The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

TWENTY-eight year-old Anishka Saunders prays extra hard at night before she sleeps out of fear that the roof above her might collapse and injure her and her family.

With the hurricane season already here, the College of the Bahamas (COB) economics student is pleading for help to protect her family and property from the effects the expected bad weather will have on her home’s dilapidated roof.

The youngest occupant of the house, she said, is her seven-year-old nephew. Together they live with her two sisters and brother in their Pinewood Gardens home.

“Because the house wasn’t built properly, when it rains, the water settles on the concrete roof,” she told The Tribune. “As it rains more and more, it eats away the concrete and eventually inside the roof starts to fall apart. It’s not safe. It could be fatal if the concrete falls on us.”

Ms Saunders said despite efforts to repair the problem, the roof has got progressively worse.

“Our home is one of the worst homes in Pinewood,” she said. “We had the problem when we first moved here 20 years ago. We thought we fixed it, but we didn’t.”

Ms Saunders said that neither she nor her siblings have been able to get a bank loan that would help them address the issue.

“Bad weather could damage anything,” she added. “I tell people not to buy anything brand new because it will get damaged because of the water falling through the roof. It’s kind of embarrassing when people have to come over and see the condition.”

Expressing frustration, she claimed that her efforts to get assistance from Urban Renewal have failed.

In a statement that highlighted her positive outlook on the serious problem her family faces, she said: “I think we have an angel watching over us. At least twice in the past, the minute we moved from a certain area, something from the roof would drop.”

Pinewood MP Khaalis Rolle told The Tribune he was unaware of Ms Saunders’ plight.

“There are hundreds of requests in for assistance, many of them in severe need,” Mr Rolle said. “We try our best to help as many people as possible, but we can’t after every request, help every single time. It’s virtually impossible.”