THE phrase “till death do us part’ is traditionally associated with marriage vows but for 73-year-old Inez Scott, it perfectly sums up her unwavering love for craft.
“I just love it. There is no work like my craftwork. I will die as a craft vendor,” Scott proudly tells LetsTravelCaribbean.com.
Even after 61 years of making and selling craft items, the thought of changing her profession has never crossed her mind.
As a child growing up in St Ann she was fascinated by a woman she would see, during visits to Greenwich Farm in Kingston, using goat skin to make bags and other products.
Choosing to work with straw instead, Scott has earned a living by sewing baskets, bags, fans and dolls which she adorns with cheerful shapes of animals, trees and colourful flowers.
From Portmore, where she now lives, Scott takes a Jamaica Urban Transit Company bus to the Kingston Craft Market each day to sell her creations.
“I have to sew night and day – even 1:00 am, I am still sewing. You know if the work nuh sew pretty dem nah pay mi. Dem going seh, ‘Inez how this stay suh?’ That’s why I always do my best,” she explains.
It seems she’s been doing something right. She’s been able to buy a house from selling her craft products. She doubts she would have been able to accomplish this if she had stuck to her earlier career attempt as a singer and dancer.
“I used to do those things with a group of men but dem never pay nuh money so mi stick to mi craftwork. I really didn’t like the artiste thing anymore,” she says.
There have been a few hiccups along the way though.
About five years ago her shop at the craft market and another which she operated at an arcade in downtown Kingston were burnt to the ground.
Distraught, Scott got a stroke.
“Mi seh, ‘Lawd have mercy! Wa go happen now? Two place burn down.’ When mi see everything burn down gone lef mi, mi stress out,” she recalls.
She later learnt that the fire at the Kingston Craft Market was from a short circuit while the other shop was set ablaze by thieves.
“[The stroke] happened to mi at church. The pastor ask mi, ‘Inez, what is wrong with you?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know but I feel a bit funny.’ They took mi to the Spanish Town Hospital,” she explained.
She was left immobile for a while but eventually regained enough movement to get back to work, leaning on a walking stick when she needs it. A friend rebuilt her shop free of charge.
Since then, it has been mostly smooth sailing and a lot of hard work. Last December, Scott was overjoyed when she was recognised for her contribution to the tourism sector, one of 50 individuals lauded during the Jamaica Tourist Board’s Golden Tourism Day Awards.
“I feel really proud of myself and I said, ‘My God, I never know things would a happen like this,’ ” she says proudly as she relived the emotions of that day.
TEXT: BRITTNY HUTCHINSON
PHOTOS: JOSEPH WELLINGTON
