LOVELY, IF THE GOVT KEEPS ITS PROMISE

Gleaner story leaves family one step closer to a house

Anastasia Cunningham, News Coordinator

Twenty-eight-year-old Denise Chito is finally seeing a light at the end of the dark tunnel she has been journeying through all her life.

Chito is now one step closer to realising her dream of acquiring a comfortable house for her family after she was given a plot of land to lease.

Now, the resourceful mother is working on the structure and some furnishings to make her dream come true.

Badly disfigured since she was 17 – after she was chopped all over her body within inches of her life by a man during a fit of jealous rage – life has been a constant struggle for the determined woman.

In December last year, The Gleaner highlighted her plight and need for a comfortable, secure dwelling for herself and her family.

For too long, Denise, her three daughters – Faith, 2, Dejeanai, 5, and Deneisa, 7 – and common-law husband, Raymond Campbell, have been forced to survive in a small one-room house in Kingston, all sleeping together on one bed.

The extreme discomfort and squalor of the dwelling has been very depressing for the family.

Now, just over three months since her story was published, the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing has leased her a plot of land in West Albion, St Thomas, at $3,335 per month.

Denise has already paid down three months’ lease and the required fees and will soon finally hold the lease agreement in her hands.

“I feel good about it. I feel really good about it. Now I can see I’m making headway,” she said.

“My older daughter say, ‘Mommy, me can’t wait to move’.”

She said the housing ministry also told her it would be making an application to Food For The Poor to assist in getting a house for them.

Never allowing her disability to interfere with her determination to be self-sufficient, Chito has been earning a living by selling snacks at her gate, while Campbell does the occasional contract work.

With their hearts full of hope, the family is encouraged that it won’t be long before they will finally move into their comfortable dream home.

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