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Living on the brink of poverty – a family’s dilemma
While many people are today striving to achieve a better livelihood, there are a few who are simultaneously attempting to secure for themselves a decent place to live.
This is especially true for the Ramphal family which, in its bid to acquire a home, has settled for the Crane foreshore, located on the West Coast of Demerara.
A little shack made up of discarded pieces of wood, zinc and other materials intended to ward off the elements is home to this family of 15 individuals – six adults and nine children. Another two members (babies) are expected to be added to the family shortly.
Among the members of the household are Ms Rohini Ramphal, who is acting as head of the household since, according to her, her husband is very “sickly”; her two daughters; and their husbands, along with their children.
During an interview with this newspaper yesterday, Ms Ramphal related that her extended family was forced to take up residence at the foreshore because every attempt made to secure a legitimate house lot over the years has proven futile.
She disclosed that it was only a few years ago that her family was squatting at another West Coast Demerara location when they were removed by the regional administration.
According to Ms Ramphal, in 2005 one of her daughters made an application for a house lot. She added that recent checks at the Ministry of Housing revealed that the application has apparently been misplaced.
This recent development, the woman says, is now serving to compound her family’s plight, since it will inevitably cause them to wait even longer to acquire a legal home.
But, for the moment, Mrs Ramphal says, her family is trying to make ends meet by undertaking various odd jobs, even as she added that her family has no intention of remaining at the current location permanently.
She says that although her family may be regarded as poor, they have nonetheless been accumulating funds, though little, to meet the payment for a house lot when it eventually becomes available.
The area where the Ramphal family currently resides is also home to about two other families, who also live in ramshackle structures.
The shacks are bordered in the rear by a trench, which is in fact the families’ back yard. Beyond this is the seawall, which is intended to block out the sea water.
But, according to Mrs Ramphal, they do not see the trench or even living so close to the seawall as a major dilemma.
She explained that the important thing to her is to have a roof over her family’s head although some basic sanitary measures are extremely lacking, putting the health of the young children at risk.
And while the family has, over the years, sought assistance from various entities, members claim that they were never aware that they could have accessed such from the Human Services Ministry.
In fact, according to the Human Services Minister, Ms Priya Manickchand, the ministry has for some time now been publicising its public assistance programme, through which poverty-stricken families can be helped.
She, however, noted that while this and other forms of assistance can be accessed through the ministry, there are some necessary factors which must first be considered.
Minister Manickchand explained that in order for persons to access public assistance, it must be channelled through a board comprised of residents of various localities, who are tasked with determining whether families are genuinely in need.
Once this process is completed and approval has been given for a family to receive assistance, the minister said, immediate help is usually forthcoming from her ministry.
Another area of assistance that has been neglected by some persons, the minister informed, is that of pensions. She expounded that once persons attain the pensionable age of 60, they automatically qualify for that assistance once they apply.
And even as the Ramphal family members ponder if they will again be forced to move from their current home in the near future, Minister Manickchand is urging that they visit the ministry in order for officials there to ascertain what levels of assistance they may be eligible for.
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