THE RECENT price increases in bus fares and further increases in light bills are having a heavy toll on the pockets of Gloria Gibbs, a mother of six.Cost of living for this housewife from Waterhouse in St. Andrew, has got even tighter as she prepares to send three of her children and a niece back to school in September.
"Right now, I owe so much bills. Only Jesus can help us right now, because cost of living is so high," she bemoaned as she bought ground provisions, from the Coronation Market in downtown, Kingston, last week.
The spending power of this family has been reduced since last year, she told The Sunday Gleaner.
She said that last year, she spent $3,000 each week at the market. While still spending the same, she is however, now carrying home less food.
"I have to leave out some things. Sometimes by Monday, the food is finish," she said.
But her greatest fear is when school reopens in September and she is faced with bus fares and the challenge to find lunch money for the children.
"Week after next it is going to be very dread to find the bus fare and the lunch money," she complained.
DEPENDENT ON ONE INCOME
The Gibbs family is solely dependent on one income, which is provided by her husband. But this family is also faced with other challenges.
"My husband is a welder, but again he is a sick person. He is diabetic and sometimes he is admitted to the hospital.
"This is not a permanent work, it is a trade work so sometime there is no work," she said with a distressed look.
Mrs. Gibbs said that the family needs are rarely met. "It is really hectic and it is really rough," she said.
She however, helps out with the expenses by taking care of a mentally-challenged person. Payment for this job she said is not regular.
"It is not all the time they give me something. Sometimes for months I don't get anything. It is not really a job, I am just helping out," she said.
Nadine Miller, a vendor at Coronation Market tells a similar story.
The single mother of two said that sales in the market have been slow, especially since the reopening of schools draws nears.
"It rough bad. Everything raise and it slow innah the market; we can't raise things more than the ordinary," she said with her hands on her cheeks.
She said that putting in the extra hours at the market to sell off her wares is how she makes ends meet.
"Hard as it is, me haffi try, bleach (long hours) at market and fight fi get little load," she said with a determined look in her eyes.
D.R.
