Sisters appeal for help to save home

Sisters Laura Johnson and Sharlene Charles are desperately seeking help to save their childhood home in Robert Village, Tableland, from collapse.

The house has sunk nearly ten feet into a precipice, taking with it electrical and water lines. Pavements have fractured, concrete slabs are splintered, and every day the house inches closer to destruction.

Johnson, the single mother of a seven-year-old daughter, said the situation has became unbearable. The walls of her downstairs apartment are mouldy, water seeps through the floors, and the ceiling had started to crumble.

“I had to move out in 2023, but it was very difficult because I pay rent now,” she said. “I don’t have much help. I work with URP sometimes, I clean beach houses. I do anything I can just to make ends meet but at the end of the day, $1,300 from social welfare is not enough.”

Despite her struggles, Johnson remains determined to give her daughter a better life. She owns a piece of land and dreams of building even a small, safe home for them but without assistance, that dream feels impossible.

“I make the money stretch, and sometimes we do without,” she said, her voice breaking.

“My daughter always says, ‘Mommy, I want some snacks,’ but I have to tell her, ‘We can’t afford everything, babe.’ It’s heartbreaking,” he said.

With the added burden of paying $800 in rent, Johnson has been unable to replace the belongings she lost when she fled her home.

“I don’t even have furniture. When I was living there some things got wet. We had no wardrobe, no proper space. We just had to leave everything behind,” she said.

Returning to the house fills her with fear and painful memories.

“Lying in bed in the morning, hearing the gas truck pass on the distorted road, I used to worry that if it tipped over, that would be the end for me and my family,” she said.

While Johnson has managed to escape, her sister, Sharlene Charles, remains trapped in the crumbling house with her three children. She said every day is a fight for survival.

“It’s terrible,” Charles said. “I have children between 14 and 20 years old, and we are living inside a house that can collapse at any time. The steps are broken, the pavement is gone, and many times I have slipped and injured myself. I cannot live here anymore.”

At night, she lies awake listening to the house cracking around her.

“When rain falls, water pours in from everywhere. The roof leaks and the walls shift. I have called T&TEC so many times because the house is moving backwards, and the wires are stretching. The lights flicker, and the voltage is low. I don’t know when this house will collapse, but I know it’s only a matter of time.”

Charles, a working mother, is pleading for assistance to find a new place for her family.

“I need to move out of here, I just need a little help,” she said.

The sisters are hoping someone will step forward to help them build a safe home for their families.

Anyone willing to assist can make donations to Laura Johnson’s Republic Bank account at the Princes Town Branch, Account Number 630047855331, or call 299-1811 for more information.