Looking out at the picturesque, turquoise waters off Cayman’s eastern coastline expectant mother Olivia Sanders gently cradled her 2-year-old son William as she nursed him under the shade of a tent that has now become the family’s new home.
For the last two weeks, Sanders, her husband Richard, her son William and 3-year-old daughter Adelia, have been living on a beach in the eastern district after leaving their apartment that was paid for by the Needs Assessment Unit.
“I feel like giving up. I want to be here, this is my home… my beautiful island, but I cannot stay here and struggle,” said Sanders, who is contemplating returning to Canada where she had been living and studying for the last few years.
Struggle for shelter
The expectant mother said she has called the NAU for assistance in securing a place to stay, but while she waits for action from the department, she and her family are battling to survive and are leaning on the kindness of family and strangers.
“It makes me think Cayman is not for us,” she told the Cayman Compass in an interview seated under the shade of a sea grape tree.
The family has asked that their location be withheld as they fear for their safety living on the beach.
Sanders’ husband Richard, originally from Roatan, said it hurts him not to be able to provide for his family as he has not been able to get a permit to work.
He said he has been fishing to feed his family and is willing to work, but he wants to do things the right way.
“I do mostly anything just to put little bread and thing on a plate for my children. I mean, at least if I get two or three… fish, I will fry it for my children and my wife,” he said.
He said they do not have enough money to apply for his Residency and Employment Rights Certificate (RERC), and that he has been told he may need to leave by 14 May.
The Compass has reached out to the NAU and WORC for a comment on the family’s situation.
A difficult choice
Sanders, who said she is four months pregnant with twins, held back tears, saying moving to live on the beach was the “hardest decision” she had to make.
However, she said she could no longer risk her children’s health remaining at the Prospect apartment she had been staying in, nor could she stay with relatives.
She said the landlord had refused to deal with the black mold in the apartment and her son was getting ill.
She said when she moved into the apartment, together with her father who has cancer, she did not expect the landlord to make life difficult for them.
“The landlord turned off the power, the WiFi, the water… we had to pitch rain when it was falling just to take a shower. We were staying inside a closed-off room with [my] children and [my] husband, with no ventilation, no AC, in the heat,” she said.
She said she tried to stay with a relative, but there were conflicts that developed which made it impossible for her to remain there.
“This is not what I want for my kids,” she said, but she feels it is better for their wellbeing.
Sanders said this is not the first time she and her young family was forced to live in the beach, as for about three months they lived in a tent until NAU assisted them and her father.
“It is scary [here.] My husband does not sleep at night. He fans us with one hand to keep the mosquitoes away and the other hand he uses to fan us to keep cool,” she said.
Richard said that he is hopeful that the government “opens its eyes to the reality… many people think this island is rich, but we got a lot of poor people here that are homeless.”
Sanders said she has asked the MP in the area for help but to no avail.
Cayman-kindness
Sanders said relatives have been helping them with food and diapers for the kids.
Workers at the beach, she added, have also been supportive, dropping off food and items for the children.
“We shower in the public showers and use the bathrooms there. We had to put some of our stuff there too when we moved,” she said.
They have set up a makeshift stove using old conch shells, use wood to cook and use sand and sea water to wash their utensils.
Their friends downloaded movies for the kids to watch on their devices when they are not playing with their pet lizard Rango that they found on the beach.
With the sargassum coming in shore, Sanders said she is worried for her young children as the weed comes with sea lice and a stinky smell.
“Tourists who come to the beach help us. They have showed us kindness when they hear our story,” she said, adding that a couple who were leaving the island after their vacation dropped off their remaining supplies and gave them some money.
As her young children played, oblivious to the situation they are in, Sanders worries for their future and her own.
The mum said she is in the final stages of completing her Medical Office Administration degree at Reeves College in Alberta, Canada, and needs to return mid-May for her work practicum to graduate.
“We walk to [the beach] where we can get WiFi so I can do my online classes. I have a double stroller, we put the kids in it and we walk. I feel like my uterus will fall out after that walk, but I have to finish my degree,” she said.
If you would like to assist, you can do so via Acts of Random Kindness, online or on the phone. Please reference the family in the article in any online donation.
Related Videos
