Please help me to give my children a comfortable and safe place to live

Hello everyone,

My name is Janice, and I am reaching out from Jamaica with a humble request for help for my family. We are a family of five, including my husband and our three children. Today, we find ourselves facing a difficult reality that we cannot overcome on our own, and we are praying for the kindness of friends, neighbors, and strangers to help us secure a safe place to live.

We currently live in a board house that was heavily shaken and compromised by the severe weather from Hurricane Melissa. The storm left our home vulnerable, the roof was torn off by the heavy winds a majority of the zink was damaged but we had to put them back, so when it rains water comes through the roof, and many of the wooden boards are actively rotting away. Knowing that the structure is no longer safe or stable for our three children, we saved every dollar we could to start building a secure concrete structure around the old board house.

Our dream was to transition them into a sturdy, permanent home. Unfortunately, due to severe financial strain, the construction has come to a complete standstill. We are trapped in an unfinished structure.

My husband is an incredibly hardworking man and the sole provider for our household right now. He works tirelessly, but with the rising cost of living, the money he earns can barely stretch to make ends meet, let alone buy building materials like cement, blocks, steel, or roofing.

I deeply wish I could work alongside him to build our dream. I was working as a room attendant in the hotel industry for a while. However, I was diagnosed with severe, chronic rheumatoid arthritis in 2018. The illness became so aggressive that I could no longer manage the physical demands of my job, and I was forced to resign. Now, I battle this painful condition daily. There are many days when the pain is so intense that I cannot move at all.

It breaks my heart as a mother to look at our unfinished home and know that I cannot physically or financially work to fix them for my children.

We are raising funds to buy the critical materials needed to complete the concrete walls and secure a proper roof over our heads so our children do not have to live in fear of the next rainy season or  storm. Every single dollar raised will go directly toward:

 Completion of Structure and Decking.

100 bags of cement

  20 yards of wash sand

and 20 yards of grit.

 Half a ton of steel

400 concrete blocks.

 15 sheets of ply board

 20 lengths of 2×4 lumber.

 Funding daily wages for 1 skilled tradesman (15,000JMD/day)1 laborer(7,000 JMD/day) to ensure the structure is built safely.

Even if you cannot donate, please consider sharing our link with your friends, family, and the Jamaican diaspora community. Any bit of help—no matter how small—will bring us one step closer to giving our three children a safe, dry, and stable home.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your time, your prayers, and your generosity. God bless you.