‘My life has turned upside down’

On November 12 last year, Gustavus Ferguson of Delaford, Tobago, had a home, a wife and five children. The following day, a tremenduous landslide pushed down by weeks of rain buried his house and family. His 16-year-old daughter Kathy-Ann was killed on the spot. His wife Shirley was trapped under tonnes of mud and was hospitalised. She had to be airlifted to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where her badly crushed left leg had to be amputated.

Her condition was poor and doctors believed they would have to remove her right leg to save her life. But Shirley fell into a state of utter depression and around 4 am on Wednesday she died, much to the shock of her already traumatised family left behind to pick up the pieces of their lives. Apart from Gustavus are his four children, Kale-Ann, 23; Kershon, 17; Kurlon, 11 and Kwesi-Ann, eight. Yesterday, Gustavus told Newsday that his life has been turned upside down, and he has lost the will to go on living. “I feel like dying because this is too much to bear,” said an emotional Ferguson yesterday.

He told Newsday that he believed that his wife was getting better and when news of her death reached him early Wednesday in Tobago, he was at a loss for words. He immediately left for Trinidad to make arrangements for her funeral. His wife’s body was flown back to Tobago yesterday and the funeral service will take place next Tuesday at the Delaford Gospel Church at 3 pm, and the burial at the Delaford Cemetery. Ferguson said that his happy life with his wife and children has been snatched away from him. He said that he was still awaiting word from authorities in Tobago who have promised to assist with funeral expenses and accommodation for him and his family.

The family has been separated since November and he has been staying at a hostel in Tobago, while two of his children are at relatives’ homes in Tobago. The other child, Kewsi-Ann, eight, who was also injured in the landslide and who was warded at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, is getting better and is staying at the Mt Lambert home of relatives to facilitate her trips to the hospital for dressing and therapy. She suffered severe injuries to her legs. The Fergusons’ 16-year-old daughter Kathy-Ann died in the landslide, after she was buried under mud. The house in which the Ferguson family sought shelter from the landslides collapsed under the weight of a wall of mud.

Kale-Ann Ferguson, 23, the eldest daughter, remained in Trinidad to be close to her mother. She was still trying to come to terms with the deaths of her sister and mother. She said that her mother had developed bedsores and had become depressed shortly before her death. Authorities in Tobago revealed that efforts were being made to rebuild a home for the Ferguson family.