In the congested Chaguanas Market, Ashmin Mohammed sells costume jewelry to send her son to the University of the West Indies, St Augustine.
A single parent, she works 18 hours a day making anklets, broaches, earrings, necklaces, hand bands and bow clips, as well as cultivating crops in the back of her Longdenville home to ensure that her 20-year-old son, Aaron—a second-year mechanical engineering student— excels academically.
It has been an upward battle for Mohammed who was forced into an arranged marriage which lasted seven years. However, Mohammed said she is determined to see her son get an education she was deprived of as a young girl.
With the downturn in the economy, Mohammed, 43, admitted sales at the market have been slow but she refuses to give up. She said Aaron’s academic achievements at ASJA Boys’ College in Charlieville spurred her to do more for the son she describes as a contented and quiet child.
“He knows the sacrifices I have been making, so he does not ask for anything. All he would say is to be safe…he does not want anything to happen to me knowing the crime situation,” Mohammed said.
“I had to be a pillar of strength and an exemplar to my son. I couldn’t let Aaron down because his father had already turned his back on him. He was never there in his life and I had to play the role of both parents.”
After being pulled out of the Longdenville Government Primary School in Standard Five by her parents, Mohammed got married at age 23 to a man she did not love.
“It was a marriage arranged by my mother. I didn’t want to get married to a man I did not love. What I wanted was an education, to study hard and make something of my life. Instead, I was given a husband who beat me constantly.”
For seven years, she put up with an abusive relationship, until she filed for divorce in 2003.
Mohammed began cultivating crops such as bodi, corn, pigeon peas, tomatoes and melongene on a small scale to eke out a living. But sales from the crops were barely enough to send Aaron to school. So, in 2012, Mohammed started dabbling in making costume jewelry, using different sizes and colours of beads.
“I had no experience in making earrings and chains. I saw someone making them one day and I tried it using my creativity and imagination. I surprised myself because they came out good and I began to sell. I was basically self-taught. If I had continued my education I am sure I would have been in a better position today.”
The price of her jewelry ranges from $5 upward. After vending in the market for eight hours, Mohammed hustles home to attend to her crops. Apart from these two jobs, people sometimes also offer her work to clean their homes or take care of an elderly person. After dinner, Mohammed makes her jewelry, while her son studies.
“Sometimes I would stay up until midnight making chains, earrings and hand bands so I could sell the next day. It’s tough but I have to do it.”
Mohammed said she cried tears of joy when Aaron captured the Principal’s Award as the most outstanding student at ASJA in 2014. He also won a trophy in pure mathematics and obtained Grade ones in all his science subjects at the Cape examinations.
“I realised that my hard work had paid off. I am proud of my son. I couldn’t ask for a better child,” she said.
Mother and son are striving for excellence in difficult circumstances, as they have no pipe-borne water or toilet at their home.
“I live in a two-bedroom board house with a latrine outside. I have been trying to save some money to build a toilet inside but, with all my expenses such as Aaron sending to and from university, it has been a struggle,” she said.
“I am not begging for handouts nor do I want charity. What I want is a proper place to sell my jewelry and a toilet that we can use comfortably.”
Anyone willing to help Mohammed can contact her at 330-3840.