HELD HOSTAGE BY SMOKE
AWashington Gardens resident says that for the past 17 years he has been held hostage by smoke whenever the Riverton City dump is set on fire, as the health implications to venture outside his house are severe and costly.
Yesterday, when our news team visited the St Andrew community, smoke from the nearby dump blanketed the sky and the windy conditions which existed made things difficult for Joe Douglas*, who is asthmatic.
Douglas was locked in his house, and his condition was brought to the attention of THE STAR by a group who beckoned to our news team from their veranda.
THE STAR was then invited inside to speak with Douglas, who expressed a desire to move because of the constant nightmares from the dump.
“Mi haffi stay inside. Mi a buy pure pump — see it deh, this one done and me haffi buy another,” he told THE STAR.
“Mi haffi a buy dem, whole heap a something mi get, medicine and all sort a things. A 17 years mi live ya so, and mi a go through it for 17 years.”
Between coughs, Douglas told THE STAR that he has been sick for the duration of his residency in Washington Gardens, which is located close to the dump.
MI HAVE BRONCHITIS
“You see the situation right now, a it mek me sick. Mi have pills like hell. The thing a kill me off, mi want to move. All of a sudden mi have bronchitis, doctor a treat me for bronchitis from the dump was lit last year”, he said.
When asked by our news team how he manages the conditions, Douglas said: “How me, fi manage, me weak so til mi can’t go outside. Right now all the press conference dem a do, that can’t help me enuh. Mi haffi a look fi go back to the doctor. Last time a $15,000 mi spend, the month before that $20,000. Every minute the smoke come up, it bother me.”
Douglas told THE STAR that he is annoyed by the fact that people are starting the dump fires in order to profit from it.
“Dem a try sabotage the Government, but a we the residents, me and my health dem a sabotage. A people ova deh a light it. Nobody nuh fi live or have access to the dump. A garbage, but dem fi secure it. Me spend over $100,000 on medication in recent years because of it,” he said.
“Mi jus waa move from ya so. Everybody a talk bout it, but you have some who scared to speak. Mi want somewhere to lease. Not even fi wash clothes round here nuh nice. Mi can’t put out my whites on the line cause dem black up with debris from the dump weh travel inna the smoke and breeze.”