Squatters in North Sophia plead for house lots

Mar 10, 2012 News

– drainage and limited water supply badly affecting families

The inability to secure house lots has forced hundreds of squatters in North

The house which was completely flattened after heavy winds were experienced in North Sophia

Sophia to remain living under appalling, inhumane conditions which worsen with each passing day.
These squatters continue to face a number of difficulties which revolve around having no electricity, bad roads, improper drainage facilities and limited water supply.
The residents are also complaining that there is no health or community centre and the area lacks a playground for children and youths.
One man told Kaieteur News on Tuesday that he has been living in the same location for over 14 years and his family suffers terribly especially when it rains.
“The drainage here ain’t nice ’cause when the water raise it isn’t getting to flow off the place properly. All here flooding up and we got school children and thing here and this ain’t nice. We have been living here for a reasonable time and we want something done,” said the father of five.
Caimans and snakes sometimes crawl on the steps and even invade the makeshift houses and shacks that these squatters live in. During the heavy rains in February, a father of six found a large snake in his flooded home while his children were inside.
Jacqueline Thomas, another squatter, said that she has been living in Sophia for a number of years and would gladly appreciate a house lot of her own. At present, she lives with her children and 10 grandchildren in the one house.
“I apply since that place (Housing Ministry) burn down in Homestretch but I misplace the paper which was already signed by the Minister and everything. All I was waiting for is for them to carry me and show me my house lot. And they just tell me wait, wait, wait; we not ready for you”
Another woman complained about the quality of potable water coming from the two standpipes which service all of the squatters located at North Sophia Block ‘F’ (behind the Guyana Power and Light Station).
“We all have to use the same pipe water and when it rains the water cannot drain properly. The water rises so high that it is the same height of the pipe and we cannot get water to use at all. The water coming here isn’t healthy.”
One family had to leave after heavy breeze caused a tree to fall on their little shack a short while ago. It damaged the home completely and the family could not afford to rebuild another one. Residents have been unable to remove the remains of the tree to date.
Another family was forced to leave the squatting site when their make-shift home collapsed during the rains in February.
Yet another mother stated that almost all of the squatters are willing to move from that terrible location but they have no other alternative.
They are seeking the intervention of the Housing Ministry in issuing them house lots and lengthening the time they have to pay for the land.
They are already burdened with other expenses for their children and many find it too difficult to pay the large amounts in the stipulated time frame.
“We are not rich people, we want to move. We need to move and the place they are taking us is too far. I have 13 children and two grandchildren and I’m a single parent. I do a little (plantain) chips business just to maintain my family and all I am asking is that if I get a land today to move, I will.”
“Is eight years I living here and been going to housing a lot and they say bring job letter, bring this, bring that and I tired running,” added another woman.
James Bond, APNU Member of Parliament (MP), who visited Sophia this week, said he is responsible in Parliament for the Sophia to Cummings Lodge section.
He issued a call to Government and business entities to assist the affected residents with the hope that the Ministry of Housing would pay closer attention to the squatters of North Sophia.
“I can’t live here, I would never live here and why should I sit idly by and see my fellow Guyanese live here. It is a social statement that I am making and I want (Housing Minister) Irfaan Ali to live in one of those houses. Let him give up Leonora or wherever he has his house lots and come live in one of these, live under these electric wires and have his children play underneath these wires.”
(Kristen Macklingam)