She is the beacon that has brought love and cheer to the lives of members of her community who praised her when the Jamaica Observer went to meet with her last week.

Valda Abrahams, a returning resident from England, went to live at Time and Patience (St Catherine) in 1989 not knowing a bit about the community.

“Well, I came from England and said I wanted to come home, but I want to get somewhere before because I’m tired of the cold, so I came out here with my daughter and went all around seeking somewhere and I came to Linstead and the agent sent me up here,” the 81-year-old said.

“I didn’t know where I’m coming. I heard the name but I didn’t know where, and then a man said, ‘I’ll take you up there,’ and he came with us and when we came Mr Bennett, the man that I bought it from, showed me around,” she continued.

Determined to get away from the cold weather and having fallen in love with the property, she bought it and moved back to Jamaica.

She told the

Sunday Observer that as Christmas approached, she felt the need to do something for the children and made preparations to host a treat for the children in the community.

“The same year I came out is the same year I started the treat. I came out the March and the December I said to this young lady, ‘but me and my husband can’t stay in this big house’. I love children, and I ask her if she could ask somebody if they would let the children come and I would have a little party for them,” she explained, outlining how the treat started.

“I love children only if they have manners; if they don’t have manners I’ve got nothing to do with them. And I said to my husband, ‘two of us cannot stay in this big house and I see a lot of children going on the street out there,’ and I said we’ll do a little something for them.And from that year I never stopped,” she continued.

Describing the treat, Abrahams said it is an all-day affair with rides, food, music and gifts for the children, as she enjoys their company.

“Usually, every year we give them present – you know, toys and so – and it come to a time that I have to stop give the presents. [I] couldn’t afford the presents, so my daughter said, ‘mommy, all you do just give them the food and the drink,’ and that’s what I did. And I get bounce-about and pool out there so, and Gilly come and him play the little music for them,” she explained.

To date, the treat has surpassed her initial intention for just children and has become a calendar event for all residents of the community.

“When I realise big people coming; is for everybody, they take it away from the children actually. Thank God from I came here as I stranger no one ever disrespect me and I help out who I can help,” she said.

The treat, which she has been funding for the past 25 years, gives the community somewhere to go on Boxing Day. Asked how she is able to fund the event, she said she gradually buys the necessities and does not consider the cost in what she’s doing.

But Abrahams is more than just the lady who does the annual treat. According to residents, she “is a blessing to the community.”

Her tenant, Joy Green, who presented Abrahams with a plaque of appreciation, told the

Sunday Observer that “she is her everything”. Green, who with Abrahams’ permission operates a catering service from the rented home, said that her landlady’s compassion has surpassed what she could ever imagine.

“When I started the cooking, I came here and I said to her, ‘Aunty, you know me a give you one little change fi buy one juice, ’cause me a do the likkle ting an yuh give me di okay.’ If yuh hear how dis woman run me yuh see,” Green lamented.

“She seh, ‘guh a yuh yaad. Yuh nuh see yuh foot bruk weh di money weh yuh a carry come give me? Mi gi yuh it wid a good heart. Gwaan do yuh business, me nuh want nuh money from yuh; I don’t want dollar,” she continued.

She further described Abrahams as “a good woman”, a sentiment shared by Linda Scott, another neighbour who likened Abrahams to Jesus.

“She console me in a way that if she was my birthmother, maybe mi would be a better person, and I don’t have words to express my feeling about her,” Scott stated.

“She’s like Jesus. You know, everything you have to go to Jesus and pray and complain to? Well, she is standing in the gap. Everybody complain she answer to it. If she can’t finance you, you get prayer. Anything, you hungry, your belly full; you thirsty, she quench you thirst. Yes man, she’s everything; sometimes we don’t even have words to express about [her],” she continued.

Residents also described her as a nice lady who was a wonderful addition to the community.

“I can recall when I lose my brother a few years ago and I came to her and I said, ‘Aunty, you know the rent a go late enuh.’ Hear har, ‘shame on you Joy! You shouldn’t come to me an’ say dat. You know seh me expect seh you nah go give me di rent now; ’cause how you fi have dead an give me di rent?’ An she still a pinch one likkle sumn inna me han and gi mi mi likkle rum an supen,” Green said of the community’s mother.

In response, the widow calmly said: “I try to help out where I can.”

Abrahams is a mother of six and has adopted residents from the community in her 26 years of living there. In her 27 years of living in England, she had worked at the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital for Women. The hospital is one of the oldest maternity hospitals in Europe.