Sorrow turns to joy - Gov’t gives woman house after bulldozing her building

With Christmas only six days away, Shaneil Francis has received an early Christmas gift - a three-bedroom home in Casabanna, Clifton, St Catherine.

The 24-year-old gained the nation's attention and sympathy after she sorrowfully expressed that she had invested all her resources into an unfinished house which was demolished in October 2022. Francis' home was one of several that was torn down after it was discovered that they were built on an informal settlement. A heartbroken Francis told THE STAR at the time that she did not know she had built the house on illegally sold land, and had purchased the land for $800,000. She told the news team last year that she worked different jobs, saved her money and started to participate in round robins to put the money together to buy the land. She even had to sleep on a mattress on a friend's floor as she bought building material, and sold her appliances in order to pay workmen. On the day when the heavy equipment tore down all she had created, tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she saw all her sacrifices going to waste.

But yesterday, Francis happily collected the keys to her new home from Prime Minister Andrew Holiness at the ribbon cutting ceremony . Francis was gifted a one-storey house under the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) programme. The house, which was built in three weeks, has an open concept design and was similar in size to what Francis had started to construct. The young entrepreneur told THE STAR that she is grateful for what she has been gifted especially since her prior living condition was not the best.

"I was very much uncomfortable, cah yuh know sometime yuh overstay [at other's homes] and sometime I'm at my mom and I have to be travelling. And as I said, I'm self-employed, I do catering. It's very much frustrating, but now I got my home, I'm going to be settled," she said.

Francis added that although she doesn't plan to adorn her house with a Christmas tree and lights for the Yuletide season, she is excited to purchase new furniture and decorate her new home.

"Mi aguh get a 'L' couch or one a dem neat small dinner table," Francis said excitedly after her first walkthrough of the property.

Her mother Faithey Edmondson Allen, who was there to support her daughter, told THE STAR that she is now at ease knowing that Francis will have her own home for Christmas after all her hard work.

"Everything work out good for those that love the Lord, so I'm happy now. I'm very happy because she is a trying girl, ambitious, loving. Everything that is good, that is my daughter Shaneil," Edmondson Allen said.