A homeless man lay near the East West highway fast asleep. It was cold last evening and well it was clear that he was numb to the conditions.
What is happening to the unemployed in the Bahamas? They are becoming homeless some without family. Last week we saw a woman wrapped in a blanket sleeping on a grave early in the morning.
What is happening in our country? Why is the poor suffereing soo much? And who will step up to help them. WE NEED MORE LOVE. We need more CARE. We need a mindset of CHANGE in this country. Perhaps the economic crisis will assist and usher this in.
We are in a sad, sad state.
Sincere, You are right on the point .
From the start of this year we have business closeing people loosing jobs and the only two bills that was debated in the HOA was a libray bill and a bill to limit the terms of the police commisioner ….and to my knowledge no one MP stood up in parliament and ask the question is this the only two bills that we have to debate here at this time and at this moment when people are loosing homes and jobs is this what we have come here for to make things better for the bahamian people ……no instead the answear when this question is put to them they all say wait on Obama …..Sincere you are right …WE ARE BAHAMIANS AND YES WE HAVE TO HELP OURSELVES…..
I have to say that I am deeply saddened by this. What’s worse is that our government seems to have no substantial plan to curb or even lessen the amount of Bahamians suffering as a result of the downturn in the economy. What happens to a ship without a pilot, or a moving car without a driver? Our government seems to be clueless. I’m tired of hearing about people talking about Obama. He is the American president. WE ARE BAHAMIANS!!! We have to help ourselves. As a young Bahamian, I am so disappointed in both parties….Too many have lost their jobs and sadly their homes. Our government consists of bumbling idiots who go to their fancy homes in the “upscale” neighborhoods and live, in my opinion oblivious to the struggles of the average Bahamian. This is very unfortunate, and sadly it was the hand we were dealt. I am so sick and tired of ALL THINGS PLP AND FNM, because the truth is no one stands up for the people.
I thought your response would be as such! However like I said I was not trying to put you on the spot or bring to light what you have done, because its not a big deal to offer a homeless man/woman some food or a ride to some form of shelter whether it be your own. Thats nothing to boast about. I simply wanted to know what you felt would have been ideal, not necessarily what you have done.
And I told you that I no longer intend to pass such persons by when I encounter them on the street again. So no need to hope about that!
This is NOT the Orthland Bodie Show ‘Observer’, we do not discuss the charities we pass on to our bothers and sisters.
However, we hope you do not pass such persons when you encounter them on the street.
Bahamas Press/Ediotr
Ok then, if all you are asking is “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY?” and don’t really want an answer then Bahamas Press might as well pack up its website and allow the newspapers to continue. Please don’t get me wrong, while I do appreciate your efforts and what the site is about, in order for CIVIL SOCIETY to begin looking inwardly and ask what is going on, we have to try and understand WHAT IS GOING ON, which calls for research and some theoretical explanations.
That man may have had a job, or may have had a home of his own, but he may not be physically or mentally fit to KEEP A JOB OR A HOME!! So even if you get him another job or another home, he may lose those as well. So the point that I am trying to make MEDIA is that where we can see the obvious (that the man has no home and no job), what is causing this so that something substantial may be done! So that when we give him another job or another home he can keep them.
Maybe I am misunderstanding your sole purpose, but it is my impression that it is to inform Bahamians of what is really going on and for us to pull up our socks and try and do something about it for a better Bahamas. Or maybe it is just to inform us and say look…there is another homeless man, let’s hope someone helps him. Please correct me if I am wrong!!
Also Media, not to put you on the spot, but what was your reaction when you saw him? Did you offer help? Did you call someone? What do you suggest should be done when we encounter a homeless man sleeping on the streets? And to be honest I have seen homeless persons but never offered help, I have seen persons sleeping on the street and have never offered help. So I am not trying to criticize. I sincerely want to know because I think it is time that I start offering temporary assistance. And I say temporary because just offering some shelter or some food is not going to solve the problem, it is much deeper than that.
Like Joe Blow asked, are there any places in Nassau that provides shelter for these people??
And if you are looking closely at the bottom photo, you would notice a BANK, the Teachers and Salaried workers Co-Operative Union building, and this man just laying there… OH MY!
BP
People in this country are hurting bad man and substance abuse is not the only blame. Have any of you noticed how many young children are out at all hours of the day now with “sponsor sheets”. I can only imagine how many of these are not legitimate. I was approached in the parking lot of the Mall last week by two young children who said they were hungry. I gave them $20 but what will they do when that runs out. Social Services needs to become pro-active and not stay shut up in a/c all day waiting for people to come to them. There is no agency ACTIVELY look out for the nations children. Can you imagine what we are setting up to reap in the future? Heaven help us. The Christie government was not perfect, but this current Ingraham government has absolutely no social agenda. They have a lot of talks but when it comes to action, they fall very short. Minister Turner-Butler had the nerve a couple of weeks ago to talk about the number of people receiving Govt. assistance has declined. Except for the regular crew, everybody here should be smarter than to believe that.
@Observer
Observer, the point here is NO ONE IS BLAMING GOVERNMENT (NOT US)! Therefore to inject the question, that we cannot blame government is irrelevant!
This post is for us, CIVIL SOCIETY, to begin looking inwardly at ourselves and ask what is going on here. Statistical evidence and its relevance in relation to the topic is obsolete. Our sole reason for posting this was not to go into any theoretical tirade of explanations as to why the man is homeless. Nor how or what he might have done that has contributed to his present state.
The fact is that he is OUT OF A JOB, OUT OF A HOME, out of a shelter, and laying on the side of the busiest highway in this country, seem to us as a cause for concern! Late into the evening, in cool temperatures, with hundreds passing him by. This photo represent a sad state in this country.
Has our nation become so cold heartened to people that we would rather see them rot and die? And therefore find some theoretical question to satisfy our acceptance of these conditions our people live under?
Well if that is the case, then Bahamas Press might as well pack up its website and allow the newspapers to filter their message. We all now know they have been around feeding this country a ‘ball of baloney’ for the last century and a half. And what has really CHANGED?
All we are saying here is one simple question. WHAT IS HAPPENING TO OUR COUNTRY, when we see pictures like these?
Bahamas Press/Editor
And media, no where did either contributor suggest that you said the government was to blame. In fact Mr. Archer says, “We can’t blame the government”. The questions he put were quite to the point. Are there designated areas where a person can get some shelter for a night or two? Perhaps B.P. can investigate this and inform us so that we may advise persons who may be in need of same. A kindness might be that we , upon coming across a person like this, take that person to a shelter. If no shelters are available, perhaps we all can do our part in convincing some organizations or the Churches to begin them. My family would be happy to contribute to any funding scheme for that. We will certainly find an increase in the numbers who will be in need of shelter and hot food over the next 18 plus months. You are quite correct in not making this political, however, and we appretiate your bringing this to everyone’s attention. Now let’s do something about it!
Well I never had on political sunglasses and from reading Omar’s comment he did say the government is NOT to blame. So nobody is looking at it from a political viewpoint. I simply said that he asked some very relevant questions. So in no way am I blaming the government for this! So where did you get that from? Yes I am concerned about this issue, and that is why I agree with Omar because those questions he asked were looking at it from a preventive standpoint. Let’s say you offered the man some shelter, what about tomorrow night? What about the homeless persons to be? It is easy to take the man off the street for a night, but when that is done did we really solve the issue that got him there? I visit the mall and banks all the time, and yes on many occasions I have had little children by themselves (who I think should not be without supervision) ask me to sponsor them, sometimes with a sponsor sheet that’s not legitimate or even with no sponsor sheet at all. So me being concerned may give something, but that does not solve the problem that child has. It stems from the home, so tomorrow and next week that child would be out there doing the same thing until something is done. So again that is why I agree with Omar in saying that we must look deeper into the problem, family, education, church, and I would also suggest drug prevention.
Omar Archer those are the ideal questions to ask. The bottome line is why is he in this state, and where are the persons who should be of some assistance to this man? I disagree however with the caption “Homeless, jobless residents growing by the day in the Bahamas” because there are no statistics/facts to support that. It is my belief that there is a major correlation between substance abuse and homelessness. I am sure members of the church and other organizations see these people like we do, but nothing is being done. We should all do our part and help however we can.
I would say to both you and OMAR that no where in this post we ever suggest that government is to blame, NO WHERE! That’s point #1. Secondly this photos is not only to suggest whether or not he has substance abuse issues, the fact is he’s without shelter and is sleeping on the busiest highway there is in Nassau! He was laying right in an area when you exit heading west off East Street. And NOT a sole, NO ONE is even trying to give him assistance! So I invite both of you making comments to take off your political shades for a moment and ask yourself, WHERE IS THE CARE AND CONCERN FOR OTHERS IN YOUR MIND? NOT government.
Thirdly, I wonder if any of you both have visited the banks or shopping malls or the foodstores lately in this city. Have any of you seen the people at almost every stoplight asking for help? Many who are well intentioned just asking for a meal. We ran into them everyday, ALL DAY and some will tell you as one said to us, how she was sleeping in an OLD CAR!
But again, here we go again, raising the trivial points and going political. MY GOODNESS consider this if but for a moment, “SAVE FOR THE GRACE OF GOD THERE GO I!
WAKE UP PEOPLE WAKE UP! SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG IN THIS COUNTRY! EVEN THE CHILDREN BEGGING THESE DAYS!
BP, can you give me an educated estimate guest of how many people has lost their job since 2008? Does the government even know? In the US they are losing over 500 thousand jobs a month.
I submit to you that government here has no idea of how many people have lost their job or how many jobs are being lost every month. We need to hear some statistics from the Labor Department as to whats really happening in the job market. But i doubt they know wither.
Why isnt the press asking the government for this information?
The real questions that should be asked are, Why is he homeless? Why is he jobless? Does this man have a proper education? What are the circumstances that lead to this individual being in the state that he is in? We can’t blame the government. We must look deeper into the problem, what about his family members? Why are they not assisting him? What about assistance from the church? What about us as a people? Are we not our brother’s keeper anymore in this country? What can we do to help this man and possibly his children? I have noticed over the years that more and more Bahamians are living on the streets.
BP,WOW,
This is just one of the serious problems we have in this country let’s take a look at the sitaution Small Business in the country are in a virtual free fall, Mid to large size business are laying off left ,right and centre the Hotel Industry is in retreat and the Government has it’s hands in the air.
We have to make a serious descision here we as a people have to start to think about haveing another quiet reveloution.. this government is out of touch with the nation and our people, the opposition is in a civil war and bending at the knees and the country is left to wolves,crime bosses,crooked business men and foreign gangsters we are in trouble and everyone in government same to be in limbo.
Media we have to wake up and start the change that is needed we are headed to a very bad end and if we do not do anything to stop it there will be no Bahamas for our children to take over from us.
A caller said it right on Bodie’s More FM show today our politicians are saying that they are waiting on Obama to get soemthing done in our country the question is did we vote for Obama or we voted for them .
Media/Wow Iam upset and tired of seeing the big mess that is going on in our Nation and Iam ready to stand up and be counted I urge everyone that blogs on this sight to do the same even if it means that we have to form a group of our own I say that we have to or else we will fade away like dust in the wind.
BP, I hope you didn’t just take his picture but offered him something to eat and a blanket or coat.
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