THE LADY WITH THE RED BAG CRYSTALTAYLOR
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The Lady with the Red Bag It is never an easy task trying to make life on your own, especially if you want the best things that life has to offer. Not only is it a tedious task it is especially an overall struggle for aging uneducated women. The story of “The Lady with the Red Bag” illustrates how Audrey Manning, also known as Blossom, makes it throughout each day with the aim of laying down at the end of it contended with the day’s work. She states that her goal is to own a house and to buy a car to help her do her rounds.
Audrey “Blossom” Manning
Audrey A
S far as many Jamaican’s are concerned, there are not many, if any, in-depth stories about the lives of aging, single, rural women detailing the intimacy of how they survive each day. Granted, there are success stories of women who are making and who have made better lives for themselves but Audrey’s story goes past the oral interview, past the statistics to a long-lasting representation of such a situation. The story is important because a change it highlights a needed social change among women in Jamaica; a change that can only materialize if people are made aware of what needs changing. The 2010 Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica noted that there was an increasing of the 15-64 age group, which accounted for 61% of the country’s population. Furthermore, the elderly population consisted of more women than men, which posed a major problem, as fewer women were in the labour force. Audrey, now 56 years which is only 4 years away from retirement; however, with a forthcoming amendment of women’s retirement age from 60 to 65 she will have just less than two decades before she can consider retirement. Nevertheless, being that Audrey was only gainfully employed some thirty-five (35) years ago it is even harder for her to consider retiring. Indubitably, there are several women in the Jamaican population who suffer the same fate.
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How does she do it?
IVING is an everyday occurrence, but living under satisfactory conditions is not. It is not wise to assume that every day is going to be better than the last. There are days when the little that you have is just enough for that day, something that Audrey knows all too much about. When such is the case Audrey
has learnt to be content with the little that she has. Audrey spends most of the hours in four of the seven days of the week in the hot sun or rain, walking in several communities in Trelwany and Manchester selling consumer products. She has been doing so for the past thirty-five (35) years. She travels to Kingston on a Wednesday night, sleeps overnight in the vehicle that she travels in, and then awakes the next morning to go shopping at various wholesales and stores to purchase stock. Going into Kingston is very much reliant on how much money she has to conduct her business. Even though Audrey buys and sells, immediate payment is not always a surety as customers credit (“chuss”) her goods with a promissory vocal agreement to pay on her [Audrey] subsequent visit. Audrey spends her Sabbaths at the Lower River Seventh Day Adventist church in Trelawny or helping family members at home. On Sundays she is back in the communities in Trelawny either selling or collecting money from previous sales. Her work days have her leaving home from around 9:00 a.m. and returns at approximately 5:00 pm. She saves what money she has by investing in a partnership commonly called a “partner or paadna” and by saving all the coins she acquires on a daily basis which when accumulated is logged to her bank account. In Upper Litchfield, Trelawny, Audrey has a quarter (1/4) acre of land which she purchased in 2000 to build he house. Currently she uses the land to cultivate yam, peas, corn, carrot and banana. She normally visits her farm on a Tuesday; but based on the availability of cash, it is not frequently done as she has to employee men to help her farm. Unfortunately, building has not commenced due to lack of start-up funds even though some amount of building blocks were purchased in 2013. She cannot afford to make contributions to the National Ho using Trust (NHT) despite the fact that she could get help with owning of a house. Although Audrey maybe tired, retiring from her work as a house to house hustler anytime in the near future may not be feasible. She currently has no children, spouse, life-insurance plan and her retirement plan includes the returns on her National Insurance Scheme (NIS) contributions and return in love and care that she has shown to many over the years.
THE JOU POVERTY is not new, gender inequality is not new, and nothing about Audrey’s situation is new. Women like her face the same issues every day both locally and globally. While there is a lack in feature stories that relates to Audrey’s issue, there are statistics to indicate same. According to Eldemire-Shearer et al, in the 2012 older persons in Jamaica survey 60.5% of the respondents had no pension especially young-old (60-69) women and rural residents. Self-employed individuals (82%) were also at a great disadvantage of having no pension and respondents 65.2% who had no formal education. Audrey may not be at the considered “young-old” age but being just four years away means that it is highly unlikely that her circumstances may change in favour of her retiring when the time comes. The survey also reported that 91.7% of respondents were still working past the retirement age because they needed the income. On a global scale the issue of poverty among older women are increasingly high. The Sunshine Coast Daily news (2015) reports that “one third of Australian’s aged community is struggling to make ends meet as they survive on the poverty line while more and more elderly women are becoming homeless.” In the 2014 Income and Poverty in the United States report it is noted that 13.5% of people aged 18-64 were in poverty and in the same age group the poverty rate for women is 15.3%. All around women encounter similar problems underlined by poverty; many include the lack of resources to provide themselves and their families with the basic needs, lack of employment
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Audrey at home in Coleyville Manchester. It is early Wednesday evening and she was about empty a pot of water outside her kitchen.
At about 8:00 p.m. Wednesday on Audrey makes her way to Dump to meet the vehicle that transports her to Kingston.
At Dump, Audrey waits for her ride.
Audrey sits in the back of a bus packed with ground provisions, to make her way into Kingston. She will sleep in the bus for the night.
On Thursday morning, shopping day, Audrey visits her brother Jimmy on Luke Lane before she goes to shop. Audrey walking on Orange Street in Downtown Kingston to one of her regular shopping stores.
Audrey waits to make her order behind other customers in wholesale store on Princess Street in Downtown Kingston Audrey and Jimmy looking at the price of scales in Bashco on Orange Street in Downtown Kingston.
A Typical Work Day
Sometime after 9:00 a.m. Audrey makes her way to Dump to take a taxi to Trelawny where she will sell the contents of the Red Bag.
On her 4th stop in Lime Tree, Trelawny Audrey laughs with “Tuffy” as she advertises her female underwear for sale.
On her way to collect money owed to her, Audrey meets Mrs. Grant on her way heading out. She rummages through the content of the red bag but still doesn’t make any payment.
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Audrey looks for some goods she left in this customer’s shop. The customer was not at home so she looks to see if she had left the products on the counter.
In Lower Litchfield Audrey makes her regular stop at a “Mawga’s” cook shop. He purchase two steel scouring pads.
Audrey sits with the Sergeant Family and assists them shelling peas. Audrey does this because she is helpful and loves interact with her customer in a personal way. This helps her to maintain good relationships with her customers.
Audrey takes a break from her walking to chat with Brother Gayle, her church brother.
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Audrey takes a break to eat lunch. She eats piece of pone she received from her customer.
After lunch Audrey is back on the road making the usual stops. She sits with Wanda who is just looking through the Red Bag.
AUDREY’S G O A L S Audrey tucks in her laces getting ready to head out after sheltering from rain at a customers’ house. Pg 21.
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Audrey holds on to a tree to help her manoeuvre her through thorns and bushes to go down to her farm.
Audrey’s farmland with corn, banana and yam, surrounded with grass. The land has not been tended to for over a month.
On a wet muddy track in Upper Litchfield, Audrey makes her way to her farm land and house spot. She walks in the grass so that she doesn’t slip in the mud or on a stone. Pg 22.
Audrey standing by the blocks she purchased over 2 years ago to build her house. Upper Litchfield, Trelawny.
THE LADY WITH THE RED BAG By: Crystal Taylor © 2016
University of Technology, Jamaica. Documentary Photojournalism