Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
For Sabrina Khadoo, the place where she earns a living is also the place she and her 12 children call home.
The 34-year-old single mother has turned a roadside vegetable stall along the Naparima-Mayaro Road in Princes Town into a home for herself and her children, making the most of the little space she has while working every day to keep her family going.
Her two eldest children, aged 18 and 16, are boys, while the others, ranging from 13 to one, are girls. Since the children’s father was murdered exactly one year ago today, she has been providing for them on her own.
The small plywood structure they call home is a single room, with the stall, kitchen and sleeping area all packed into one space. Battered by rain and time, the wood is decaying, and when it rains, the inside of the home sometimes gets wet.
They sleep on three mattresses in the cramped space on the floor. There is no running water or electricity. When they need to use the bathroom, they have to go to their grandmother’s home a few houses away.
While life has always been a struggle for her, Khadoo said things were easier when her children’s father, 40-year-old Sherwin Balkaran, was alive. Their last child was just two weeks old when he was murdered. The couple had been together since Khadoo was 14.
Khadoo recalled that her daughter had spent a week in hospital after she was born because her arms were broken during delivery.
“She came home on Friday. Friday was the last day he hold her, and then he died the Sunday.”
She said some of the children stayed with their father at his relative’s home, but when he died, they all moved in with her at the stall, which she has been operating since 2014.
For Khadoo, however, the biggest concern is not her own hardship, but ensuring that her children continue going to school, have the things they need and have a safe and comfortable place to live.
Eight of her children are currently in school—one in Form 3, two in Standard 1, one in Second Year and three who are starting in September. Her two other daughters, aged three and four, are not currently in school because of financial constraints.
“I am really doing the best I can do as a mother for my children.”
With school reopening in two weeks, the children still need school supplies, including uniforms, books, shoes and stationery.
“Basically, it’s actually on a day-to-day basis. You live day-to-day. By what you make, you pay back who I buy stuff from, and the rest goes towards them, because the transport fee for the school is about $900.”
Despite this, she said she tries to ensure that her children have the basic necessities to survive, as well as love and support.
While she receives a food card and public assistance for the children, she said she still needs help.
“If anybody can help, like, to extend out to the back, you know, just for you to be comfortable. And just help them to go to school, and that’s about it. Because I accustom doing it on my own. It’s just the little income their father used to provide he’s not here to do it again. So, it’s just me alone.”
She is especially worried because the land behind her home, which is state land, is sloped and is eroding.
Khadoo also wants to extend the house into a two-bedroom home with a bathroom, electricity and running water to make it more comfortable.
“If anybody can assist us with lights and water, and how to get in it, because I don’t know the process on getting it, because we don’t have that.”
In 2022, she applied through the Land Settlement Agency for a starter house under a programme that was being offered at the time. However, she said she never received a response.
Despite her circumstances, Khadoo said she tries to ensure that her children receive an education.
“My girls are A-class girls. I can show you the report, but they score like 98 per cent, 97 per cent. They do real good.”
Aware that members of the public may be judgmental about the number of children she has and her financial situation, Khadoo said her children are her blessing. She said she has always been a hard worker.
“I try my best to make them happy. I just try to make them don’t and don’t make their eyes long for other people’s things. I try to give them what they contended with. I do try my best.”
Khadoo said her children are active in church, attending Sunday school, youth meetings and other activities.
“Their father grew them up in church and I am growing them up in church.”
Guardian Media also spoke to several residents who expressed concern about the family’s living conditions.
“The place right by the roadside, so it not safe. They really need help,” a resident said.
Guardian Media reached out to Minister of the People, Social Development and Family Services Vandana Mohit who said she will be looking into the matter.
Anyone willing to assist can contact the family at 278-1025.
