No back-to-school for some child windshield wipers
KINGSTON, Jamaica — With the resumption of face-to-face classes this week, most children were out in numbers at schools across the island and expressed joy at being back among their peers. But the reality is different for a group of boys.
They are windshield wipers under the Three Miles bridge along Spanish Town Road in Kingston. Each day, up to a dozen of them can be observed in the area hustling wipes off windscreens to make an extra buck.
When OBSERVER ONLINE visited the area on Wednesday, it was a normal day of work for 16-year-old Ranaldo Sterling, a grade nine student at Charlie Smith High School.
Speaking with our news team, Sterling, who said he has been wiping windshields for four years now, explained that his usual routine before COVID would include working around school hours.
“Before this when mi used to go school, mi would come out here in the morning and work mi lunch money before school and in the night too fi go the next day. Mi come out here all 6:00 and at 8:30 me just a reach a school,” he said.
“Mi mother used to take care a me before mi come out here, all when mi fi go school, but then mi go live with me father at Majestic Gardens and him dead and mi decide seh me a go help myself,” Sterling continued, adding that he still gets help from his grandmother and aunt.
But the teenager, who is otherwise called ‘Kemar’, said he has not been to school since the start of 2022. Instead, he works from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm to earn his usual daily pay of $2,500. He then uses his earnings to buy food and help his mother.
When OBSERVER ONLINE spoke with Sterling, he said his school had not started back, but later clarified that he was not sure if his classes had resumed.
“Mi wah go back ah school yes. Mi wah do CSEC and mi wah be a mechanic,” he added.
When contacted by our news team, a Charlie Smith representative confirmed that Sterling is in fact a student at the institution, but had not registered for the new term. She also said classes resumed this week.
For 14-year-old Kevin Hibbert, also from Majestic Gardens, the resumption of face-to-face classes has brought more pressure as he once again has to juggle classes with work.
“Mi come out here every day. When mi go school, mi come out here after school so mi can work the money for the next day. So like today, mi a hustle fi get a bag fi go school tomorrow,” Hibbert shared, while noting that he makes $3000 to $5000 daily.
Hibbert said he attends Haile Selassie High and goes to school on Mondays, Thursday and Fridays. On those days, after classes, he changes out of his uniform and goes to work.
“It don’t always interfere with my school work but mi a drop back (in school) right now because of corona. Mi never used to go online school because mi never have any phone. Only face-to-face mi do,” the nine grade student shared.
“Mi ah try take care of myself. Mi live with my mother but she don’t work,” he said, adding that his older brother also wipes windshields.
Hibbert, who has been wiping windshields for two years now, said he started the trade out of a desire to make cash to buy a pair of shoes.
“When mi did live a Payneland mi did want one shoes, so mi start up ah the bridge (at the exit of the Portmore Toll) and then come down here,” he said.
OBSERVER ONLINE was unable to reach Haile Selassie High to confirm Hibbert’s enrolment at the institution.
Another boy seen wiping windshields at the time declined to speak with our news team.
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Full resumption of face-to-face classes March 7
