Homeless for a decade - Man seeks job to put roof over his head

For more than a decade, Derrick Morgan has been jobless and without a home.

In an interview with THE STAR, Morgan said he has been walking the streets of the Corporate Area for years in search of a steady job, without much success. At times, he has also had to make a chicken coop and a zinc room at the back of a friend's home his dwelling.

"Mi do odd jobs, and mi have a friend who help me out, but me nuh wah live life so enuh, God know. Everyday mi deh a di Tom Redcam library (Kingston and St Andrew Parish Library), so me can go on Facebook to look see if me can get nothing. Sometime if me get a little hustling, me not even use di money buy food. Mi use it to advertise to see if me can get work, but me nah get none," he said between sighs.

Currently, Morgan said he sleeps just about anywhere night falls on him.

"Sometimes me sleep inna the washroom of a security firm. Mi pay a security $200, and him give me a bly at late nights. But me haffi get up early a morning before the boss come or di rest a him co-workers. A kotch mi kotch sometimes. All roadside mi sleep more time, and when mi sleep in a park, people stone mi," he said.

According to Morgan, who is currently in his 40s, his life has not always been this unfortunate. However, things changed for the worse when his aunt died years ago.

"Mi parents dem pass on when me very small, and me did live with me auntie in Maxfield. But when she dead, the landlord take back di house 'cause him say a never me him rent, a did me auntie. After that, every thing just get bad. Me used to get little gardener work, but a on and off," he said.

Morgan said he managed to do a course in catering and cake decorating, but even with a certificate he is unable to get a job in the field.

"Mi just wish me would get little help, even to get a little stove so me can bake 'cause me have the certificate already. Or even if is a little job. Me nuh wa beg nobody enuh, me just want a work so me can put a roof over me head," he said.

Morgan does not own a cell phone, but persons wishing to assist him can contact Ann-Marie Townsend at 851-5408.