Senior citizen struggling since losing home in fire

Josephine Baker, 87, is well aware of the Government's stay-at-home orders for persons 75 years and older as a means of controlling the spread of COVID-19.

Persons in this vulnerable group should only be out to buy food and medication. But Baker said she had no other choice except to walk from Rockfort in Kingston to THE STAR offices last week to share her story of desperation.

Upon seeing the reporter, she instantly burst into tears and wiped her eyes before explaining that her Christmas joy is literally in ashes as her house burned to the ground about three weeks ago.

"Is kotch mi have to kotch with people. A girl a help mi out but is four of us have to sleep on the bed. A day time mi walk round and beg or do little days work and get a little change can buy food. Mi have it hard and mi nuh live nowhere. Things bad wid mi," she said.

Baker, who lived on Commission Road for decades, said she was not at home when the fire started but lost everything in the blaze.

"Right now mi would want a little bed. The house did belong to mi sister and her husband but both a dem dead and the papers dem burn up in the fire. Mi a suffer bad and mi have to say to mi self say people don't like yuh when yuh old. Is three children mi have but dem can't help mi now. Mi lose every God ting in the fire and mi don't know where to turn," she said as the tears streamed down.

Baker suffers from hypertension and said the fire has taken a toll on her health and as a result, she sometimes has to walk from where she is staying to seek medical attention at the Kingston Public Hospital. Despite her feeble frame, she said she is seeking a domestic job, the pay from which would assist her in rebuilding her home.

"Mi just wa somewhere to live so mi willing to save and hide whe little money so mi can buy back some material to build back the house. Mi can wash clothes clean enuh, with or without machine, and a just $1,000 me charge. Mi not even have a phone right now or anything so even if mi get a little banger mi woulda take it," she said.

After receiving a small monetary donation, she tearfully wished everyone a 'Merry Christmas' before starting her journey back home.