IN JAMAICA: 'A cry for help' Duncans, Trelawny woman's house falling apart, residents plea for assistance

Paulette Walters (centre) chats with her neighbours
Eartha Johnson (left) and Celestina Gibson in front of her
 rickety house on Monday. (Photos: Mark Cummings)

BY MARK CUMMINGS Editor-at-Large cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com  Thursday, January 30, 2020

DUNCANS, Trelawny — As the nimbostratus clouds gather over the community of Duncans late Monday afternoon, 64-year-old Paulette Walters looked to the heavens and prayed a silent prayer.

Although badly in need of the water - for domestic purposes - that the clouds would produce, she is fully cognisant that a downpour could spell disaster, because if it came, her rickety termite-infested house would undoubtedly be flooded, and cause further damage to her belongings.

But, while her prayer for no rain was answered on Monday, the mother of eight who currently lives in the dilapidated house with his 20-year-old son under less than ideal conditions in the Kettering area of Duncans, has experienced severe discomfort due to rains.

Add cPaulette Walters opens the single 
door to her
dilapidated house
 (Photo: Mark Cummings)aption

“Whenever the rain comes the whole of the inside of it [house] wet up mi and mi son things them, even mi bed and the barrels then dat mi store mi things in… the house really stay bad, but mi can't afford to fix it,” said the unemployed mother of eight children.

She added that whenever it rains she has to “seek refuge” by her daughter who lives nearby.

But staying by her daughter, she noted, is not convenient as she lives in a two-room building with her children and spouse.

Walters' neighbour, Eartha Johnson, told the Jamaica Observer West that the 64-year-old mother is badly in need of a house, stressing that the existing structure in which she has been living for decades is beyond repairs, and could crumble at any time. more