A PLEA FOR HELP - Mother in desperate need of house

It wasn't an easy journey to the house that is occupied by Clover Powell and her two children in Enfield, Gordon Town, St Andrew.

After going through some dirt roads and up a little hill, we made it to the place that she calls home.

The 35-year-old gave the team a synopsis of what to expect, but nothing prepared us for what we saw.

The wooden two-room structure appears to be a delicacy for termites. One of the rooms was occupied by her mother, and the other was shared between her and her children.

"Mi just see it start rotten down," she said.

Powell told The STAR that there are days that she is unable to send her children to school even though she tries to sell necklaces to make a living.

"Sometimes me make it (necklaces) and people don't want it, but I try. I find it really hard to send them to school sometimes, and is people help me out when they can. I really don't want them to stop from school because I want them to have a good education," she said.

rusty zinc bathroom

Powell showed us the bathroom, which was held together with some old, rusty zinc. She admits that there are times that she borrows someone's bathroom, but they have to go to the river to have a bath sometimes.

Zara Samuels, the director of welfare for Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Christians, brought Powell's situation to The STAR because she said she realised the dire situation the mother of two was in.

When Samuels became aware of Powell's situation, she took it to her church conference, and they started to pool resources to help her.

"The plan was to assist her with housing structure; however, after an assessment was done, we realised that we were not able to take on this project," she said.

Samuels told The STAR that she would like other entities to come on board with them to help Powell to get proper housing and a better environment for her children to grow.

"We don't have financial resources, but we can provide labour, or so, because we really want her to get help," she said.

Powell, who has lived at the premises all her life, said conditions at her house are often dreadful when it rains.

"Sometimes we get wet up when we a sleep. Mi affi tek up di pickney dem mattress and put it one side until the rain done. So sometimes, they have to sleep with me on this bed," she said.

Anyone who is willing to help Clover Powell get better housing is asked to call her at 876-464-3632 or Zara Samuels at 876-849-0368.