The stories of survival have been extraordinary. The residents of the Central and Southern Bahamas endured an ordeal that will not soon be forgotten. Hurricane Joaquin emerged and developed in record time. It turned into a category four hurricane and destroyed parts of our archipelago. Water burst through walls. Roofs flew off. Entire homes washed away.
The story of Shekiesha Delancy and Tonya Roberts, sisters from Crooked Island, is instructive as to the horror many faced during the storm. The sisters and their children spent 19 hours huddled in a cramped bathroom when Joaquin descended on the island last Thursday. In total, there were 21 people in that bathroom.
The women and children left Crooked Island on Monday after they were told it was being evacuated. They did not know a hurricane was upon them. They scattered from place to place during the storm just to survive.
Brian McKay rode out Joaquin in the back seat of an old Nissan Pathfinder. McKay, like many residents on Rum Cay, sat and waited as 140-mile-per-hour winds ripped through his home and storm surge poured in.
"I was in the house and the wind was blowing, and I could see stuff was flying horizontally outside," he told The Guardian on Saturday.
"The walls were moving and the windows were rattling and I said to myself, 'I have to get out of here'. That's when I ran out in the storm into the back of the Pathfinder."
Henry Rolle has lived on Acklins for over 20 years, and the passage of Hurricane Joaquin last week marks the third time he lost a home to a cyclone on the island in the Southern Bahamas.
"If I can get some help, I can relocate or try to build to go someplace else. But I can't do it on my own. I won't be able to do it on my own," he said.
Our people who are suffering are in need of help. They need the help of those of us who are doing well. They need the help of those of us who have homes; who have food; who have plenty.
Bahamians have and must continue to step up and assist in every way they can. We should donate to reputable charitable organizations. We should volunteer. We should take aid directly to those places if we have the means to do so.
Many of the residents of islands in the Southern Bahamas are relocating to New Providence. This gives us here the capacity to clothe, feed and house them. There are hundreds of churches on New Providence. There are scores of civic organizations.
Each should find a way to give, to help. There is no compassion in screaming and shouting this Sunday about the afterlife in a comfortable air-conditioned church when so many Bahamians have nothing to eat. It makes no sense going to your civic organization's weekly meeting this week in a posh restaurant eating good food and having a good time when efforts could be better spent giving.
We have a serious problem in The Bahamas with disorganization. This tragedy is exposing this weakness in our culture. Government seems fragmented and leaderless on multiple levels.
Some response agencies have been slow to act. This should not stop us from helping. Citizens groups are leading the way in Long Island, for example, in conjunction with their member of Parliament, Loretta Butler-Turner. There are ways to create a way to help if no path clearly exists.
The struggle to help restore our people in the south will not end in days or weeks. The restoration effort will take a long time. Be sure you are not a spectator to tragedy. Give. Get involved.
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