AFTER years of wiping windscreens in Portia Simpson Miller Square, formerly Three Miles, in St Andrew, Anthony Scotland saved enough money to start a small business.
Scotland, who was up to September selling ‘bag juice’, air fresheners, and other small items in the vicinity of Portia Simpson Miller Square, said he was never comfortable wiping windscreens. However, he was forced to return to the streets after his father died in September and he used his savings for the associated funeral expenses.
Clutching his two-year-old son last week Sunday, while standing next to a zinc fence in his community of Majesty Gardens, St Andrew, the father of two told the Observer that he’s not proud of his means of earning a living, but it provides for his family.
“Mi affi take mi time and make sure weh mi want for them, mi get it. If mi want a thousand dollar, mi affi take mi time and wipe fi mek a thousand dollar fi buy weh mi want. So if the rice come to $300 or so, mi just take time and wipe and make it, and come give mi family fi guh buy some food. A di only choice dat, and then yuh affi go back again,” he said.
The 30-year-old noted that every dollar he receives from motorists adds up, especially on the weekends.
“On Friday and Saturday, you will make good money. You will make all a $2,000 or a $1,500. Mi nah tell nuh lie, pon a Friday or Saturday a dem money deh yuh mek. Dem time deh you can buy couple [diapers], little oil, little flour… a nuh all di time you can buy two and three pounds [of things]. You have to put down a little thing so the youths dem can get something the next day,” Scotland reasoned.
Highlighting the negative image that has been associated with windscreen wipers, the father of two said some of his colleagues are just “bad apples”.
