Toys buried beneath rubble, baby items and Pampers were among the heartbreaking signs that the demolished section of Coopers Pen, Trelawny, was not just home to 20 families, but also several young children – more than four of them newborns – the youngest less than a week old. As residents picked through what remained of their homes yesterday, the devastation was particularly painful for mothers forced to figure out where they and their babies would sleep. One woman told THE STAR that residents were not angry about whether the land was squatter land, but about what she described as the unjust manner in which the demolition was carried out. “Not even a one-day notice, come yesterday and say we a come fi the land mek wi can move out and take out the things them,” she lamented, noting that one baby was born on Independence Day.  Sanjay Nembhard said he had just changed his one-year-old’s clothes and was waiting on his babymother to come from work so he could go out.  “When mi look is a big tractor mi see out ya so. Him (the operator) say mi need to take out mi things because them ago demolish it, and I had my baby in my hand and some man in vest was helping me to take out some things. But the tractor man in a haste and just start lick down everything,” he said. Nembhard said he was unable to save much, pointing to the rubble where his bed and other furniture once stood. “Mi send her (the baby) round the road because which part mi ago sleep tonight? A borrow mi borrow to build a room and just a try,” he said. His neighbour, Tia*, was also trying to salvage whatever she could for her four-year-old daughter, who is preparing to start school. She searched through a lone dresser that had been placed beneath a tree, packing clothes for her daughter to stay elsewhere. “I don’t know where I am going but she ago stay down the road, her stepmother come for her,” she said as she packed a bag with clothes, brushing dust and stones from the drawers. Tia sighed with relief when she found a bag she had been searching for – it contained her daughter’s schoolbooks and school shoes. But she lamented losing her child’s snacks and other food items.  “When mi go supermarket, mi bag dem big and mi spend $40,000 and now everything go spoil,” she said. Her thoughts quickly turned to another young mother who was among those displaced. “She had C-section and her baby a just days old, and she had to carry her daughter out this morning in bath pan at the bus stop. Oh God man, and more young baby is here,” she said. Residents said the young mother could barely due to the surgery. Shane Ricketts, who has lived in the area since 2016, is the father of a two-month-old baby. He said he lost everything for the child. “I was standing outside watching [the demolition] with my baby and everything wrapped in a towel. I was like ‘What’s going on’?” he said. Fortunately, Ricketts said his baby’s mother is from the area and has somewhere to stay. “She a go stay with her mother and maybe mi have to sleep on the floor because it’s not a big house and it’s a crowded space,” he said. Despite saving some clothes, Ricketts said his biggest concern was for the other newborns now without homes. Sharon*, who held her one-month-old granddaughter, said she too was caught off guard. “Mi never know it would come to this because no warning. My granddaughter and daughter was at my house last night because I am helping, only to get call that her house is being broken down,” she said. Sharon said her daughter now had to relocate because her small home is needed to accommodate her elderly mother, whose home was also destroyed. “Mi affi go send her at her babyfather because mi mother house and stepfather house get lick down too,” she said. What angered Sharon most, she said, was what she described as a lack of compassion during the demolition. Sharon said the presence of so many newborns made the situation even more heartbreaking. “A just whole heap a new baby which make it sad,” she said. Member of Parliament Tova Hamilton, who visited the community, said she was devastated by what she saw. “If you have legal ownership, there is a way to do things. Give them notice but you can’t bulldoze and now they have nowhere to go,” she said. Hamilton said residents should not direct their frustration towards the Government, describing the demolition as a private-sector-led initiative. “So far I have close to 30 households ... and I am just providing temporary solution for them to at least cover their items just in case it rains. The ODPEM and Ministry of Labour are on the way because they lost everything,” she said.

*Names changed to protect identities.