“When I see the land and saw where it was, I felt like instantly a part of me died. I wanted to scream. I wanted to roll up on the floor, everything in one. I was so emotional but I still had to hold my tears and when I look around at where the Ministry of Housing want me live I just couldn’t…,” her voice broke as she spoke.
“The land was so low it was flooded with water. I have one neighbour and the other side of the land was just a foundation. When I look around, I feel like if I am in a jungle, surrounded by monsters. There was a lot of abandoned houses, Food for the Poor houses. You see, people used to live there but they just abandon the houses. And at the back of the land was a bamboo jungle, like all you see is bamboo plants and nothing else. I was scared just looking at it.”
The words of a 44-year-old woman who was taken to see the land in Westminster she had paid $100,000 for as a low-income single parent. She had been very excited to be chosen to benefit from the government’s Core Home Support initiative, which would have seen her paying another $100,000 and getting a roof over her head. Under the initiative, 150 low-income families are to receive new 20-ft x 20-ft move-in-ready, two-bedroom, concrete houses equipped with the basic utilities: water and electricity, which can be expanded over time. The homes are being constructed under the auspices of the Ministry of Housing and Water and beneficiaries are only required to contribute $100,000.
She is cognisant of the fact that some may say that she should just be grateful and accept the land and benefit from the initiative.
“I know what people are going to say, but you have to see that place. I was so shocked that I forget to take a picture. I cannot live there. It is not safe for me and I cannot carry on any business there. I know how some people would look at it, but I really can’t live there,” the woman said, and this time tears rolled down her face.
When she first applied for land her two youngest children had just entered their teens; today they are both young adults. The mother of four said she wanted to share her experience because she wants officials to be careful when they are allocating land and not just “dump people anywhere”.
“That area is almost abandoned because most of the houses are abandoned. The street is in a terrible state, the vehicle had to stop and we walked in and like grass growing on the street and all, it was terrible. And then the bamboo at the back… when I look at the bamboo is like I just want to run away because it so scary,” she continued.
“I does do a lil catering, that is how I does survive. Now even if I want to do a business you cannot do it there because is no customer in the area. And the few people that are there, I am not being judgmental or anything, but it is clear that you will get rob of your lil $20. They ain’t look like they have job or anything, just lurking around,” she added.
Applied in 2010
“I applied for this land in 2010 and in 2013 they called and said I got the house lot and I had to pay $100,000. I pay down $30,000…,” the sister said.
She had an unfortunate incident in her life which she shared with me but I decided not to include here. However, it was over two years later that she managed to make another payment. In February 2020 she finally managed to pay the balance.
“From 2020 to this year I keep going to them for them to show me the land because even though they give a receipt saying I pay for this land I never see the land. They keep saying they would show me the land and then it was after the pandemic. I keep going to them month after month and nothing and they never called and I just ease up going,” she explained.
“Then I see the core house thing and I say I would make a try for it. So I go and I apply and take the interview. I explain to them that I never see the land and I does do catering. They said to show the receipt that I done pay and once I get approve Housing will show me the land.
“I get interview in February and I waiting and is last month I get a call that I get approve. I tell them that I still didn’t see the land and they say contact Housing. I tell you I was so excited because I say finally I would own me own house and you know what that mean, eh?
“So I called someone I knew at Housing and he did the enquiry and he told me when to go. So I went and the surveyor asked if I had the receipt and we proceeded from Housing to the west side to Westminster.
“When we go now is to see where I get, I was so disappointed like, really disappointed. After waiting for years to see my house lot that is what I saw, the jungle side.
“I was supposed to go back to the core house people when I come back but I was lost… I feel like I was running mad. I wanted to cry since when I see the land, but I was shame because the surveyors were there,” the mother of four told me.
“You know when I got the call from the core home people I was so happy because I felt I would get something from the government after waiting for so long, you know, I would get a house. But when I saw the land is like everything came tumbling down, all my hope and dreams. I feel real violated it was really, really hard for me.
“If I did get that land when my children were teenagers and I used to work for long hours I couldn’t go there either. The Housing people have to think about them things, is not safe out there.
“At this stage where I a little more stable I still cannot do it on my own and I don’t have a job. I does survive on the lil catering but I cannot do that there. No customer would want to come there and I can’t get customers at the back there.
“So you know I ask them to relocate me and I just hoping something work out for me. I started that with immediate effect because I am not going to put my life in danger to go and live there,” she added.
I asked what she wanted to say to the officials at the Ministry of Housing.
She replied: “That they need to look into the single mothers situation not because we don’t have a good income that you just take us and dash us anywhere. We are human beings. I know that my children are big but I am still single and I would be living alone. I cannot live there. It is unsafe.
“If you put us in places like that, you are putting us to get taken advantage of because I can see that is a dangerous area.
“I can see if I put one stick down today and tomorrow I go to put half a stick that the one stick would not be there. That is how rough that place is. And I cannot try to do business there at all, not now and maybe not never.
“I am so very disappointed after waiting so long and that is what I get from Housing. I don’t think it is fair.
“And I have no family over there. I would be away from all my family members and not even my children would want to come and visit me because they would be scared and they would not want to send my grand babies because they would say it is not safe,” she said, crying again..
“I would just be isolated. You see that day when I see that land lil bit more I wanted to tell them surveyors to call mental the health and tell them they have a woman who is mentally unstable and come and get her that is how I was feeling,” the frustrated woman said.
“I living on the East Coast and you are taking me away from all my family and putting me in a jungle where it is not safe for me at all.
“I am not afraid to work hard for my house but you cannot put me in an unsafe environment. You setting me up for failure or death.
“Still, I have hope of making it in this life. I cannot depend on my children because they have children too but I want to be given an opportunity to get it done. That environment there, no matter how careful you are, you would not be safe and that is just the truth. I just want to beg and plead with the Housing people to give me a piece a land where it is safe, that is all I am asking.”
I will continue to follow this sister’s journey as she attempts to own her own home. Some may not agree with the sentiments she expressed and may say that she is lucky. But I saw the fear and pain on that sister’s face. She just wants an opportunity to make it and from all indications moving into that area is not going to make her life better. To own a piece of land and build a house in Guyana is difficult for most people. I recall interviewing a woman who had to walk through slush and mud to fetch in her building material to build her home. Many times she was faced with losing most of it because of theft. The struggle is real and I just wanted to share this sister’s experience thus far. I do hope her appeal to be relocated is favourably considered.
