Latest update September 24th, 2026 10:05 AM
Sophia house collapses
— mother, seven children homeless
The collapsed structure
A 36-year-old mother of seven is now homeless for the new year, after her ‘B’ Field, Sophia house came crashing down yesterday morning.
Onika Thompson recalled that, shortly after six o’clock, she awoke and started washing the clothing of her youngest child, who is two months old.
The distraught woman recalled that she heard a sound as if someone had hit the wall or stamped on the floor, so she went inside the house to investigate.
She noted that, when she checked, all of her children were sleeping in their respective beds.
She recounted that as she was about to go and continue washing, she heard the sound again, and simultaneously the entire house collapsed.
Thompson added that the scariest part of the experience was the fact that her youngest child and three other of her children were pinned under a wardrobe, which itself was broken.
According to the woman, she is thankful to God that none of the children were harmed.
She posited that it might have been the intense rains that weakened the mud under the foundation, causing the house to collapse, whilst pointing out that she had been living in the house for only three months shy of two years.
Onika Thompson and her children
The woman was at a loss for words as it relates to her next step, save to ask for some public assistance, pointing out that she was a single mother, given that her husband was murdered last year in Bartica whilst she was still pregnant with her last daughter.
“It was difficult before, but at least I still had a roof over my head and for my children; but now I don’t know what will happen to us…I am appealing to any kind person… anybody… to please render some assistance.”
When this newspaper visited the scene yesterday, neighbours were dismantling what remained of the structure with a view to helping her rebuild, while others offered food and temporary accommodation.
Thompson and her children may be accommodated in a nearby community centre.
This is the second such tragedy to befall Thompson’s family. Her mother’s house collapsed on November 10 last.
Fifty-four-year-old Cheryl Augustus, her mother, was cooking at the time of the tragedy.
Her reputed husband, Joslyn Edwards, 60, who was at home at the time, was lacerated across the back in the process.
The woman said that, “I jus’ feel something slip and it was just like that….no squeaks, no creaks; nothing.”
The woman said that she had been living in that house for the past twelve years.
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