Mother of five seeks home

Annette Huggins said she was told to leave the house she shared with her common-law husband of eight years after he died nearly three years ago.

The 40-year-old mother of five told the CENTRAL STAR that the man's relatives told her to vacate the May Pen, Clarendon, house more than a year ago, although she had two children with him.

"They told me to come out of the house because the sister said that they wanted the house to refurbish and rent. I come out but I don't have any where to go," she said.

"After moving out the house, I have been with friends but because of the amount of kids that I have, everybody is not going to cope with that so they will let me stay for a while and then they would say that they can't manage the kids," she said.

But Huggins, whose children are ages 18, 11, 6, 3 and 2, said she struggles to care for them as she is unemployed.

"They are out of clothes and the little boy don't even have shoes and the bigger one hasn't been going to school from September," she said.

Earning potential

Although she said she occasionally receives odd jobs from which she earns a maximum of $2,500, her earning potential is limited as she has to care for her children.

"I come out about one year and a half now and I been like staying at different places. A lady by the church that I went to keep them sometimes and I go and do a little washing and stuff like that," she said. "Now, I am in Downs, St Elizabeth, because I had a friend who know some people and she said that I must stay with them for a temporary time."

Huggins said she is tired of moving about and now wants a place to call home.

"I would like assistance in getting somewhere to live. I can barely find food for them, a barely can find money to buy clothes for them, so I would like assistance with somewhere to live and like with clothes and food and other stuff for them," she told the CENTRAL STAR.

She explained that she has asked for help but assistance is slow in coming most times.

"I have four of them with me now, the 11-year-old live with his teacher. The teacher asked to help because he is kinda bright," Huggins told the CENTRAL STAR.