Residents tell of struggle after shanty blaze

I don’t mind if I don’t eat if my children eat. I don’t mind that. I want people give them food. I let them eat.”

Outside the shanty town, there were stalls under which several women sold hot food and drinks to residents. Ms Olibrice said the vendors give a plate of food to children if they saw them hungry. She said she works at

Wendy’s, but her uniform and her children’s school uniforms were destroyed in the fire.

“I ain’t going to work this week because my uniform burn and I ain’t get no money to buy it yet,” she said.

Another resident, Junina Ougutisin, who spoke Creole that a Tribune employee translated, described the fire as “shocking”. She said she has high blood pressure and that the incident took a physical toll on her.

Despite losing all her belongings, Ms Ougutisin said she and her son stayed with a neighbour who lives not too far from the shanty town.

She said the fire deprived them of comfort. She said sleeping had been difficult, and finding clothing had been rough.

Ms Ougutisin said her greatest worry is getting her son ready for school in September.

Meanwhile, a single father of one said he had just buried the mother of his child last year and is now facing a tragedy of a different kind. He said he slept on the ground on recent nights and borrowed clothes and a blanket to cover his son.

The shanty town residents said the property’s landlord did not offer assistance after the fire, noting they still have to find rent money this week. Ms Olibrice, the mother of six, said residents must rebuild their destroyed structures to survive.