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  • 1 year ago
Disaster strikes a Malick family a third time as a wall falls on their home once again. Their MP says he is aware of the situation and is working toward a swift resolution.

Urvashi Tiwari Roopnarine has the story.
Transcript
00:00Heavy afternoon rainfall led to yet another heartache for Parabati Hippolyte of 7th Avenue, Malik Barataria.
00:13It is the third time the land has slipped and cascaded on her home.
00:31Parabati's husband Sylvester tells us that their problem started four years ago.
00:36But the last time this happened in November last year, the home was assessed by the ODPM.
01:01Sylvester, a pensioner, and Parabati, who has been declared unfit to work, survive on the state's generosity.
01:10Paying a rent was just not feasible long term. Little by little, they moved back to the place they call home.
01:30We asked them, if we could get a house to own, we don't mind paying.
01:37Every month we go pay, because if they are safe, we have nowhere to go.
01:44Hoping to get help, they went to the Housing Development Corporation but were turned away
01:49after being told that although the home was declared inhabitable by the ODPM,
01:55they were not eligible for placement as they were already homeowners.
02:00The couple took matters into their own hands and took material on layaway from a nearby hardware
02:06to construct a wall to prevent any further slippage.
02:10Right now, we own the hardware because we chose the material.
02:15Every month when we get a little $2,000, it's how we live.
02:21They don't want to help me. I don't know why we tell them every month we will try our best
02:26and if they give us a house, we will pay.
02:30That's all we are asking for. We are getting no help from nobody.
02:35As fast as they start to catch themselves, Sylvester says, more disaster strikes, like today,
02:41as the wall came tumbling down.
02:44When Parabati bought the land from the Aranguas estate decades ago,
02:48she says she was never advised of the probable issues she could face in years to come.
02:53The Hippolytes have turned to their MP, Adrienne Lyons, for help.
02:57Adrienne, I tried to run behind this man.
03:01I went by Mohammed's, I tell you, I didn't meet her.
03:05They say she's not in her office.
03:07Every time I go to see Adrienne, she says I have to make an appointment.
03:10They don't want to make an appointment for me.
03:12Adrienne promised me she's going to help me.
03:14That man said he's going to help me.
03:16I never get no help. They want me to see him.
03:19The elderly couple lives in their Malik home with their daughter and three grandchildren.
03:24Young and old, they all have anxiety during heavy rainfall.
03:29Every time it rains, I just go and hide.
03:31I can't sleep because to see the danger, the way the wall is there, right?
03:37And for me to go and sleep under that rainfall in there, I feel that wall could always come down.
03:42People could get killed too.
03:44But when things come down, it's all kinds of things coming down on you.
03:49It's steel, beam, concrete, blocks, you understand?
03:55It's a dangerous place. It's very dangerous.
03:57When contacted, MP Adrienne Lyons said his office is aware of the situation
04:02and they are working with the Hippolyte family for a swift resolve.
04:06Urvashi Tewari, Rippon Ryan, TV6 News.
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