The Literacy Review - Gallatin School of Individualized Study - New ...

Going to the River to Wash Clothes
Velma Noel
26 Remembering
When I was a little girl back in Grenada, I used to go the river and wash my clothes
with my sister Cecilia. I used to wash all my family’s clothes with my hard soap and my
scrubbing brush. I used to scrub, scrub, scrub hard on the clothes until the dirt got out.
I did enjoy going to the river and washing with my sister. When we got to the river, my
sister and I would talk about what we wanted to be when we grew up. We used to talk
and laugh and tell each other stories. There was a mango tree by the riverside. I used to
climb on it when it had ripe mangoes. My sister would say, “Tomboy, come down from
the mango tree,” and we would laugh because in my country only boys climb trees. We
used to have lots and lots of fun together, my sister and I, going to the river to wash
clothes.
Originally from Grenada, Velma Noel emigrated to New York 14 years ago. She has
four children. She studies at the Central Learning Center of the Brooklyn Public Library,
where her tutor is Rochelle McNeeley, the literacy advisor is Susan Knott, and the site
supervisor is Winsome Pryce-Cortes. She writes, “I feel very happy about myself and all
the improvements I am making in reading and writing.”