Cave man cries for help

A dilapidated shed at the side of a rock in Nassau Valley, Appleton, St Elizabeth, is what Winston Williams has been calling home for nearly 40 years.

Williams, 77, told THE WEEKEND STAR that he has been longing for a place to call home since he was forced to flee his family property in the parish.

"I would like to move right now but I don't see nuh way to move because I can't finance a house," said Williams. "A me family push me away because them a fight over land, and I never want to commit crime over land, so me just leave them with it and go pon me own. A from me a 40 me just leave and go in the hills find a little cave because me more comfortable."

Williams' dwelling, located about a mile from 'civilisation,' is approximately six feet long, contains a small bed and some buckets he uses for storage.

"A stone deh a the bottom and me just put up the bed on them, and me pack me clothes into a bucket because me nuh have nuh suitcase or nothing to put them in," he said.

God alone understand

"Me nuh have no light or so," he said during a telephone interview organised by community member Tania Pryce. "If you see the condition that me under right now, only God alone understand. Me wah find somewhere comfortable more and I will be alright."

Williams makes the occasional visit from his humble abode to buy food and water , and keeps abreast with developments in the country and around the world by listening to his battery-powered radio. He sustains himself by doing odd jobs for persons in the wider community. As for family members, he said that he is basically a loner.

"I have two sons and two daughters, but a years now I don't hear from them. Me have a feeling that dem think I die, but me nuh dead. I'm right here, is just strictly stranger alone help me and give me things now and then," he said.

When asked if he is at all scared for his safety, he responded swiftly: "I put my trust in God and ask him to guide me, and I have a few people come and check on me to see if I'm alive."

But the senior citizen said living in the cave is not something he wants to continue doing. He would rather a traditional house to call his own.

"Me nuh waah live in a nuh cave but me nuh see no better and me nuh wah run up and down to get myself in a nuh trouble. A nuff year me live yah so and nuh police never trouble me. Me nuh have nuh help at all, sometime I wonder to myself if a here so me going to die," said a tearful Williams.

Persons who wish to help Williams may contact Tania Pryce at (876) 866-1224 or via GoFundMe Https://www.gofundme.com/f/homeless-man-living-in-cave-for-32-years