Passing the co-operative petrol station in Bandaragama town, we see a middle-aged woman, clad in a red uniform standing under a kottamba tree. The moment she sees a car, van, motorbike, trishaw or lorry enter the premises, she gets into action.
To pump petrol or diesel to the vehicles or to give out oil or kerosene is her job and she attends to it with a smile.
Amarasinghe Arachchige Jayantha, 58, has been working at this fuel station for the past 25 years, she says. It was a choice she made to make ends meet.
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| Service with a smile: Jayantha at work. |
Jayantha was only 30 years old when her husband died of a heart attack and left her with three children – two sons aged 12 and three and an eight-year-old daughter. Life became a huge struggle. Plus she had the additional responsibility of looking after her aged mother.
She found employment in the packing division of the Bandaragama Cooperative Stores working as a helper for a small salary. “I was in a pathetic situation after I lost my husband; there were days that my children and I starved. While I was working at the packing division I got to know that the fuel station was looking for people. So I decided to join,” recalls Jayantha adding that though she considered it a challenge in the beginning she was determined to cope.
Manager of the filling station Gunadasa Perera is full of praise for Jayantha, the oldest employee among his staff saying that throughout she has been dedicated, hard working and efficient.
She has faced many trials on the job, however. In the 80’s, while she was on duty at the fuel station, a group of men stormed the premises, threatened her with a pistol and robbed all the money.
When a similar incident occurred on another occasion a few years later, she saw the thieves coming to attack the cashier who had come to collect money from the station. “I shouted and hid myself behind a fuel machine, and they ran off,” she recollects. But such brushes with danger never daunted her resolve to continue working and she never considered giving up, adds Jayantha.
In 1983 too when curfew was imposed following the ethnic riots, there were continuous power interruptions and she and the other three workers had to manually operate the fuel pumps. This was stressful, she admits.
“But I didn’t mind facing all those challenges as the survival of my family was my top most priority,” she says.
Today, 25 years on, Jayantha has educated her children. She has found her two sons employment and seen her daughter married. “I sent all three of them to school,” says a proud Jayantha adding that she even bought her younger son a three wheeler from her EPF contributions.
“Those days, buying a three-wheeler was something that we could never think of as we were leading a hand to mouth existence. Today my elder son is in the army,” she says. Adding that she is very content, Jayntha says she now enjoys the company of her grandchildren. “My children want me to stay at home and relax now, but I am going to work as long as my service is needed here.”
Her humble abode is situated in close proximity to Bandaragama- along the Medagama- Piliyandala Road. Her face lights up as she speaks about her home- the home she built with her hard-earned money. “I saved every cent to build that house,” she says.
Jayantha named her house “Dhairrya” - to indicate all the effort she has had to put in for many years to transform her small shack into a decent home. And still she soldiers on –braving the challenges life flings at her; the most remarkable of them, taking on a man’s job 25 years ago. |
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