Shirley Christian takes a gentle puff on a cigarette and looks out from her sunlit balcony at Sunset House across the Caribbean Sea. The hiss of air compressors and the clink of dive tanks being readied for the afternoon boat trips is just audible over the rush of the waves.
“I’m getting my second chance,” she says.
It’s just over two months since the Compass, along with non-profit Acts of Random Kindness, visited Christian where she was living, barricaded inside a derelict stall at an abandoned craft market in George Town.
At the time, she had been sleeping rough for several months and had been without a home for much longer. She was living in fear, the stress visible in her hunched shoulders.
“I felt terrorised,” she recalls.
She acknowledged using drugs and alcohol on occasion to self medicate. And even once charity workers had located her and learned of her case, their ability to help was hampered by Cayman’s chronic lack of resources for people in crisis.
Since then, volunteers have been bringing her food and company on a regular basis. On Christmas Day, they spent time with her and brought her dinner and chocolates.
“I kept wondering when am I going to get out of this hell, and without (ARK) it would never have happened. Every time they brought me a Whopper or a piece of cake, it was like a little slice of heaven.”
Even with ARK’s support, a long-term solution remained a challenge, until the charity found a landlord with a small property they were willing to rent from February, and the NAU agreed to provide the funding.
But, with the end to her ordeal in sight, there was another hurdle to surmount.
The abandoned craft market was sold to a new owner.
“I got back there and the door to the hut had been nailed shut with all my things inside,” she said.
Now ARK has helped get her into a recovery programme and is paying for her to stay at a hotel.
“I am over the worst part and I have to thank Father God for the people he brought into my life,” Christian said.
Her dream now is to revive her talent for making handmade dolls. Before her life went off the rails, she was able to sell her products to vendors who would sell them to tourists.
She made a sample for ARK founder Tara Nielsen, and the charity aims to sell some of her wares in its thrift shop.
“It is my dream to be able to make my dolls and make a little money and start helping other people the way you all have helped me,” Christian said. “I’ve never wanted to be rich; I just want to be safe and comfortable and able to help other people.”
Right now, she spends her days watching television or on the balcony looking out at the ocean.
“I love to watch the tourists go out and dive and swim through the channel. I can see the ships from here. I can watch the sunset. It’s nice.”
From next month, she will have her own bed and a place to call home for the first time in several years. She plans to continue with the recovery process.
“I am so looking forward to it. Trust me, I feel so excited. When I get settled, I want to make dinner for you guys.”
For now, she is simply relishing the security of a safe place to sleep.
- To support ARK in its efforts to help Christian and others like her, visit its website here.
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Can Shirley Christian do some kind of work. Here’s another example of welfare, that is not enabling Ms. Christian to be self sufficient. This is wrong on every level. A strong country is one where the population contributes to the betterment fiscally. You must have the citizens working. Cayman cannot afford handouts at every turn.