Unbridled joy as Guys Hill single mother gets house

The tears that flowed from Yvonne Thompson's eyes on Thursday are unlike those that fell in the preceding 12 months.

The then depressed but not defeated woman, who has spent the last year living with her mother, stepfather and three children in a one-room house, is now crying tears of joy.

Thompson, 42, has children, ages 12, nine and seven. She is now the proud recipient of a two-room dwelling courtesy of the charitable organisation, Food For The Poor.

"Mi over glad, me over happy, everything inna one," Thompson told THE WEEKEND STAR.

On November 1 last year, this newspaper told the of story of her dire circumstances. Eight months earlier, she had left the house in Weeping Stairs, Guys Hill, St Catherine, where she was living prior to a family dispute. She turned up at her mother's house in Ragsville, also in Guys Hill, and asked if she could spend the night even though she had no idea where she would go thereafter.

"After the one night, the next evening me bathe and siddung a di doorway. When a time fi the door lock, dem seh yuh naah come in," Thompson recalled.

For nearly a year (just a few days shy), six persons -- three adults and three children -- made the best of the one-bedroom structure, with Thompson and her children sharing one of the beds. When THE STAR showed up in her community last November, a despondent looking Thompson appealed for help. She said that after the story was published some persons, including family members, ridiculed her but others were moved by her situation. Her youngest child, a seven-year-old boy, sought to assure her that help was on the way.

"Him seh 'Mommy, when you nuh have the thinking a seh somebody a come help yuh, somebody a guh show up'," she related.

"Mi always sit down and have me hand a me jaw. Him seh to me, 'Mommy, me see yuh all the while when yuh a cry enuh," Thompson added.

She said that she found his utterances to be reassuring, and kept the faith. She believed that a change would come, and it did.

On Monday night, Thompson and her three children moved into their new two-room dwelling. She said that members of the community volunteered by providing labour for the construction of the dwelling.

"I am thankful to The Gleaner Company for the story, which caused the world to be aware of my problem. Food For The Poor responded and made life good for me and the children," Thompson said.

"Bwoy, mi sleep in there with the children and it was restful that we sleep until late, so it is like Christmas to the family, thanks, thanks again," she said.