BCAD assists family of construction fatality

Shernia Honore, who turned 18, after her father’s life came to a tragic end on a construction site in October 2014, now has the assurance that her college education will be paid for.

Shernia’s father, Hails Honore, 52, of Vieille Case, fell forty feet to his death on a construction site in Picard and now, thanks to a donation from the Builders and Contractors Association of Dominica (BCAD), Shernia does not have to worry about the money to finance the rest of her education. She is a second year Business student at the Dominica State College (DSC).

The donation was made at the BCAD’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Fort Young Hotel on Tuesday 30^thDecember 2014.

BCAD’s President Stewart Paris presented the undisclosed amount to Sharon Honore, the widow of the deceased Hails Honore and said although Honore was not part of BCAD, the incident was “quite a sad and shocking” one for the association.

“We got in touch with his wife to let her know how we felt about it and I don’t believe that any woman should have to go through that in life for something that could be prevented,” Paris said.

He insists that BCAD is “determined to do in a relentless way, what it takes to prevent the repetition of such incidents in our industry.”

“So we have invited Mrs. Honore here who is a widow, with her children, and we learnt that she is trying on her own to complete the education of her daughter at the Dominica State College (DSC) and so today the BCAD is making an award to Mrs. Honore that will assist her daughter complete her education.”

Meanwhile, in an interview with Dominica News Online (DNO), Sharon Honore said she was grateful for the gesture.

“I feel very grateful and I appreciate it; I am very, very happy about it,” she said.

Honore, who is unemployed, related the events of the afternoon of October 23^rd 2014 when she received the disturbing phone call from her son, Travis, who worked with his father in Picard.

“I wasn’t at the site when it happened, but my son was at the site because he worked with my husband. It was about 2.30 pm I was at home watching television when he called me,” she recounted.

She recalls her son’s frantic voice screaming “Daddy die, Daddy die,” and said he jumped three floors when he saw his father falling, in an attempt to save his life.

But Hails Honore died shortly afterwards from multi-trauma at the Reginald Armour Fitzroy Hospital and according to Travis’ mother, he had to wear crutches because of his sprained legs and had to use gospel music to fall asleep since, “he kept saying he seeing that like a video in his eyes; he kept crying all the time but with comfort and people talking to him, he is better,” she said.

“It was very, very difficult and it still is,” the grieving widow said.

“When my son called me, all I could think of is he die. I just felt frantic, nervous, I did know what to think, I just say boy, he die, he die, and so what am I going to do?”

Well, she’s been doing what she can and has been slowly putting her life back together.

This donation from BCAD can only help make it easier.