JavaScript is disabled in your web browser or browser is too old to support JavaScript. Today almost all web pages contain JavaScript, a scripting programming language that runs on visitor's web browser. It makes web pages functional for specific purposes and if disabled for some reason, the content or the functionality of the web page can be limited or unavailable.

Sunday, June 15, 2025

Disabled ‘village sweetheart’ cares for blind mother in crumbling home

by

406 days ago
20240505

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Randy Seep­er­sad was born with de­formed limbs, so his moth­er cared for him for most of his life. But now, in her twi­light years, when she has be­come blind, their roles are re­versed, and Seep­er­sad finds him­self car­ing for her in their di­lap­i­dat­ed home, tee­ter­ing on the brink of col­lapse. 

The ply­wood house at Pa­pourie Road, Di­a­mond Vil­lage, San Fer­nan­do, leans pre­car­i­ous­ly. The kitchen is at a per­ilous an­gle, mak­ing cook­ing im­pos­si­ble.

Randy, 55, said he fears that the wood­en floors will sud­den­ly give way, hurt­ing his moth­er. 

“I don’t like to see her suf­fer. She did so much for me, but liv­ing in this house is mak­ing it more dif­fi­cult for her. This will fall any­time. Every time the breeze blows, the house shakes. If a truck pass­es, the house shakes. It is fright­en­ing for her,” he said.

On rainy nights, Seep­er­sad said, they can­not sleep.

“The roof has holes as the gal­vanise is rot­ted, so every­where leaks, and our beds get wet. I have to use bowls and buck­ets to catch the wa­ter from the roof. The floor gets slip­pery when it is wet. It is not easy for us,” he ex­plained.

Their shared toi­let, lo­cat­ed down­stairs, is a daunt­ing chal­lenge for Seep­er­sad who has to as­sist his moth­er down the creak­ing steps.

“I don’t know how much longer this house will hold up. Every day we pray that it will not fall,” he said.

Be­cause they can no longer cook, rel­a­tives bring them food three times a day. 

“The fridge doesn’t work any­more. It’s lean­ing for­ward, and it could fall if any­body walks there. The cup­boards break down, and they sink too. The posts un­der the house are lean­ing, and the boards are get­ting loose,” Seep­er­sad said.

Get­ting a food card has been chal­leng­ing, but Seep­er­sad said he was grate­ful to his rel­a­tives who as­sist them with gro­ceries.

Shirley Boysie said she went blind five years ago af­ter be­ing treat­ed at hos­pi­tal and is now to­tal­ly de­pen­dent on her son.

“My two feet hurt be­cause I have arthri­tis. I can­not see, and if it wasn’t for my son, I don’t know how I would man­age,” she said.

A rep­re­sen­ta­tive from the T&T Chap­ter of Dis­abled Peo­ple In­ter­na­tion­al, Destar Dythe, is ap­peal­ing to the pub­lic to help Boysie and her son.

 Dythe said they were both up­stand­ing mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty who had fall­en on hard times since Boysie went blind. 

“Randy is the vil­lage sweet­heart. He is al­ways smil­ing and wav­ing at his neigh­bours. From the road, the house looks fine, but when you come in­side, you re­alise how bad it is and how easy it is for them to fall through the floor,” Dythe said.

She al­so called on Min­is­ter of So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices Don­na Cox to pro­vide some as­sis­tance to the fam­i­ly.

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


Related articles

Sponsored

Weather

PORT OF SPAIN WEATHER

Sponsored