AS TOLD TO BC PIRES
My name is Rhonda Peters and I am an oncology nurse.
I reside in Maraval. Born and bred and stayed. All 46 years.
I live in Boissiere, technically an East Indian community. I guess that influenced my love of curry. Every Hindu this or Muslim that, you were in it, even if you were Christian.
I grew up like the last child: I was the first grandchild. ‘Cause my dad had me when he was a little young.
I grew up calling my grandmother on my father’s side Mom. That’s why I (feel) like the last child in my dad’s family.
My dad is the only one who passed away, unfortunately.
And he had cancer. So God knows what he’s doing, because he put me in the oncology field just before my father died. He prepared me before my dad went.
I couldn’t
do anything hands-on per se because of family relation, but I was quite instrumental in directing his case.
He had concurrent chemo/radiation and, after finishing all that, he died of a heart attack.
I have two kids, my son Anthony, 24, and my daughter Azaria, 13.
I’m not in a relationship but I am exploring. I’m not settled yet.
I attended St Ursula’s Girls’ Anglican Primary and St Francois Girls’ College. They used to call us the Black Convent.
But I got the “Corn-vent” accent from a grandmother who instilled proper English. When you said, “Something chook me,” she would say, “What is chook? Spell it!”
She always wanted to be a teacher.
It was hard for her that my dad went before she did, but she’s still going strong.
When I was in form two, I was the youngest member of the student council. And I was the youngest vice-president.
I was a little tomboy. Still am. Kinda.
My grandmother Pearl always told me: teaching or nursing, but nursing wasn’t my first choice.
As a child, I used to help out in my parents’ business. Put T-shirts on screen boards. Take them off, put them on the drier to dry. I grew up in the world of art, the world of screen-printing, the world of Carnival. We did a lot of prints. Back then, mas wasn’t so automated.
When my father was diagnosed with cancer, I was actually doing oncology.
He came back from a trip to China with a nosebleed. We took him to Dr Juman.
I would agree I did him a service. The student became the teacher. The daughter became the parent.
[caption id="attachment_978395" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Rhonda Peters believes being in oncology gives her better appreciation of life. - Mark Lyndersay[/caption]
Most nurses will tell you they had a love for nursing. That wasn’t it for me. As a tomboy, I wanted to be an architect. Or the first (sic) female airline pilot.
But nursing was financially feasible. As much as my parents had business, I always thought there might be a Great Depression. And you
always need a nurse.
I am a believer, a Pentecostal. I can square a loving God with the level of suffering I see every day. Because I also believe that everything happens how it has to, if you trust what God is doing. After a test there is a testimony.
Nobody wants to have cancer. Nobody
