Mother operates shop from bedroom to make ends meet

Spurred on by the need to keep her daughter in school, Charmaine Plath has been running a shop out of her bedroom.

The 49-year-old resident of Lionel Town in Clarendon told THE STAR that since receiving an arm injury in a domestic dispute two years ago, she has been unable to do more than operate the small snack shop.

"I sell likkle juice a mi home and snacks and so on. When me a sell the things dem now, I keep it on the inside. But people nuh really suppose to come to your bedroom part. I doah really like the style to sell from out there. Yuh see chu it is COVID time now, everyone not supposed to pose up at your bedroom part," she said. Plath, whose arm only has minimal function, says that while it is difficult to continue working, she does not want her daughter to miss school.

"It is two piece of iron in it weh hold di hand. I got a chop. So I really cyah work wid di hand. When me use it fi too long, it start feel likkle pain suh dem always tell me seh me nuffi pressure it," said Plath. She said that her injury has made it even more difficult for her to make enough money to buy enough goods to maintain a living.

"When I go supermarket, a just three three items mi can take up. Mi cyah take up like a case of something. And like the chips now, a same three three mi affi take. Di money nuh deh deh fi take up the amount weh me want cause mi really nah achieve nuh money fi buy the amount weh me want," she said.

Plath's daughter, who is a teenager, has dreams of becoming a security guard or police officer and Plath is determined to help her fulfil those dreams.

"Mi wah she fi come out to something because she love school. Mi nuh wah she fi stop from school because sometime mi deh home and mi nuh have nuh money fi send har. She affi pay fare. She affi walk from round here and go way round di road fi take taxi," she said.

DISCOMFORT

After an extended period of discomfort, Plath says that if she can get help to build a stall so that she could move her business from her bedroom, she would be eternally grateful.

"I don't have a shop. Mi just sell them from the inside of my home 'cause I really doah have the things dem to build it. How di house set up, I have a big hall where I could build a likkle stall in it. But I doah have the things dem to build it like flyboard and dem tings," she said. "I just want some more cash or so to buy some more things to put on it so I can sell a likkle more so dat me can seh I can find a likkle school money fi send har go school."

Persons wishing to aid Charmaine Plath may contact her at (876) 347-3050.