Social activist Andaiye yesterday said she was still unsure about the origin of the fire that devastated her Bonasika Street, Section K Campbellville home.
She told Stabroek News that she was yet to speak to the four children who were in the bottom flat of the two-storey house when the fire started on Thursday night. The children and their mother, Red Thread activist Joy Marcus, occupied the lower flat while Andaiye, her father Dr Frank Williams, 93, his caregiver and her daughter, occupied the upper flat.
It was the children’s screams that had alerted Andaiye to the fire, which spread very quickly. She was unable to save anything.
Speaking from a neighbour’s home yesterday, she estimated her losses in the “millions,” while noting that the lower flat was destroyed while the floors of the upper flat were extensively damaged. While nothing in the upper flat burnt, most of it was damaged by water and smoke.
Andaiye was still hoping to retrieve some of her historical documents and many paintings her family gathered over the years. But said she does not hold “much optimism.”
Asked about her father, Andaiye said he “seems to be better than the rest of us.” She added that a neighbour has offered Marcus and her children accommodation and she has many friends who have offered her accommodation as well.
