Senior Multimedia Reporter
radhica.sookraj@guardian.co.tt
Heavily pregnant and now without a roof over her head, 26-year-old Faith Noray faces the heartbreaking reality of bringing her unborn baby into a world where they have no home.
She and 12 other people from Steve Achaibar Street, San Fernando, were evicted on Thursday, as the Government pressed on with the San Fernando Waterfront Project.
Clutching her belly, Noray looked to her boyfriend, Brandon Brown, for some glimmer of hope. Together, they sifted through the baby clothes they had so carefully chosen.
With tears streaming down her face, Noray whispered, “I’m just praying that the rain doesn’t fall and wet all my baby clothes.”
The four families had received a ten-day notice of eviction before the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) crew arrived and knocked down their doors.
The splintered remains were tossed into a towering pile of rubble, while the residents frantically stuffed their few remaining possessions into garbage bags.
Showing a document dated 2004, Brown said some of the relatives have occupied the land since 1978.
He added that since the waterfront project began, their lives have been in limbo. Saying they didn’t expect eviction, Brown said ten days was too little time to move. He noted that he had been working long hours trying to improve their home in time for the baby, who is due next week.
“I cast the floor. But what is my position now? To live below an almond tree. The police say we will get locked up if we go back inside the house,” he said. Having purchased new items for his unborn child, Brown called on the Government to have a heart and provide proper compensation and accommodation for them, rather than throwing them out into the cold.
“I want to send a message to the MP that this is wrong. You cannot pursue a situation like this and come ten or 12 days later to throw us out with nowhere to stay. We’re living here on a lease. We help the Government, but now that they’ve done this, what are we assisting them for?” Brown questioned.
His neighbour Parbatie Ragoonanan said the eviction crew came as a surprise.
“I was asleep, and they came and knocked down the house. Police and HDC banged on the wall and said they came to evict us. They put all our stuff outside the house,” Ragoonanan recalled.
Robbie and Nicolette Ivan, who have been living at Steve Achaibar Street since 2004, said they, too, had nowhere to go. Ivan, along with his niece Sheryll Ragoonanan and her brother Anthony Charles, tried to salvage their possessions.
Living in fear, the families called on the legal fraternity for help.
Noray, who is due to give birth next week, said the distress was taking a toll on her health. She said their homes and the land did not belong to HDC, so they were puzzled as to why HDC officials were present during the eviction.
Contacted for comment, the HDC said it is aware of the concerns raised by residents who have been evicted along Steve Achaiba Street in San Fernando.
"The HDC understands that the residents have since re-entered the premises and taken up residence in their original houses. The HDC will investigate the matter to determine the cause of the evictions," the authority said.
The waterfront project is ongoing and several squatters have been served eviction notices.
Reclamation work on 3.8 hectares of land at King’s Wharf North Node in San Fernando started on July 20. The residents affected live within walking distance of the reclamation project.