The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

GRANDMOTHER Christine Mackey has not worked for a year and is struggling to take care of her great-grandson.

She was one of several people seeking help from the Department of Social Services yesterday.

She lamented the fact that at her age, jobs were hard to come by. She said she used to work as a cook, but age seems to be a big factor against her getting hired again.

“When you’re in your sixties, they ain’t hiring us like that no more, they prefer hiring the young generation. I’ve been around a couple places, but they say things slow really,” she explained.

“Well things (were) rough – still rough. You know when you ain’t have no job, you got rent to pay and ain’t nobody helping you. So it’s really hard.”

She came down to the Department of Social Services office on Baillou Hill Road looking for assistance with food. Her seven-year-old great grandson tagged along.

“His mummy she just recently had a baby and he’s a little autistic so I took him from the mummy because she’s a young girl....I didn’t have any more small children. I just trying to get him in school too because he wasn’t in any school,” Ms Mackey said.

Another woman, Tassia Thompson, was also seeking assistance yesterday.

Last June, the single mother of three told The Tribune she was in need of work and owed approximately $1,600 in back rent to her landlord.

The 35-year-old at the time was reaching out to the Department of Social Services for rental assistance, but a definitive answer was not given on whether she would receive aid.

It appears her situation has turned around as she receives a cheque every month and one of her children’s fathers helps with paying her rent.

However, she is still on the hunt for a job so she can help herself.

“I’m looking for a job. I don’t care if I have to sweep the streets,” she told The Tribune. “Since the pandemic, the only thing that’s really hiring is the government right now but it’s very hard to get a job in government I don’t know why.

“I’m here — they gave me a blue card to go by the Labour Board to get a job. I go there every week, get my card stamped — nothing. That’s my main focus. Right now that’s my main focus because I have things to do in life. I can’t just let the pandemic slow me down because isn’t slowing down anybody else.”

She has even tried reaching out to political figures but none of them has responded.

“I’ve seen both of their parties. They have people walking around – pay them to do that. I felt like they should’ve let some of the single mothers who don’t have a job get into that so they will have like a little support to take care of their families.”

Director of Labour John Pinder estimated last month that the jobless rate is around 40 percent.