and burnt sugar, to give it that dark colour. I prefer to burn my own sugar. I don’t buy that [cake] colouring”
For Christmas, she plans to “decorate and do a lot of cooking up and just enjoy the day.”
Brandt would decorate the table with the food, wine, non-alcoholic drinks, sweets and other goodies. She would display everything on the table and “everyone is free to take whatever they want…”
Yearwood does more than just hosting the parties for the children. She has been involved in looking into their interest and ensuring that they attend school.
Some of the parents have been negligent in sending them. Knowing the importance of education, she would “have to be behind the parents to ensure that they go. I don’t play with school and them. I would go and encourage the parents to send them and if they refuse, I would let the ministry [of Human Services & Social Security] come in.”
During one of the visits in February, the ministry took away a 13-year-old girl from her family and placed her in Yearwood’s home so she could offer foster care.
The ministry had also promised to provide her with $20,000 to assist with girl’s upkeep, however, she said, “not a cent they haven’t given me up to now.”
Apart from that, she takes care of three grandchildren whose mother is in Barbados. “She don’t send money because she now get a job over there… their father does assist me though,” she noted.
Flooding
Yearwood’s daughter-in-law, Babita Ganga, 33, who lives in the same yard, is one of the women who helps her with the preparation for the annual party for the children.
Ganga, who lives in a bottom flat along with Vesta and other residents of Plastic City, endure constant flooding during the spring tide or when there is heavy rainfall.
They would set sandbags but it would not do much to prevent the water from entering homes and destroying her household articles.
During a recent flood, salt water had damaged her wall divider and she had to purchase another one. Her music set, furniture, bed, carpet and her sofa set had also gotten wet because she was unable to lift them up on time. “Recently we asked for some help to do some sand filling but it did not help much… We are very close to the river,” she said.
She had a small pen where she reared chicken and many of her chickens died. Yearwood also lost her chickens, while her fridge and many household items were damaged.
Being the breadwinner for her two children, ages 13 and 8, as well as her
unemployed husband, Babita is struggling to make ends meet.
She operates a small snackette in front of her home. Every day she wakes up at 4 am to start making food items, including black-pudding, pholourie, channa and egg balls, which she displays in a glass case.
Recently she started cooking “a few boxes of food to sell. She also sells sodas, juices, water and packaged snacks and depends on the support mainly from members of the community.
As much as she is struggling, though, she looks forward to a “bright Christmas” and tries her best to make the day special.
People started squatting in the mangrove swamp over 25 years ago because they had nowhere else to go and also because it was cheaper living. Now there are over 20 houses hidden amid the thick mangroves at `Plastic City’.
The area was known as ‘Railway Road’ but the name had changed because the original dwellings were made out of plastic. There are also reports that the area was surveyed and the houses close to the shore would be removed to make way for a “wall” to be built to prevent flooding.
A resident, Alfred Williams, who has lived in Plastic City for over 25 years said if the sea defence is built, the flooding would not affect them that much during the spring tide.
To do that, though, a few houses have to be removed but the residents are not co-operating. He also pointed out that their road, which was in a terrible condition, was rehabilitated but the work could not be completed because a resident’s house was in the path and he refused to remove it.
