RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

With eyes down­cast and hands raised, vi­su­al­ly im­paired pen­sion­er Shirley Boysie thanked God and the Good Samar­i­tans across T&T, who have pledged to help her re­build her home.

“God is good! Thanks to every­one who has been vis­it­ing us. Since last week peo­ple com­ing here night and day. I am so grate­ful. Things are look­ing up for us, and I know we will soon get a new house,” she wept.

Among those vis­it­ing her at her Di­a­mond Vil­lage, San Fer­nan­do home was Gaitri Per­sad of Har­mo­ny Hall, Gas­par­il­lo.

“My heart went out when I saw the sto­ry, and I had to come and vis­it them. It re­al­ly is sad to see how they are liv­ing, and I am so re­lieved and grate­ful that good peo­ple have come out to show sup­port for them,” Per­sad said.

Boysie’s broth­er Sookoo Dook­er­an, 66, who has been vis­it­ing her every day to help out, was al­so full of grat­i­tude.

“I have not stopped smil­ing be­cause our prayers are an­swered. I give thanks to every­one who is as­sist­ing my sis­ter. She has no hus­band, and her son tries his best. We are so hap­py, and they will be in a safe place soon,” Dook­er­an said.

Mean­while, Seep­er­sad said he was thank­ful that his moth­er would soon have a se­cure place to rest her head.

“I wor­ry about her when the rain starts to fall and the house starts to leak. Usu­al­ly, we just stay in a cor­ner to keep dry, but know­ing that she will have a dry place to rest is re­al­ly com­fort­ing,” Seep­er­sad said.

Two or­gan­i­sa­tions, who asked not to be named, stepped for­ward to as­sist in con­struct­ing a low-cost house for Seep­er­sad and his moth­er. A rep­re­sen­ta­tive from one of the or­gan­i­sa­tions said it may take about two months to com­plete the struc­ture. 

Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment Don­na Cox has al­so pledged to in­ves­ti­gate the fam­i­ly’s plight, and a so­cial work­er has been as­signed to the case.

The Trinidad and To­ba­go Chap­ter of the Dis­abled Peo­ple’s In­ter­na­tion­al has al­so vis­it­ed the fam­i­ly and of­fered as­sis­tance.

Guardian Me­dia high­light­ed the plight of the fam­i­ly last week. Their roof is rot­ted and their lop­sided floor teeters pre­car­i­ous­ly. Seep­er­sad and his moth­er de­pend on oth­er fam­i­ly mem­bers for food as they can no longer walk in their kitchen. The posts un­der the house, have leaned and Boysie finds it dif­fi­cult to walk down the creak­ing wood­en stairs to get to the bath­room.

Any­one want­i­ng to help Randy and his moth­er can call 767-6906 or 392-7004.