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"TO GIVE UP IS A SIN"

Multiple setbacks did not deter Claudia from her dreams. Classes & a grant give her a breakthrough

August 10^th, 2023

Spotlight Initiative in Jamaica is funded by the European Union in partnership with United Nations Jamaica.

Claudia McPherson’s corner shop is up and running yet again, stubbornly defying break-ins and competing priorities which have set back the business numerous times.

It’s due largely to Claudia’s determination. Business is in her blood, she says, and she intends to make a success of it.

She lives in Canaan Heights in Clarendon, a community on Jamaica’s south coast, populated with far more good people than the tiny minority of troublemakers who give it a bad name.

Claudia is determined to succeed in business. She stands in front of her shop in Canaan Heights, Clarendon. (UNDP/Ricardo Makyn photo)

Life in this community, known for gangs and violence, has not been easy. Claudia was born to a 16-year-old mother who had her own growing up to do. In her case, she says, it meant neglect from both mother and father.

Claudia herself became pregnant in high school at age 16 and gave birth at age 17. “It’s like a tradition continuing, living the life same as the parents,” she admits.

“My mother abandoned (me) and (my) father never really cared so there and then I went searching for what I don’t know.” She did know that she wanted to go to school but had no one to help her. To achieve her goal she got into a relationship and started having children.

Fueled by social norms, forced sex and lack of information, Jamaica’s adolescent pregnancy rates remain among the highest in the English-speaking Caribbean at 70 births for every 1,000 adolescents between 15 and 19 years old.

When things did not work out with that relationship Claudia did dome travelling, entrusting the care of her children to their father and his girlfriend. To her horror, the children ended up “getting abused all over again.” She felt utter despair. “I thought there was no love because I get the abuse then my children were left with their father for a better life only to hear they were getting abused”.

It was then she decided to better her life by re-enrolling at HEART, Jamaica’s National Training Agency. Claudia dropped out. She re-enrolled and this time she completed her studies. Her HEART instructors were suitably impressed and sent her for apprenticeship while she pursued Math and English through the City and Guilds programme.

Claudia’s mother, seeing her child’s progress, “gave her a start” to open her corner shop with a financial investment.

In Jamaica, corner shops are social gathering spots for games and chats, and a quick stop for assorted food and household items. The corner shop is a ubiquitous feature of community life and an important part of Jamaica’s informal economy, some 33% in size, representing $9 billion of GDP at purchasing power parity (PPP) levels in 2021. Wholesale/retail trade operators like Claudia make up 60% of the informal economy.

Buoyed by the investment, Claudia made plans, but setback was on the horizon. “They broke (into or robbed) the shop again and I had to be paying rent and bills … I tried getting help everywhere but there was nothing available.

I pulled through until I finished, and I got the grant (which) was very exciting for me because I could buy supplies for the shop I couldn’t afford before. - Claudia McPherson, shopkeeper and Spotlight beneficiary

Spotlight gives support

Yet again, Claudia started to rebuild her business from scratch. During that rebuilding phase, she says, a young lady from the Clarendon Municipal Corporation told her about the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme funded by the European Union-United Nations Jamaica’s Spotlight Initiative. Implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Multi Country Office in Jamaica in partnership with municipal corporations in Clarendon and St Thomas, 80 survivors of Gender Based Violence like Claudia were trained.

“If I go to classes, how will I manage the shop? She fretted.

“(But) I developed this philosophy: To give up is a sin. I keep on repeating it every morning.”

Eighty (80) survivors of Gender Based Violence like Claudia were trained in the Spotlight-funded programme. (UNDP/Ricardo Makyn photo)

The programme helped me to be self-motivated, independent and to understand people. I also learned how to understand myself and how to uplift myself. - Claudia McPherson, shopkeeper and Spotlight beneficiary

Then she heard the Spotlight-funded programme would distribute grants to participants. “That motivated me. I said even if I wanted to give up, I have to continue because I need the grant.”

“I pulled through until I finished, and I got the grant (which) was very exciting for me because I could buy supplies for the shop I couldn’t afford before”.

Claudia says the programme helped her to be self-motivated, independent and to understand people. “I also learned how to understand myself and how to uplift myself,” she declares.

The business is now on its way back. I’m still opening and I’m still giving thanks and I’m still living by my philosophy, to give up is a sin. - Claudia McPherson, shopkeeper and Spotlight beneficiary

But while attending class, combined with her responsibilities as a parent, the shop’s clientele declined yet again. “But I told myself to give up is a sin.” Her strategy in her build back phase, was to use income to buy just enough supplies she could afford.

“The business is now on its way back. I’m still opening and I’m still giving thanks and I’m still living by my philosophy, to give up is a sin”.

Better yet she says, “I’m still hoping and trusting God and giving thanks.”

Claudia's strategy in her build back phase, was to use income to buy just enough supplies she could afford. (UNDP/Ricardo Makyn photo)

Footnotes

Text by UNDP Communications Analyst, Gillian Scott. Thanks to UNDP Spotlight Initiative programme manager, Shellian Forrester and thanks to teams from St Thomas and Clarendon Municipal Corporation and Clarendon Parish Development Benevolent Society for facilitating the interviews. Photos by Ricardo Makyn for UNDP Multi Country Office in Jamaica.

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