00:00 From the moment they took their first breath, challenges were facing them head on.
00:09 At a stage where support is crucial, these children with cerebral palsy were forced to
00:14 contend with a serious external issue, eviction from the home they had known for three years,
00:20 the enrichment center in Carlson Field.
00:23 The Cerebral Palsy Society provides free therapy for these children.
00:28 Its president, Philip Mative, was shocked when the sudden news first came.
00:33 In the beginning, they just tell us, "Hey, you all can no longer use this building."
00:38 And I said, "What are the alternatives?
00:42 What can you do for us in the meantime?"
00:44 They said, "Nothing.
00:45 You just have to move from here."
00:46 I mean, that was inhumane.
00:48 That was not nice.
00:51 And I mean, if you look at these kids, you would see that they really, really need the
00:58 support.
00:59 Mative says that he was later told that the building had to be renovated.
01:03 But this brought little comfort, as about 30 children supported by the society were
01:08 now disadvantaged.
01:10 It caught the attention of Chagones Mayor Fike Mohamed, who, after being in communication
01:15 with the society for about two weeks, has intervened.
01:18 We made an arrangement to house them at the Chagones Borough Corporation.
01:23 But this is just -- I would say I would use this as temporary.
01:27 But we'll house them here as long as they need to be here.
01:30 But what we are seeking is for a program home for the cerebral palsy kids and for the society,
01:35 because they are doing an excellent job in providing us service.
01:39 Mative is thankful to the borough and also to the Caribbean Kids and Therapy Organization.
01:47 We are sending a therapist to do that therapy for us free of charge, which we were supposed
01:53 to be getting from social welfare.
01:56 So a private organization is assisting us.
02:00 We just using a building.
02:01 We were evicted from the building.
02:04 I mean, how human that can be, how humane that can be.
02:08 Mative has a message for Social Development Minister Donna Cox.
02:14 I would like you to understand me.
02:18 I am not a politician.
02:19 All I am asking you to do is reach out and extend, talk to us.
02:26 You know, let us know something.
02:27 That's not me voting in the rain and then I'm ridiculing me and telling me I support
02:33 him and I should not be there and what I do in there.
02:38 And that is -- I mean, we are big people.
02:42 We should dialogue.
02:44 When the matter arose on August 10th, the minister responded in parliament questioning
02:49 how Mative came to be in possession of the building, which she said was unfit.
02:55 Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
02:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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