BITTER SWEET - Mom happy for house but misses one-year-old who perished in fire

July 9 is a day that Cassandra Brown will never forget. It was the date she lost her one-year-old son, Neymar Facey, in a fire that destroyed a five-bedroom house in Bay Farm, St Andrew.

Although Brown was presented with keys to a newly rebuilt house by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Friday, she said that the pain of losing her son is still too much to bear.

The five-bedroom structure was reconstructed under the housing component of Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) Programme.

"We are giving you hope and opportunity that your entire family can recover and make use of the facilities," the prime minister said.

Holness said solar lamps would be distributed to the family to minimise the use of open-flame sources for lighting at the home.

Good ambassador

"You could be a very good ambassador, a very good messenger to other mothers, other grandmothers and caregivers who have housing conditions similar to this to say, listen you can't light matches and candles in these houses; get solar lamps," he said.

The 39-year-old Brown told The STAR that she slept in the same room that her son once occupied on Saturday night, but it was not easy.

"Mi happy seh mi get back a place and it build so fast to, but right now it caah fill the void because Neymar nuh deh yah. Him should a deh yah a run up and dung. Even if the house burn down and him safe, mi would a feel better," she said.

Neymar, who would have turned two in October, was reportedly burnt to death in his sleep when another child from nearby premises lit a sponge in his house. His mother had left him with his teenage sister to purchase dinner at a nearby shop.

After the ordeal, Brown said she had to be hopping from one house to another in order to get a place to rest.

"Mi use to sleep a this house tonight and sleep at another house tomorrow because as much as people a you friend, they needed their space too. A just furniture wi want now because they have given us the house. When the fire happen, wi got some bed but we don't get any bed bottom, but we very grateful and happy for everyone who helped us," she said.

Brown said that she is currently seeking a job. She is also in need of furniture.

Persons willing help Cassandra Brown may contact her at 876-285-4125.