THE family of the 86-year-old Jamaican woman who waited nearly eight months for answers after her renewed passport supposedly went missing en route to the Jamaican Consulate in New York, says the “torture has finally ended for the octogenarian” who on August 2 collected the document following an appeal to the media in mid-July.

The distress of the family members, who described their plight in a letter to the editor of the Jamaica Observer, galvanised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs here, and the New York Consulate into action in a matter of hours, after publication on July 15.

According to the family members, the senior citizen had suffered health challenges after she “endured the harsh and unforgiving brutal winter blast, and some very burdensome travel expenses as she was forced to show up at the consulate on numerous occasions to enquire about her passport”.

They said the elderly woman, who was in good health prior to the start of her ordeal in January, “descended into depression, [was becoming withdrawn, and was feeling more and more dejected”.

The relatives said Jamaica’s Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA) had indicated that the new passport, which was applied for between January 9 and 10 this year, was delivered to the consulate in March. Despite that assurance, however, the relatives said neither additional visits by the elderly woman to the consulate, nor calls had yielded any assistance.

That however changed after July 15.

“On the same day that the article was carried in the Jamaica Observer, multiple calls were made by different representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and from the New York Consulate, making promises to have the missing passport cancelled and replaced within the week. Dismay was also expressed about the negative publicity and its effect on the image of the consulate and the ministry.

“The family was also asked to retract the story on the merit of their verbal commitment to have the matter addressed expeditiously,” a relative told the Observer following the receipt of the document.

The family member said though still waiting to hear word about promises made by the officials relating to compensation for the numerous visits by the elderly woman to the consulate and other costs, nothing can dampen their elation.

“Another commitment that was made by an official from the ministry was that the new passport would be personally delivered to the affected client by a representative from the consulate, after first calling to make the arrangements. Sadly, though, when she was called by the consulate on Thursday, August 1, 2024 to be informed that her passport was ready, the question then became: ‘Will you be picking it up or should we post it to you?’ So, once again, this woman had to undertake additional travel cost to collect her passport. This she did successfully on Friday, August 2, 2024,” the Observer was told.

“We are still to hear if, how, and when she will be compensated given what she expended over the last seven months in trying to get this very difficult ordeal resolved. For sure, the family is not holding its breath for this to happen. We are just exceedingly happy that the torture has finally ended for this octogenarian, and most grateful to the Jamaica Observer for assisting in this process,” the relative said.