Blind man wished for last days in comfort

When representatives of the Poor Relief Department stepped into Ronald Reddie's crumbling board house in Gayle, St Mary, earlier this year, they were met with a sight that broke their hearts, and a plea that would stay with them forever.

The 75-year-old, blind and battling prostate cancer, told them he didn't want riches or luxury, only to spend his final days in comfort.

Novelette Silvera-Wilshaw, senior inspector of the poor for the Gayle and Cornwall division, still recalls the moment vividly.

"When I came in March, the board house was falling apart; you could look through the walls and see outside," she recalled.

"He told me [that] before he dies he just wants to live somewhere comfortable. That stayed with me, and I went home and wrote exactly what he said."

Fast-forward a few months and Reddie's dream has come true. With one hand resting gently on his son's shoulder, the retired construction worker took slow, careful steps into the new concrete house he once dreamed of building for himself. For more than three decades, he had helped others across St Mary and Trelawny to build homes - laying blocks, mixing mortar, and crafting foundations.

The dream of homeownership became reality this week in Gayle, St Mary. Last Thursday, Reddie and his son, Omar, received the keys to a two-bedroom concrete house built on their family land under the Ministry of Local Government's Indigent Housing Programme. Their previous home, a dilapidated wooden structure riddled with holes and a leaking roof - had long become unfit for living.

Reddie, who lost his sight in 2014 and has lived with prostate cancer for several years, previously relied on an outdoor pit latrine and the kindness of neighbours to get by.

"Before we got this house things were bad," his son Omar told THE STAR.

To get to the latrine, the father and son improvised a simple system.

"He's blind, but him know him way. Wi used to tie a cord from the front door to the bathroom so he could feel where to go," Omar explained.

During heavy rains and hurricane seasons, Reddie relied on instinct to keep the fragile structure intact.

"Mi just open the back door and the front door and it just blow through." The airflow, he explained, allowed wind pressure to escape, reducing the chance of the roof lifting off in storms.

Now, that frail board house has been replaced with a modern, wheelchair-accessible unit, complete with indoor plumbing and an open-concept kitchen and living space.

Omar, 44, said he left his own home nearby in 2014 to care for his father full-time. He gave up his job as a chef and now survives on occasional street hustles. "I don't want to leave him," he said.

"When I go out to hustle, the neighbours look out for him. The community really helpful." He said his father has seven living children.

"I don't have any kids of my own because all my life I've been taking care of him," Omar said. "It's my responsibility."

The family's joy is shared by their neighbours, many of whom have witnessed Reddie's years of struggle. Nadine Tucker, 59, who often takes Reddie to Port Maria for medical attention, said he is most deserving of the new house.

"He is good to everybody," she said. "He deserves this. He's the type of man who share him last."

The transformation of Reddie's living conditions mirrors what the ministry says is its wider goal, restoring dignity to citizens who have fallen through the cracks. Many elderly Jamaicans in similar conditions await help under the same programme.

Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie, who attended the handover, said the $10-million project demonstrates the Government's commitment to the poor and most vulnerable.

"Our Indigent Housing Programme carries no political colour, poverty knows no politics," he said.