Sweep stakes Hot

Sherine Williamson makes brooms for a living.

She has been doing so for the past ten years, both in her native Jamaica and in Barbados, and she said it allowed her to take care of herself and her family – her children Jahiam, 5, and Jenique Bent, 2 years old.

“It is the way I make a living. I buy a mop stick and shape the ends [of the sticks] and then make the top with palm leaves. Once I strip a palm, it takes less than ten minutes to make a broom.

So far, it is going good. I get orders from supermarkets, but I love to go door to door and sell.

I go all over Barbados selling these brooms,” she said.

Williamson operates from a makeshift shed in Wellington Street, The City, and gets help in her endeavours from Oshane Campbell and Donovan Bygrave. (CA)

Here, Bygrave shaping the end of a mop stick as Williamson puts together another broom.