The kitchen that became home - 71-year-old holds on to hope nine months after storm

WESTERN BUREAU:

The neatly made bed occupies one side of the kitchen at the Mt Matthews Church of the Nazarene in Logwood, Shrewsbury, Westmoreland.

On the other are cupboards, pots and cooking utensils. It is an unlikely bedroom, but for the past nine months, it has been home to 71-year-old Edgar Bruce, whose house collapsed during the passage of Hurricane Melissa.

Each night, Bruce, who lost his right leg to diabetes and is blind in one eye, settles into the modest space that members of the congregation quietly surrendered after the devastating storm swept away the home they had built for him.

“I didn’t save anything,” Bruce recalled softly. “Just a bed alone, and it was all over in water.”

His survival was nothing short of miraculous.

As torrential rain and hurricane-force winds battered the rural community last October, Bruce remained inside his small wooden house until it became clear it could no longer withstand Melissa’s fury. Sensing the danger, he called to a nephew who lived nearby in a concrete house.

The rescue came just in time. His nephew pulled him to safety moments before the house crashed to the ground.

“As we come out, the building just fall,” Bruce said, still sounding amazed months later.

Nothing inside could be salvaged. The following day, after briefly staying with his nephew, Bruce made the slow journey with his walker to the nearby church, where dozens of residents had sought refuge from the storm.

All eventually returned home. Bruce never did. Today, the kitchen has become his bedroom.

His bed occupies one section of the room, while the cupboards and cooking area remain on the other. During church functions, members have largely taken meal preparation outside rather than disturb the elderly congregant whose circumstances have made the room his home.

Contrary to suggestions that the church wants him to leave, Minister Jacqueline Clarke said the congregation has continued to support Bruce while recognising his desire to return to his own home.

“The church had built him a house already with a bathroom, and Melissa come and blow it down,” Clarke explained.

She said members had helped him begin rebuilding after the hurricane, but like Bruce, many families in Logwood were themselves struggling to recover.

Recalling the devastation

“Every board house in here was flat,” she said, recalling the devastation Hurricane Melissa inflicted on the farming community.

Even concrete houses lost their roofs, leaving residents with little capacity to assist others despite their willingness to do so.

“Everybody love him,” Clarke added. “Everybody would want to help.”

Community member Pansy, who has known Bruce for years, said the church has continued to accommodate him without complaint, even though his presence means the kitchen can no longer function as it once did.

She described Bruce as an industrious man who spent much of his life driving taxis, doing construction work, and taking on carpentry jobs.

“He was a handyman for himself,” she said.

Bruce confirmed her account, explaining that before diabetes changed his life, he earned a living wherever work could be found. “I was a driver, taxi driver, and I used to do construction work,” he said. “When one is slow, I move to another, just to make a living.”

Years of diabetes eventually claimed his right leg. He also lost the sight in his left eye.

Devastating blow

Then came another devastating blow. His son, the one person helping him build his home, was killed in a motor vehicle crash.

“The one that was my heartbeat,” Bruce said quietly. “He was the one that helped me in the beginning of making the house.”

Without him, rebuilding became almost impossible.

Today, the frame of Bruce’s new house stands on the same property where Melissa destroyed the last one.

Friends and neighbours have donated some materials, while volunteers have managed to raise sections of the structure. But there the work stopped.

Bruce still needs lumber, capping, plywood and other materials before a roof can be completed and the house made habitable.

His greatest frustration, however, is not simply the lack of building supplies.

Has received nothing

Bruce said he registered for government assistance after the hurricane, providing officials with the required information and identification documents. Yet months later, he says he has received nothing after reportedly being told there had been a problem related to GPS information in the system.

Until his circumstances change, everyday tasks remain an exercise in determination.

Armed with his walker, Bruce makes the journey to the main road whenever he needs to catch public transportation to medical appointments or other errands.

Drivers help lift the walker into vehicles before returning it to him when he reaches his destination.

Despite everything he has lost, his home, his leg, his eyesight, his son and his livelihood, Bruce has not lost his faith.

Every Wednesday, he joins the church’s fasting service. “I get more from fasting service than even the regular service on a Sunday,” he said. “I always love fasting.”

His story has already begun to stir compassion beyond the hills of Logwood.

United States based Jamaican philanthropist Anthony Turner, organiser of the annual Vibes in the Poconos event in Pennsylvania, has pledged J$50,000 towards the purchase of building materials to help with the rebuilding effort.

Turner, whose ninth staging of the event was held on July 9, said the contribution was simply the right thing to do.

“This was the least I could do,” he said. “I hope when others read about his plight they will respond. It is obvious Bruce is not a lazy man; he was industrious before his illness.”

For Bruce, whose bed still occupies one corner of the Mt Matthews Church of the Nazarene’s kitchen, every sheet of plywood and every piece of lumber now represents something more than a building material.

It represents the possibility that, after surviving Hurricane Melissa and spending nine months sleeping in borrowed space, he may finally find his way home.

janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com