Senior Multimedia Reporter
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After losing their home in a fire, surviving annual floods and raising three children without electricity, Andriana Noor and Joseph Mulchansingh say their eldest daughter’s success in this year’s Secondary Entrance Assessment (SEA) has given them renewed hope.
Their 13-year-old daughter has secured a place at a prestigious first choice school, a milestone the couple say came despite years of hardship and countless nights studying under solar lights and candlelight.
Now, as the new school term approaches, the family has one wish—to finally receive an electricity connection before she begins secondary school.
“We need electricity,” Noor said. “School opening back again and I keep getting the runaround from T&TEC.”
The family lives in a modest plywood-and-concrete house near the boundary of Ramco Gas at Union Hall, San Fernando, where they have spent years rebuilding their lives.
Noor, 33, said life has never been easy for her family.
She said in 2023, while pregnant with her youngest child, a candle accidentally ignited their wooden house as she slept after returning home from a medical appointment.
“I lost everything,” she said. “My bed, my microwave, my generator, all my paperwork. Everything.”
Forced to start over, Noor said they relied on the support of two close friends and their own determination to rebuild.
Today, the family has constructed a concrete kitchen, bathroom and indoor shower but the rest of the house sits on plywood.
To protect the home from annual flooding, they have also built a row of concrete blocks along a nearby drain to divert floodwaters.
Despite those improvements, Noor said the family continues to live without a regular electricity supply.
Although electricity poles and neighbouring homes surround them, their house relies on solar-powered lighting, which is often inadequate during prolonged periods of cloudy weather.
She said their refrigerator is rarely used and, although they own a washing machine, Noor still washes most of the family’s clothes by hand.
“When the sun isn’t shining, we don’t have enough power,” she said.
She explained that the lack of electricity made preparing her daughter for SEA especially challenging.
With the Bible at her side, the child revised, did assignments and also attended online lessons using solar lights and candlelight.
“I feel proud,” Noor said. “With everything we are going through, she still did so well.”
Noor said they try their best to make ends meet. “I do domestic work, cleaning people’s houses,” she added.
Their income is supplemented by Mulchansingh’s monthly disability grant of $2,000.
Mulchansingh, 46, said his ability to work changed dramatically after a drunk driver crashed into his vehicle in 2010.
The accident left him with one lung after surgeons removed the other along with two ribs.
“Brick by brick,” he said, describing how the family has rebuilt its home over the years.
He said food has sometimes been scarce, but their faith has helped sustain them.
Around their home, they rear ducks and chickens and grow cassava, corn and peppers to help feed the family.
Education, Noor said, has always remained her highest priority.
“I don’t allow my children to stay home,” Noor said. “School is school.”
The couple says their two younger children, aged five and three, are also progressing well academically. Their son attends Bien Venue Presbyterian Primary School, where Noor said he consistently earns A-minus grades, while their youngest daughter is preparing to begin primary school.
The couple said they chose not to publicly identify their children or the school their eldest daughter passed for because they fear they could be bullied over the family’s living conditions.
“Our struggles are silent,” Noor said. “But our children are happy.”
Anyone wishing to assist the family can contact Noor at 376-3159 or donate to Andriana Noor, First Citizens Bank, San Fernando Branch, Savings Account No. 2239479.
