FIFTY-ONE-YEAR-OLD St Thomas school gate vendor, Eleanor Miller is hoping sales will again increase, now that school is back in session.

Miller, who has been selling outside the gates of the Lyssons Primary School in the parish for 28 years, explained that, predictably, sales dip whenever students go off on their summer break.

“When school is not in session, I don’t really sell. But because I’ve been here for quite a while, I make preparations for these times when school is out. You save some money and you continue using that until school starts back because when they’re on holiday, you are on holiday as well,” Miller said.

Miller told the Jamaica Observer North and East that although there is competition from the school’s cafeteria, she has still managed to make a living from her selling activity.

“They sell inside the school, so we just sell like when they’re (students) coming in or after. But it’s much better when they are here because it’s by their money we live,” she said.

Miller noted that snacks such as, banana chips and potato chips are popular items among the children, as well as bag juice and bottle drinks and ‘suck-suck’.

“On a good day, you can make $3,000 but on a bad day you make like $1,000.

“I buy my stuff in Morant Bay and Kingston, but it’s not easy to get stuff at a reasonable price though.

“You have to walk, go to different wholesales to get bargains.

“You just can’t buy at one wholesale, you have to be up, down, across, and all around,” she pointed out.

But Miller does not only supply the children with tasty snacks. She also acts as an after-school caregiver, ensuring that they remain safe until they leave for home.

“When school over, the taxis will come and pick them up.

“Some will spend off their fares so we give them fare, while some of them, the parents or the taxi will not turn up and we will call the parents or the taxi to remind them,” she said.

“They look up to us like mother figures and, of course I see them as my children.

“They are basically a part of my life because without them I can’t be out here,” she added.

—Kimone Francis