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CCNTV6
  • 2 years ago
It's an act of kindness ; the Chaguanas Mayor and by extension the Chaguanas Borough Corporation would be housing children with cerebral palsy, after the Association that's assisting them was evicted from their home.


Although it's temporary, the Association is grateful.


Alicia Boucher has more in this report.
Transcript
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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