Andrew Drysdale admits that his drinking, gambling and smoking problems cost him his job, followed by homelessness in December last year.

Now, the 31-year-old is living in a cramped space near the bridge at Washington Boulevard and Red Hills Road, St Andrew. But he is determined to correct his mistakes, get a skill and turn his life around, he says with optimism.

Drysdale, who is from Airy Castle, St Thomas, told the Jamaica Observer last Friday that a friend got him a job opportunity for gardening in Kingston in 2019, and he rented a one-room dwelling to cut travelling cost.

“Mi used to work and all have a room weh mi did rent wid mi girlfriend too. Mi used to come down a morning time from St Thomas, and go up back in the evening and it did a cost me too much,” he explained.

Drysdale said he earned $3,000 daily from his three-day job, which would be used to pay his rent, buy food, satisfy his additions and treat his girlfriend.

Noting that his boss was a frequent traveller, he said before he left the island on December 18 last year, he gave him $30,000 to purchase clothing and other necessities.

But Drysdale confessed that he gave in to his addictions and his life took an ugly turn.

“Mi turn and gamble it out. Mi did a try mi luck fi see if mi coulda win something and mi end up lose everything and mi call him and a tell him everything and him cuss mi fi it and say, ‘Nuh care how mi tell yuh fi stop, yuh nah hear’,” he said, adding that he lost is job.

Without another stream of income to fall back on, Drysdale has been on the street since. These days he can be found crouched under a makeshift room out of cardboard, old cloth, sticks and pieces of clothing.

“Really and truly, mi nuh have nowhere else to stay suh mi just affi gwaan stay here suh until mi get a likkle help. Mi is not a thief, mi is not a killer, mi is not a rapist. Weh mi afi do fi survive is walk and beg something to eat from fast food restaurants. Sometimes mi not even get nothing and mi still affi walk and search fi bottles fi sell and get something fi eat,” he said.

Adding that he depends on a nearby fire hydrant for water, he said, “Mi ketch water down the road. Sometimes fireman dem come and use it and some water trickle out so I use the bottles I have and full it and bathe. Sometimes even three, four days I don’t even get to bathe but mi still a try mi best fi see if mi can survive.”

Despite his current hardships, Drysdale says he is not giving up trying to find a job or learn a skill to improve his living conditions but has no plans to move back to St Thomas.

“The main thing me need is a job and place to lay mi head. If me could get the chance fi learn a trade right now that would be good. Any trade at all — furniture work, painting, electrical, anyone of those,” he said.

Asked why he was not seeking help from his relatives, he said: “My mother died in 2019, and mi don’t know mi fada, a mi mother last name mi get. From mi born and know myself, mi never call a man daddy yet. Mi rest of family dem cyaan help mi because dem poor too. Mi have four brothers and two sisters. Dem have nuff children, and have to fend for themselves and they don’t have any permanent jobs.”

Drysdale told the Observer that he only did classes up to grade nine at Seaforth High School, which resulted in him not possessing the necessary qualifications for a good job.

Just outside the space he calls home, he placed a placard reading: “Please, I’m asking anyone who can help me to get a work or trade.”

Hoping to appeal to church-minded persons, Drysdale said he had learnt a valuable lesson. “Right now mi woulda even baptise because things mi used to do, mi wa fi stop. Maybe if mi did have somebody weh a lead mi and encorauge mi, mi woulda stop from a longer time.”