The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

A 68-year-old woman yesterday picked up her belongings from the water surrounding her southern Long Island home before handing Tribune reporters her broken blood sugar test meter, begging us to have it fixed and returned to her so she could manage her diabetes.

“I need it because they don’t have this on Long Island,” Vernita Taylor said. “My husband died and I is a lonely lady.”

As plentiful food and water supplies make their way to the island, her plea was a reminder of the basic needs of residents in the wake of Hurricane Joaquin that have not yet been met.

In fact, the people of southern Long Island continually described feeling abandoned and “cut off” from everyone in the wake of the hurricane, although they also praise relatives and friends and area MP Loretta Butler-Turner for their efforts.

The Tribune’s reporters, Mrs Taylor said, were the first people from outside the island to visit her and her 70-year-old sister since the storm passed.

Large floods had made the area among the most difficult for volunteers and government representatives to reach. Yesterday the first relief flights went into Deadman’s Cay airport, among them a Bahamasair charter carrying supplies and volunteers from the HeadKnowles organisation as part of the SOS - Save Our South initiative launched by the Tribune Media Group, which aims to raise $500,000 for essential supplies for the storm-ravaged southern islands.

And even as they deal with the traumatising stress of the hurricane experience, residents are making major decisions about how they will go on with their lives, with some considering permanently leaving the island. The SOS flight brought a few residents on its return to Nassau.

For some, particular concern exists over how they will continue to support their children’s education endeavours.

“The (children away in college) are in a panic because they can’t hear from us,” said Mrs Knowles, a teacher. “They are wondering if they will be able to stay in college. Some of the college kids have already told me they will have to drop out because their parents cannot afford it.”

Another woman, a co-owner of the Seawinds convenience store, said the store had been almost completely destroyed by flooding.

While struggling to fight back tears she said she and her husband had no insurance and would have to pay to rebuild their business out of pocket.

Amid assistance from volunteers, residents also complained about the lack of government-backed initiatives.

One man said that the distribution of supplies had been poorly organised but added that this had been preferable to having no help at all.

“All the stuff we had come has been private and provided by no government, no charity,” he said. “It’s just people we know who want to look after us. They send stuff, they bring stuff, they solicit stuff and we try to share it out the best we can but it’s not organised. But to be honest with you, if I be straight up, when it comes to Long Island the government just turns a blind eye.

“I prefer disorganisation than no help overall. Don’t call me and say ‘Merry Christmas’ this year, I let you know straight. This ga be a black Christmas.”

One woman, Don Simmons, said residents need help distributing supplies donated.

“We don’t have much manpower,” she said, adding: “Elderly people need medication and people are asking for building materials.”

One woman said rebuilding the island won’t be enough.

“In Long Island, two main industries are fishing and farming,” she said. “Most of the boats have been destroyed that were left. We are hoping that the government will give a concession that there will be no duty and no VAT on fishing vessels because that’s the main industry in Long Island.

“Then we have farmers that are wiped out. We just recovered from that last storm. It takes five years for the salt to come out of the soil so the crops are gone, that’s the livelihood again gone. Two main industries have been totally demolished, wiped out.

“Its not just a matter of re-building. You can’t fish without a boat, you can’t support your family without farm. So far we have not heard from the government. Only person came was Loretta Butler. We just feel cut off from everyone.”