Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
After struggling for 12 years to build their home, a Preysal couple and their two children are now homeless after a fire destroyed their three-bedroom house.
With tears rolling down her cheeks yesterday, Usha Praimsook, 35, looked through a small scorched album containing the photos of her deceased mother.
“At least I found a picture of my mom,” lamented Praimsook as she stood in the burnt shell that was once her home. Her mother died two years ago after suffering a heart attack.
Left with nothing but the clothes on their backs, Praimsook and her husband, Richard, 43, were now sleeping in their garage which they blocked off with sheets of galvanise. Their children, ages 11 and 12, attend Preysal Government Primary School and Preysal Secondary School.
No one was at home when the fire began shortly before 2 pm on Monday at their Lower Couva Road home.
Praimsook’s husband, a self-employed auto mechanic, went on a job and the children were in school. Praimsook had left home just before noon to sell cut-up mango. She said the neighbours told her the fire began in the front bedroom. Still in disbelief that in less than an hour, 12 years of sacrifice went up in ashes.
“Everything we loss. The only thing we remain with is the clothes on we back. Every single thing, nothing remain,” she cried. The mother of two said she lived at that address all her life.
From an old board house with a mud floor, Praimsook said “little by little” they built and furnished their home.
“Owning this was a real struggle, real ban belly, and with two babies it was a harder struggle,” she said, wiping her tears. She said they already built a cesspit, and this weekend they were hoping to install the toilet.
“Is just to plaster and tile now,” she said, adding, “It was a challenge, and when you thought you almost reach, watch what happen,” she added.
Admitting that they need help to rebuild their home and lives, Praimsook thanked her neighbours and others who have assisted them. She said fire officers recommended that they demolish and rebuild.
“Any assistance will be greatly appreciated,” she said. The Fire Service is still trying to determine the cause of the blaze.
Meanwhile, Freeport/Chickland councillor Anil Balliram said the Disaster Management Unit provided mattresses and food items to the family.
He, however, appealed to the Fire Service to expedite its fire report which is required to solicit assistance from the various agencies.
“My greatest concern is the children. I was here when the children came home from school. I break down in tears when I saw the little child jump out of the van and just hold his head and went down on the ground and start to bawl and cry when he saw the house was on fire,” he recalled.
Anyone willing to assist can contact the family at 487-0716.
