‘Not even a common pin left’

WESTERN BUREAU:

TWO MONTHS after fire gutted her home and destroyed her sewing equipment and goods in Wakefield, Trelawny, 58-year-old Pearly McLean is facing an uncertain future as she has been unable to make her own living since then.

While showing The Gleaner the charred rubble which the Congo Town house she had lived in for 25 years had been reduced to, McLean was unable to hold back the tears as she recounted her horrific ordeal.

“I am just glad that I am a child of God, and He is the One that is sustaining me. I am glad I am alive, and I just ask God for the strength that I can rise back up,” McLean said solemnly.

Her world turned upside down on the night of November 8, 2022, shortly after 10 p.m.

“I was inside and I was just finishing up some fasting and [online] Bible studies, when I heard a creaking sound. When I heard the creaking, I came down to my grandson's room and I woke him and asked if he heard a sound outside, and he said 'no',” McLean recalled.

“Later I heard a noise again and came back down to check, and I saw the bright light on the verandah, and it was already blazed up to the roof. I woke up my grandson and we ran outside and called for 'Fire! Fire! Fire!',” McLean added.

She explained that although a neighbour came and tried to help her douse the flames with water as others called the fire brigade, it was a futile effort.

Although the fire unit responded promptly, nothing was saved as the inferno quickly reduced the two-bedroom structure, which she shared with one of her daughters and two of her grandchildren, to rubble.

Among items destroyed were equipment McLean used for her upholstery business and goods that she and her daughter had been planning to sell at the 'Ben Dung' market in Falmouth, Trelawny, the following day.

“I had packed my car with everything to go to 'Ben Dung' in the morning. All our goods, including some items that my daughter had in there, like shoes, clothes, the stuff I use to make pillows, shower curtains – a whole lot of stuff which we sell – they all got burned because I could not reach the key to back out the car from the garage,” shared McLean.

“I had two industrial machines because I also do sewing, plus I had my compressor, air guns and a set of drills,” she added. “All my work equipment is now gone, as the fire did not leave me with even a screw or a common pin.”

What made the situation worse for McLean and her family was a report from the firefighters indicating that the blaze had not been an accident.

“One of the firemen told me that it was not an electrical fire, which I knew because I saw the fire on the verandah where there is no plug and we did not light any candle or destroyer coil. So I know somebody threw something there because I had heard the first sound (prior to the house burning down),” said McLean.

“It is not pretty knowing that I don't hurt anyone, I don't do anyone anything, and for somebody to sit and think of this act to do to me, it is really heart-rending,” she told The Gleaner.

At present, McLean is staying at a local church pastor's home while her displaced relatives are staying with another family friend in the community.

A GoFundMe account has also been created by other relatives in an effort to help the family get back on their feet.

However, McLean noted that despite promises, no tangible assistance has come their way to help the rebuilding process to date.

“I am not lazy. I am hard-working and I do not like to just sit looking at others; I always want to work,” she emphasised. “My mother died last year November, and so I don't have anyone else to lean on for support like that.”

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com

How you can help

First name: Pearly
Last name: McLean

Bank name: Jamaica National

Bank branch: Falmouth

Account type: RSV

Account number: 2094573118

Account currency: JMD

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Additionally, persons wishing to help Pearly McLean may contact her at 876-367-6548, or her daughter Natasha Billings at 876-483-2992, or may donate to the family's GoFundMe at https://www.gofundme.com/f/fire-relief-for-pearly-mclean-and-family.