‘How long we can sit down?’

The operators of 14 shops at the New Forum Fishing Village in Portmore, St Catherine, have been wallowing in misery and despair since their enterprises and valuable stock went up in flames two Sundays ago as they prepared for the Easter season, when they would traditionally see peak sales.

The wholesalers, seafood dealers, restaurant and bar owners had begun stocking up on pounds of fish, meats, and crates of liquor in anticipation of Christendom’s most important season, but have been left tallying their losses with a heavy cloud of uncertainty hanging over their heads.

The cause of the fire, which destroyed the shops as well as places some called home, still remains unknown.

Between the Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the Portmore Municipal Corporation, which are both vying for ownership of the fishing village, no work has begun to replace the destroyed shops.

Promised support to help them get back on their feet by St Catherine South Eastern Member of Parliament Robert Miller has not yet materialised.

Neither have they been given grants on $60,000 reportedly promised by the labour ministry in a meeting on Sunday, April 10. They had anticipated that the funds would have been disbursed in time for them to capitalise on the Easter sales.

“We still sitting here looking,” said a forlorn Tina Francis, who lost two of her shops in the inferno.

“Not even the kids them weh get displaced, nobody nuh come ‘round with not even a bottle of water fi give dem and dem have to go to school,” said Francis. “We nuh see nuh action a happen. Right now, we at a standstill ... . How long we can sit down? This a we bread and butter, we livelihood. We nuh know nuh other source fi go work.”

Sunday’s meeting did not put business owners at ease. In fact, they are worried that recovery may never occur or that it would take several years for durable facilities to be built to replace the wooden and zinc structures they previously occupied.

The vendors had also asked officials to make an alternative location available to them to continue their operations while they wait for assistance, but no there has also been no movement on that front.

Up to press time last night, the UDC had still not responded to Gleaner questions posed on Wednesday.

Francis, who had taken more than $200,000 worth of fish on credit to sell for the Easter holiday, lost it all after placing it in a deep freezer the night before the fire. Liquor she had taken on consignment was also lost, along with four deep freezers which were loaded with pre-seasoned meat she had stocked to cook and sell fried fish and other seafood meals to customers at the fishing village.

“Right now, from the fire, mi just siddung and a look. There is nothing that I can do. I just have to spend the reserve that I have weh finish now,” she told The Gleaner, looking at the lost opportunity to generate major profits over the holidays.

“Even when a holiday, mi nuh close. A nuff time mi camp out ‘round here. My kitchen open to all 3 o’clock inna di morning,” she said, reflecting on the nightlife at the spot dubbed ‘Flava Avenue’.

Melissa Walker, who also managed two businesses in the vicinity, said that while she is grateful to be alive after the fire, the road to recovery seems grim.

Estimating her losses at more than $4 million, Walker explained that losing both her shops has presented been a major setback as she contemplates how she will be able to fend for herself.

Banking her hopes on the Government, she is hoping for swift intervention, noting that she tries to remain positive and not dwell on the things she no longer has control over.

“Everybody inna a struggling mood. Nobody nuh get nuh help fi even put up a nail,” said Winston Rodney, a caretaker of the premises, who have had to turn to scaling fish to earn cash.

Sixty-eight-year-old Evadne Hall, who was unable to salvage even a cell phone when the fire started, has not made contact with her family since.

“I feel so sad. That’s why sometimes I don’t siddung ‘round this way. I go ‘round to the back because I can’t bear to see ... . Right now, me heart full [as] me a talk to you,” she said.

Hall has also taken on a fish-scaling gig at a nearby shop, where she earns $300 per pound cleaned.

Some days, she earns up to $1,500, which is then reduced as she traverses back home and struggles to pay rent.

“Mi don’t get nuh help from no body; nothing at all,” she lamented.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com