ST Elizabeth farmer Fayona Moxam is at her wits’ end. Hurricane Melissa didn’t just flatten her pumpkin and cucumber crops, it also damaged her four-bedroom house, forcing her to convert her small shop into a makeshift bedroom in the community of Ridge Pen.

The counter where customers once stood to purchase items is no more, and the shelves that once held merchandise are gone. Instead, the 42-year-old has cleared enough room to accommodate two beds for herself and her three children.

“A just the farming I do for a living and run my little shop. And see, I have turned my shop into a house,” Moxam told the Jamaica Observer last Wednesday while workmen were repairing sections of the shop in an effort to create more space for the family.

“We build back something on it to see if we can get space. As you can see… there was a joint there, but it blew off because of Melissa, so we a join it to get some more space; it [is] too clustered,” added Moxam.

She pointed out that four bedrooms were damaged by the wind and rain associated with the Category 5 storm and she lost four mattresses along with appliances, furniture, and clothing for the family.

“Eight of us live here. Some have to beg a little kotch, but I decided that I’m not leaving from here. So, me and my three kids stay in there,” Moxam told the Observer.

She said she had about half-an-acre of pumpkin planted, which she expected to reap in January, but the entire crop was destroyed.

“I have another piece of land where I plant cucumber — that’s destroyed. Never get anything to sell,” Moxam lamented as she pointed out that she had about half-acre of cucumber that were to be reaped in November.

Farming has been Moxam’s main source of income for the past three years, supplemented by her small shop.

“From 2022 is this me do for a living and run my little shop, take care of my family… and I get this destroyed,” said an emotional Moxam.

She said the scale of the damage has taken a mental toll on her.

“I feel bad, bad, bad. I don’t know how to explain myself right now… Melissa did a lot of damage to me and it affects me sometimes. When I look and see, and no help or nothing,” said Moxam who also lost four kits during the storm.

“Same time when Melissa start blow, them [rabbits] have baby and them dead. Four of the kits dead same time, coop turn over. Everything,” she said.

Moxam said assistance from entities such as the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) has been slow.

“RADA come here about one week ago say they would call… but no call from them,” Moxam said. “Same last year I lose my greenhouse; not a thing I don’t get back,” Moxam said, even as she acknowledged that she has received some help.

“Sometimes people come and give me two piece of clothes because everything is destroyed,” she said.

But with no electricity and significant damage to her home she said the family will not be able to host their usual Christmas gathering.

“It feels bad because you know normally, at this time, we are planning to keep our Christmas party; now it can’t happen because we lose everything,” she said.

“The kids, they lost school stuff, everything. A plain clothes them have to wear go school,” Moxam said.

Fayona Moxam points to her rabbits in a coop. She lost four kits during Hurricane Melissa

A workman helps Fayona Moxam repair a section of her roof as she tries to get more space for herself and her three children in Ridge Pen, St Elizabeth.