Interviews and photos by Subhana Shiwmangal
Stabroek News spoke to members of the public in the area of ‘D’ Field, Sophia in Georgetown about the rising cost of living and how it is affecting them. The following are their comments:
Leotha Matterson
Leotha Matterson, a 52-year-old cleaner: `Right now, my big son and I are working and the other son can’t get a job now because he is illiterate. We are receiving the minimum wage, and we try to get money for our passage to travel to work and to buy things to eat. We have to find ways to go about our work so it won’t look like we are punishing or so; we have to try… Just the three of us live together. I have two more children in the United States but I can’t depend on them for anything. I didn’t pay the water bill in a long time; that’s another story…Then there is the light and internet bill we have been paying. My son and I join our money together to pay the bills and buy grocery items. For example, a couple months back, a pound of beef cost $900; now beef cost $700/$600 and something. Also, a couple months back a Golden Cream Margarine butter cost $600 and something; now the butter cost $800. Only Christmas time I know the cost for beef goes up. Even the cost for chicken gone up. We need to have price control on items.’