Interviews and photos by Melissa Charles
This week we asked the man and woman in the street which prices have gone up and how they are coping with the increases. This is what they had to say:
Niome DaSilva, housewife:
‘Well rice is the dearest thing on the market right now followed by flour and oil is not far behind; generally though is everything gone up. I don’t have children and I am still finding it hard to cope much less persons who have children. I don’t think the government has any control over the food prices because the prices keep going up and they are not doing anything about it. Now bus fare gone up adding extra expense. I can imagine how hard it would have been for me if I had children.’
Bonita Edwards, Secu-rity Officer:
‘You got to try and cope with these hard times, what other choice you have? Your salary is nothing compared to the prices on the market. You have to pay rent, now bus fare gone up. Imagine it’s two boulanger for $200!
Three fishes for $500 and the prices going up every day. With this trend in another 6 months or so starving children will probably be on the streets. It is totally unbearable.’
Onikea Haynes, Caterer:
‘I feel that the hikes in prices will kill me. I just come out to buy some stuff with 4,000 and it’s like I didn’t buy anything! It’s so sickening and now with the bus fare going up too. I have two sons to send to school that both use two buses in the morning and afternoon; that’s $480 for bus fare alone for the two of them in only one day and I am a single mother with my 65-year-old father also living with me. The money spent on transportation can be used to buy something else but there is no choice. And as usual prices rising and the salaries remain the same. You can’t even afford to cook chicken and fish on an every-day basis. My son complain to me the other day about something I cook but I had to tell him that he has to eat and go to school in order to do better than me in life.
I filled some forms from the Human Service Ministry the other day but I haven’t gotten any reply from them as yet. If they can’t give us money then it will be more useful to have single parents do some kind of course that will be of benefit, to get a better job probably. But back to the prices on the market; it’s real difficult to deal with. It’s only God helping me to survive.’
Nigel Anthony, Watch Vendor:
‘It is hard to cope with the rise in prices but what other choice do you have but to try? It seems like rice is going up every day. Greens going up and down depending on which one and every little item keep going up. Business not like before since people are not getting money to eat properly much less to buy watches. Right now I am concentrating on food; everything else comes after.’
Hilton Walcott, Driver:
‘First of all your salary cannot compensate for the prices on the market. The government has a responsibility that they are not living up to. Back in the days we used to have something called price control to facilitate the small man’s pocket. But today nothing is in place so the man on the street has to feel the squeeze and try his best to survive. All the government care about is taxes and more taxes. Imagine a man earning $9,000 a week he pays NIS and PAYE and still pay VAT on every item on the market plus transportation. I am in favour of the increase in bus fares because the operators have to survive too and I go to the gas station so I know the strain the drivers go through. I go to Bourda every weekend to shop; when I prepared to spend X amount I end up spending x, y ad z. imagine a pint of oil is now $280, couple blades of eschallot is $100. Now they telling us to grow more but is not every one can be farmers, people got their own trade. But then it all comes back to this one-sided selfish government.’
Natalie DeSouza, sales person:
‘Everything is sky high! I have three sons and going with five or six thousand dollars to the market is just to buy greens alone. A box of biscuit lasts only one day in my house and we have a kitchen garden but you can’t survive on greens alone. You really have to know how to budget yourself or you’ll be in big problems. My son wrote exams and has to go off to secondary school. The contingency fee alone is $4,500 and everyone knows the expenses that come along with secondary education. Work places have to raise salaries because now we have higher transportation costs to deal with. Both my husband and I work and it is still difficult to cope; I don’t know how single persons cope. I am also lucky that my sons consume everything I prepare because cutting down on their diet is not a choice since that can hamper their growth.
The least that can happen for us now is for the essentials like milk and rice to have some kind of subsidy.’
Timothy Morris, Technician:
‘I don’t really do much shopping but it is clear that everything has gone up. We are faced with a crisis and there is no economical avenue to offer relief at the moment. I think that this crisis is going to lead to all sorts of problems for our country. And as they say a hungry man is an angry man so there is likely to be an escalation in crime. Some persons may just do things because of the pressure they are under. For me I deal with it because I see these things as Bible prophecies coming through and I trust in God to see me through, but persons with no faith are going to find it hard to deal with. Also in a country with all this extra land space we stand a chance to go back to farming for survival.’
Brigeatt Baptiste, private sector employee:
‘Well as usual everything except salaries going up and you just have to try your best. I find myself cutting down on certain things I used to buy before. The little help I get from oversees is a godsend and although I only have one child I take care of my nieces and sometimes only God knows how we get by. But you have to try because giving up is not on the cards.’
Ryan Belgrave, Electri-cal Contractor:
‘Right now it’s all about cut and contrive. You have to buy what your money can reach. What else can you do? This is a worldwide thing not Guyana alone so you have to try and cope. Every week things are going up so the only feasible thing to do is monitor what you buy.’
Deborah Payne, herbal medicine vendor:
‘This week is one price, the next week is another, and nothing is reducing but everything keeps rising. I find it hard but you got to try. The thing is that all the essential things like rice and milk is so expensive and now sugar like its scarce, so I don’t know what next.
When you have one or two kids it is not that much of a strain but I have nine children so you can imagine the pressure. But giving up is not an option and I am here trying with this little business and God’s grace.
