Joanette Pariag has always been a woman of indomitable spirit. As a single mother she did everything to nurture and protect her only child, Jade.
Ten years ago she beamed with joy and pride when Jade took centre stage and topped the Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA), beating thousands of other pupils islandwide.
Pariag, 54, knew her daughter was destined for greatness, more so academic greatness. But as fate would have it, the smooth journey she had anticipated for her daughter’s educational pursuits would be interrupted by the sudden loss of her job as a port co-ordinator.
That meant she would no longer receive the salary which she comfortably lived on for years. Pariag did not want to disclose the amount.
In March, she was terminated from steel manufacturing giant ArcelorMittal in Point Lisas, a company to which she dedicated 36 years of her life and years of monthly contributions towards her pension plan. She became a permanent worker in 1981.
The impact is still real almost 90 days after receiving her termination letter on what was perhaps the most difficult day of her life—March 11.
She said: “It’s still a shock for me. It is not a nice feeling after 36 years waking up and you know you can’t get dressed for your job.”
Lately she said she doesn’t know who to turn to or where to go. A job has been hard to find. She worked for a short period in April at a parts shop but it didn’t work out. And while she has accepted that she will not receive the salary she previously worked for, she said she was willing to work for half of what she got since “half a loaf was better none.”
“I just need a breakthrough out there,” she added. While she is not the holder of a degree, Pariag said her experience “speaks for me.”
She worships at the Riversdale Presbyterian Church regularly and speaks with her priest to get some comfort during her dark moments.
There she is vice-chairman of the Local Board and a member of the church choir.
Not giving up at 54
While Pariag has struggled to remain positive and strong during the past weeks, her daughter has been grappling to deal with the life changes.
Jade, now 21, completed her third year at university in March. She’s pursuing a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery at the University of the West Indies, Mt Hope. But the news of her mother’s termination in early March took a toll on her, forcing her to temporarily withdraw for six months.
She’s hoping to find a job before she returns in September. The withdrawal was a decision that had to be taken because of the finances that needed to be expended monthly, coupled with the fact that Jade felt she needed to be at her mother’s side to support her during her own struggles.
Mother and daughter live in a family home in Williamsville. Despite how Jade feels, she’s been supportive and understanding. Pariag said when she told Jade that some former co-workers could not even afford to take their children for pizza or ice-cream, she said she was deeply saddened. Since March, Pariag has been job hunting but said it has proven to be extremely hard. However, she is not prepared to give up despite her age.
“I will work if I get a job. I have been dropping off my resume to different companies but I have not received any feedback.”
“It has been really challenging,” she said during an interview with the Sunday Guardian on Corpus Christi Day from her Williamsville home.
Thankfully, she said she owns her vehicle and does not have to pay a house mortgage or rent.
“But Jade’s rent was like a mortgage, you know. As a med student you need textbooks that aren’t cheap and soon she will need a vehicle to go on rotations at the hospital. I was spending close to $5,000 a month for her upkeep.”
She thanked her family for the support they have offered.
‘I feel I disappointed
my daughter’
After Pariag and her husband separated, she said she promised to be Jade’s pillar of strength and to never let her down.
“But I feel like I’ve disappointed her,” she said.
As a mother, all she wanted was to see Jade go through university without any hiccups but it did not work out that way.
“I have been crying all week. I am a single parent. There’s no father around so all sustenance for my daughter comes from God and me. I am the only force behind her.”
She said Jade could not focus during the semester. They had to give up the $2,400 apartment.
Jade has since signed up for On-The-Job-Training but the process has been taking longer than normal. For the past two July/August vacations she worked as a trainee in a hospital. Despite the ordeal, Jade aced her examinations.
Pariag is keeping her fingers crossed and praying fervently. She is hoping the time off from university will allow Jade to refocus.
She said: “To go back, that is a must. I don’t know how, but God is good and we will find a way.”
Pariag said she saved as much as she could but now every dollar mattered since she was dipping into her savings.
But the thing with savings is that without a job, nothing goes back in.
“Thank God I saved when I could but I have to watch it with a cut eye. I am not putting anything back in so you can imagine,” she said.
With the job loss came many cutbacks for Pariag—no social events like going to the mall, movies and occasional shopping for Jade. Even items on the grocery list had to be cut.
“I just woke one morning and found out that after 36 years I did not have a job,” she said.
She felt perhaps ArcelorMittal would have retrenched its workers instead of terminate or at least provide them with a package.
She said: “We never thought about insolvency and liquidation. It never crossed our minds.”
Some of her former co-workers have found temporary, mediocre jobs while others remain jobless.
“Can I at least get my back my own contribution? I don’t want to be a millionaire. I am a contented person. We don’t live the high life.”
Jade: I’ll buy mom whatever
she wants when I’m a doctor
When Jade spoke with the Sunday Guardian on Friday, she was upbeat and chatty.
Recalling ten years ago when she won first place in the SEA, she said a reporter had asked her what she wanted to become and she said a forensic pathologist.
“I didn’t even know what it meant but I wanted to be that,” she said.
Right now, she’s undecided about the area of speciality.
While preparing for the SEA, Jade said she wanted to attend Naparima Girls’ High School and that it was never her aim to capture the spotlight with first place.
Remembering the day of results, she said: “I thought I had failed the exam because my name was not being called.
“And then finally the news broke. It was a great feeling.”
She found out about her mom’s job loss through Facebook. She called her mother and asked if the news was true and she said yes.
“She told me what she always says which is don’t worry, go and study your work,” Jade said.
Describing herself as a simple person, Jade said she and her mom will get through together.
“I will graduate and start earning a salary and I will buy mom whatever she wants.”
She laughed and said her mom wanted an air-condition unit in the kitchen.
“She always get upset and says it’s so hot and why these people (ArcelorMittal) can’t give her her money so she can buy it.”
When she returns in September, she begins rotations but her concern is getting enough money to buy textbooks which cost close to $6,000. But she said they’ll cross that bridge when it comes.
Staying optimistic, Jade said a close friend told her that getting a degree was not a race.
“There seems to be this view that if you start at a certain time you must complete the programme at a certain time but it won’t make me any less of a doctor than someone who did it in one shot.”