If home is really where the heart is as suggested in the popular saying then the six affected families of the Laing Avenue fire are settled in comfortably and preparing for Christmas. But the cold reality is that this Christmas while they have roofs over their heads as a result of the kindness of relatives and friends, their homes are a fading memory.
Debris enough to fill a small dumpsite still remains as a grim marker of the tragedy that struck on October 10, a tragedy that left death, devastation and despair in its wake. Remnants of a small concrete structure are visible in the ruins — a painful reminder of what was one Christmas ago and just two months back.
Fire, no matter where it strikes, is a heavy blow but when it rips through one home then dances across to flatten four more and partially destroy three others, the severity of the disaster cannot be explained easily. The vulnerability of their apartment buildings was something many of the affected thought of occasionally but never fully understood until the fire.
And on a night when the wind seemed stronger than most, many of them knew it would have taken more than a heavy shower to avert tragedy — it would have taken a prolonged one.
“Had I thought about it? Yes. Believe it would have happened to me? No. But it sure cost me everything I owned,” was how Knight Belle summed up his feeling about the fire and the subsequent destruction.
The soft-spoken miner who occupied apartment 55 recalled he was disoriented on the night of the blaze but mostly in shock. As the fire raged on flattening his home from which nothing was saved, Belle said he stood there and looked on for hours and hours. When the firefighting efforts ended and everyone went away, he was still there standing, staring and unable to sleep.
Since that day, his life has been different so much that he sometimes wonders if it is someone else’s life that he is observing. Belle and his two sons are with a relative while his wife and daughter are with another relative. According to him, it was impossible to be together and now difficult to see each other.
Belle said the holiday season does not help his feelings because families are reconnecting and getting together and his family is wishing for that time again. Every year he recalls the family would have a big Christmas lunch and would invite friends over and pass the day sharing stories of what happened to whom during the year. This year they have a similar plan but this time they are meeting at other people.
“We are grateful for the shelter our relatives are providing but when it is not home it never feels right. If I have one Christmas wish is to see my wife and children happy but I know deep down what is the only thing that will make them happy,” Belle said.
The happiness he referred to is tied to their home being rebuilt. Though he is unable to do anything at this time for a number of reasons, some of which he explained, Belle said he will start rebuilding next year and will hopefully finish in the first quarter of 2008. Currently he is watching his savings and going over estimates.
Belle said government and a few persons have assisted him and the other fire victims. However, he pointed out that he is nowhere near the estimate for rebuilding. Still, he plans to begin the work with the hope that God will provide the other assistance.
Single parent struggle
The single parent life is one Alveena Bowen, another fire victim knows too well. She struggled for 21 years raising her two children and within recent years took on a challenge to rehabilitate a home that was in dire need of repairs. After many ups and downs the work was complete one year ago and she did what every woman in a new homes does, furnish anew.
“It is only because I know who I serve that I am still standing. He keeps me standing I tell you, believe it, believe it,” Bowen said in true Christian testimony style. Not a woman of many words, she stood shaking her head during the brief interview as if testifying in silence.
Then she looked up and declared that God is great. She said God has been gracious to her and that He strengthens her to get through each day. The fire also destroyed all she owned but she is looking ahead, optimistic of a “new day when things will be restored in full with extra”.
Bowen said when the fire occurred she immediately thought of Job in the Bible and reflected on what he endured. As a servant of the Lord, she said that like Job she will endure this and that it will also pass. Her Christian faith is what she attributes to her sanity and still-standing role as a mother.
Shortly after Stabroek News spoke with her contact was made with the Griffiths, who not only lost their home but a member of the household shortly after the blaze. The voice on the other end of the telephone said they would love to be able to share their story but pointed out that everyone is going through an ordeal of their own.
Contact information was not available for two other families.
Rebuilding one
block at a time
“It is a not exactly a home and at times we are seriously inconvenienced but it’s a roof over our heads,” is the description Pastor Carl Peters came up with for what is left of his apartment after the fire.
The perky man of God stood in his doorway clustered with concrete blocks and a few bags of cement among other building materials and related that he never moved after the fire since his bottom flat was untouched. But he pointed out that a ceiling acting as a roof often can sometimes be problematic particularly when the weather is bad.
When it rains and it has been raining a great deal, he and his family of three usually find it difficult to stay in the single space that was once their bottom flat. The flat is now their kitchen, bedroom, living room, dining room and bathroom.
Peters said it is not the best of situations but is still a roof over their heads and for that, he is thankful. He said God has been their biggest supporter and has been at their side since the tragedy.
“Every little assistance we get is because of His grace. I could not ask for anymore from him but strength and he provides that. God has really been good,” the pastor said.
And even without thinking of it, he said, Christmas was on his mind. He said the meaning and reason of the season were still relevant even in the face of adversity. Added to that, his two boys are hoping they will see presents this year. Peters said they understand the tragedy but the children in them still look forward to the presents. Unfortunately he is not in a position to grant them the wishes they have.
Block by concrete block he has been working to rebuild his home. The upper flat, which was completely gutted, is taking shape again but the work is far from over. He said the focus is on completing the job but he is restricted by finances. As the money comes, he is able to get the work done.
He said Christmas is not going to be the same this year but added that his family will get through it smiling and hopeful. Hopeful that the New Year brings health, strength and a complete home.
