HELL IT IS

AS a recent thunderstorm broke through the evening skies and tumbled showers on the burnt-out building located at Weymouth Drive in St Andrew, Pauline Grant, 50, and her daughter Debbie-Ann grew increasingly worried.

The two scrambled to find shelter under the rusty piece of zinc that hung from the top of the roofless structure, but it was no use. They got soaked anyway.

Pauline Grant and her daughter talk about life in the burnt-out building.

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Police report that a fire gutted the five-bedroom dwelling in which the two lived, in November 2010. The cause of the blaze has not been ascertained, but the unfortunate incident has left Grant, a former teacher, and her daughter roaming the streets.

To avoid embarrassment, they sometimes stay at the house during the days and secretly sleep on the floor of a Kingston church in the nights. When there are late night services there, however, the mother-daughter duo are forced to spend the night under a bus stop.

“We used to stay at the house day and night, but have decided to do otherwise,” said the mother, adding that she has in the past come under attack from criminals who have threatened to rape them both.

Grant said that since the incident, she has tried to get help by highlighting her plight, but nothing has been forthcoming.

“We are desperately seeking help; we are on the point of giving up,” said the mother, desperation evident in her eyes.

While pleading for help, Grant said that it has been several days since she and her daughter had eaten a hot meal and they were not sure when next they would be able to fulfill the basic need.

“It has been several days since we eat anything,” she said, with a look of distress on her face.

“Going days without food is nothing new for us. Sometimes we are forced to go out to the nearby plaza to beg and hope that a Good Samaritan come to our assistance,” she said.

But she said that there are days like a few Fridays when the two were just too weak to go out on the road.

Grant insists that she was not seeking any handouts, but that she is willing to work in order to survive.

She reveals that she makes and sells handbags, but because she is now without a machine, business is slow.

“If anyone out there could provide some assistance to buy material to make my bags, I am convinced that I would be able to make ends meet,” said Grant.

She is also asking for someone to assist in refurbishing a section of the burnt down house so that she could rent one of the rooms to earn a living.

She also stated that her daughter is an artist and a song writer who would love to get some form of assistance to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor.

Grant said that she has been married for 20 years, but claims her marriage had fallen apart after she had to be separated from her husband whom she described as a drug addict.

She also has two other children, one of whom ran away after the fire and the other has been staying with friends. Debbie-Ann has opted to stay by her mother’s side.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Mother–daughter-living-in-hell_14243623#ixzz2UOxqDCkd