By Shabna Rahman
At age 47, Virginia ‘Sharon’ Samuels has survived many struggles and the toughest was having to live alone with her younger brother and fending for him and herself at the tender age of seven, as well as being emotionally and physically abused by a narcissistic partner.
But she has not survived poverty! She lives with four of her 10 children in a dilapidated house at the Parika Sea Dam, East Bank Essequibo (EBE). The area cannot be regularized because of its proximity to the sea defence and as such, has no electricity, no access to potable water and no proper road.