TO earn a dollar back in those days, she had to get her soap, onion and garlic, among other items, ready for 4 a.m. and wait on the Ministry of Public Works trailer in Leguan to help her get to ‘back part’ of the island, as it was commonly referred to. Then, as she made her way back home on foot, she would go house to house, with the bag atop her head, to sell the items. She struggled, but never complained because she believed it was important to care for the needs of her six children, even if her husband would not help.
Meet 72-year-old Chandrawattie Roopwah, known as ‘Aunty Pounce’ and ‘Granny.’ She is now grandmother to 13 and great grandmother to six.
Granny grew up in La Bagatelle on the Essequibo island of Leguan, and has lived there all her life. She managed to attend a school in Maryville, but had to drop out to help her parents care for her other siblings when they went to cut rice.
In those days, there was no nursery school and children had to wait until they were 5 or 6 to begin their education. Granny fondly recalled the five years she spent at a school in Maryville. The students wrote the ‘School Leaving’ Exams after Standard Six, but Granny said she dropped out at Standard Five.
“I never failed, but in Fifth Standard was the first time I failed. I thought the little children would come and reach me up, so I felt shame and decided not to go back.†Had she not had to stay at home to help out, though, she is sure she would have passed her exams with flying colours.
Granny had married life really hard, because, she said, her husband was not as hard-working as she. In fact, he worked when he felt like it and he drank a lot of alcohol, even raising his hands at her at times.
Being the strong-willed and somewhat independent individual that she is, Granny decided to leave him and assumed the mantle of looking after herself and the children on her own.
