Christmas after a fire

FOR 78-year-old Ovid Stewart, Christmas this year will pass him in a sombre mood due to a fire which destroyed his rented apartment at the corners of Da Silva and De Abreu Streets, Kitty, Georgetown on the evening of October 18, which caused him to be displaced.

Ovid had lived in that apartment since 2004 and had even invested in renovating the building using money saved from his pension, but the building and all of his personal possessions all vanished on that fateful October night.

“I didn’t want to move around a lot, I was comfortable at the corners of Da Silva and De Abreu Streets, Kitty but that inferno took away my home and everything I worked for and at my age I need stability,” Ovid told the Pepperpot Magazine.

But despite losing everything, Ovid has since moved on and is now renting an apartment in Benn Street, Georgetown where he says he is comfortable and prefers to live alone like he did in Kitty.

“I can go back at any time to the US but Guyana is my home country and here is where I want to retire and spend the rest of my golden years doing the simpler things in life,” Ovid said.

At his age, he still does all his chores, cooking and shopping but there is a problem since all his household appliances were also destroyed in the fire.

For now, cooking is not possible, but he is hoping to change this so that he can move on and continue with his simple life, even as Christmas is upon him.

HARD WORK
Ovid returned to Guyana after working in the United States (US) for more than 17 years as the Purchasing Clerk for the Hyatt Hotel. By that time, and having reached of age, Ovid moved toward retirement and decided to build roots in Guyana once more.

Before Ovid migrated he did all kinds of work and in 1987 he left these shores then spent almost 18 years working in the hotel industry.

He talked about being a rice farmer in his home village of Zeelandia, Wakenaam where he worked as a boy and it was until he married he came to Georgetown where he stayed.

“I am not very highly educated but I had the willingness to learn and work and I got extra money by taking on added responsibilities on the job and I was rewarded for my dedication at the Hyatt,” he said.

Stewart told the Pepperpot that he worked five years straight without calling in sick and now he is spending his retirement in his home country as he wanted.

After moving into the apartment on Da Silva and De Abreu Street, Ovid invested some $1.5 million to make the place feel like home. These renovations were so efficient that the place withstood the 2005 floods which had otherwise inundated various parts of the city.

Presently he is awaiting the insurance pay-out since the fire but says life goes on as unfortunate as it may be. He also hopes that he will soon receive his security deposit from the landlord to help him with his expenses.

The fire
On October 18, 2017, fire believed to be arson was started at the neighbours’ house during a domestic dispute at about 22:00hrs.

Stewart in an initial interview with the Guyana Chronicle said at about 10:30hrs, he was in bed and heard what sounded like squibs and thought that the children in the neighbourhood were up to no good. However, he opened his eyes after hearing sounds outside his window and saw the conflagration next door.

The re-migrant added that he could not save anything but his own life by rushing through the door as the fire was spreading very quickly with the house next door being totally engulfed.

Stewart said his landlady, a mother of three, Adunni Orderson and her mother resided in the top flat of the house and they too lost everything.