For over 13 years, Yamanie Bepot has called a dilapidated zinc shack in Ordnance Fortlands, East Canje, Region Six, home. The 35-year-old mother of three struggles daily to make ends meet, often facing days with no food to put on the table.
As the rainy season intensifies, the leaks in her roof and walls only worsen the dire conditions. What was once a move made in hopes of a better life has instead left her battling constant hardships, with no end in sight.
“Life hard; you have to work. I does have to work. When my daughter start to go to nursery school, I start to work. I used to live in a rented house and I tell my husband that we can’t keep living and paying rent all the time. Ah tell him that we got to try to get our own place and then his uncle get this land and give it to him and then the uncle dead and me and my husband wuk and make this lil house and start living in it. He get sick and then he died, so me alone left with my children,” the woman explained.
Previously, Bepot worked by cleaning crabs and doing domestic work to make ends meet but became pregnant with her third child and had to stop working.
She said skyrocketing prices for groceries have taken a toll on her income working at a Chinese restaurant for the past year and according to her the money she earns is just not enough.
On many occasions, rainwater seeps into the house leaving puddles on the floor.
“When me wuk me does save lil money; the floor didn’t have concrete, it was mud so I save some money and concrete it but still when the rain fall snake and so does come in my house. When my husband use to live, he did buy things to start build the house but he didn’t get the title so he couldn’t do nothing, because his uncle dead and he didn’t have the papers. They say that we had to wait for a couple years and then go in, and then my husband end up dying,” she said.
Despite all of the adversity, Bepot said she tries to ensure that her children are happy.
Although just being in an old zinc shack, it is kept clean but the woman said she still has a longing.
“The only thing that me need is a house. I need a nice house and that will make me happy because is years ah living inside this,” Bepot added.
For persons who want to assist her she can be reached on telephone number (592) 641-9145 as she seeks assistance to building a new house or renovate her current home.
