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Close Topic OptionsHiv Mom Lives Off Guanapo Landfill
Hiv Mom Lives Guanapo Landfill - Trinidad, Tobago / Caribbean - Posted: 28th Mar, 2010 - 12:40pm
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Hiv Mom Lives Off Guanapo Landfill
When I read this article I was moved to tears. It is heartbreaking to know some people are living under these conditions in this country.
QUOTE Annmarie Douglas admits to being a sex worker since age 11.
That was when Douglas, now 32, and who is HIV positive, ran away from her home after being continuously raped by her step-brother.
Since then, she has never had a permanent address until now. That is, if one could call the tiny, wooden shack-about the size of a security guard booth-at La Retrate Extension, Heights of Guanapo, Arima, as a pemanent home. She lives about 10 minutes southwest of the controversial Light of the Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ. Douglas has seven children, ranging in ages 15 to three, with an eight-month-old baby on the way.
In order to survive, Douglas heads to the neighbouring landfill almost everyday to salvage any and every thing she can use.
"My house build off the dump because I get all my material there," she said.
"My double-decker bed come from the dump, my small bed come from the dump. I get them bed sheets yesterday from the dump," she added, pointing to a green bedsheet neatly spread on a single bed in the shack.
"Yesterday we got plenty things. I got more sheets and clothes, containers to full water, buckets and a barrel. I get meat as well and that is what I"m going to cook today. The food does be good. Everything does be good, you know. Just the outside is be a little dirty.
"Is years now we eating from the dump and we never get sick and we never dead. So we won't get sick now, we accustomed. It does help we out. It does real help we out, girl," she said.
As her four sons, barebacked and shoeless, played outside the shack, a smiling Douglas, seemingly unbothered by her hardships, said:
"What I go do, I have no other choice. I hustle up in the dump. Just yesterday I was up there. When the baby come I will still go and hustle because I does go and hop truck with my belly."
Douglas said she started squatting at the site about 10 years ago.
"I moved here when the man I was living with died from HIV," she said....
That was when Douglas, now 32, and who is HIV positive, ran away from her home after being continuously raped by her step-brother.
Since then, she has never had a permanent address until now. That is, if one could call the tiny, wooden shack-about the size of a security guard booth-at La Retrate Extension, Heights of Guanapo, Arima, as a pemanent home. She lives about 10 minutes southwest of the controversial Light of the Lighthouse of the Lord Jesus Christ. Douglas has seven children, ranging in ages 15 to three, with an eight-month-old baby on the way.
In order to survive, Douglas heads to the neighbouring landfill almost everyday to salvage any and every thing she can use.
"My house build off the dump because I get all my material there," she said.
"My double-decker bed come from the dump, my small bed come from the dump. I get them bed sheets yesterday from the dump," she added, pointing to a green bedsheet neatly spread on a single bed in the shack.
"Yesterday we got plenty things. I got more sheets and clothes, containers to full water, buckets and a barrel. I get meat as well and that is what I"m going to cook today. The food does be good. Everything does be good, you know. Just the outside is be a little dirty.
"Is years now we eating from the dump and we never get sick and we never dead. So we won't get sick now, we accustomed. It does help we out. It does real help we out, girl," she said.
As her four sons, barebacked and shoeless, played outside the shack, a smiling Douglas, seemingly unbothered by her hardships, said:
"What I go do, I have no other choice. I hustle up in the dump. Just yesterday I was up there. When the baby come I will still go and hustle because I does go and hop truck with my belly."
Douglas said she started squatting at the site about 10 years ago.
"I moved here when the man I was living with died from HIV," she said....
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Landfill Guanapo Lives Mom Hiv
I had tears of joy when I read today in the Express an update on this story.
QUOTE She has dreamt of this day, never thinking it would come true.
Ann Marie Douglas now holds the key to her own home-a three-bedroom Housing Development Company Limited (HDC) $400 a month apartment rental.
"I feeling very, very happy," Douglas said as she wiped the tears from her eyes during an interview at Express House, Independence Square, Port of Spain, lobby last Thursday.
Hugging her eight-year-old son Ishmael James, whom she calls "Cocoa" because of his skin tone, Douglas said a new chapter in her life has begun.
"The first thing I want to do when I move into the house, I want to give God thanks by letting those in church, although I will have to change church now which is small thing, letting them come and bless the place for me," she said.
"I want to continue going to church, growing up my children in the hands of the Lord, the way they are supposed to grow up and change around my whole life. After I make the baby, I will not be hustling in the dump anymore because Social Services helping me to get into the women's programme so I can do something for myself and my children. And things will be different then."
The 32-year-old said she ran away from home at age 11 after being continuously raped by her step-brother.
She has been living in a tiny, wooden shack-about the size of a security guard booth-at La Retrate Extension, Heights of Guanapo, Arima, for the past 10 years. To survive, she turned to salvaging food as well as other items at the Guanapo dump. Her story was first told in the Sunday Express, March 14. She said the positive response she has received since the Sunday Express story has renewed her courage and hope.
Since then, both the Ministry of Social Development and the HDC have come forward to assist Douglas. She collected the keys to her HDC home on Thursday.
With a broad smile showing off perfect white teeth, the elated woman added,
"You know what is the most exciting thing about it, is first time in my life I will be having my own bedroom and one with a toilet and bath. I feel very happy.
Ann Marie Douglas now holds the key to her own home-a three-bedroom Housing Development Company Limited (HDC) $400 a month apartment rental.
"I feeling very, very happy," Douglas said as she wiped the tears from her eyes during an interview at Express House, Independence Square, Port of Spain, lobby last Thursday.
Hugging her eight-year-old son Ishmael James, whom she calls "Cocoa" because of his skin tone, Douglas said a new chapter in her life has begun.
"The first thing I want to do when I move into the house, I want to give God thanks by letting those in church, although I will have to change church now which is small thing, letting them come and bless the place for me," she said.
"I want to continue going to church, growing up my children in the hands of the Lord, the way they are supposed to grow up and change around my whole life. After I make the baby, I will not be hustling in the dump anymore because Social Services helping me to get into the women's programme so I can do something for myself and my children. And things will be different then."
The 32-year-old said she ran away from home at age 11 after being continuously raped by her step-brother.
She has been living in a tiny, wooden shack-about the size of a security guard booth-at La Retrate Extension, Heights of Guanapo, Arima, for the past 10 years. To survive, she turned to salvaging food as well as other items at the Guanapo dump. Her story was first told in the Sunday Express, March 14. She said the positive response she has received since the Sunday Express story has renewed her courage and hope.
Since then, both the Ministry of Social Development and the HDC have come forward to assist Douglas. She collected the keys to her HDC home on Thursday.
With a broad smile showing off perfect white teeth, the elated woman added,
"You know what is the most exciting thing about it, is first time in my life I will be having my own bedroom and one with a toilet and bath. I feel very happy.
TOPIC: Hiv Mom Lives Off Guanapo Landfill