YOU don’t have to look far to see signs of how hard life is for many Bahamians.
On a drive along Wulff Road on Friday, the size of the long queue of people outside Great Commission Ministries looking for help could not be ignored.
These were people standing and waiting out in the hot sun to get a little food, a little support.
In Friday’s Tribune, columnist Diane Phillips wrote about the street people – those with nowhere to go at all, who find their daily routine revolving around when The Salvation Army might be serving food, or when the Bahamas Feeding Network could offer a plate.
These are the obvious signs of those most in need, but the struggle goes deeper than that.
According to Hands for Hunger, more than one in four people have skipped meals because they don’t have the money or the resources to put food on the table.
That total, 28 percent, has gone up since last year by two percent. Things are getting harder.
One in five people had even gone an entire day without eating because they just couldn’t afford it.
These numbers come from a survey – but it may be even worse than that. The survey was conducted by telephone. Many of those hardest hit may not have a phone to answer such surveys.
Look across at Anatol Rodgers High School on Saturday and hundreds of people were lined up looking for work.
More than 1,500 people showed up looking for an opportunity to better their lives. For some, that will mean getting a better job. For many, it will mean getting any job.
The increase in minimum wage has been touted as helping those most in need – and at the sharp end, every dollar counts.
Keisha Ellis, the executive director of Hands for Hunger, said: “For the people who are most vulnerable to food insecurity and the effects of inflation, every little bit counts and I am happy to see these changes [minimum wage and extra price controls] being put in place.
“While I have no doubt that in the short term, an increase in weekly wages will alleviate some of the tension that these households feel, I also know that there are major structural changes that need to be made in order to address the major underlying causes of food insecurity in our country.
“Many of these underlying causes are being addressed through the work of organisations like Hands for Hunger, as well as many of the other non-governmental organisations that continue to work tirelessly to make lasting changes in our country. No one group can do it all, but together, we can make a major difference.”
There is no single magic solution, of course. Organisations such as Great Commission Ministries or the Salvation Army are doing the best they can to put plates of food into the hands of those who need them, but they can do little to solve the bigger economic problems that landed people in this situation in the first place.
There were already people in need even before COVID-19 came along and shut down the world, our tourism industry included.
That industry has restarted, but even now businesses are reopening and jobs that had been lost have not been regained.
The safety net has been strained hard, and will be for some time yet.
Giving people the chance to work so they can lift themselves out of the poverty trap is one step, increasing the wages to try to avoid being outrun by soaring inflation has been another – but it will take many more steps to reduce those long queues of people seeking help.
Finding solutions is no easy task – but knowing the depth of how our nation has been affected is the start of the battle.
Comments
SP 1 year, 6 months ago
I don't see any unemployed foreigners begging for assistance. They are all gainfully employed living off the fat of the land created by generations of Bahamians!
Politicians on both sides of the aisle are responsible for the unemployment issues, and hunger issues facing our country!!!
It was the PLP and FNM politicians that allowed the department of immigration to issue work permits for low-skilled ex-pats to saturate the domestic job market and make thousands of Bahamians unemployed today!!!!
If we got rid of 60% of blue-collar domestic ex-pats, unemployment and resulting crime would dramatically decrease significantly.
But the politicians are more concerned about pleasing the foreign upper class than looking after the average citizen!
Dawes 1 year, 6 months ago
Ahh yes blame the expat blue collar workers. Only an idiot would hire someone at more cost if there was someone here who could do it.
themessenger 1 year, 6 months ago
You’re also conveniently overlooking the fact that the main reason there has been and still is a demand for expat domestic workers is the fact that they don’t tief and they actually do an honest days work every day, none of the come late leave early or don’t show up at all suck teet ghetto attitude that comes with many Bahamians. The expat domestic’s appreciate where their bread is buttered even if the Bahamians don’t!
birdiestrachan 1 year, 6 months ago
This matter needs serious investigation for truths ,
SP 1 year, 6 months ago
@ the messenger.......Your argument is total bullshyt. Every prison in Asia and Latin America is busting at the seams with thieves. People like you suggesting that all Bahamians are thieves are racist.
Bahamians were and still are well-known as excellent, loyal, domestic workers from Lyford Cay to every Island and Cay in the country for tens of decades prior to the politicians allowing Asians and Latinos to enter the domestic job sector!
The fact is that expat domestic’s come from such low standards of living they will literally do ANYTHING for hard currency. They will be maid, gardener, cook, asskisser, and asswipers, for minimum wage.
No American, Canadian, European, or anyone else would do that except these very poor people from economically depressed countries!
themessenger 1 year, 6 months ago
@SP, you missed the point, I didn't say that all Bahamians were thieves, although many are, what I said was that expat domestic workers are for the most part honest and they work, work being the operative word that soooo many Bahamians today aren't acquainted with. Once upon a time Bahamians were well known as excellent and loyal domestic workers but all that went by the boards when Pindling declared that Bahamians would no longer be toters of water and hewers of wood, something like much of our Civil Service today, no longer civil, no longer servants! And, just so you know, many, many Americans, Canadians and Europeans are employed as domestics, my own paternal grandmother, a European, worked her entire working life as a domestic worker, aka a house maid. There is nothing degrading in honest labor, something more Bahamians need to understand, as it seems many of us would rather beg or steal than work.
SP 1 year, 6 months ago
@ messenger....You are talking pure steaming horsehshyt! Expat domestic workers from economically depressed countries are "worked" like slaves!
These people are so desperate to earn hard currency to help their families in poor countries, they change hats throughout the workday doing literally anything. It is common to see them cleaning the house one minute, cooking food the next minute, and washing cars after!
No Bahamian, American, European, Canadian, or anyone else except these Asians and Latinos will do that, AND no one should be expected to do so.
By your own admission, your mother worked as a "housemaid" she didn't and WOULDN'T have cooked the meals, wash the cars, and kissed asses as these low-life Asians and Latin Americans are doing in the Bahamas!
themessenger 1 year, 6 months ago
@SP, as Grammy used to say, sometimes in life you simply have to stop arguing with people and let them be wrong, Lol.
sheeprunner12 1 year, 5 months ago
What is worse?????
Not getting enough to eat ......... OR eating poor quality cheap food that is killing Bahamians with NCDs???
Take your pick .........
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