Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter

While some suffered minor damage to their homes in Portmore, Claudette Berry lost everything.

The dwelling she shared with her two children in Christian Pen disappeared before her eyes during Hurricane Sandy.

"Mi and my kids were inside. At first, two piece of zinc out the front was shaking and then a piece of board at the front went," she said.

"Then the whole roof went with it." Tears welling up, she lamented that she only moved to the area a year ago.

Certificates showing her children's school performances were drying in the sun, some of the many articles soaked after their shelter fell apart. She feared her children would not be able to attend school for a while.

"I have to find somewhere for my children, mi wi tek road if mi have to. Sleep inna di market or something," she said. "Wah mi do?" she asked at times, a picture of despair.

She was making plans to gather up what stuff was not damaged to take to the shelter in Gregory Park.

What hurt Berry more is that some of her appliances are also gone, and they were not taken by the hurricane.

Across the street, Errol Morrison is also defiantly planning to move on after the roof of his small house was also taken. But more than that, the banana trees in his yard have mostly been toppled.

A fighter

"From life deh ya, mi alright. I'm a fighter," he said. Morrison said after 4 p.m. on Wednesday the roof went. He, his girlfriend and daughter took shelter close by and he was able to save a few items. But like Berry, unscrupulous persons relieved him of his goods.

"Dem gone wid mi TV, mi component set, mi blenda, tings like that." He believes that to gain access to his home, they even killed his dog. "Him was alive and well during the storm and den mi find him dis morning," he said, shaking his head. He also cannot find some of the goats and rabbits he rears. But he will not be begging any alms.

"Mi do anyting. Day's work, mi go ketch fish, mi work pon site," he said. "Yuh nah go find anodda yute like me a do farming. Nobody can't point nuh finga pon da youth yah say mi lazy," he said.