Just over a month after Hurricane Joaquin devastated the southeastern Bahamas, Patrick Ferguson said he feels the government has forgotten about the people of Crooked Island. Ferguson got up at 6 a.m. last Thursday to catch a ride from Major's Cay to Landrail Point to see if any building supplies had come on the mail boat. On the way, he had to cross a mile of water nearly four feet deep.

The residents call it the "Grand Mary". Much of the debris from Joaquin is still in some yards and in the roads. Prime Minister Perry Christie has said that 50 homes on Crooked Island were destroyed. In some areas, like Colonel Hill, the beachfront is marred by homes decimated by the storm, some with only the foundation left.

"Since the storm, nothing much has changed," Ferguson told The Nassau Guardian.

"In Major's Cay, my uncle and I have been cleaning the roads and around the schools, moving the debris, taking the sand out of the road and doing whatever else we can do. Most of the streets are still the same. The trees are still lying about. All the poles are still strewn across the streets.

"It seems as if the government doesn't even know we're here. I've seen the prime minister come in, and he didn't even bring a bottle of water to share with anybody. He brought photographers and his people, but no supplies and no assistance for the people.

"Had it not been for [organizations] like HeadKnowles and other private donors, I don't think we would even have food to eat on the island."

Ferguson said he spent a day and a half huddled on his breakfast counter in Acklins with his eight-month-old son during the storm on October 1 and 2.

He was working on that island at the time, but is a resident of Crooked Island.

"During the day I just watched all of my furniture float out the back door," he said. "The kitchen counter actually blew off.
As the waves hit the back of my house there was... water moving from my back door in the kitchen out the front door.
It was incredible."

Two weeks after the storm, Ferguson said, he left Acklins and took his son to Nassau. He then headed to Crooked Island.

Ferguson was among dozens of residents at the Crooked Island dock on Thursday, hoping to collect supplies and materials. Like Ferguson, many traveled through the "Grand Mary" to get to Landrail Point. Some residents damaged their cars in the water. Ferguson was fortunate. A private donor sent him all of the supplies he needs to repair his home.

"As far as NEMA's (National Emergency Management Agency) supplies, I haven't gotten anything as yet," he said.

"Two trailers of stuff came here. One was for the schools and the other one is sitting at the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) base. They don't seem to be distributing anything to anybody."

The supplies were at the RBDF container city located a few feet from the dock. Clifford Mackey of Cripple Hill was not as fortunate as Ferguson. He collected a few supplies, but for Mackey and his wife, things are at a standstill.

"It is something that I wouldn't like to go through again," he said of the storm.

"It was a traumatic experience for me to the point where it made me look at life in a different way."

When he fled his home during the storm, Mackey said the wind lifted him and his wife almost 10 feet off the ground. During that ordeal he hurt his hand.

"It was just terrible," he said.

Mackey sleeps in a portion of his home, but he said when it rains water seeps inside.

Mackey said he watches the supplies come in, but he hasn't received any as yet.

"We are still in the dark about it," he said. "We are hearing promises, but we are waiting to see if they will live up to the promises. I had hoped or expected things would move at a faster pace. It appears to me, and this is my personal opinion, that Crooked Island is not getting the attention that it needs.

"It seems as if we are just forgotten in a way. Everything seems to be slow. In my opinion it's as if there is no emergency. Right now we need surgery. Don't put a Band-Aid on us."

But NEMA Director Captain Stephen Russell said that is not the case.

"I made a point to come here," he said Thursday afternoon.

"I know we sent some stuff here, and I really want to know the capacity of the island to receive the stuff and then the distribution process will happen eventually. There is no way in the world we are going to abandon these people."

Russell visited Crooked Island around 4 p.m. on Thursday. Former Director of Works Melanie Roach, the technical coordinator for the National Recovery and Reconstruction Unit, and other officials were also on island. Russell said the team had just come from Rum Cay. Scores of residents on Landrail Point surrounded Russell and his team at the RBDF container city.

He told residents, "This is your island. I'm 100 miles away from you. It takes me three hours to get here. You have to pull it together, and we are going to support you. We are not going to abandon you."

When asked when the distribution of supplies is expected to take place, Russell said, "Whatever they have here now that can go, they can go. In terms of the lumber that residents need, that should be here on Saturday. Hopefully it can start on Saturday."

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