Patrick Campbell/Freelance Photographer
Beatrice Powell sits in front of her dilapidated house in Waterloo, Santa Cruz, St. Elizabeth. Roy Sanford, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
A BROKEN-DOWN wooden shack with dirt floor is no place for any human being to live, let alone a senior citizen. However, that was the condition of the residence of 80-year-old Beatrice Powell, until the citizens of Waterloo, Santa Cruz, came to her aid.
Since her husband died about four years ago, Mrs. Powell has lived alone in a barely habitable room. Her daily existence has been sustained by Dawn Poyser, who gives the old woman food and other necessities every day.
"She comes to my house everyday and I give her everything she wants," Poyser told The Gleaner.
She said that one day she went to Powell's home and what greeted her eyes shocked her. "I saw her sitting in a corner and it grieved my heart," she recounted. "No human being should be living in such a condition."
She said that the wooden house was literally falling apart, there was no floor and there was a huge ant nest in the roof. She added that when it rains there is no place to shelter, except in the corner. "Whenever it rains, I fret because I know her situation," Poyser said.
She said that she decided to ask the Councillor for the area, Stallyn Brown, for assistance. Mr. Brown said that when he went to visit Mrs. Powell, tears came to his eyes. He described the house as "horrible".
"I said to myself, I cannot allow this woman to continue living like this, because no human being should be living in such a state," he remarked.
Spurred on by the senior citizen's desperate need, Mr. Brown began buying cement with his own money with the intention of doing some repairs to the dilapidated house. He said he also approached the St. Elizabeth Parish Council which donated some sheets of zinc.
He said he approached some members of the Waterloo community and they expressed their willingness to help build a new house for Mrs. Powell.
Construction of better accommodations for Mrs. Powell has started, but financial difficulties are posing a problem. "If we had the money we would simply employ someone to build the house," Councillor Brown said.
In order to combat the financial problems, he said that he was going to open an account at a bank in Santa Cruz. He is to hold discussions with the Returning Residents Association of Santa Cruz in a bid to get some funds. He said the group has expressed interest in offering aid to Powell and he welcomed the gesture.
Brown and Poyser are hoping that the project to build the new home for Powell can bear fruit, soon. "It's for her own good," they said.
