For the past month, Belize City resident Caroline Hamilton and her family have been having a very bad go of it after their house burnt down on Aloe Vera Street Extension. She's been going around trying to seek assistance to build a new home, and since she's not having much luck, she and her common-law husband have been forced to live in the remains of what used to be her home.
That's below any standard of living, and today, our news team visited them to see firsthand what they've had to endure just to avoid sleeping on the street. Daniel Ortiz has that report:
Caroline Hamilton - Fire Victim
"I don't have anywhere to live with my kids. The situation is, I live in a frame that used to be my home."
Daniel Ortiz reporting
That's this bit of charred remains. It once was the home of Caroline Hamilton, her 3 kids, and her common-law husband.
Now, it's just a frame made of burnt wood, structurally unstable and ready to collapse at any moment.
The floor has big holes in it that were burnt out, and so pieces of wood and zinc roofing were placed over them so that persons can walk pass without being hurt.
This little room is where Hamilton sleeps alone. It's wholly inadequate, made of few scraps of old wood, and cloth tightly nailed together like a tent.
Her common-law husband sleeps on this piece of sponge. Their living room and kitchen have now joined together to become a sort of open verandah.
As a result, they are fully exposed to the elements, to mosquitos and other bugs, to whatever animals one finds in urban areas, to the elements such as rain, and a lack of privacy, since there are no walls on the frame.
It's a demeaning degradation of human dignity that no one should have to endure to avoid living on the streets. But, simply put, Hamilton and her common-law have nowhere else to go.
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