(Jamaican Observer) At nights, four children — ages two, three, seven, and 12 — are sent to stay with relatives and sometimes neighbours while their parents, Marlon Buckley and his sister Nicole Panton, make do with donated mattresses on the floor in a room stained by burn marks.
It has been like this for over a year for the family, as they struggle to rebuild following a devastating fire that razed their three-bedroom home in Boston, Portland, last year April.
Buckley, father of the two-year-old and the seven-year-old, explained that the family has made substantial efforts to rebuild, but was forced to pause since December last year due to a lack of finances.
“It nuh easy. It’s eight months now that we reach this point and had to stop. All now we cyaan move. The condition of life bad. It’s not possible for us to do anything because it nuh easy right now,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
“The problem we have is the rain, and we are outside. We have to be out a door and each time you see the rain, you have to be looking to see which part to go. The whole circumstance at the present moment nuh easy. Nothing nah generate right now. We only hope there is help from some place, wherever it may be,” Buckley said.
The official report of the tragedy states that on April 20, 2020 the fire department received a call about 8:25 pm and dispatched a unit from Port Antonio to fight the blaze. A unit from Buff Bay was also called to assist.
“Everything gone. Nothing was saved. We couldn’t face that type of fire,” he said.
“The firefighters told us that it was an electrical problem. The fire run from one part of the house to the next. All three bedrooms, living room, dining room, bathroom and kitchen burnt,” he explained.
Since then, the family has been trying to make ends meet by doing small-scale farming at the back of the house.
“We raise two chickens so we can feed off that. We have two breadfruit on a tree, two June plum, two plantain and two banana, so we piece everything together,” he said, adding that among the concerns foremost on his and his sister’s minds is the well-being of the children.
“We have three children going to school. The 12-year-old did PEP [Primary Exit Profile examination] recently and him pass fi guh Titchfield, and nothing is prepared for him for school for September. I don’t really know if something will work out for him,” he said in a worried tone.
Panton interjected: “The 12-year-old go through school without books. A just the rental book dem him did get. Him batter out and still pull through. The three of them going back to school and wi nuh have nothing at all. We don’t have any clothes for them and me a start fi fret now ‘bout back to school.”
She added: “We don’t keep the children here to sleep because there is no door. Sometimes we ourselves as adults have to go to other people place. When we sleep here, we just throw a mattress in one of the rooms and sleep. When we do that, we send away the children.”
Buckley and Panton, however, are uncomfortable with that arrangement.
“Right now, where they are, a people kotch dem up fi the time being so they can be under shelter. The pickney dem haffi stay a people place because the facility nuh deh yah so. Me a man… I can stay here and use outside bathroom,” Buckley reasoned.
According to Panton, they are thinking of converting an unused cellar into sleeping quarters. Thus far, she has secured two sheets of plyboard.
“We don’t have any light or water since the fire. I want to get little cement and then a piece of linoleum and we would be comfortable under there. I already buy some plyboard. If I get it fixed up, we comfortable fi the time being. We have two mattress weh wi did get already. We would really be grateful for some help. I want a little help to get back on my foot,” she told the Sunday Observer.
Buckley pointed out that the rebuilding done so far was due to the efforts of the family, including the children who were supposed to be in school.
“It’s just us as the family bring it to this stage. A we do the whole works in terms of repair so far. A we haffi carry wi cement and concrete and do everything on we own. We get help from different people who would come and help for a day. Me, my son, my sister, my sister husband and the little ones… a we do all of this together. We alone night upon day and night upon day again,” he said.
“A man seh him have a toilet weh nah use and him seh we can get it. We need money to transport that here so that haffi gwaan brakes fi a while. We could put it in one of the rooms and drop a piece of zinc over it and use it for the time being,” he said.
Buckley told the Sunday Observer that despite his and the firefighters’ valiant efforts, the family was unable to salvage any of their belongings.
