Manchester man pleads for help after fire guts house

A tarpaulin tied to banana trees, with a makeshift bed of cloth and sponge is what 60-year-old Ucal Sinclair has had to resort to following a fire last Wednesday, that burnt his home on Perth Drive, Mandeville, Manchester to the ground. The blaze robbed him of everything he owned.

Sinclair theorised that the fire may have spread from an outdoor fire, started by a relative, that was being used for meal preparation.

"... He left early in the day and I left around 7 (a.m.) ... It look like the fire was there burning away. People say them pass and see the smoke but say them think it was someone burning garbage ... In the day, by the time the fire brigade come, everything flat out," he said.

Sinclair said he occupied the four-bedroom board and zinc structure with his cousin for 30 years. All his savings was in the house.

"I had about $20,000 that I was saving from the stall and all that burn up. I have high blood pressure and all my medication burn up. It took me four days to get back some. But it gone already, me just have to look forward now," he said.

Sinclair said that the house was constructed on leased lands. He said that he ended up there after his relationship turned sour years ago.

"Me build a house on woman land and me have to end up leave it and come back here," he said.

Inconvenience people

Having returned to Mandeville, Sinclair laboured as a vendor on the streets to earn a living. He now paints a picture of despair. Since the fire, Sinclair said he gets food from his neighbours and often seeks shelter at different houses, though he prefers to be in his own space.

"After a while you just want to be in your own space and not feel like you a inconvenience people. Me prefer just bounce it here until God help me. I don't want anything big like the first time, just a little one room -- box and cast it and use the plyboard around it because is not my land," Sinclair said.

The inhumane conditions he now contends with, coupled with physical pains from severe injury to his spine from a car accident years ago, have left Sinclair in a state of disbelief and sadness and he is hoping that help will soon come his way.

"It nuh pretty. I am asking anybody that can help me to buy couple bags of cement, 12 feet of ply and zinc, two yards of marl. Once I start, people will come and give me a hand. It's hard to go out and come back and realise seh you nuh have anywhere to live but me still have to give thanks because me have life. Me cyan even really think too much about the loss, me just have to trust God," Sinclair said.

Ucal Sinclair may be contacted via telephone at (876) 775-9695