Some 40 hurricane victims are still housed at the Godfrey Stewart High School in Savanna-la-Mar in Westmoreland.

They number children, including a newborn baby who got sick and had to be hospitalised due to exposure to wind coming through a blown-out window.

Human tragedy

They sleep on classroom desks padded with bits of sponge at the school, which themselves are severely damaged. The homeless victims say officers from the Ministry of Labour and Social Security have interviewed them and examined their decimated homes with a promise to provide more substantial aid, including housing solutions, in November, but they have not received any updates since.

There is a blind man whose condition seems treatable, as he says he once went to a doctor (no idea if it was a specialist) who gave him eye drops, which allowed him to see a bit of light from one eye. He lost his sight due to exposure to high heat at a bakery where he used to work. The man sleeps alone on a dangerously high-class room desk in a drafty classroom, and is in clear need of care, including hygiene attention.

The hurricane victims face other perils, as the cooked meals they received from the World Central Kitchen are inadequate and recently stopped due to competing demands from other communities and apparently from teachers at the school, who they say have commandeered half of the meals. Worse seems to be in store, as they claim the school’s administration says they may need to move as they are under pressure from the Ministry of Education to move out so that the school can reopen.

Patricia Smith Foundation helping

The Patricia Smith Foundation, in collaboration with the Secret Heart Spiritual Church of Jesus Christ in Westmoreland, has provided a converted 40-foot container and a number of four-sided tents on lands owned by Smith in Sav-la-Mar to house victims temporarily.

Smith has spent over US$10,000 (J$1.6 million) on the venture so far and estimates that a further similar amount is needed to provide additional assistance. She also installed toilet facilities and a water tank. The assistance forms the second phase of her foundation’s effort to get the hurricane victims back on their feet, following an ongoing feeding programme, and Dr Smith is hopeful that the help can fill the gap until the State steps in with a more comprehensive and lasting solution.

“I know what it feels like to be homeless. I was homeless at age 10, roaming the streets of Spanish Town. I know hunger first-hand and the despair of loneliness, which haunts me to this day. What will become of the Godfrey Stewart refugees, only time will tell, but we must ensure that they can overcome,” she notes.

She has committed revenues from sales of her life story, ‘I Persist‘, toward the venture and is encouraging corporations and individuals to purchase copies of the book and contribute to her foundation.