Residents in a house without a roof call for help

Vanley Joseph of Roseau wants help to alleviate poor conditions that he and others are living in at the Girl Guides and Scouts headquarters on High Street, Roseau.

Joseph, along with Franklyn Moses, Stanley "Pasa swim" Felix and five others, including a female, occupy the dilapidated building.

"There are some people who are homeless and others who were in the rehab programme which was run by Bonti Liverpool. We are now in the Girl Guides and Scouts building thanks to the Girl Guides Association Commissioner who saw the condition of the building after Hurricane Maria. The hurricane came and mashed up the place that we were living in," Joseph said.

According to Joseph, he is the main bread winner for the occupants of the building and he has tried his very best to seek assistance but to no avail.

"I have made several attempts to meet the Prime Minister to get some kind of assistance and when I went there to book an appointment the lady asked me for my number and when I told her that I don't have she said well sorry can't help you," said.

He continued: "The people at the Financial Centre watch me when I come there like I am a nobody. There are seven of us including a woman who has a mental condition, Pasa Swim has one leg and nowhere to go and Franklyn Moses took him and brought him to join us in the building. It is just touching since the place is not covered and we are at the mercies of the weather."

Moses told the SUN that he sleeps with the group "at least three to four times a week" but he spend his time elsewhere.

"We got help from the wife of Felix Henderson, Errol Emmanuel and Ma Samuel of Stop and Shop," Moses said.

When a reporter from the SUN visited the building, Joseph and another bedridden occupant were the only occupants of the building.

"I clean the graves at the cemetery and also washing vehicles for the staff at the Local Government. It's not easy for us and I am trying to help by the grace of God. We also used to get some help from REACH…I don't have a house to call my own like all the others; so we need whatever help that we can. I have also tried to meet the Roseau Parl. Rep. who is always busy and makes no time for us," Joseph said.

Bonti Liverpool who earlier mentored the occupants of the building said he was no longer associated with the group.

"Nothing much has been done as it relates to rehabilitating the building since I departed. Although Hurricane Maria destroyed the building but before that nothing has been done in bringing it back to a state of normalcy. I am aware that the Dominica Girl Guides has written a proposal for some funding agency," Liverpool said. "I am no longer associated with the building because of certain practices going on there.

He continued: "The people at the building are always out on the streets so they are part of the outreach programme of Wisdom to Know. I am fully a part of that…you can't remove Bonti Liverpool from that at all." .