BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FOLLOWING the publication of the Hon. Shawn Richards’ tour of the Gardens Housing Project and the subsequent posting of unsavory comments made by readers about one of the female tenants, SKNVibes was invited to have a first-hand view of the deplorable and unsanitary conditions under which she lives.
According to Tesser Archibald-Hazel, only two of the five pictures taken of the complex by Richards concern her apartment; the remainder is of other tenants’. “Those pictures”, she categorically stated, “are the container by the ‘face basin’ and the rotting bulkhead in the kitchen/bathroom area.”
“I am upset over the comments I saw posted on SKNVibes. It clearly shows that people are not using good judgment and have twisted the situation into something personal and political. When Shawn visited the complex he not only listened to my complaints and took pictures of my apartment, but also those of other tenants.
“Everything Shawn said about me and my apartment in the article published on your website is true. However, he did not put captions to the pictures in order to differentiate among the apartments, and this led to many nasty comments by some readers who lack the ability to comprehend what they read and saw.”
Among the comments Archibald-Hazel identified is one by HORRIBLE, posted at 3:45 p.m. on September 25. It reads, “You are officially the nastiest young lady in the universe. Don’t you know any young men who can come and help you fix the cupboards. The door look like an oil tanker – rusty no heck. How on earth can you brush your mouth right next to a stranger’s urine. The problem is not with the owner, but with your uncleanliness. If you wait on a landlord to take care of the wear and tear that you created in your home you would fall through the flooring. Instead of pictures purchase some building supplies.”
On SKNVibes’ visit to the complex, Archibald-Hazel’s door was found to be made of wood and not aluminum or steel. The door photographed by Richards is that of another tenant residing in the apartment below Archibald-Hazel’s, and this media house also took a ‘shot’ of it.
On entering Archibald-Hazel’s apartment, she explained that the windows in the living room could not be opened because of faulty winders. She also led the visiting team to her ablution area, where a plastic container was placed on the right side of the face basin to catch the urine that leaks from the broken toilet in the apartment above hers.
The urine stains are quite visible on some parts of the walls in her ablution area, even though she wipes the walls whenever she sees any liquid or foreign matter leaking from the apartment above hers.
“I live in the apartment with my two-year-old child and I have to regularly monitor his movements whenever he intends to go into the bathroom. We do not use the face basin. We do everything in the shower. In addition to bathing, we wash our faces and brush our teeth under the shower,” Archibald-Hazel explained.
Other areas within the apartment that need to be repaired include the bulkhead in the kitchen and bathroom areas as well as the rotting wall by the kitchen sink.
Archibald-Hazel declared that during the previous administration she had encountered a problem with one of the windows, which almost fell on her elder son when he was a tot.
“Luckily for him, a friend was visiting at the time and moved him off the bed just before it fell,” she added.
She also explained that repeated complaints were made to the authorities but no one came to remedy the situation until “I called in on the ‘Have your say’ radio programme hosted by Junie Liburd on ZIZ every Thursday night”.
“Some of the people who commented on this recent chapter in my life view it as political. However, I want to make it clear that this has nothing to do with politics; it has to do with my survival, what is right from wrong and my comfort zone,” Archibald-Hazel said.
She said that she did not approached Richards on the issue, but after seeing him on his visit to the complex she invited him to her apartment and explained the length of time she has been living under such deplorable conditions.
“Shawn and I are friends, and I’m so happy that he visited us and has taken our situation to a higher level. I have been suffering for years and I wrote many letters to the authorities, but no one has ever come to address my concerns. All I got from them were promises and no action. On one occasion I visited the General Manager at NHC and he told me that he could not have done anything without instructions from his superiors. Therefore, I have no regrets in inviting Shawn to my home. Because of the publicity, I believe that the unhealthy situation will be rectified,” she explained.
Archibald-Hazel claims that basic maintenance to the building was never done since she moved into that apartment. She also stated that she and the tenant above her had employed the services of a plumber, who did some minor repairs to stop the flow of urine. However, as time elapsed, the problem resurfaced.
She is of the view that that the toilet needs to be replaced. She also declared that she is in search of a house to buy or rent.
