By Akola ThompsonFor many women,cheap nfl jerseys elite, cooking is a hobby, a pastime done to amuse or more importantly put food on the table for their family members. For the women in the Stabroek Market however, cooking is a livelihood, a business mostly passed down through generations of women who contribute to the rich cultural heritage of Guyanese society.Food Vendor Janet SheonarineThe question of “why” these women chose this particular work however arose and most of the reasons given revealed the way society has failed them. Years of unemployment and below-minimum wage,Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale, combined with a natural love for food, saw these women starting a trade they were already good at in order to provide for their families.One vendor, who would rather not be identified, revealed the challenges she has had to overcome throughout the years before she was able to enjoy her current comfortable life.“Before I start renting here, I had a lil office job,Cheap Jerseys Paypal, typing. They used to pay $36,Tyson Jackson Falcons Jersey,000 a month and I used to work 10, sometimes more, hours a day. Them time I had my lil son and he father been dead but I couldn’t spend no time with he really cause I deh working long, long for lil bit pay. I ask my manager to raise my pay lil after a while ‘cause I poor and suh yuh know and I get my child but he wanted (sexual) favours and that’s when I left the work,” she confided.The woman then recounted her various stints selling greens, cleaning houses and washing clothes in her area in an effort to make ends meet. “Many times I just wanted to give up, ‘cause my son keep getting big and like I was just getting poorer.”The woman revealed that she had never given the idea of cooking for a living any thought but on her son’s eight birthday the idea was expressed to her to sell food. She related that she had held a small ‘get together’ where she cooked several different dishes and one visitor complimented and encouraged her cooking so heavily she felt embarrassed. The idea stuck with her however and when she became aware of a stall in the market for rent she immediately pounced on the opportunity.“I’m not saying everything really, really good now ‘cause it’s not but I getting enough money to take care of myself and my son now and that’s all that really matters.”Another food-vendor, Janet Sheonarine, the proud owner of two connected stalls, one of which was inherited while the other was bought, said that despite her not facing direct hardships her great grandmother had it very “hard” in the beginning.“Our family was never rich but with the economy at the time we really began to feel the squeeze and my great grandmother was always struggling to make ends meet,Cheap China Jerseys,” Sheonarine divulged.Tinged with poverty, her great grandmother,NFL Jerseys Supply, after years of saving her meager earnings, finally had enough money to invest in a food-stall in the Stabroek Market. The stall was later passed down to Sheonarine’s mother and then to Sheonarine herself who revealed that she has every intention of passing the stall down when she believes they are ready as she explained it is very hard for young women in the competitive working environment.“I frighten they may have a hard time, it was very hard when I came out here first because everybody have their people they build relationships with and want to buy from and it takes time,” stated Sheonarine.Sheonarine has been in the food stall business for over five years and throughout these years has relentlessly catered to thousands of individuals and continues to attract so many customers that she now has several hired hands.The dishes she prepares, like most of her counterparts in the market, are Creole based dishes, which sees her pulling in around 40 customers on regular days and more on holidays. A large part of her clientele consists of tourists who wish to experience the taste of authentic Creole food. While she related that most of the foreign customers would come by word of mouth, it clearly displays the cultural significance these stalls have on the Guyanese economy.The food vendors like Sheonarine at the Stabroek Market are just a small number of several women across Guyana using the things they love to fight against – unemployment and minimum wage jobs.