The Tribune

ONE family received the keys to their new home less than a year after a massive fire on Jennie Street left them and several other people displaced.

Last May, a huge blaze destroyed six homes and damaged four others on Jennie Street.

Weeks later, President of Arawak Homes Franon Wilson announced a “home incentive offer” to the victims who wanted to build a home after the tragedy.

At the time, Mr Wilson offered to donate $7,500 to any fire victim who wanted to build a two-bedroom home with Arawak Homes and $10,000 to any fire victim who wanted to build a three-bedroom home or duplex with the company.

Juliet Brown and her husband Granville Brown took on the offer.

Speaking to reporters yesterday after she turned the keys into her new home in Sir Lynden Pindling Estates, Mrs Brown said she was “excited”, “relieved” and “grateful” to have come so far.

“It’s a lot to take in,” she said.

She said it took a lot of sacrifice to become a homeowner, but after going through last year’s tragedy, she said her family made the commitment to go through discomfort for a short while in order to reap the benefits of having a place to call their own.

“It’s so surreal because (it’s not been) a year yet and just knowing that my family and I have a place to call our own was the best,” she said.

“It was really a lot of sacrificing and commitment. . .Unlike the other fire victims, they had their properties to rebuild back on, my family and I was the biggest loser because we didn’t own anything. So for us, I couldn’t make that mistake again to have nothing. So I made a sacrifice so my children, my family, my husband, we can have our own and would never have to experience it again. . .

“This right here was a sacrifice of love because I wanted something to call my own and it will be the first for me and my bloodline to own our own home,” she said.