Daniel loves new Sando apartment: ‘I don’t want to go back in the tent’

Daniel Toussaint, 7, loves his new home. Jumping, laughing, spinning with excitement, he just could not stay still. “I don’t want to go back in the tent,” he told the Sunday Guardian yesterday at the Chacon Street, San Fernando, apartment. Daniel and his 54-year-old father Alan Maloney had been sleeping in a tent in their burnt-out Ste Madeleine home since last December, with no electricity, no water, and surrounded by rubble.

Soca diva Fay Ann Lyons-Alvarez read about their plight in the T&T Guardian and decided to rent an apartment for them for two months. She found a one-room apartment on Wednesday and on Friday Maloney and his son moved in. The apartment has a bedroom, a drawing room and kitchen.

Bursting with energy, a smiling Daniel, who celebrates his birthday on January 8, happily showed off his toys and the shower in the apartment which is outfitted with a water heater.  Asked what he liked the most about the apartment, Daniel said, “I like how the water falls (from the shower) on me.”

 Maloney, who repairs fridges and stoves, said he felt happy that his son had somewhere safe and warm to sleep which is what he wanted all along. Apart from a few pots and pans, a small mattress and a radio, the apartment had no furniture. “I am suppose to get two beds today. We will be alright,” Maloney said.

Good Samaritans made sure Daniel, a standard two pupil at Ste Madeleine Primary Government, is set for school on Monday. “This morning a lady from Princes Town brought a pair of sneakers for him and he has his books, uniform, bag, everything.”

 Maloney said Cepep workers began clearing the rubble from his house at Manahambre Road on Thursday. He said the workers are expected to return with a truck tomorrow to remove the stuff. Chairman of the National Self Commission Surujdeo Mangaroo has promised $20,000 in material to start rebuilding the burnt-out house.