IT doesn’t earn them much, but residents of the community popularly called Standpipe in Liguanea, St Andrew are providing a service to visa applicants at the US Embassy.

Chairs, for as little as $100, are rented to people waiting in line for interviews, although the Americans, in 2012, erected a 145-foot covered structure with six aluminium benches on the outside of the embassy to protect applicants from the elements.

The chair rental follows on a cellphone storage service offered by the residents, given that the public is not allowed to take the devices inside the embassy.

“We store phones from $300 and up,” said one resident. She explained that while the informal service was not much, it has been a constant source of earning for them.

“I have been providing this service for close to eight years, to the point where the practice has become a stable income earner for myself and many other unemployed families in the area,” said one woman, who explained that they decided to offer the services instead of sitting at home doing nothing.

Surprisingly, the residents who provide the services all asked not to be named, as they feared that the informal nature of their business could have some implications for them.

“The service that we provide, we try to operate as disciplined as possible and in a sense it is helping to rid the area of the stigma that… nothing good don’t come from around here,” said another resident.

— Kimmo Matthews