Mother’s Day came early for Jamaica mom

Hardai Peter got her Mother’s Day present a month early this year. The mother of seven - four of own children, her niece and nephew, and a local boy that she and her husband adopted - was picked to be part of ABC’s “Extreme Home Makeover Edition” in March, and her ramshackle house without heat and running water in Jamaica, Queens was transformed.
“Life is a lot different than the burnt house because now we have a beautiful and happy life,” Peter said on Sunday, May 7, after watching the network’s airing of the show.
During the show, Peter brushed tears from her eyes as she watched ABC and Alure Home Improvement tear down the old house by hand, build a new one, and unveil it to the family.
The new, “God-inspired” home was exactly what Peter and her clan had hoped for.
Coated in a special fire-retardant chemical, the walls are protected from fire, which ravaged the house in December 2004.
“We don’t have to be scared anymore,” Hardai Peter said.
Before the renovation, the family had to heat water outside on a propane grill to bathe and slept on mattresses laid out on the floor. The family was often late for school and work because their morning shower routine took several hours, and Peter said she was reluctant to wash dishes because the water was so cold.
“It feels so good to come down the stairs and see everyone sitting at the table,” Peter said, saying that she had secretly wished for a table big enough to seat nine people.
And the best part for Peter? The show built an elaborate prayer room - equipped with a separate kitchen to prepare food for the Hindu gods, as the religion dictates.
“To us our religion is everything. It is what helped us get through everything [after the fire],” said Sandy Peter during the show’s airing.
“We come [to the prayer room] to sit down, chant and be happy. All of our distress is removed in the prayer room. The kids play instruments; it’s wonderful” said Winston Peter, Hardai’s husband.
In addition, the new house - without the charred walls and plastic window coverings - has helped 6-year-old Ashley Peter’s asthma, which forced her to be chronically absent. Since moving into the new home, she has only needed her albuterol nebulizer once and has not missed a single day of school.
“Now we all can sleep comfortably,” said Winston, describing the family’s new set of beds. Some are so personalized that V.J. Persaud, their adopted child and a volunteer medic, actually sleeps on bed inside the back of a cut-off ambulance.
The experience inspired the family so much that they volunteered on the “Home Makeover” house in Westchester County two weeks ago, to lend a helping hand and see the transformation take place.
“I don’t even know how to thank these people,” Hardai said. “Thank you to everyone.”
“Let’s just say Mother’s Day will be a lot better this year,” her husband said.