A close-up of the house.

SAMUEL PROSPECT, Trelawny

Winnifred Senior's woes started two years ago when fire gutted her house on March 10, 2006.

The fire, which originated from an entwined portion of toilet tissue that Senior lit for use as a mosquito repellent, left Senior, affectionately known to residents here as Dee, and her three toddlers in a plight as all their belongings were lost in the blaze.

Winnifred Senior lifts a piece of plastic which she is placed at the entrance to her house. Her daughter Nageena Douglas looks on (Photos: Alan Lewin)

Since then, she has been living - without any furniture - in a small zinc structure which was used as a kitchen prior to the devastation of the house. She does not have any access to sanitary conveniences.

Unemployed, she has been surviving on the benevolence of her brother and friends in the community.
" It hard and rough because me can't really stay in here," Senior lamented.

Her brother has since assumed the responsibility of the two older children who lived with her at the time of the fire. Her two eldest children have not been living with her for sometime.

" I have five children but only three were living with me. My little boy took sick and the government was coming to take them away after he recovered and left hospital I sent him to my brother who lives in south Trelawny in the meanwhile. Because they come and say we don't have a proper house for the children to live in," Senior told the Observer West this week.

'Dee' explained that she received assistance from a gentleman in Duncans to start a house on the premises but work has stalled since last year.

She explained that prior to the Parish Council elections she was promised assistance by two candidates from the two major political parties.

"People say it seem like them conning me or something because me go to him and him say him making phone call and me don't hear nothing further," bemoaned Senior.
She is now appealing to anyone for assistance to complete the house.

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