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Tresha Ricketts feels "depressed and broken". Not too long ago, she had dreams of corporate success, a family, and a house of her own.

But now, at 34, her reality is far from what she envisioned. For the past six years, her home has been an old Coaster bus parked along Creek Street in Montego Bay, St James.

Heartbreak serves as her pillow, depression is her curtains, and fading hope is her furniture.

"The only thing I have is the bus to sleep in," Ricketts, on the brink of tears, told THE WEEKEND STAR.

A mother of two, she is pleading with the public for a lifeline--anything that could help her rebuild. She says she can read and is willing to do any honest work, including street sweeping.

Ricketts said she attended Herbert Morrison Technical High School in St James and attained three Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate subjects, namely, office administration, integrated science and social studies. She recognises that her qualifications may not be strong enough to land her a decent job, but said all she needs is a start.

"Mi would want a work to sweep the road because right now, the way technology advance, mi don't know nutten about any Microsoft any more," she said.

In addition to finding a job, Ricketts longs for the day when she will be able to leave the old bus and sleep in a decent place. She also has dreams of rekindling with her daughter, who she last saw at three months old. "I know where mi son is, but mi don't know where my daughter is and mi would want to see her. Mi just want a better life," she said.

But how did Ricketts get here? According to her, the journey into homelessness began after her relationship with her son's father ended in 2014. She and her son moved in with her mother at a house in Tucker, Montego Bay. But the house was eventually sold, leaving Ricketts and her child with nowhere to go.

She found refuge in the abandoned bus and tried to maintain some stability for her son, even working on the streets to support them.

"Is 2019 mi and mi son go there, and it pain mi heart every time mi have to get him ready for him to go to school from there," Ricketts said.

She told THE WEEKEND STAR that her son's father came for him. However, in 2021 she again became pregnant, this time by another man.

"The father of the baby wasn't in my life, because our ting wasn't a relationship where we live together," she said.

Overwhelmed and desperate, she returned to the hospital and begged for help.

"When I realised that my child was going to sleep in the bus with me, I go back up to hospital and tell dem mi situation and beg dem please to put her in a safe home for me because I don't have nowhere to live [with] her. I saw my daughter last when she was about three months old," she said.

Adding to her trauma, Ricketts shared that months after giving birth, she was sexually assaulted at knifepoint.

Now, barely holding on, Ricketts is praying for a miracle.

""I feel depressed and broken. I have no one to talk to, and it's like I can't see a way out. Right now mi just have to a hustle and beg to survive. Someone give me an old mattress, but that a mash up as well. Mi just can't see my way out," Ricketts said.

Despite everything, Ricketts holds onto a sliver of hope -- hope that someone will hear her story and extend a hand.

"Mi would want somewhere to live if mi get it, but for now I would want a bed, because I can't tell yuh about land [on which to construct a dwelling]," she said.

"Mi just want a better life," Ricketts said.