The weekend lockdowns do not affect me – May Pen vendor

With the final weekend curfew set to begin on Saturday, May Pen market vendor Blanche Stewart is not worried as she has been faring well since it started two weeks ago.

With a radiant smile on her face, she told The Gleaner, “It doesn’t affect me no time at all, my sweets, ‘cause I am blessed!”

Stewart made no bones about the fact that she enjoys staying at home and took full pleasure in doing just that during the curfew.

The jovial vendor says she stayed on top of the game by adjusting her buying pattern in order not to have extra goods on her hands.

“If I told you I lose, I would be a liar. I don’t lose. I buy what I know can sell off for half of the day and whatsoever leave, like a pound a tomato or suh, I use,” she explained.

For the week leading into the weekend, she is buying just what she thinks can sell off in two days and taking it from there.

Stewart, who accredits her outlook and blessings to her faith in Christ, says she is surviving because God promises not to “leave or forsake me”. She also ensures that each day before she leaves for the market, she reads her Bible.

For those who are worried about sales and losses, she also urged them to put their trust in the Lord.

It was a completely different story for an upset Yvonne Buddan who the team spoke with, as she vented that she paid market fee for a ‘no vending’ area.

“Mi just pay mi market fee when the lady come, mi tell har sey mi never have di money and she sey dem sey (Municipal Corporation) them must collect early. This is a no-vending area, there is no way they should collect from us in the area,” she ranted.

Buddan, who shared that she had no problem going into the market, stressed that the facility cannot accommodate everyone, adding that when it rains, vendors have to be frantically trying to cover their goods.

“Today dem collect in the no-vending area and dem still a come run wi from over deh. Mi nuh have a problem, but nuh collect from we and a run wi,” she said.

Commenting on how she fared during the past two weekends, Buddan said she didn’t have a problem. “Mi nuh have a problem enuh, ‘cause nobody nuh have nuh time fi compare price, dem just grab and go, collecting and running out,” she said.

Winston Maragh, mayor of May Pen, has debunked Buddan’s claim of officers collecting fees for the no-vending area.

He said a majority of the vendors in the no-vending zone have a stall or a spot in the market.

“If they collected from the no-vending from her, that means they collected for the spot that she has in the market. She has a stall in the market from what I understand. If you look closely at her receipt, you will see ‘market’ written on it,” Maragh notes.