Rainy weather for workers at the Agriculture Extension Unit in Andros is more than just time to cool down - it's officially game time at the government office. "When it rains or we see clouds build up we are constantly having to move electrical equipment from one spot to another from the leaks," said Glenn Gaitor, the assistant superintendent in the Department of Fisheries. "We have to play tic-tac-toe with the equipment in the rain, so I don't lose any of my equipment."
He is one of 12 workers in the Unit who are shocked at the millions of dollars being spent on infrastructure in New Providence when the very structure these government officers work out of crumbles around them - literally.
Next to computers, mold and mildew creep boldly up the walls. Water spots line the ceiling where tiles have fallen off. The staff work diligently next to the stains, disgusted yet tolerant of the disrepair. It's a problem Gaitor said the officials from the Bahamas Agriculture Industrial Cooperation in the capital are well aware of. Still, the problem persists. "It's been like this now for close to 10 years," he said. "I am very concerned with the metal support of the building because its corroded and I am concerned about it collapsing on us and the other employees.
"There has been no response so far to anything. I haven't heard anything other than they are looking into the situation."
His colleague, Arlington McIntosh of Agriculture, said it's time that government treats the Family Islands the same as it does New Providence. He specifically points to the money being pumped into the roadworks in New Providence, when Andros has been in disrepair for almost a decade. He feels some of that money could have been better spent helping the entire islands' infrastructure, with the unit office just an example of the shabby conditions they live in daily.
"I live in Mastic Point and the road has been like that for 35 years," he added, "and I have been living there for 35 years."
Although the conditions of the government building in Andros have never been publicized, its challenges echo similar ones in New Providence. There, the Ministry of Youth and Education - for example - have been a bone of contention for employees working in the building.
In their case, there have been promises of a relocation coming soon. There has been little of those assurances for McIntosh and his colleagues. "[What] the government needs to do is put the Family Islands in the same class as New Providence."
Until that day comes, the staff of the unit will have to bare it out with their rain-dodge games, hoping that today is not the day the building finally throws in the towel.
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