FOR many Jamaicans May 8 is just another day on the calendar, but for shelterees at Petersfield High School in Westmoreland it marks a long-awaited turning point as they anticipate the end of almost six months of displacement caused by Hurricane Melissa and finally having a place to once again call home.

Currently housed in classrooms on the school’s premises, the residents — some of whom had never been in a shelter before — said they hadn’t imagined they would find themselves homeless and living in a shelter for such a long period.

Jobless and lacking relatives with suitable accommodation to house them, they said attempts to relocate following the passage of the storm yielded little fruit, subjecting them to criticisms, even from students who have been urging them to leave their school compound.

Now hanging on to hope, through the Government’s promise of relocation to suitable housing in under two weeks, the shelterees told the Jamaica Observer on a visit to the shelter last week that they are counting down the days to the restoration of their dignity and praying that the promise of better housing will be kept.

The Ministry of Local Government and Community Development recently announced that all remaining Hurricane Melissa shelterees being housed at schools will be relocated to suitable accommodations by May 8, 2026 as part of an ongoing national recovery effort. The announcement followed unconfirmed reports that individuals in shelters were engaging in inappropriate sexual behaviour in front of students.

According to the ministry, the final phase of relocation is guided by a commitment to restore normality, not only for displaced families, but also for school communities affected by prolonged shelter use. Special priority is being given to residents of Petersfield High, which remains the largest active shelter and currently houses approximately half of all 81 school-based shelterees.

The ministry noted that a range of housing solutions is being deployed to support the transition, including government-procured modular housing units, rental assistance where appropriate, and customised accommodation arrangements based on the needs of individual families.

For Sherese Jones, a first-time shelteree, having a place to call home would mean the world to her and her family. The 22-year-old shared that she and her mother are both unemployed. She was a waitress at a hotel and was laid off following the passage of Melissa. Her mother took care of an elderly woman who died a few weeks before the storm, and neither of them has been able to find another source of income despite multiple attempts.

“It’s not how we would want it, but we have to do what we can,” she told the Sunday Observer, adding that as a once-independent young woman, the worst feeling ever is not having her own space and freedom.

She said the Government’s promise of assistance has given her hope that things are one step closer to returning to normal.

“Me nuh wah go back to any shelter. Shelter life nuh nice, because you see when you nuh used to something, it just nah go nice to you. I used to be able to help myself, but I can’t help myself now because I’m out of a job, so I have to lean on people,” she said.

“Before, life was nice, because I would get days off and I could treat myself and buy any little thing that I wanted, but now I can’t do that. I have to just stay here,” a seemingly defeated Jones added.

She said her new circumstances are further compounded by the fact that she faces verbal assault from students.

“Sometimes the kids will trouble us and a say we need to come out of them school. We nuh pay them any mind because anyone can be in the same space that we in, but them will [be rude]. At the end of the day, we know that the school is for the children, but it makes me feel bad,” she shared, adding that she longs to regain her dignity.

A mother of six, with three children currently living with her at Petersfield High shelter, Tishnae Haywood said she’d made other arrangements to house her and her children but those arrangements turned out to be unsuitable, landing them in the shelter.

“I built a nice ply[board] room, no bathroom or anything, just to start somewhere. We were talking about it and they were saying that is not suitable because if a storm comes anything can happen, so they want to put me in a place where they know that when anything should come I am okay and my kids don’t have to run out and we don’t have to worry about any damage or anything,” she told the Sunday Observer, sharing that shelter life was not her first choice.

Haywood said, while she made arrangements for three of her children to live with their father, she could not secure a space for herself and her other three children. She said she is also unemployed, having to often choose between ensuring the safety of her children or earning an income; her children, ultimately, are priority.

Reacting to the news of better living conditions by May 8, she said she is hopeful for a new beginning. She understands that a permanent solution will not be possible by the deadline, but it does bring her one step closer to having a space for her family.

“I’m looking forward to having my own place…to even put the mattress on the ground, I don’t have a problem. I just want my kids to run up and down in their own little circles and make the noise that they want to make, that’s what I want,” she said.

She disclosed that she has endured multiple failed promises of a better life for her and her children, but she is optimistic that the Government will deliver.

“Mi just ago trust them for now because a nuh them send Hurricane Melissa come here. They are trying to help us in any way they can, so I’m just giving them the benefit of the doubt,” she said.

Until then, she pleaded with Jamaicans to be kind to shelterees, noting that the criticisms she’s faced since the storm have been unbearable.

“We are trying. A lot of us cannot work because we are old or have disabilities. Just, please, I’m not talking to the Government, I’m talking to the people who are passing criticisms, please, me a beg you, stop criticise people because everybody has their own burden to carry. God did not build the Earth in one day, so we are not going to come back in one week or even one month. It takes time, and we are trying,” she pleaded.

Shelter manager and dean of discipline J Anthony Clarke said the school is sympathetic to the circumstances of the shelterees, and administrators have tried their best to make them feel comfortable.

However, he said he welcomes the move to relocate them, noting that there is still a lot of renovation that needs to be done in areas where shelterees have taken refuge. He said, in discussions with the residents and government officials, they are fully on board with the move.

“We still have 16 families here at Petersfield High School, which include children. That brings us to a total of 41 persons, and while it is not going to be as smooth as possible as it relates to them getting back to their normal way of living, they are eagerly anticipating moving from here into their permanent home,” he told the Sunday Observer.

Clarke said it has been a long journey to this point, but he understands that the Category 5 storm was catastrophic.

“I understand that the Government would have had to take its time in ensuring that whatever solution they get for the residents is something that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. The discussion that we would have had is to ensure that whatever structure was being built was better and more stable than what they had.

“We don’t want to put them in areas that were prone to flooding, and that was a consideration, because one of the things that we want to ensure is that once they leave the shelter and they go back home, they go back home with their dignity, their pride,” said Clarke.

For shelteree Bryan McGwyther, even the option to rent a house would be something he welcomes. A landscaper in the parish, he said he had been living in a room provided by an employer that was destroyed. For three days after the October 28, 2025 storm, he lived among the rubble, but was eventually encouraged to go to the shelter.

“If me coulda find a room where me coulda pay the rent until I get my house to move in, no problem. I just don’t know where I can find somewhere to live,” he shared.

He said he has some money saved up and continues to work when he can, only needing to find a place to rest his head. He, too, welcomed news of the relocation, stating that he never imagined he would be in a shelter for this long.

“I’m wishing that one day, when I leave here, I will get my own place to say this is mine, where I can stay and become a better man,” said McGwyther.

An elderly resident at the shelter, Pauline Williams, said she has been a domestic worker all her life, even after partially losing her eyesight due to cataract. She said both her and her children lost their homes and now she has no other option but to stay in the shelter. She pleaded with the Government to help the shelterees, stressing that they really are not in a position to help themselves.

“Help me, help me with even some steel or block. Help we, because we can’t stay here,” she pleaded.

“We are waiting patiently and holding on because we don’t have anything else. We are looking forward to May 8,” said Williams.

Clothes are seen on a line at a section of Petersfield High School in Westmoreland, which currently has more than half the people still in school-based shelters following the devastation of Hurricane Melissa. (Photos: Karl Mclarty)

Bryan McGwyther, a resident of the Petersfield High School shelter in Westmoreland, stands in front of the classroom he has called home for nearly six months.

WILLIAMS…we are waiting patiently and holding on because we don’t have anything else

Shelter manager and dean of discipline at Petersfield High School, J Anthony Clarke.

The entrance to Petersfield High School in Westmoreland.