Breaking apart a quarter of a sada roti into even smaller pieces, Ramrajee Chance relished every bite.
After ensuring that not a morsel went to waste, the 39-year-old mother walked one step from her bed to the kitchen area and explained how that humble meal at 1 pm would probably be their first and last for the day.
“This morning when I got up it did not have any takarie to cook. I don’t have garlic because all my garlic is done, I only had some lentils left over from when I cooked yesterday. The lentil was still good, so we ate it back this morning,” she lamented.
Taking down a finished bag of flour from a shelf, Chance added, “I took this and kneaded up a little loya and I got one roti and we (she and her husband) shared that,” she said with a smile mixed with shame.
But that smile quickly evaporated when she paused and said, “So now I am figuring out ... I am studying, what we eating later.”
As if understanding her mother’s grim words, six-month-old Angel then began crying profusely.
Calling the baby by her nickname, Chance tried to calm her down.
“Alright Mama, alright mummy here,” she said attempting to soothe the infant.
She took the baby from her common-law husband’s arms and the pair went for a walk outside of their wooden and dilapidated Platanite Trace home.
The child’s father, Apian Alladin could only look on as they descended a rickety ramp to exit the room. Even if he wanted to join them, he couldn’t.
The 25-year-old lost all sensation in his legs when he fell off a coconut tree in July 2023. Leaving Chance alone with the mammoth task of caring for both him and the baby.
Impressing on us that her common-law husband, Apian Alladin would have provided for them if he was not injured, Chance said she now must get money and food for them while trying to stay as close to home as possible in case of an emergency.
“For money right now, I go to the mosque and sit down. And the little I get, let me tell you, sometimes I will get $140, and I will have to buy one pack of pampers, a small thing of oil, where the money could fit. But I make the money reach as far as possible because she (Angel) must get her pampers and milk. The mosque money alone is not enough for Mama’s things. Sometimes if I can’t buy the Klim I have to buy the cheaper milk, I have to cut and fit because we have to get food to eat too,” she explained sitting on a broken wooden step outside the home.
Chance took a deep breath and said right now the child does not have any ‘pampers.’
Under a large Jack Spaniards’ nest, the weary woman leaned her body against a rotting wooden support beam.
“It does be hard to be seeing about him, seeing about the baby then I have to ‘buss’ my head to figure out where I finding food, if I will get enough money to get what we want, if I have to ask aunty (the neighbour) for something, things like that.
You understand? Every minute you have to ‘buss’ your head. When nighttime reach your head hurting,” she cried.
‘Full of ants and
rotting boards’
While on the outside it may seem the family of three has an entire home for themselves. Upon inspection, it reveals that most of the blue-painted house is condemned with loose and missing floorboards and pillars with damaged wood leaning threateningly under the structure’s weight.
Chance explained that her in-laws once stayed with them but left when the home was no longer safe. The three of them now occupy what was once her brother-in-law’s bedroom. The space which is barely enough for one person also serves as their kitchen. But even that room is in its last days.
“It’s full of ants and the boards are rotting and breaking, we always have to get an old piece to fix. I can’t even turn and twist inside, I have clothes in a box and clothes in a basket, I don’t know how to pack things because it’s so small,” she said.
Holding the baby in her arms, she showed us where ants had bitten Angel’s body. Several red bumps stood out on the baby’s fair skin.
“She does bawl when the night comes, and let me tell you something, we don’t even have a dollar to buy a bug spray,” she cried.
But as difficult as life is for the mother, she remains resilient. Much like the house leaning next to her, Chance is beaten but still standing, at least for now. She said while she may take a walk to beg for their next meal, she will always come home to the loves of her life.
“Because he’s disabled, he can’t help and I not going to leave him, I am sticking with him. That is what does have me moving, him and Mama,” she said proudly.
Indicating that it would soon be time to bathe her husband, she stood up and dragged a shabby wheelchair up the shaky and perilous ramp. She expertly dodged a hole in the floorboard and remarked how this same hazard tripped her up when she was pregnant, sending her sprawling on the floor.
With a downhearted look at her husband, she explained that like the baby, he too would scream in the night from the pains associated with his injury.
Chance said ideally, he should be seeking therapy and regular visits with a dietician. But every cent goes towards basic needs.
“He supposed to see his doctor, he can’t go, he has to go physical therapy, he can’t go, he has to get medicine and he has no money to get it,” she said.
The family is not asking for much. Just enough to make a small improvement to their quality of life.
“You see if I get a little bigger space, not any big thing you know, just a little more space where the baby could roll in her walker because the baby can’t even do that self. Because the floor is breaking down. Just a little groceries and once the baby has pampers I’m cool with that,” Chance pleaded.
Because the family’s only cellphone does not have a sim card, anyone wishing to assist them can do so via WhatsApp messages and calls. Ramrajee Chance and Apian Alladin can be reached on 265-9187.