Homeless at Christmas - Medical care, opportunities to earn on wish list of those sleeping on the streets
Published:Thursday | December 10, 2020 | 12:11 AMJonielle Daley/Staff Reporter
After being homeless for more than 10 years, Michael Peart wants a “substantial” change this Christmas.
Though grateful for the generosity of strangers and charities throughout the year, he has a special wish for Christmas Day.
He told The Gleaner that year-round, he gets “a box of rice and cup of juice. We nuh get nothing substantial, so we still end up deh pan di same level ‘cause we no get nothing substantial”.
The furniture maker and singer is hoping to get an opportunity to use his skills to earn some cash. However, his plight is great as he needs medical care, which he cannot afford.
In April, Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie announced that roving teams would be deployed to take homeless persons to facilities that would provide them with a bath, change of clothes, and a medical check-up, but Peart and many others homeless persons said that they have not seen or heard anything of the initiative.
The 64-year-old explained that getting the medication he needs has proven to be an uphill task. When he goes to the hospitals to fill prescriptions given by medical personnel at the Good Samaritan Inn, it is rejected because it was not issued from a public-health facility.
Despite these and similar claims by several homeless persons on King Street, Kingston Mayor Donovan Williams told The Gleaner that the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation is providing meals and medicine to the homeless.
This week, Minister McKenzie told Parliament that the ministry would be undertaking its customary catering of Christmas meals to the homeless but said it would be expanded to provide two meals per day for an estimated 2,100 homeless people islandwide until the end of January.
Kelly, another homeless man, said that although this is highly anticipated, he would like the Government to follow through on the promise of health assistance as medical check-ups are expensive.
Kelly has been sleeping at the shelter on Church Street in the capital city for the past couple of months and has been earning a little income from selling goods on the road. With vending as his only source of income, he is experiencing major setbacks with the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.
Furthermore, his plan for Christmas was to head to Montego Bay, St James, with his merchandise as he did last year. Those plans have been shelved, and with the cancellation of Grand Market in Kingston, he may never get the Christmas bump he was anticipating.
However, after trying to get back on his feet after a failed marriage, Kelly said he would be relieved if he is blessed to wake up on Christmas morning.
DIFFICULT FOR NEWBIES
While many do not like the idea of staying at night shelters because of persons abusing substances or others with mental issues, some homeless people said that the Marie Atkins facility and an additional 100-bed shelter opened on Church Street in April are always filled, leaving others to find elsewhere to rest their heads.
Cleon Harding, a 57-year-old approaching his second week of being on the streets, said that being the new kid on the block has been rather difficult.
“Last night, a Spanish Town mi haffi sleep, ‘round a di prison deh weh the ward a guard inna wah likkle alley,” he said, adding that since he is afraid of the terrors of the night, he will keep bunking it there.
He is appealing to the public to assist him in his pursuit to acquire a home as he is unable to afford rent.
“Think me a think say mi can buy some pallet and find a open land and just box up wah fowl coop,” Harding said.
APPEALING TO PUBLIC
Facilities catering to the homeless within the Corporate Area are also appealing to the public to donate what they can for the Christmas season.
Missionaries of the Poor continues to help the homeless, but the Christmas care packages will be determined by what they can afford and the generosity of others.
On Tuesday, one 72-year-old woman among a crowd of women waiting for food items, told The Gleaner that when the items are low, the charity provides cooked meals, but she was hoping that that would not be the case as this has been her only way of providing for her mentally ill son.
Yvonne Grant, director of the Open Arms Development Centre, said that this Christmas will be very difficult, financially and emotionally.
“Persons who used to come in and play music and cook will not be doing so this year, so it’s going to be very difficult,” she said, adding that though they operate a residential home, Open Arms also caters to drop-ins.
She said that this year, the financial support has been stunted, and they have also not been able to earn from their social enterprises, but she is hoping that they will be able to put together their usual care packages and provide enough hot meals for those who turn up at their Windward Road gate.