Every movement of Dale Hamil’s body plasters a grimace on his face. Every quiet moment traps the 43-year-old in hypothetical yet realistic thoughts of impending paralysis and homelessness. Every glance towards his children is a reminder that he is all they have.
With the aid of a walking stick and a cardboard sign, the Caroni man now stretches his hand out to passersby, hoping any emotion, be it empathy, sympathy or annoyance is enough for them to reach into their pockets to help feed his children.
But it was not always like this for the former Customs clerk. The stride of the once avid sportsman is now reduced to a hobble, following an incident that led to a neck injury in 2019.
“The spine has me in pain. All on my neck, I can’t move my neck sometimes, neither my shoulders. If I turn to my left or right, the centre of my spine is painful, if I stand all around my hip is in pain, all within my legs does be painful,” he explained.
Despite his physical circumstances, Hamil said he still tried to earn money selling coconuts.
“I cannot bend as much as I used to. If I have to pick up something from the ground I have to literally stoop down to get it up. I can’t bend and keep my knees straight. So, any job that involves physical labour, this pain is debarring me,” he stated.
But as sudden as the pain which radiates down his legs from the turning of his head, Hamil burst into tears as he looked slightly to his left where three of his children were playing with Brown Sugar, the family’s puppy.
“I will debar myself from anything, anything in this world right now just to see my children get back a life,” he said fiercely.
From this moment onwards, Hamil sobbed as he explained with a heavy measure of shame, what brought him from a once thriving businessman to the Narsaloo Ramaya Marg Road in Endeavour, hat in hand.
“I took away the pride and told myself I can’t work but I could still walk a little bit…let me see if I will get help. And my kids were the ones who said daddy, you went one day, and people helped us and now that you are in this position, we have no choice. So, sometimes, we would use Saturday and Sunday and go in front of Pennywise Plaza. I have a sign, I don’t really stop anybody and ask anybody for anything, but the sign says as much as I could have put, and people will reach us and give us a dollar or five dollars and then the real good ones will come and bless you. And I will try to function with that. For at least an entire week,” Hamil said as he wept profusely.
With his four-year-old son now circling his siblings and the puppy on his shabby tricycle shooting cursory but concerned looks at his crying father, Hamil then explained that their presence in Endeavour is not always a welcomed one.
“The security will run us,” he wailed, “all because you trying to make to ask for the little help so your children could survive in this material world.”
In April this year, the head of the Special Victims Department of the TTPS, Claire Guy-Alleyne said the police service along with the Children’s Authority would be clamping down on children seen begging along the streets.
A lunch bag with a toy tractor next to it occupied a spot on the floor of their front yard in La Paille Gardens. Hamil whispered, “their education is suffering now.”
Family may resort to sleeping in car soon
With his tears showing no signs of abating, Hamil said since his wife left in 2023, the children refuse to leave his side, even to go to school.
“Sometimes these children feel like I will abandon them. Sometimes you carry them to school and the next day they don’t want to go because they say, ‘daddy we afraid you leave us and go away just as mummy did.’ So, these kids face a lot, and I am trying so hard but not even the Children’s Authority will come and talk with me and say these children want counselling. These children want somebody to speak with them!” he wept.
Hamil wanted it to be known that he does not drink alcohol and the money given to him goes directly to the children. He wanted his part included in his story because he noted that sometimes fathers or men are accused of misappropriating donations and money.
A deeply religious man, Hamil questioned God’s plan.
“I wish that God could just make a miracle happen and give me back my body. Because I was a Customs clerk, I could go out there with my experience and fall in any company. It’s only this medical situation that is depriving me,” he lamented.
Spreading a plethora of medical documents, manila envelopes and an X-ray film on the back of a dilapidated white Nissan B14.
Hamil said if his physical ailment stands any chance of reversal, he needs a Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. But his appointment date in the public sector does not encourage him at all.
“The hospital what they are saying is that there are a lot of people waiting and they go on an appointment system, right now my date is June 2026,” he explained adding that he was also referred to the Couva Hospital but is still awaiting an appointment at that institution.
But Hamil does not have until 2026. It’s not only the creeping fear of partial or full paralysis.
Homelessness is also knocking on their door. The father explained that their home does not legally belong to him, and he is being pressured to move. When asked what his backup plan would be if that day did come, Hamil looked at the car which any licensing officer would pull aside without a moment of hesitation.
“Basically, I will have to take my children on the streets and look for somewhere safe to park and stay until the authorities literally see that I really need some help,” he said defeatedly.
The family’s fridge is sparsely stocked. He sleeps on a carpet to ensure his children have a bed. He has four sons aged 19, 6, 4 and 3 and a 12-year-old daughter.
Anyone willing to assist them get by or to help Hamil get his much-needed MRI scan, can reach him at 712-7787.
