A Letter to the Editor Concerning the AIDS Camp Disconnection

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Dear Sir,
 
Thank you for including me in you note regarding the reconnection of electricity to the All Saints Camp, however, I believe that it is the duty of the Bahamas government to correct this matter.
 
I recall once soliciting a large donation from Mr Craig Flowers for the late Rev. Glenroy Nottage’s  payment of the Camp’s light bill, however the then Minister of Works explained that it was not the government’s policy to collect money from the former Leper Colony turned Aids Hospice, although the meters were read monthly..
 
My present concern for your proposed  fund raising approach is this:
Should you raise the $70 thousand plus dollars to reconnect the electricity bill by donations, how will the monthly charges be serviced in future? The residents are dying!
 
Further, who pays the power bill at the Sandilands Rehabilitation, Princess Margaret Hospital, Her Majesty’s prison, The Simpson Penn School for Boys or any of our public schools?
 
If you answer that the All Saints Camp is a private institution, then I say that as a Hospice for the dying, it is an essential service which any civilized society must sustain and a pressing issue which the Minister of Social Services must immediately address.
 
This government’s unprecedented policy of providing free electricity from pole #44 to the illegal Haitian migrant residents in Mackey Yard and their subsequent relocation to the Corner Motel after the fire, must first be justified before Bahamians will easily accept the premise that dying Aids patients are being condemned to darkness, soiled sheets and cold food, hastening their demise and depriving them of their Constitutionally enshrined right to die with dignity.

Again, thank you for including me, but I will not absolve this callous government by ignoring their collective responsibility to redress this matter.
Rather, I intend to alert the international Press to this travesty and expose the world to yet another cruel reality which Bahamians are being made to suffer.
 
Yes, (letter writer), since many of our people will face early avoidable deaths as a direct result of this government’s inhumane policies, the least I can do is to invite the world to be a witness to the slaughter. 
 
God bless you.

 

 
Phillippa Lady Russell

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6 COMMENTS

  1. @ Sexy Caramel

    It warmed my hear to read that you cared so deeply about our people. Perhaps you were not having such a good day when we first met on BP.

    Too, I guess it must be confusing and difficult for you, as a resident from another culture, to read so many lies in our newspapers and to arrive at a logical conclusion.

    A case in point is a frontpage news story in The Nassau Guardian of Friday March 11, 2011 captioned: “Brave Davis’ untimely death comments called ‘disturbing’. Reporter, Chester Robards created a one-sided negative news report based on a interview with Minister of Labour and Social Development, Dion Foulkes, who took issue with a speech delivered by Progressive Liberal Party (PLP)Deputy Leader Philip Brave Davis at a recent rally at which he charged that the failure of the Free National Movement (FNM) administration to create jobs to deal with the country’s unemployment problem led to the untimely deaths of Bahamians.

    While Foulkes took issue with Brave Davis’ references to the rise in the untimely deaths, the clear and present danger faced by the infirmed residents at the All Saints Camp is yet another indication of the government’s insensitivity and lack of compassion towards impoverished Bahamian citizens.

    The disinterest and dishonesty regarding the disconnection of the electricity supply to the All Saints Aids Hospice months ago, on the watch of the present Junior Minister of Social Services, Loretta Butler-Turner and the substantive Minister Dion Foulkes, is unimaginable, unexplainable and unacceptable!

    Truly, God is good, since this morning, government restored the electricity supply to the All Saints Camp, averting the untimely deaths of many.

    Thank you for your caring concern, Ms Caramel.

  2. NOTICE

    The electricity has been restored to the All Saints Camp, sources confirm.

    Hopefully, this catastrophe is not visited upon these hapless souls ever again, since none of the Aids patients are gainfully employed and the children are the orphaned survivors of former Camp residents.

    • ON TODAYS REDEMPTION FORUM RADIO SHOW AT 6PM ON LOVE 97FM, I DISCUSS THE ISSUE OF THE CHURCH AND BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE A DIGNIFIED DEATH TO BAHAMIAN CITIZENS DYING FROM HIV/AIDS AT THE ALL SAINTS CAMP OF SAINT JOHN THE DEVINE ON LAZZERETO ROAD.

      WHILE THE ELECTRICITY WAS RESTORED LAST MONTH FOLLOWING A TWO MONTH BLACKOUT, THE RESIDENTS LIVE UNDER THE THREAT THAT THEY WILL SOON BE FACING DARKNESS AGAIN, IF THE MATTER OF THE OUTSTANDING ELECTRICITY IS NOT PAID IN FULL!

      SHAME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. I’m sorry but this is very disturbing and it isn’t right at all to just abandon a camp full of sick people. These deaths can really be avoided if proper attention is brought to these individuals a timely manner. But how it’s looking, time may be running out for these people…Get it together folks…So sad…SMH!

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