An almost empty remittance outlet. In the wake of the current financial crisis in the United States of America, the projected annual growth in remittances to the island has fallen. - File

IT TAKES guts, grit and, wait for it...wit to survive the hardships spawned by the current economic crisis. Many Jamaicans are sinking, others are barely managing to stay afloat, during this financial turbulence rocking the globe.

Quite a number of Jamaican households depend on remittances to make ends meet. Since the start of the year, there has been a multi-billion dollar shortfall in remittance inflows when compared to the figures for the same period last year. The decline has made it harder for those already-distant ends to meet.

Several persons are feeling the squeeze. Priscilla Jones, 25, is one of them. Her father, who has lived in New York for the past 14 years, is still the breadwinner in her home on Spanish Town Road. Jones, a student of cosmetology, says her father supports her with the remittance he sends from overseas.

Things tougher now

But, these days, Jones does not receive as much money from him as she used to, nor does she get it as often. Things are tougher now. Still, she has managed to devise ingenious ways of keeping her head, and those of her children, above the proverbial waters brought on by the 'financial tsunami'.

"A skill me use and live," she told The Sunday Gleaner while sitting in a chair at a Western Union outlet, waiting to collect the money her father sent.

She had checked before and the funds had not yet arrived. Jones has two girls, whose father supports them "a little, not a whole heap".

"When him feel like it, him give," she said with disdain.

So she has to make the most of the money her father sends. "Me kind a pinch it a way that it can stretch," Jones declared, apparently coy about divulging details on how her skill is put to use with the reduced funding she receives.

A young man, who also came to collect money from overseas, was not in a talkative mood and refused to say if the decline in remittances was affecting him. "Me good," he said seriously.

Dawn Brown, who said that she is in her early 30s, is also feeling the effects of the reduction. She described the slowing down of the remittance inflows as a 'poor' situation.

The mother of three, from St Catherine, said she has had to cut back on shopping. "With the likkle much, certain things you cut back on that is not necessary," Brown said.

While Brown, a cosmetology student, is heavily dependent on the remittance she receives, she also gets assistance from family members who live in Jamaica.

Despite the help at home, the decline in the amount of money she gets from overseas has forced her to make some adjustments that could have health implications. "Instead of three meals a day, like how they (children) are home, you cut back on lunch and they get breakfast and dinner," Brown pointed out.

When The Sunday Gleaner was leaving the Western Union outlet, Jones still had not received the money her father had sent. Hopefully, she did eventually.

Names changed upon request.

tyrone.reid@gleanerjm.com