‘We shall rise again’ - Ray Ray Market vendors determined to rebuild after another fire

Paulene Green sat footsteps away from the charred remains of her stall and took a heavy pull from her cigarette.

She exhaled a twirl of smoke and sighed deeply. Her eyes are sad and weary, and she leaned on a stall for support. She is one of over a dozen higglers whose goods were destroyed by fire in the Ray Ray Market in downtown Kingston late on Tuesday. There have been several fires at the popular market over the years.

"A seven years mi a sell here suh, and every time the market bun down mi lose everything. Mi sell everything, including shoes and clothes, and it all gone. A God alone make it never burn down last year, and we pray against it. It did catch again recently, and is a man see it and out it. Mi tired fi go through this, but mi a go build up back," she said.

According to a report from the police's Corporate Communications Unit, at 7 p.m., the Darling Street police and firefighters responded to a call that the market was on fire. No one was injured in the blaze. Another vendor, who said that her loss is estimated to be over $300,000, said she got loose bowels when she got the horrific phone call.

"When mi hear, mi get instant running belly. Right now a some rehydration salt mi a drink. A far mi live, and when mi hear, mi just couldn't believe it. Mi lose all a di odda years dem and now a di same ting, and is not like we getting any help," she said.

Except for her stall, Sherene Larmond did not lose much this time, compared to previous years. Following a fire in June 2020, Larmond, who had lost her son to gun violence just weeks earlier, said she had began storing her goods elsewhere.

"We shall rise again, because we just can't give up. This is where a lot of us sell to send our children to school, and this is where people come to find food. We throw we little partner out of what we sell; and right here so a basically we livelihood. So we nah give up. Not even a nail we ever get back from anyone, so we nah expect anything dis trip, but we a go rise again," she said.

Similar sentiments were echoed by several other vendors, who said that although they have to dig deeper into their pockets to pay for storage, they had stopped keeping their stock in the market.

"Mi memba one night mi pay a handcart man to carry up mi goods dem to di storeroom and him leave mi barrel dem and go a him yard, and that night fire come, and mi lose everything. A nuff times mi get burn out, so mi just pay di extra money and move mi barrel dem. Suh right now a just di stall burn, but the board dem expensive to buy back," a vendor said.

Another stated that some vendors took the majority of their goods to Falmouth Market.

"Some a dem did still have things here. Some never suh lucky still and dem lose everything," the man said.