Lamour Pinnock living on the edge

Cooking meals out in the open on a coal stove, catching a shower in public business places and sleeping at nights in an old Nissan motor car, Lamour Pinnock is living on the edge, in direct contrast to her neighbours in the Portmore Pines housing scheme in Portmore, St Catherine.

When The Gleaner caught up with the 53-year-old on Tuesday, a meal of curried chicken neck and foot was simmering, the rice had already been cooked and she was looking to purchase a large bottle of water to mix a drink of Tang, a sachet of which she had already secured.

The soft-spoken mother shared with The Gleaner how she had fallen on hard times, just before the start of the COVID-pandemic, when she along with her 19-year-old son and 15-year-old daughter were forced to leave their home in Braeton in the parish, after the house they were living in was sold. The new owners needed them out, in order to effect much-needed renovations to the building.

“We didn’t have anywhere to go and I was desperate, so we were pressed to leave,” Pinnock recalled.

The distraught woman called the mother of her 15-year-old daughter’s schoolmate and explained their situation and she agreed to allow the child to come and live with their family. It was a move that came after the 15-year-old’s insistence that her mother ask for the assistance.

However, that still left the concerned mother and her 19-year-old out in the open, literally.

“I called a friend who worked at a garage in Bridgeport and asked if we could come and he said, ‘Okay’. We bunked there for a couple of months until we had to leave. It was a makeshift shelter but we weren’t on the street. Then we had to leave and one stage I was staying with a friend in Southborough. I would come in at night to sleep and leave early in the morning.”

Live-in helper

Then Pinnock caught a break when she got a job as a live-in helper off Molynes Road, St Andrew, and this lasted for three months before she got another live-in job off Dunrobin Avenue. Things were looking up, that is until her employer advised that her duties would be taken by a family member and so her services would no longer be needed.

During the time she was employed, Pinnock was able to save some money and helped her son to rent a place to live but just like her, his life has since also taken a turn for the worse.

For the past four years, on and off, she has spent her days under a large guango tree located at the border of the garage where she sleeps at night, locked in an old abandoned Nissan car. The people in the area have been really kind and Pinnock is in fact enjoying some semblance of improved living conditions over what transpired while she and her son were kotching with a friend in Naggo Head. They would come in late at night to rest and leave early in the morning but had no access to sanitary conveniences.

“If I wanted to use the toilet I would have to do it in something and throw it away,” she admitted.

With nowhere to store meat or food kind, she must buy meat and cook it the same day, consuming everything. For this reason, she has become an ardent supporter of a nearby cookshop, even though this does put a strain on her limited budget. Pinnock also accesses the restrooms of business places and has the option, whenever she needs, to shower.

“There is somewhere that I can shower or change clothes or I catch gallon bottles of water and wait until late hours and use it to shower myself,” she explained.

Tired, frustrated and unsure how long it will be before she is asked to leave, Lamour Pinnock is reaching out to the public for help and would be quite willing to take a live-in or other job. She may be reached at 876-828-4154 or funds may be deposited to her Jamaica National savings account number 2094608562.