Man burnt out twice in eight months
Sean Wright stood amid the rubble where his two-bedroom house once stood in Fletchers Land, west Kingston.
A few men rummaged through the debris and ashes for scrap metal material and about any other item of value. Wright's facial expression was one of brokenness and despondency, and anyone who knows his story would understand why.
The 44-year-old cook shop operator is being forced to pick up the pieces after his dwellings went up in flames for the second time in eight months. He was one of the victims of last Wednesday's fire in Fletchers Land that consumed a bar, tailor shop and several houses.
"All I have is a mattress that the Ministry of Labour [and social security] give me, but I don't live anywhere," the father of one says.
"Where I am staying now, I have to move by 4 a.m. daily, because I don't get the go-ahead to stay there. If I want to use the bathroom, I have to go to the neighbour's yard and borrow theirs. Mi nuh use to live like this. Mi have one pair of Crocs that mi get after the fire, and mi barely have any clothes," Wright said.
Prior to Wednesday's fire, Wright suffered a devastating setback when a house he purchased with all his savings - $800,000 - was razed in Boone Hall, Stony Hill, St Andrew last year.
"It is concrete structure and two bedroom and I know it value more than that, but the person who sold me it was sympathetic with me and liked that I was trying to uplift myself," he said.
But, after surviving a battering from Hurricane Beryl on July 3 last year, fire consumed his concrete house just seven days later.
"I was at work and I decided to call someone to do something for me and they told me that my house had burned down," Wright said
"The firemen weren't really sure of the cause, as they were saying it could be arson or [an electrical] short circuit," he added.
Following that fire, Wright returned to Fletchers Land where he previously resided. And again, fire robbed him of a place to call home.
"It is very hard, especially when I see my son's stuff gone up in fire once again," he said, his voice cracking with emotion.
But homelessness is just one part of his story. Wright sufferers from several ailments, including a heart condition and enlarged prostate.
"Mi have a whole heap a tests to do but mi honestly can't afford it. All mi eyes a give mi problem and mi have frequent headaches, but mi can't even focus on this right now, because mi just don't have it," he told THE WEEKEND STAR.
"Right now, mi stressed to the point where mi feel like mi gonna go mad because this is not me. Mi nuh beg, enuh, but right now mi asked anyone who can help mi out, please do so. It rough," he said.
Persons wishing to assist Sean Wright may contact him at (876) 781-9772.