‘Lord, this is where I’m going to build my house’

For Andrea Riley, of Rural Retreat near Claremont in South East St Ann, the People’s National Party (PNP) stronghold currently held by Member of Parliament (MP) Lisa Hanna, her prayers for a house has been answered, thanks to an initiative facilitated by the MP.

“I’m feeling so happy, excited, elated, everything,” Riley told The Gleaner as she surveyed her beautiful, two-bedroom flat which is nearly complete.

“I must also thank God, too, because if it wasn’t for Him, this wouldn’t be possible because He was in it from the beginning. Before this house was built, every day I would come out here and I would say, ‘Lord, this is where I’m going to build my house. This is where my house is. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but you’re going to do it’, and now this is my house. I give Him all the glory,” she stated.

IN HOPE

Her faith finally came true, thanks to Hanna’s insistence that women must be empowered and uplifted.

Riley is one of five women in the constituency benefitting from a project that Hanna has introduced, which makes use of the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation’s housing programme, with the HOPE unit providing administrative and technical support.

Under the project, five women are being given two-bedroom houses that will no doubt have a significant impact on their lives and that of their families.

The effects of the coronavirus pandemic intensified the burdens for many Jamaicans who were finding it difficult to make ends meet, in the first place, Hanna explained to The Gleaner.

“Two months after the pandemic began in Jamaica, 62 per cent of households reported earnings below the minimum wage. Low-income families and women were the hardest hit, with 59 per cent and 53 per cent of them, respectively, losing employment.

“Most of these households had to depend on meagre savings, remittances, and various loans, while others lacked any other source of income whatsoever. For households that relied on savings, 50 per cent said their savings could only last for two weeks, 30 per cent said that it could only last one week, and 18 per cent for one day. As a consequence, many children in these living situations experienced then, and continue to face, daily food shortages. Some 47 per cent of them reside in rural areas. I see many of these women who are facing hardship. They come to me requesting assistance for food, housing, education for their children and jobs. Some have the serious pressure of not having a place to live with their children, or the man or family they have been living with have asked them to leave. In these instances, they request a recommendation to go to Food For The Poor. It was against these prevailing circumstances, and the levels of domestic abuse I was witnessing being meted out to our women across the island, that I decided to utilise this housing programme from the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation around our women.”

The project started September 2021 and is ongoing until all five houses are complete Riley and Tanesha Brown are the first two to benefit, with Stacy Richards next on the list.

“I am the proud owner of this beautiful house which was given to me by my MP, Lisa Hanna,” Riley, an unemployed mother of one, told The Gleaner when the news team visited the site recently.

Workmen were there, two working on the electrical connection, while a painter focused on transforming drab concrete into beautifully finished walls. Doors were affixed, but the windows were still to be installed. A decked roof ensures safety in times of hurricanes.

A PLACE TO FEEL SAFE

“It’s a honour and it’s a pleasure. As you can see, it’s very, very beautiful. I love it and I’m very excited, very overwhelmed right now, because it’s a great feeling to have your own home; I’m very proud. I have two bedrooms, bathroom, a little kitchenette and my living room, and my verandah area here,” she added.

Having her own home means everything to Riley, as she pointed out that every woman needs to have somewhere where they can feels safe, where they can have their own space.

“For this I’m very excited, very elated; I’m happy, I’m overjoyed right now. It’s very nice, I love it and thank my MP; and I must commend the construction team also for bringing this house to where it is right now, because if it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t be possible.”

Riley’s mother, Veronica Riley, shared her daughter’s joy. According to her, “I am glad that she earned this house, with the help of God, from the MP, Miss Lisa Hanna. I’m very proud and I feel good about it. And I wish everything that God has to offer towards it and move them from strength to strength, because she has achieved something not by our will, but by the will of God,”

Hanna spoke of the spin-offs of the project.

“The impact of the project so far has been positive on the beneficiaries and their children,” she said. ”The peace of mind a person has when they know they have their own key to their own home is priceless. All the beneficiaries have expressed gratitude and relief. Their families are ecstatic, knowing they will soon occupy their two-bedroom units. The extended community is not only pleased for the beneficiaries, but satisfied with the employment the construction is generating in the area.”