Haitian-Bahamian Solidarity

As I said in my earlier post, the history of our country and of Haiti are intertwined and deeply connected. Although we don’t recognize the connections often enough, or think of them with much positivity all too often (Haitians are often labelled as “illegals” even when they are perfectly legal immigrants and residents), this tragedy has made far more Bahamiams than ever before deeply aware of the long, long relationship of exchange, mutuality and kinship between our two countries. But we have a long way to go.

A small group of us have worked together to set up a group expressing our solidarity with our neighbour-cousins, and the website’s here on wordpress.com:

http://bahatiansolidarity.wordpress.com

Haiti

Silence on this blog compounded by the earthquake(s) in Haiti and the resulting tragedies.

For those who don’t know Caribbean geography, The Bahamas lies between Cuba, Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic) and Florida, with the Turks and Caicos Islands at our tail.

One of our greatest challenges is managing the constant influx of Haitian migrants seeking a better life. We have no solutions, and have hitherto not managed it all that well. We anticipate even more challenges in the months to come. In my free time all my focus falls on Haiti and on the Bahamian response.

Keep our neighbours in your thoughts, y’all.

A little encouragement goes a long way

And flattery goes even further. Thanks to Harry and Aditi, I’ve been encouraged to keep writing on this blog. So I will.

Today I’ve got two things I want to share with you all. The first is that round here we’ve been sleeping with the Canadian covers. When I tell you why you will all want to move here, but I caution you: what you think of as balmy round here is a little different for two main reasons. (1) We are (literally) Hemingway’s (Bahama) islands in the (Gulf) stream, which means that all temperatures here must be imagined in terms of wetness — wet and cool in the winter, wet and hot in the summer. and (2) WE HAVE NO HEATING SYSTEMS. Except in our cars.

That said, this past week’s average temperature at night has been about 60 degrees F (16 C). (I can hear you now: that’s nothing!! I’d kill for 60!!) Fine, but then add the wind chill (our cold fronts are not still, but arrive on the backs of northern winds), dewpoint and humidity, and then remember: *no heat*. And for most people, no woolly sweaters — just cotton hoodies, unless you’ve been living, like me, in the far far north. All my Canuck friends and transplants are freezing. So think again.

I love it!! The tourists, not so much.