The world is becoming more complicated every day. People are faced with numerous trials and tribulations.
I know that God answers prayers and works miracles. I am a walking miracle. He saved my life on many occasions.
Here is my testimony.
I almost drowned at the age of seven years when my parents took my six sisters and me to a beach in Manzanilla. My sisters were sitting on a log in the sea and they called out to me to join them. Just as I was about to sit on the log a huge wave threw me down and I felt myself drowning. My sisters screamed for my father and he swam over and pulled me up by my long hair. He took us home immediately.
I believe that the hand of God guided my father that day.
At the age of nine, I almost died of an acute appendicitis. My father rushed me to the doctor in time, and the doctor advised my father to take me to the hospital immediately to have emergency surgery performed on me, or I would die. Again, I survived.
After graduating from High School, I wanted to work immediately. I always thought that the bank was an ideal place to work because they closed at noon. I sent out applications to every branch of Barclays Bank DCO in Trinidad, but I received no replies.
Just when I was about to give up, I found a letter in the post box from the Couva branch of the bank. The manager had written me to call at the branch for an interview. However, the date of the interview had passed, as the letter was apparently delayed in the mail.
My father, who was a Senior Inspector of Schools, was at home that day and I ran to him and showed him the letter. He read it and told me to get dressed immediately. He said he would take me and explain to the bank manager what happened.
When we arrived at the bank my father approached the manager’s secretary and asked to see the manager. He showed her the letter which she took to the manager. He came out immediately, greeted us and ushered us into his office. My father and the manager had a long chat and in between their conversation, he asked me a few questions. He then told me that I would have to write an entrance examination and the date was set.
I wrote the exam on the said date and was told that I would be advised of the result.
A couple of days later, I was sitting on the porch at home and I saw the bank manager pull up in front of the house. I ran down to meet him. He said that I had passed the exam with flying colours and was required to start work on 3rd May. He handed me a letter of appointment. I was thrilled.
When I showed it to my parents they were pleased, and so were my siblings. However, one of my uncle’s neighbours telephoned my uncle and told him to tell me that I should not take the job. She said that her daughter worked there and after her probationary period was up she was fired.
My uncle told my father what the neighbour said, and my father said to him, “Brenda is very intelligent. Whatever happened to your neighbour’s daughter will not happen to her.” He ignored what the neighbour said and he was right.
I was of the impression that when the bank closed at 12.00 noon, we would be allowed to go home. I was very wrong. We had lots of internal work to do and if the day’s work could not balance by even one cent, we had to stay back and find the error. Sometimes we worked late into the night.
The bank underwent several phases – from manual, to mechanization, to computerization, and I was involved in all aspects of the transitions. Eventually, the bank sold all its shares in the United Kingdom, localized its operations, and changed its name to Republic Bank Limited.
That change brought many financial benefits for staff.
I worked in every department of the bank and was praised by my superiors for excellent performance. Promotions were rapid and I moved up the ranks to senior positions and eventually to managerial positions.
I loved Banking. I loved dealing with customers, granting loans and overdrafts to businesses that improved the community in which I was assigned. I always felt a sense of achievement when I saw the change in the villages or cities in which I worked.
Women were required to retire at a younger age than men. When the time came for me to retire, I felt cheated. My staff arranged a big retirement party for me at a popular restaurant in South Trinidad. Many persons from the Bank’s Head Office attended and paid me many compliments in their speeches. I still felt lost and confused and wondered what was I to do next.
A new bank that had opened up in Trinidad wanted a General Manager.
I did not apply, but out of the blue, the Managing Director called me to ask me to meet him and another director, at a restaurant in South Trinidad to discuss the position. He said that my former Managing Director at Republic Bank Limited recommended me highly. I agreed to the interview.
Over lunch they asked me questions, and my answers pleased them. Before the lunch was over they told me that I got the job, and they would contact me to sign the contracts as soon as they were ratified by the bank’s board.
A couple of months went by and I did not hear from the bank. One day I received a phone call from the Manager of an Insurance Agency. He said that he heard that I had retired from Republic Bank and asked what I was doing at home. I told him that I was dabbling in art and had already framed several paintings. I also told him that I was awaiting a call from another bank about a job offer.
He said that he could offer me a job I could not refuse. Of course I wanted to hear more, and asked him to tell me about it. I was blown away when he told me that I would receive a lucrative tax free income plus commissions in the first year, and thereafter monthly commissions and bonuses. What he said next was unbelievable. I could work in my own time and not go to the office every day. He asked me to attend a weekly meeting at the Agency before I made a decision. I was sceptical about working in an Insurance Company, but I made an effort to attend the meeting the next Monday.
I was very impressed by the format of the meeting and the achievements of the other agents. I was inclined to accept the position as an Insurance Agent, until one of the girls mentioned that I would have to study for the State Licensing exams, for both general and life insurance, and the Life Underwriting examinations. That turned me off, and I headed for the door to leave.
The Agency Manager called out to me, “Are you ready to sign up, Brenda?”
I turned around, walked towards him and the words slipped out of my month, “Sure, I am ready.”
I just don’t know how that happened, but I signed up to be an Insurance Agent.
I started working and studying for the Insurance Exams and I was doing quite well. Two weeks later, I received a call from the Managing Director of the Bank who interviewed me.
He said that my job as General Manager was confirmed by their Board and I could start work right away. I apologised to him and told him that I had accepted another job. He expressed his disappointment, and I wondered if I did the right thing by accepting the Insurance job.
As the months and years went by I realised that taking the Insurance job was the best choice. I passed all the examinations with flying colours. Because of the sales I achieved, I qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table six years in a row. I attended the MDRT conferences in Las Vegas, Anaheim, New Orleans, Colorado, and Toronto, and they were incredible.
My life had taken a turn for the better, but then I was diagnosed with a critical illness. I had ovarian cancer. My doctor in Trinidad gave up on me, and I went abroad to Miami for treatment. The Insurance company where I worked paid all of my medical bills. I recovered miraculously and wrote a book about my cancer ordeal to help people in similar situations. For twenty years, I have been cancer-free.
The book, I am Cancer Free, became an Amazon bestseller. It also won an award in the Reader’s Favorite International Contest in 2018. I also won an award for my sci-fi horror, Zeeka Chronicles, in that same contest. I brought home two awards that year.
I continued writing, and to date, I have published 68 books, 68 audiobooks, and three screenplays.
I won several book awards and International literary awards in several countries.
My Caribbean futuristic sci-fi horror screenplay for Zeeka and the Zombies II, was selected as a finalist in the 13Horror-com Film & Screenplay Contest 2025.
My romance/mystery screenplay, The Gift of Love, was selected in the Quarterfinals Stage 32 + DramaBox Screenwriting Competition in April 2026
When I look back at my life, I see how the job at the bank, the Insurance Company, and becoming a multi-award-winning and best-selling author prepared me for a higher calling. It was as if someone had planned my life, and it was all meant to be. That someone can only be God.
All of my life, I have believed in God with all my heart, his promises, every word written in the Bible, and in eternal life. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour from the time I knew myself.
Brenda Mohammed -Trinidad and Tobago
Award–winning screenwriter and best-selling author.
Founder of How to Write for Success Literary Network.
President of International Chamber of Writers and Artists [CIESART], Trinidad and Tobago