95-y-o farmer Vera Baker enduring despite vision trouble

WESTERN BUREAU:

Vera Baker may not yet have attained centenarian status in the rural community of Jointwood, St Elizabeth, but at 95 years old and despite having poor eyesight, she is determined to live her life to the fullest as a farmer and a God-fearing mother figure.

Baker, who celebrated her 95th birthday on March 28, was relaxed and confident at home as she spoke of how her farming endeavours helped her to raise her family of 12 children and put one grandchild through school.

“Mi doing farming from mi leave school, and I left school from I was 16 years old, and my husband was a farmer. Mi raise a few chickens, although right now mi nuh have any, and mi grow sugar cane. The land up there, mi used to plant sugar cane up there for Appleton Estate,” said Baker, pointing to land a short distance above her home in the Jointwood community. “Sometimes I would send down up to seven truckloads of cane to Appleton, and it’s the sugar cane that sent my grandson to school.”

Ironically, Baker declared that she has not had as much success growing dasheen, which has been identified as a popular staple among farmers in Jointwood.

“Mi nuh have no dasheen. Mi nuh lucky with dasheen. Mi plant it all outta road and mi nuh get nutting outta it. Dem just tief it out. Right now mi a plant mi yam head,” said Baker.

Asked how well she functions despite having vision trouble, Baker revealed that she retains her independence and manages quite well on a daily basis in spite of her and two other family members battling with cataracts and glaucoma.

“My eye is dark, and is three of we have eye problem, but every Sabbath mi bathe and tidy myself and go to church. Twenty-five years mi a deaconess, and 12 years mi a head deaconess, baking communion bread for 12 years,” said Baker, a longtime member of the Jointwood Seventh-day Adventist Church.

EXCELLENT BAKER

“Is the two eyes is the issue with me ... mi have a friend at Santa Cruz, him say mi must scrape the eye, but my son said no. The first doctor I talked to said, ‘Nuh make nobody fool you, all you want is eyedrops’,” Baker outlined.

Deverlee Wallace, a cousin of Baker’s, spoke at length about her relative’s prowess as a baker, a talent that has been repeatedly put to use over the years.

“She is an outstanding lady, and she always bakes bammy and pudding and she make drops, ike when we have harvest at the church, she always does that. She’s always active at the church, and I know she was a head deaconess, and she was ordained to serve Communion,” Wallace explained.

“She was always a nice lady in the community, and everybody loves her, and she grow her kids good and train them properly. I came here a while ago, and I hugged her and said, ‘You strong, mi a tell you,’ and she said somebody told her she going to live until she’s 100. She said, ‘Mi a go live, enuh’ because she’s not feeling any pain, she’s not sick in bed, and she remembers every little thing. Her brain is good,” Wallace added proudly.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com