Sno cone vendor, Bertie Ivan Van Sertima, has appointed himself Minister of Sno Cone and Ice Affairs. Van Sertima, 55, gave himself the portfolio after “serving the people” for 33 years, he said. The title, displayed prominently at the front of his sno cone cart, is sure to elicit a smile from passers by downtown Chaguanas where he operates.
“It’s a marketing strategy,” he admitted, adding he also wanted to make people smile. Van Sertima said from sno cone he was able to purchase a Kia van and a Cube car and take care of his children.
“It’s not about how much you make, it’s how you save,” he said, offering helpful tips on saving in a recession.
“I mind my kids, went away three, four times, all through sno cone.
“If you make $10, save $5. But some people make $10 and want to spend $15.
“It could be the smallest amount you save, it will add up.
“Life is very simple. You don’t need to go university to know these things.”
Banks and insurance companies hire him to give their employees sno cones at functions, Van Sertima said.
“They like the syrup. It’s homemade, with bayleaf, cinnamon, clove and spices.” But before he settled down into the sno cone business, Van Sertima said he was a happy go lucky adventure seeker hitchhiking all over South America.
“My father was a Dutch Portugese who worked as a military mechanic.
“I was born in Guyana but did not live there. We lived in different army bases in the region where my father worked.”
Van Sertima said by 16 he burst out on his own touring with friends in Surinam, French Guyana, Surinam, Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela and even reached close to the Mexican border, living for short periods wherever he chose to.
“We hitchhiked rides on trucks, trains.”
It was while living in Brazil he found a penpal from Trinidad and came here in 1979 and married her.
“We had boy, Jefferson Van Sertima, who is with the T&T regiment.”
Van Sertima’s romantic life was as colourful as his South American adventures and he divorced his first wife and remarried a second, this one half his age, he said. He fathered two children with her but didn’t stay long in this relationship either.
“I have been living by myself for the past 15 years. Maybe, I aint meet the right woman yet,” he said, still nursing some hope.
“I hang out with my grandkids.”
Van Sertima said he is not into religion but lives by his own simple philosophy.
“Something have to be responsible for the plants and trees. Even life itself. It have to have a God.
“The most important thing in life is to do the right thing and spread love.” He said all the homeless people in Chaguanas know him. “I buy coffee for them and give them sno cone. I don’t give them no money.” He said he lost a quarter of his sales over the last few months.
“The lil recession. But I am still thankful,” he said.