Dear Editor,

The people of Ragged Island and its descendants will not abandon their home in its time of need. Many have seen the pictures and the videos that have come from the island, which are devastating. In the wake of Hurricane Irma a massive cleanup has to be undertaken, and there will have to be a period of rebuilding. Ragged Island has withstood the test of time for hundreds of years and will continue to do so.
Where are the mobile homes that Island Luck and Sebas Bastian donated after Hurricane Joaquin in 2015? Is it not possible for some emergency housing to be sent there to house essential persons to help with the cleanup? Once the cleanup has been carried out, people will return to their properties. They will repair or rebuild with assistance from the government or by the sweat of their brow.
There is no possibility of Ragged Island being depopulated. I read with dismay the comments that suggested that it was too expensive or too much work to rebuild the island. We will prove the naysayers wrong. Like a phoenix from the ashes, Duncan Town, Ragged Island will rise again.
Many do not know the historical significance of our island. They may not know that our ancestors have plied the seas for generations trading salt with Cuba and Haiti and returning with produce and rum to sell in New Providence; or that Horace A. Wilson, my great-great-grandfather, was the first agent for Bacardi in The Bahamas. They may not know that Cuban MIG fighter jets flew over and fired their guns at Duncan Town and sank the HMBS Flamingo in its waters during the Cuban Incident on May 10, 1980.
The Ragged Island Range has produced many notable Bahamians. Families from there make up the strong fabric of The Bahamas. Family names like Bridgewater, Curling, Hepburn, Lockhart, Maycock, Moxey, Munroe, Pintard, Wallace, Wilson and others spring from that rock. We may not be a huge number of people but we are powerful and determined. And when we are of one mind, there is no stopping us.
We are out to build a new Ragged Island. So come on now there's work to be done. Please help us to rebuild our island or politely move out of the way.

- Natalyia Wallace

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