The Plight of a Mother and a Son Who Live Homeless in a Park
The plight of homeless persons is a big social issue; today, we found a mother, her son and dogs living in a park in an affluent part of the city. Angelita and Roy Jones have been living at the Lopez Mateo Park since last year sometimes taking cover under a tarp. She says she has nowhere to go because her family would not provide her with a piece of land and often times, there is no food. They rely on neighbours to help out with hygiene and are now desperately looking for a solution. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Angelita Jones, Homeless
“I had enough because my son, he don’t want to be out here; I don’t want to be out here neither too. But we have nowhere else to go. Nowhere else at all.”
Duane Moody, Reporting
We’ve often times reported of many disasters, particularly fires, which leave families without roofs over their heads. But for a mother, son and their eight dogs, the situation is very different and real. Sixty-seven-year-old Angelita Jones and forty-three-year-old Roy are homeless; they have been living in the Lopez Mateo Park in the King’s Park area since September 2018, exposed to the elements for over six months. With no shelter and sometimes not even food, this tarp would pose as their bed as they comfort each other during this trying time.
Angelita Jones
Angelita Jones
“Last year September we moved out here. I get a tent because my cousin put on radio and somebody came and bring one for us for Christmas. We had it put up there, but the breeze break it so we have nothing to sleep into. What we have is what you see there.”
Duane Moody
“So exposed to the elements; the rain?”
Angelita Jones
“Yes, all rain, everything. Plus I have my pacemakers; I have to keep myself warm. I have to have on this and sometime mi coat on. People always say why yo have on this; it is nice sun hot, but the breeze I can’t have it with this. When ih rain, I have to have this cover because if I don’t, I will just freeze and then I will land in hospital and I can’t because I have mi son and mi dogs and plus I have another son. And I don’t want to leave them.”
A younger son, forty-two-year-old Mark Jones, is currently staying with a neighbour several blocks away due to his medical condition. But there are mounting concerns surrounding the inhumane situation. There are also public health concerns, aside from queries on how they have been able to survive without money, without anything.
Angelita Jones
“I go to my friend house and shower and my son have a bathroom around there and a bottle a water he use. But I go to a friend house and I use the toilet at my cousin.”
Jones is Belizean, but got married to a British man and migrated to England back in the 1970s where her two sons were born. Following the death of her husband and her mother, she returned to Belize in 2017 to deal with issues surrounding her parents’ estate. She claims that her eldest brother who resides in Belize has refused to assist her. She is unable to access her monies in the U.K. and for those reasons, she has nowhere to go.
Angelita Jones
“We’re homeless, we have nowhere to go; that’s why we are here. Nowhere to go at all because my brother won’t give me my share of land in Ducats Alley. Like this…I didn’t want this and they said they will help me, but I noh see them again. I got a phone number to give them a ring. So I want to go back to England this year, but I can’t get in touch with them yet cause I have no phone to ring them. So I don’t know what I am going to do. But my money is freeze in England so I noh have nothing at all.”
The Joneses are now looking for some kind of assistance to get back a sense of dignity.
Angelita Jones
“I know I shouldn’t be here any at all. But if I di get help to go back to England, I go back. If somebody say to me, go back to England end of this month, I ready to go. Or the first week in April, I’ll go. I’ll go cause I get enough and I can’t take no more.”
Duane Moody for News Five.
