Heroes of Oropune Gardens

Valdeen Shears

FLOODWATERS rose quickly, in less than 15 minutes, high enough to be a threat to lives and to leave thousands of dollars in damages to homeowners.

In those 15 minutes, at Building 207, Oropune Gardens, Piarco, Amor Cato and 15-year-old, Shaqeal Hazare knew they had to act fast.

Cato, who has a seven-month-old son, left the child upstairs and rushed downstairs when she heard the screams of her neighbours on the ground floor. Harare called his brother Kevin and they both got into action until a broken bottle stalled him.

One week later, the two are being hailed “heroes” of Building 207, as their neighbours recalled how they assisted them in their time of distress.

Cato’s three-bedroom apartment on the second floor became “home” to almost 20 residents, as she openly welcomed them to spend the night and beyond if necessary. Cato also provided hot meals, while trying to console her neighbours who had to watch all their belongings submerged in murky floodwaters.

Lisa Felix said she had flashbacks from a near drowning experience as a child, which left her somewhat disoriented during last Friday’s floods.

“I almost forget “Granny” and would have had it not been for Amor. It was she who in the midst of getting us all to safety, reminded me we needed to get Granny upstairs. The boys put her on a plastic chair and carried her upstairs and into Amor’s apartment. After that, we were treated like family, but I couldn’t get my mind off of Shaqeal, who was helping me try to block out the water with bags filled with gravel at the bottom of my door. When he got cut I cried and then his sister took in with pain and if Amor and his mom didn’t pull us together, don’t know what would have happened,” she recalled, shaking her head, while playing with Cato’s baby, Gerald.

Residents from at least four downstairs apartments were invited into Cato’s home. Nine of them were children.

“We spent the night laughing and crying through it. We slept on mattresses and the couches. The kids slept on the couches, I dropped a mattress on the ground in the living room and others slept there. The older ones slept in the bedrooms,” said Cato.

She too commended the selflessness of the two brothers.

The experience, said the shy teen, was scary.

He said, he and his brother acted, not even thinking about any danger and wasn’t aware he was cut until he saw blood in the water and felt a burning sensation on his left foot.

In the midst of this, the teen’s elder sister, Rachel, who is eight months pregnant, experienced “false labour” and had to be rushed to an ambulance parked away from the floodwaters.

Their mother, Allison Borneo, said it was chaotic, as she tried to consider who was a priority, even as she looked on at her neighbours’ distress.

“We got Rachel into the half tank “boat” and they carried her out to the ambulance. I had my granddaughter to think about too and my son was bleeding badly. I was so proud of my boys though for remembering that I had taught them to always be willing to help others in need,” she stated proudly.

Her son, she said, was taken to the hospital shortly after, where he was treated and discharged.

A smiling Felix, who lost everything in the flood, said she had “come a long way” since last Friday. On Thursday, she said, she looked at her furniture propped haphazardly on her lawn still wet, smelly and awaiting the garbage collectors.

Felix said a bout of depression hit her and she quickly made her way back up the stairs to Cato’s apartment, sure that she would find some laughter there.

“This has brought back a sense of unity to us and those who live in this building. Out of the bad of the floods came a good and this has inspired all of us on the ground floor who lost our stuff to see family, good friends and living good among ourselves means more than material things, and the importance of giving back,” she reasoned.

It’s this same need to give back saw Donald James of the Professional Barbering School visiting communities to offer free haircuts to flood-affected victims. On Friday, James, along with trainees from several police youth clubs visited the Oropune Police Youth Club, Oropune Gardens, Piarco, where they cut and styled close to 20 heads.

On Tuesday, James and his trainees were at the La Horquetta Community Centre and Primary School, where he said at least 50 persons accessed their services.