Every year it bun dung - Ray Ray Market vendor tired of rebuilding after another fire

After almost a year of peace, the hopes of the vendors of the Ray Ray Market in downtown Kingston have gone up in flames once again.

The market went up in flames again on Monday night, destroying the properties of more than half of the vendors that make their living there. Among the displaced was Melody. She has been selling in the market for the past eight years, and told THE STAR that every year since she has been there, the market has experienced fires which she said are deliberately set.

"Every year it bun dung! Them all come inna Christmas, enuh, when we deh yah a bleach fi bun it dung, and when we see the fire we get up offa we stall and come up come throw water. A good thing seh we have we water pack up and out the fire! Them light it afire inna Christmas but we was here, bout one or two o'clock."

According to the higgler, the last fire in February 2022 affected her so deeply that it directly affected her health.

"Mi get stroke fi the last one 'cause when me hear me drop dung down yah. And when me get up back, the doctor say a mild stroke. Because me shock, mi cyah believe! Mi leff go weh the evening and the night me hear seh dung yah bun dung," she recalled. Melody said that she now walks with a limp on her left side due to the incident. With her only source of income sitting in a pile of ashes, Melody said that her next steps are unclear.

"Di whole a everything bun up. Everything! Mi have me three grandpickney fi take care of. Them father dead and gone. A me take care of them, how them ago go a school now?" she cried.

Seated metres from the pile she used to call her stall, Melody said that in the recent blaze, she lost more than $3 million in goods, but this comes nowhere near the damage she has sustained over the years.

"Mi have things in deh yes, but a one barrel and some more bag in deh. And dem deh a decent something. Whole heap a something, decent bag weh me get from farrin," she said, throwing up her arms in despair. Though she has suffered so deeply, Melody said she has no plans to vacate any time soon.

"Mi a plan fi tomorrow (today) or Friday mi try see if me can draw weh the likkle zinc and throw out anything a grung and sell and see if me can buy dem likkle food. Mi affi guh build it up back 'cause weh else me a go do?" she asked.

When asked whether she would go elsewhere to pedal her wares, she said, "A yah so me affi guh stay 'cause a yah so a me source of living! A suh me build up, a suh dem mash it dung!"