LOVE ‘97 ON ABACO
Jack Hardy
Nassau FM station Love ‘97 held two live programmes which were broadcast live to a Nassau audience from Sunset Point Resort on 18th June. Your editor was invited to partake in the Breakfast Club discussion at 6 am but demurred and joined the Issues of the Day programme at 11.30 am. The subject was Abaco at the time of Independence in 1973 and Abaco 30 years later. The other two guests were Silbert Mills, general manager of Radio Abaco, and Vyrona Archer, Marsh Harbour businesswoman (though she is uncomfortable with that title).
The one and a half hour programme started with questions from host Jeff Lloyd covering the span since Independence and it was obvious that Jeff was really interested in the social rather than infrastructure changes that had occurred during those 30 years. Before Independence the Abaco Independence Movement had sought to remain under the Crown. At that time Abaco was providing central government with three times what it received back. Hey, you get two dollars out of every three I make and I will kick too.
Because of the recent fire in Pigeon Pea, the Haitian situation became the main topic. Silbert Mills has been thoroughly conversant with the problems involved as both a newsman and Chief Councillor for Central Abaco over the past six years. His comments on the difficulties of containing an alien element in the Marsh Harbour community were supported by Vyrona Archer and myself. Those gentle Haitian gardeners and maids of the past have been replaced by a somewhat more aggressive younger Haitian element who are not prepared to live in the same conditions as their pioneer parents. A revolution is coming, one that may be at the simmer right now.
Silbert pointed out that Haitians used to work for a rate lower than Bahamian labourers. They now demand an equal or higher wage. The building industry is the main source of income since Hurricane Floyd. A great deal of earnings in The Bahamas is sent back to Northern Haiti in US dollars.
Your editor is a teacher at Abaco Central High School, which came into existence a year before Independence. At that time it reflected the population of Central Abaco with close to 30% white Abaconians: all those of secondary age that had not gone to the US for tuition. Abaco Central High School is now 29% Haitian descent students and has one white student. Six private schools now help provide the educational needs of the community over a wide economic spectrum. Abaco Central High School has been deprived of most of its students of professional class parents and accommodates the majority of the Haitian students. Exam results are good despite these factors, though some of the private schools have excellent results. Take all the schools in Abaco and you will find education well served.
“What was you most significant experience on Abaco in the past 30 years?” Jeff asked at the end of the programme. Well hell, I wasn’t going to tell him that. I’m a married man, after all. But that first ride on a tar road from Marsh Harbour to Sandy Point after thousands of journeys back and forth through dust storms, floods, flat tyres, disgorged mufflers, craters to be manipulated, that was sweet. All you Treasure Cay people know the washboard road you used to have to Marsh Harbour: didn’t matter what side you were on, it was bad. Vyrona agreed with me: it was the most significant infrastuctrural improvement of the island in history.
The last hour of the programme dealt solely with the Pigeon Pea/Mud problem and it was clear that Jeff, a Nassau man, was unaware of the severity of the problem. As a Christian nation we need to deal with the problem in a humane way. But under the previous government humane meant prevarication. Promises, promises... Nothing happened except a dislocating fire or two. “This is an Abaco problem, Abaco should solve it,” said former prime minister Hubert Ingraham. Whatever that meant.
Present Prime Minister Perry Christie is a Christian man and will be looking for a remedy that encompasses the needs of the Haitians and the fears of Abaconians. The company at the table hoped that a solution could be arrived at whereby the Haitian community on Abaco could endeavour to build homes that were reflective of the local conditions and not continue to exist in shanty towns. They need to have the opportunity to buy land but it could not be for less than Abaconians pay, for obvious reasons.
Jeff Lloyd understood for the first time what a gut-wrenching issue this is for the people of Marsh Harbour. We all have Haitian people that we know, employ or buy from. We love them and assist them when they are in desperate need, such as after the Pigeon Pea fire. But then we look around and wonder what Marsh Harbour will be like in 2010 or so.