PICKING UP THE PIECES Fire victims say they are grateful for donated beds
It had been more than a week since several families were displaced following a fire on Sutton Street in Kingston, and some of these persons are still picking up the pieces.
Anthony Brown Senior, who lived with his grandchildren, said that he resided there for more than eight years. He said that he is saddened by the incident because now he has nowhere to live.
With no place to lay their heads, Brown Senior has to resort to getting help from neighbours.
“Mi send me grandkids at another house to sleep, enuh. More time we just have to hang out on the street in the day, and for me, mi just work a night-time fi occupy my time. Mi just haffi get a one sleep here and there because I don’t have anywhere too comfortable to put my head,” he said.
The situation is the same for Marcia Penny, who said that sometimes she sits on the street and sleep. She said that she lost everything in the fire and was only at the location to pick up the pieces.
Their cries from last Thursday did not fall on deaf ears, as Food For The Poor has offered to give them beds.
The residents, who no longer have homes, said that they are very grateful for the beds even though they have nowhere to put them.
HOMELESS
Brown Senior noted that even though he does not have a home, he plans to find a place to rest the mattress because it is the start of something new.
A similar sentiment was echoed by Penny, who said that she is willing to leave the beds with a family member until she gets back on her feet.
“Right now, is a bed bottom and a little fridge me want fi start off with so mi even can do my likkle selling same way. If mi get that, mi know it would be a good start,” she said.
She told THE STAR that attempts were made to get a Food For The Poor house, but those plans were halted because of the unavailability of land.
“They said that we needed land of our own or permission to put a house on whichever land, because they do not want to put a house on a plot of land and then be in problem because we did not get permission and the land is not ours. So, until then, mi just a gwaan do what I have to do,” Penny said.