Former national heavyweight boxer Wendell Joseph, 68, sat in his wife’s wheelchair yesterday, his head propped on his hand and a small radio on his lap listening to a programme. It was Day 11 for him and his amputee wife, Erica, 56, at their “home” under a tent in the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. With a look of despondency, Joseph said: “All I study is when someone is going to come to tell us they have a home for us.
“When I sit down here and reflect, all I see is the wicked people out there who don’t have a heart and who don’t have an understanding that all my wife needed is a place which is suited for the disabled.” Joseph said sometimes he felt he could not take any more of the disappointment, pain and hurt but was determined to remain strong for his ailing wife.
Up to late yesterday, there was no word from any government official as to a place for the Josephs to call home. They have been provided with Housing Development Corporation apartments in the past but say they were unsuitable as they lacked wheelchair access. Erica, who has multiple health problems, made a plea for medication, saying she was down to her last tablet for the pain.
“It costs me $95 and I am forced to buy it because the dispensary at the hospital does never have it in stock. I don’t know where and when I will get the tablets now because I have no more money,” Erica said. The couple is again making a plea for the relevant authorities to assist them in getting a home as soon as possible or some good samaritan to come to their rescue. Minister of Housing Dr Roodal Moonilal could not be reached yesterday.