Linton White lies on his bed which is located under a bridge adjacent to the Caymanas Crossing that leads to Portmore, St Catherine. White lives under the bridge with two other men. - Ricardo Makyn

At nights when many of us climb into our warm beds at home, Linton White climbs into his makeshift bed under a bridge in Caymanas, St Catherine.

White, popularly known as Piggy, has called the dirt and steel under that bridge home for close to 10 years.

He said it was the death of his parents that lead him to live under the bridge. "My mother and father dead when mi was very young and never left mi wid nutten fi try off a. This is the living that find mi," he said.

White who was born in Kingston began living on the streets in the West Street area, downtown Kingston, however he decided to move under the bridge. He had visited the nearby Ferry river several times when he was younger. "When mi small, mi usually come a di Ferry river and sleep, eat and cook and go back to Kingston," he said.

So when he decided to seek a more comfortable dwelling, he said the bridge seemed the best spot to go. When White went there he saw another man Rygain Baccas, who was present when the news team arrived but did not appear coherent. He said has been living under the bridge for more than 30 years but he could not remember his age. Another man also lives there but he was not there when the news team visited.

His bed, made of an old mattress spring, sponge and pieces of cloth, rests on two bamboo sticks, which are laid on two rails under the bridge. A line tied on to the rails also acts as a clothes line.

Barring the mosquitoes, the heavy rain which can cause the river to rise almost to the height of his bed and the vibrations he receives when the vehicles drive across the bridge, White is surviving as best as he can.

Estimating that his age is close to 40, White told THE STAR that he has brothers and sisters but he never got a chance to know them before his parents died.

While his circumstances are less than ideal, he has not used it as an excuse to beg or harass people for help. "Wi nuh plan fi do nutten further like harass people. Wi nah plan fi beg or rob nobody or nutten like that. We wi work fi what wi have," he said.

To survive, White normally searches for "some post like firewood and sell di people, who roast things on the front (vendors who sell roast breadfruit on the roadside), or wi help lift off load and get a money or burn coal," he said.