Needy Clarendon woman gave away her house ... hoping to get another

A Frankfield, Clarendon, woman who appeared in this newspaper on Tuesday, appealing for help with a house, was the beneficiary of a unit from Food For The Poor (FFTP) in the mid-2000s.

Monica Barnes, 55, lives in a rundown shack on the riverbank in Waterworks, Frankfield, Clarendon.

Following a revelation from political representatives that she was gifted a house while she lived in a section of Frankfield called Southwood, Barnes told THE STAR that she gave it away because she wanted a bigger one.

"Is a big house mi fi get," she said, while adding that she gave the unit to one of her sons. "A one room dem gi mi and one verandah, and mi gi mi son it, and dats why you see mi live out here suh, cause mi and mi son nah live," she said.

Barnes also insisted that she requested the house for her son "cause him don't have anywhere to live".

Last week, when THE STAR asked Clive Mundle, councillor for the Frankfield division, if he was aware of Barnes' situation, he said that he was not, but promised to investigate with a view to providing assistance for her. He then made the checks which turned up eye-opening results.

"When she got the house I wasn't councillor at the time, she got the house through former Member of Parliament Richard Azan, and Caleb Lewinson was the councillor then," he said.

According to the councillor, Barnes as well as several other persons benefited from houses built by FFTP in the community of Southwood, more popularly referred to as Line.

Mundle said that Barnes relocated to the riverside dwelling in Waterworks a few years ago.

"She is the one who put herself in the situation that she is in now. It's not that she didn't have a house, she had one," he said.

Meanwhile, Azan said that the housing project in Southwood was undertaken during his first term as member of parliament.

"If my memory serves me right, it was about 50 houses we did around there. So it [the size unit that people got] depended on the size family you have. If you live alone, you got a one room, if it's more than one person, you got a two-bedroom," he said.

Barnes told THE STAR that she fears her house might be washed into the river during a downpour. She said that her latrine has already suffered that fate, and that the foundation of her shack is being eroded.

"I wouldn't mind if a could get the house on a land dat a can live there and have mi toilet and suh," she said.

Mundle yesterday said that he was the one who recommended that she be given a job as a street sweeper, and that there is not much more he can do. For its part, FFTP has not closed the door on Barnes.

"We are aware of the situation currently confronting Ms Barnes and will conduct our usual investigation and assist as best as possible," the charitable organisation told THE STAR.