Sue Marie Ram­per­sad and her ail­ing son Aaron Hamid are thank­ing the pub­lic for an out­pour­ing of help.

But al­though they have re­ceived gro­ceries, cloth­ing and oth­er sup­plies, they are still in need of ma­te­r­i­al to re­build their ram­shackle home at North Trace, Hin­dus­tan, Table­land.

Ram­per­sad said of­fi­cials from the Land Set­tle­ment Agency vis­it­ed their home and promised to lend as­sis­tance. She said of­fi­cials from the Na­tion­al Self-Help Com­mis­sion were al­so ex­pect­ed to vis­it.

Yes­ter­day, a group of vil­lagers broke down one part of the house to make way for a new struc­ture. But Ram­per­sad said they were in dire need of ce­ment, con­crete blocks, elec­tri­cal, plumb­ing and roof­ing ma­te­ri­als.

In a voice tinged with op­ti­mism, Ram­per­sad said she was pray­ing that with a lit­tle sup­port from every­one, she will achieve her dream of hav­ing a prop­er house for her son, who suf­fers from a rare blood dis­or­der called haemophil­ia.

“Since the sto­ry was pub­lished, peo­ple have called me from all over of­fer­ing help and I am so hap­py. I feel so blessed that peo­ple are will­ing to help. I want to thank God and the pub­lic,” Ram­per­sad said.

Once her prop­er­ty un­der­goes prop­er mea­sure­ment, Ram­per­sad said she aims to kick-start con­struc­tion us­ing the do­na­tions she has col­lect­ed.

Cur­rent­ly, the fam­i­ly’s ply­board house is plagued by a leak­ing roof, an ab­sence of prop­er san­i­ta­tion fa­cil­i­ties, and a dan­ger­ous­ly rot­ting floor that could give way any time.

The un­bear­able heat in­side the house of­ten forces Aaron to re­main con­fined to his bed. Ram­per­sad said his joints of­ten swell and the pain is un­bear­able.

Any­one want­i­ng to as­sist Ram­per­sad and her son can call 371-6058 or make do­na­tions or do­nate to Re­pub­lic Bank, Princes Town Ac­count Num­ber #630064391031.