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“I slept on a bed last night. I slept good. I got to rest my back and get relief from my back pain. I got up this morning, and I was able to drink a hot cup of tea.” Those were the joyful words Vitra Teelucksingh-Rajpaul expressed yesterday, after a Good Samaritan provided shelter for them.
After one month of living in a cramped car, a bed/mattress on which his wife could lie and stretch her legs was Evans Rajpaul’s most cherished wish. He said his tears flowed every time his wife, a cancer patient, cried out in pain in the small car they called home. Yesterday Vitra was able to say that in spite of her trials and tribulations, “I always knew God was on my side.”
“We are indeed grateful for these small mercies,” Rajpaul, 53, said in a telephone interview from Rio Claro, where he journeyed with his wife to accept an offer of a temporary shelter on Friday evening. “The place here is a not quite what we expected, but the gentleman provided us with a mattress and stove and a gas tank. We have a toilet and bath and the owner has told us to pay what we can. Someone has offered to pay two months rent for us. A lady also called and said she will bring a bed for us on Sunday (today).”
He said officers from the Rio Claro Police Station have also chipped in to assist them. “I am so humbled. Our situation was so terrible, I used to get annoyed, but today I am feeling a lot better,” Vitra said. Rajpaul said while he was grateful for all those who reached out to help them, what they really want is their own apartment. He said he has no refrigerator or place to store groceries and appealed to those who want to help to “buy us a fan, a kettle, bed sheet, towel, tea cups and saucers...”
He said he was disappointed that the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) had not yet been able to find a shelter for them. Rajpaul said the HDC representative who spoke with him on Thursday, has made no further contact with them. “If we get a place, people are willing to help us furnish it,” he said.
Rajpaul said since his story was published in the T&T Guardian: “I have been getting endless calls. I have written down all the numbers here. One man said if I found an apartment in San Fernando, he would pay three months rent for us. Another one said he would provide us with furniture. Lots of other people have offered us food, groceries, money. “Oh God, I am eternally thankful to the Guardian. How can I ever repay you?”
