Help pours in for poverty-stricken family

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Princes Town mother of four Cherryann Jackson felt jolts of happiness each time someone called and offered to help her yesterday. Members of the public began reaching out to her after her plight was highlighted in the T&T Guardian.

“My phone keeps ringing. I got a lot of calls from people who want to help us. I feel excited. I feel so happy. I just want to thank everyone who wants to help me. I got about six calls from people about giving my daughter a wheelchair, even the Barrackpore Police Station called me.” said Jackson.

But, a woman from Waterloo promised to donate the wheelchair on Friday. Jackson’s 13-year old daughter has been unable to walk for the past four years due to a condition called Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

Unable to afford a wheelchair, Jackson and her husband, a construction worker, would have to physically carry their daughter from one place to the next. Their one-bedroom home at Hope Road First Branch also has no electricity. Only Jackson’s nine-year-old son attends school, but he has no computer device to log on to his zoom classes.

The house is also falling apart. The walls, roof, door and flooring have holes and the pillars holding up the house are shifting. Most of the windows cannot close. Because the house is situated in a busy area off the road, the family has to trek along a dirt road to the main road to get transportation.

Jackson said she was also contacted by an official from the Land Settlement Agency and the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission. Someone also offered to provide them with a solar panel. Princes Town councillor Deryck Mathura said a road officer visited the family, but the dirt road leading to their home is not a Corporation road. However, he said some material for the road would be dropped off in a few days. “I am really grateful for all the help,” said Jackson. Anyone willing to assist the family could contact them at 346-3940 or 782-2783.