Little Maryam’s smile is a beacon of hope in a sea of rubble that looks like a war zone. The three-year-old runs uncoordinated but untroubled, blissfully unaware that a simple stumble could send her careening into a pile of dried, pointed and broken tree branches. If she misses those, the rusted and jagged edges of old appliances and sheets of galvanize scattered across the yard are an even greater peril.
An unusable, seatless metal swing set suspended over broken clay bricks is a macabre reminder that this is no longer a welcomed place for a child.
The wooden shed where Maryam and her family seek shelter groans with the high breeze, warning of a possible collapse.
Yet still, the child plays. This is her home.
Her mother, Alisha Ali, 46, is aware of the chaos around her and the directions to their Charlieville home are more accurate than any navigation app, “Turn onto Jameel Trace, opposite a green apartment building, you’ll find a yard full of rubbish and the prettiest little down syndrome baby living there.”
Maryam is indeed a beauty.
“She’s a jolly baby, I mean just look at her, she’s very beautiful,” Ali said proudly as the child’s father, Imran Khan, played with Maryam.
Ali said before birth, she knew Maryam would have challenges.
“I had an idea that she would have Down syndrome when I was six months pregnant because the anomaly scan showed that her stomach was not connected to her intestines and her two kidneys were swollen,” she said.
Casting a loving but concerned look at her daughter who is still struggling to speak at age three because of her disability, Ali said Maryam has already had to face more surgeries than any child should.
“They took Maryam when she was born to NICU and within 22 hours she had her first surgery where they connected her intestines to her stomach. She was in NICU for about nine days and when she came out, she had an infection and she had to have another surgery, and when she was getting her second surgery done, they cut her liver by mistake and that caused a third surgery,” Ali said.
As a result, Maryam has to visit clinics in Mt Hope and Chaguanas at least three times a week.
“For her thyroid, ears nose and throat, eye clinic, we’re still waiting on the hearing tests. She sees a dietician and that’s all I can remember right now but her development is very slow,” Ali said.
Maryam’s home is not conducive to her development. It’s a sad reminder that sometimes, love is not enough.
“She can’t play outside. It’s infested with snakes, snails, centipedes and scorpions so it’s a lot,” Ali said.
Pointing to dilapidated and faded black water tanks at the side of the house, she explained: “We don’t have clean water all the time. As you can see, we collect rainwater, and I can’t risk emptying the tank although there are mosquito larvae living in it. Maryam has a little rash right now because of the water that we’re using.”
An embarrassed Ali added, “I don’t have a bathroom, I bathe outside. Maryam bathes outside, and in the nighttime, she has belly problems. Sometimes with the surgery, she tends to use the bathroom three or four times a day and it’s risky because centipedes crawl all there. In the night I don’t have a light and candles aren’t enough to see what I am doing.”
The child’s father opened the tap from the tank to demonstrate. Maryam shrieked in delight and ran over to play in the water. It was quickly shut off after Ali reminded him, “We cannot waste this.”
The remnants of a candle, now reduced to an undulated slab of wax in their one-room home are proof that water is not the only amenity the family has to do without.
“It had electricity, but we did not know it was an illegal connection until last week Wednesday and we got cut off,” Ali said.
She pointed out a stove under the shed and attempted to light one of the burners with a pair of pliers and a lighter. After several clicks, nothing happened.
The family of three’s tiny home is a shell—just walls and a roof that they have no claim to.
There is very little money to improve their situation. They depend on Maryam’s $1,500 a month disability grant and most of it is spent on the toddler’s needs.
“I have to get saline drips, sometimes three or four bottles for the week, then she needs a nasal spray and if I don’t get it in the pharmacy, I have to spend $300 to $400 for that. And then I don’t even get clothes, I always ask people for clothes, everything that she owns, nothing is new from since birth actually,” Ali said.
Asked what prevented them from earning an income Ali, nodding to the child’s father, explained, “Well for him, he had gotten shot a few years ago and he was in a lot of clinics as well. He gets seizures a lot. He’s always looking for jobs, just recently he was working, and he got a seizure on the job, and they let him go and then I cannot work, I am Maryam’s full-time caretaker.”
Here Ali paused, and for the first time in the interview, tears welled in her eyes.
“I just want her to see beauty, at least to see a flower, or see something nice, because it’s only rubbish all over. Maryam is so innocent. I even got a hammock tied here but she almost fell in the rubbish. There is literally nowhere she can get some excitement or have something to play with.”
“I feel like I am a failure,” Ali said, choking on the words as they came out.”
Taking a deep breath she collected herself, then added, “I know deep down I am doing my best but I wish I could give her more. At least a proper shelter where she can watch a television, she likes some of these Cocomelon videos to help with her development and learning videos.”
Looking at Maryam lovingly, Ali said, “I just feel like I need a little place to call home for her, where she can play and be herself instead of having to worry that she is picking up a nail, or something will bite her, or this (shed) will fall on her. It really takes a toll on me because every minute I have to be protecting her.”
The family needs a new home, supplies for Maryam or assistance with accessing water and electricity.
Anyone wishing to assist can contact Alisha Ali at 305-3315 or Imran Khan at 328-3250.
