A house at No 64 Village Corentyne, Berbice, occupied by an elderly couple, came crashing down in the wee hours of Friday thus trapping them inside.
Sixty-two-year-old Madray Budram and his wife Parbatie Budhu were asleep when the pillars to their old wooden home gave out.
The elderly woman stated that she managed to run to safety but could not assist her husband.
Madray Budram and his wife Parbatie Budhu
“Breeze na blow am; the house fall down just so and we wake up,” she said in her native Corentyne dialect while noting that there was no electricity to the building, forcing her to find a window in the dark to get out.
The collapsed house
One of their neighbours Tathtea Bridgall told Guyana Times that she was awakened at about 00:30h by a loud crashing sound. Upon investigating, she discovered that the house in front of her had fallen.
The woman said she was able to get her two sons to go through a window and remove the posts which had fallen on the semi-paralysed man.
“Me tell me husband to run because something wrong. So, when we run out of the house, I hear she scream out calling for help. So, ah tell my husband for us to go and see if the house mash them. I make my son them wrench the window and go in and two posts went on top of the old man and they pick up the man and put him on the bed and we make sure that nothing was wrong with them.”
She explained that they stayed with the couple until about 03:00h before returning home.
Budram has been living at the house for the past 20 years, and it has been 15 years since the couple has been living together. The elderly man fell ill three years ago and is being taken care of by his common-law wife.
“It is not his married wife, he take this lady long. They don’t have children together but both of them two get their own children but none of the children dose think about them,” the neighbour said.
Meanwhile, Budhu explained that she works as a domestic worker and earns $1000 a day for four days a week. She said she has been taking care of her sick husband who cannot walk nor speak since he became ill. “Me ah clean am and feed am and gone go wuk. Me ah do all thing fuh am,” she stated.
The man was left traumatised and in tears, he tried to use his hands to show signs as a means of explaining what took place. The couple is soliciting the assistance of the public to repair their home.
Persons desirous of lending assistance can contact the neighbour on telephone number 338-2795 or 658-2899.
