Yamkumeram Bissoon, a mother of six children, of Lot 3 Phase Two, Good Hope, East Coast Demerara, is now the owner of a brand new two-bedroom home thanks to Food for the Poor (FFTP).
Bissoon, whose one-bedroom house was devastated by fire on April 15th, 2014, said in a FFTP press release that even though her house was very small, she lost hundreds of thousands of dollars as it was well- furnished with a variety of household items and appliances.
Bissoon said the acquisition of the home would assist the family immensely. She further stated that without the assistance of FFTP she wouldn’t have had anywhere to stay and was extremely grateful for its intervention.
Bissoon also received three mattresses and a five gallon bucket of paint to spruce up the interior of her house.
The release said that FFTP’S housing project consists of two-bedroom wooden structures constructed free of cost for very poor families.
Over 3,000 houses have been built so far in and across the country, the release said.
Bissoon had related to Stabroek News that around 7:00 pm on the day of the fire she left her home to go and bathe at a neighbour since her water was cut off and she told her son to light a candle.
“While I was bathing somebody ring my phone and said fire inside my house that it was burning down” she said, noting that she had to have a boy in the village break down her door because her children were trapped in the house.
“All of them were sleeping…one of them said that he felt the heat and when he open his eyes he see the fire,” she stated. Bissoon said she had no electricity and was using candles.
Residents in the area had said the fire service took an hour to arrive at the scene by which time the house was already flattened by the flames.
Bissoon lamented that she has been the sole provider for her family since her husband got sentenced to prison for chopping her. “It’s really hard on me… I have to take care for all of them.”
