Nostalgia: 90-y-o hopes for return of good values
Published:Saturday | March 19, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Karen Sudu, Gleaner Writer
POINT HILL, St Catherine:"NOWADAYS, WI fraid fi gunman, but at that time we used to fraid fi duppy," Ivy Parker-Bryan recollects how she used to sleep with her doors and windows open without fear of being attacked, or anything stolen.
The 90-year-old of the quiet rural community of Point Hill, St Catherine, says she is disturbed by the frequent outbreaks of crime and violence in the society and hopes the perpetrators would think before they commit these acts.
"My parents bring up me and my eight brothers and sisters to love, respect and care for everybody," she tells The Gleaner. "That is what we lack in the society today, and that's why we have so much crime, so much violence. Anyone doing these things should really look into themselves and stop because in the end, crime doesn't pay."
She is saddened by the decreasing emphasis being placed on moral values.
"In my time, we have to have manners, good morning and good afternoon. How are you? Yes ma'am, no ma'am and yes sar, no sar, nowadays all a dat gone. No manners, no love! Most of the young people dem have no respect," she bemoans.
While those were part of her upbringing, there were other things which were mandatory.
She recounts: "Every morning I had to carry water from a nearby spring, wash the dishes, clean the house and reach school on time," that was an Anglican school in the adjoining Duxes district.
Aunt Ivy, as the senior is affectionately called, says it was customary for her to carry lunch, consisting of fried dumplings, bammy and fried salt fish and one bottle of lemonade to school.
"And that was to share for three of us because we never get money to buy lunch because my parents say we were too little at that time," she smiles.
As she reminisces on school life, she recollects how she loved all the subjects but, "I didn't have the brain like the others, but I could read a little, do little arithmetic," she boasts that she still displays her skills in sewing which she acquired upon leaving school.
farming
She also recalls how she was often referred to as a 'tom boy'.
"I always climb breadfruit tree and pick any amount a breadfruit. When the tree was tall, they would give me a ladder and I climb the ladder and pick the breadfruit. I dig any amount of yam because my father was a farmer and me husband too," she laughed.
The mother of two children, one alive, now 70 years old and living overseas, helped to mould the lives of several children in Point Hill.
"Up to now, some of them remember me," relates Parker-Bryan. "Dem use to come and visit me, dem always say dem like Aunt Ivy rice and peas. Those days it was rice and peas with beef. Sunday day beef, middle week fish and other days callaloo, mackerel, shad and herring, but we leave out pork because we were Adventists," she chuckled.
Parker-Bryan still enjoys taking care of children, as she feeds her caregiver, Carla Grant's 10 month-old baby, Joel, while she completes her chores.
Parker-Bryan lost her husband in 2001, he was 91. She says Jamaica is the most beautiful country in the world and would be even more so if it was free of crime and violence.