Single mom finds going tough after fire destroys home
Published:Thursday | February 24, 2022 | 12:06 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Almost a year after her single-room dwelling in the Clifton area of Bernard Lodge in St Catherine was razed by fire, 27-year-old Shadisha Gordon is struggling to generate a sustainable income to feed, clothe, and house her family.
Last March, she lost clothing, furniture, appliances and important documents for herself and her two children in the fiery disaster.
“Right now, dem no have nuh birth paper (certificate) and mi no have nuh money yet,” Gordon told The Gleaner as she reflected on the continuing struggle.
The single mother, who lives in the Dunbeholden area of Portmore, St Catherine, said she has been trying her hands at just about everything to boost her earnings.
With only two clients per month, her initial venture into doing hair proved unsustainable and she became a market vendor, but all the money she earns is swallowed up by food expenses to feed herself and children.
“Me is a girl weh roast breadfruit and sell ackee and dem ting deh, but you know, the season a no fi everything, so things kinda dead ya now,” she said.
Gordon was brought to tears as she related her desperate situation, expressing how difficult things have been as the sole provider for the children, whose father died a few years ago.
“Mi nuh lef mi God, enuh. Can’t lef mi God and see mi here with my Bible. If mi never have God, mi woulda dead,” she said, adding that she also sustained head injuries in a car accident last year.
Gordon has also been having a challenge in sending her children to school as she cannot afford her son’s uniform to send him to the Kingston Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). She is also struggling to find the fare to send her daughter to the Ascot Primary School.
Her children have also been missing out on online classes as she has been without electricity.
Gordon has been unable to have her children enrolled in the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) with their birth certificates destroyed.
Gordon, who currently lives on a parcel of land owned by her late father, has fashioned a one-room shack from wooden scraps on the property and has raised old pieces of bed linen as a cover for the areas that are not enclosed, trying to make do with the bare minimum of basic amenities to carry her through.
With no source of running water, no electricity or other basic amenities, Gordon frequently walks around asking for favours from community members.
Her greatest need right now is to get an electricity connection as she works towards getting a refrigerator and a fan and will be able to iron the few pieces of clothing she has to send her daughter to school.
She is also seeking assistance in obtaining a bed, a dresser, a stove and money to replace her children’s lost birth certificates, which cost approximately $2,500 each, and her son’s uniform.
How you can help
Those willing to offer assistance to Shadisha Gordon can contact her at (876)784-2048.