Joseph Wright, a client of Marie Atkins Night Shelter, belts out one of his original compositions. He has ambitions to become Jamaica's next gospel singing sensation. - Photo by Andrea Downer The following is the continuation of a feature on the Marie Atkins Shelter. Part One appeared in The Gleaner on Wednesday.
According to Lena Latibeaudiere, head of the Marie Atkins Shelter and inspector of the poor, not all the clients of the shelter are qualified to hold jobs, she said a number of them have psychiatric illnesses and end up at the shelter after they have completed their treatment at the Bellevue Hospital in east Kingston and their family either refuses to take them in or they have lost touch with them. In addition, she said of the approximately 100 clients who are assisted by the shelter, at least 10 per cent are deportees and face unique challenges in reintegrating into Jamaican societyand finding jobs.
"Nobody wants to employ them," she revealed.
"You have the ones who are willing to put themselves back together, but you have some who it seems were deported because of drugs, so they come here and no matter how you try to get the mental health people to try and help them, as they get a money, they gone back to the habit, so there is nothing you can do," she stated.
Ms. Latibeaudiere said the problem is compounded by the fact that Jamaica lacks a detoxification facility, which is required to keep the drug addicts in a confined, controlled environment, which is needed for a successful detoxification process. In addition, she said the human resources are not in place to carry out the kind of close monitoring of rehabilitated drug users to prevent them from falling back into their old habits.
More could be done
Like Joseph, Ms. Latibeaudiere thinks more could be done for the homeless people who are assisted by the shelter.
"Many of the people here are not drug addicts, they are not mentally ill, they just fell on hard times and are burnt out, or hurricane damage them house and Government needs to build some reasonable housing units that people can pay (mortgage), but those opportunities do not exist."
At 100 and counting, Ms. Latibeaudiere admits that the shelter is severely overcrowded, but because of the nature of the assistance that they provide, they do not turn anyone away.
"The shelter is made to house 60 persons inside, but another 40 or 50 sleep on the compound at nights as it is much safer ... than for them to stay on the streets," she stated, adding that they sleep on mattresses spread on the ground or under parking sheds.
In addition to homeless adults, the Marie Atkins Night Shelter for Street People assists approximately 500 children across the island. Through its Adopt a Child Programme, the shelter seeks sponsorship from organisations and individuals to provide scholarships for destitute children who are doing well in school.
Ms. Latibeaudiere sayshomelessness is a chronic problem in Jamaica and revealed that there are people on Jamaica's streets who were made homeless by Hurricane Gilbert 19 years ago.
She said the shelter should be housed in a bigger building and that she desperately needs sponsorship for her feeding programmes on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
Meanwhile, she continues to assist those she can, one meal at a time. Their stares vacant, it seems that there are many who have given up hope of ever reclaiming their lives before they were displaced from their homes. But there are others like Joseph, who still cling fiercely to their dreams of one day losing the title 'homeless', regaining their dignity and once again making meaningful contributions to society.
