Left in the lurch

Five months after Hurricane Melissa ripped apart homes and displaced families in St Ann, many are struggling to piece together their lives, clinging to the hope that long-promised government aid will arrive soon.

But for some of the frustrated and weary residents, the wait has been too long, and the assurance once given by the Government now feels like an empty promise.

In Roaring River, 32-year-old hairdresser Monalee Campbell had watched helplessly as the Category Five hurricane reduced her two-bedroom board house to rubble, destroying all her belongings in a matter of hours. However, she has started to rebuild on her own.

“Mi nuh get nuh assistance from nuh Government,” the mother of two told The Sunday Gleaner during a visit to her home last Thursday, joking that she thought the news team were government officials finally bringing the promised aid.

“One and two people did call me, and mi get money fi mattress and fi wire back mi house, but to build my house, a mi build my house myself,” she said.

Campbell had wasted no time in putting up a one-room board structure the day after the hurricane had flattened her home.

With the help of her partner, Matthew Piper – a contractor and jack-of-all-trades – she has also started constructing a more permanent concrete structure, which, before the October storm blew plans off track, she had been planning as a gift to herself for her birthday last December.

“Him go work and come home come work on it inna de night, sometimes we go till 4 or after 3 in the morning,” Campbell explained, noting that she had to dip into savings originally set aside for her children’s education and emergencies to finance the effort, along with her “pardna draw” and financial help from Piper.

Asked if normality has returned to her life, she said quickly, “Mi deh back to normal long time; mi save fi rainy day.

“You affi throw a pardna. You affi always a save because the Government nuh reliable. Yes, there are good-hearted, kind-hearted people out there, who will see your story, reach out to you, and give you $15,000 or so.

“But, fi build a house, it tek way more than that. ... One lady called me when I was building this here, and send me £200 [and] I bought 20 bags of cement,” she said.

Still, she expressed disappointment that several months have passed and no official assistance has been offered by the State to assist with rebuilding.

“I feel a way, but you know, inna weh mi live, mi a PNP,” Campbell said, meaning a supporter of the opposition People’s National Party.

“Mi a nuh Labourite”

“Mi a nuh Labourite (supporter of the governing Jamaica Labour Party) so it would a be harder fi mi get help. Mi feel if me did a Labourite, mi would a get likkle more help,” she said.

“One and two people in a mi community squeeze mi something, yes, but dat a when me did wiring up dis after me board it back up and mi buy new mattress and so,” she shared.

Despite her progress, Campbell told The Sunday Gleaner she still needs to concrete the room that her children are using and structure it so that both can be comfortably accommodated, as well as her bathroom and kitchen. She said she would still appreciate state help – if it comes.

“If mi never did have nothing, mi would a suffer. Mi would a leech,” she said. “But me nah si’dung and wait pon dem,” Campbell added while stressing the importance of saving and planning for emergencies.

“You affi save and pu’dung something fi rainy day,” she added.

Since the hurricane, she said, business as a hairdresser has declined, but she praised Piper for helping to keep her afloat.

Similarly, 44-year-old Keneisha McDonald of Windsor said Hurricane Melissa flattened her home, leaving her three children, spouse, and four nieces with barely enough space to live. Only a chest of drawers and a bed base had survived the hurricane’s fury.

“Everything no recover yet,” she told The Sunday Gleaner last week, noting that she had just managed to build back one room. “I still don’t have a kitchen and a bathroom … . It’s been rough. Sometimes I think about it and talk to people … . It was traumatic.”

McDonald said the only meaningful assistance she received came from a friend of a neighbour, who helped with sheets of zinc. She said her member of parliament, Matthew Samuda, had visited shortly after the storm and had promised assistance, but she is still waiting.

“It’s been rough because I am a single mom. Everything a me,” she said.

Asked how she feels about the Government response, she said, “Mi feel all dem do a promise.”

However, she said she continues to hope that assistance will eventually materialise.

“We really need the help,” she said. “A lot of people still don’t recover everything. My cousin house did blow down and him nuh put it up back yet. Him living wid him aunty.”

Remains in disrepair

For 70-year-old shopkeeper Cislyn Tulloch, who lives nearby, the months since Melissa have been equally challenging. Her home remains in disrepair, with a leaky roof and water damage, while she struggles to restore her small shop.

“No, it nuh fix yet. See the house same way. We waiting on some money … . Government say dem a send some money,” she said last Thursday, gesturing towards her damaged two-bedroom board house.

Tulloch shares the home with her daughter, grandchildren, spouse and, more recently, another daughter and her children, who moved in after their own house was damaged by the storm.

She said neither she nor her family has received any form of state assistance since the disaster.

“It hard, man,” she admitted. “The likkle business right now, it wah likkle tings fi build it back up, but nothing nah gwaan.”

The small shop she operates at the front of her home also suffered damage when strong winds tore off sections of the zinc roofing. Though the family managed to nail back the old sheets, the structure remains compromised.

“When rain fall, the place still a leak,” Tulloch explained. “Water come in and wet up we mattress and everything, and we can’t replace it yet.”

Further to that, the family is also worried about land slippage along the side of the house, which is compromising the structure and causing water and silt to seep inside whenever it rains.

“Nothing nah gwaan,” she said. “Life nuh feel normal, but me jus affi gwaan til betta,” the still-smiling senior said, crediting “prayer and talking to God” for keeping her going.

Unlike others, Tulloch said she is not complaining about the lack of support from the Government because “wi affi help wiself”.

However, she remains hopeful that she will receive much-needed assistance to repair her roof and shore up the side of her house to prevent further land slippage.

For Annmarie Young, the story has been slightly different. While she, too, suffered significant losses, including damage to her three-bedroom board house and shop after a huge tree fell on the structure, she credits her neighbours for helping her recover.

“Who fi nail, nail, and who fi board board,” she said, describing the collective effort that allowed her to restore the room that was destroyed.

Citizens stepped in

“We’ve been through a lot, but I am giving God thanks. Citizens stepped in, and mi could even fix up a room,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

“It was very difficult,” Young said. “We never have nuh light and nuh water, and nobody was working, so it was rough. So me just wah big up mi neighbours.”

Young’s daughter also sustained a broken leg during the storm, adding to the family’s challenges. Her daughter, she said, had just resumed working two weeks ago, although her leg, which was broken in two separate places, has not healed completely.

Despite this, the family has managed to repair the damage and rebuild the shop, though restocking it remains a hurdle.

Young also noted that she received some assistance from the Government in the form of materials valued at $70,000, which she used to secure some steel to continue work on a two-bedroom concrete structure she had been building before the storm.

According to her, she would not be prepared if another storm were to strike, and she is hoping to complete the concrete structure, which would be stronger and safer, as the rooms were repaired using the same old boards.

At the same time, Young said things are slowly starting to feel normal.

Samuda, a Cabinet minister and the MP for St Ann North Eastern, was contacted by The Sunday Gleaner for an update on efforts to assist affected residents in his constituency; however, he indicated that he is currently overseas on vacation and would be unable to provide an update until his return.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com