ST. PETERS--A tall, lanky man sits in the living room of his house in Lemon Road, St. Peters, battling with his emotions.
“I get emotional when I think of all that was done for me. It came from politeness, being respectful and understanding,” Philip Tayliem said of the help he has received via two separate Dutch government and non-governmental organizations-funded projects.
Tayliem and his wife are among several recipients who were selected under the guidance of the White and Yellow Cross Care Foundation for assistance with rebuilding their roofs following the wrath of Hurricane Irma in September 2017. They have also become beneficiaries of an ongoing project financed by the Dutch National Disaster Fund NRF to provide furniture and appliances.
Under that project, the two senior citizens received a new dining set, a stove and a bed frame with mattress; items essential for comfort, but just a bit out of their reach in these financially tough times.
Describing himself as “almost 70-years-old, but nowhere close to retiring,” Tayliem supplements his income by making charcoals to sell to barbeque huts and other businesses.
“Since Irma, there are a lot of trees and wood everywhere. I use that for the charcoals,” said Tayliem. “Making charcoals was my hobby. I went back to it, because times tough. I went back to the teachings of my grandfather.”
Tayliem, who worked many years as a landscaper, said he is beyond grateful to WYCCF for their assistance. “I want to give back to show how thankful I am. I told them I want to see a barbeque going at the White and Yellow Cross.” He envisions a barbeque day with music at the foundation’s premises in St. John’s Estate. The latter he also offered to provide: “I am also a deejay.”
Angelica Richardson is a life-long Cole Bay resident and a self-described “Mullet Bay girl” from her days at working at the once-mainstay resort of the island. Today, the 63-year-old is still grappling with recovering her Irma’s destruction.
“The whole roof was gone,” Richardson recounted as she stood in her still-be-to-completed kitchen. “We couldn’t find it anywhere, anywhere. It was just gone. It must have ended up on some other island,” she said.
The jovial Richardson is thankful for life. “I am satisfied with what I have and what I have received,” she said of the help to repair the only home she has known via the WYCCF home repair programme. Now, she has been given another helping hand through the NRF with a dining room set, a bed frame with mattress and a stove.
Richardson praised the donors and the foundation for bringing her this far. Without them, life in general would have been an even more daunting experience.
Some minor works are still to be completed on her house which Richardson is eager to move into again. In anticipation of that, she said, “I need now is a hall set [a living room suite] and I am set.”
In Middle Region, a smiling Lona Rogers (68) opened the door of her house, a concrete one constructed to replace the hurricane-battered wooden one. Above her head on the other wall hangs a row of Christmas lights and in her living room, she happily pointed out her Christmas tree given by a caring neighbour to help brighten up the just concluded holiday season.
Rogers can now do her laundry without the backbreaking effort of washing in a tub. She received, under the project, a washing machine. Her meals can be eaten comfortable on her new dining room furniture and at night she can retire to a comfortable bed. All of this was made possible by the assistance of NRF.
“If I didn’t get this help, I wouldn’t have make it with what I am getting on pension and you know the pension is no money,” said Rogers. Now for a little luxury, Rogers said she would love to get a television.
Rogers is no stranger to showing off her home to strangers. In 2018, she welcomed Dutch Members of Parliament and Dutch State Secretary for Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops into her then-still-be-to-completed home. It was in the space that was to become her living room that the seed of the furniture/appliance project was sown.
Rogers was asked that day in 2018 by a journalist from The Daily Herald what she would need to make life within her new home more comfortable. The pensioner said furniture and appliances, things she could ill-afford on her meagre pension.
Whether furniture and appliances would be provided to seniors who received assistance with home repairs was raised by WYCCF representatives, no programme was in place at the time. The inquiry, however, led the foundation to approach NRF for financing of two projects, one of which was for furniture and appliances.
WYCCF Operations Manager Bregje Boetekees told the newspaper that after the furniture/appliance query, project proposals were sent to NRF which had earmarked two million euros for recovery projects in St. Maarten. The foundation received full approval for both projects. These two are among 23 approved projects submitted by various NGOs.
The furniture/appliances project benefits 30 persons/families from the foundation’s Home Repair Project and an additional 25 who lost their home inventory in the 2017 hurricanes. The district nursing team was crucial in the selection of recipients.
With NRF funding of US $149,000, WYCCF has helped 79 families by purchasing 32 fridges, 45 stoves, 59 beds, 79 matrasses, 41 washing machines and 43 dining sets.
Boetekees said the foundation is “very grateful for the support of the National Disaster Fund for their assistance in the recovery of our clients.”
