I rode my bike through the Mud today

Abaco is the home of the country’s biggest shanty town population. Combined, its three shanty town communities, Sand Banks, The Mud and Pigeon Peas, have as many as 1,000 homes, according to statistics.

I was just out for a bike ride and chose a rode off the main drag at random.  what i found surprised me.  I rode down a dirt road into a small burned out housing area.  Small dwellings ramshackle, built one on top of each other with no space between.  Today is Tuesday and the fire took place Sunday morning at about 2am.  Sunday we had very strong winds that i measured at over 23mph and these would have really fanned the flames.

I rode through The Mud and then over and through Pigeon Peas.  Everyone i met was Haitian.  It's called the Mud because it used to be a low lying swamp and they dumped mud there when they dredged the canal for the big shipping lane.  It still is muddy when it rains.

In Marsh Harbour on Great Abaco, Haitian immigrants and their descendants have coalesced into overpopulated and sordid shantytowns located just off Don MacKay Boulevard in the heart of the town. Pigeon Pea and The Mud are the two unlawful shantytowns inhabited by a mixture of illegal immigrants, permanent residents, and naturalized citizens. Most families residing in the illegal shantytowns subsist off a meager $200 a week. Due to their illegal status, these dilapidated settlements suffer from a lack of reliable sanitation, clean drinking water, and electrical services. Consequently, residents in Pigeon Pea and The Mud have resorted to dumping waste without authorization, pirating electricity, and diverting water from the adjacent sanctioned settlement. Furthermore, these communities have developed without adhering to local building codes and therefore consist of diminutive, poorly-constructed homes built in close proximity to one another. This close proximity in conjunction with the region’s propensity for hurricanes have resulted in numerous disasters that have displaced hundreds of individuals over the past decades.

Here are some comments from the local paper online:

An even bigger problem is brewing on this island. I can read the signs of a huge showdown between locals and illegals. Don't know why our government is not seeing this.....obviously these fires are being set. Locals taking it into their own hands, since our government just seems lost in denial. Sigh...........

This is what happens when we, the Bahamian people, have a feckless Minister of Immigration (Symonette) and even more feckless PM (Minnis). The pandering by our politicians to voters of Haitian descent, the vast majority of whom acquired Bahamian citizenship through illegal means of one kind or another, must stop. The Haitianization of the Bahamas is our number one imminent national security threat and Minnis (and Symonette) seem quite willing to ignore this most obvious fact notwithstanding the horrible plight it poses for all other 'true' Bahamians.

Sunday's Fire

The Fire a month ago - after Govt cleanup.  They are NOT allowed to rebuild.

The Govt Building is less than 1/2 ML from the fire.

I dont take sides in the politics of the Haitian shantys, but i feel so much sorrow at seeing them today.  To be on the street with them while the fresh smell of burned wood and rubber fill the air.  To talk to the homeless and neighbors who lost their house is so sad.  To know they can't rebuild and wonder what life will throw at them next.  I was welcomed into their community and only got one 'snarl' from a young kid about 16 years old.  93% of the people i asked refused to have their photo taken, but they all accepted me.

I am back on the boat now, happy to have a home.  Happy it does not smell like a recent fire scene.  Happy to have supper and a stove to cook it on.  A bed to sleep in.  I hope YOUR shanty is warm tonight wherever you are.                                                                      

- Peg Leg Pirate Skip

Addendum:  Today i met a lady in the grocery store who asked me to, "give her money because she was homeless from the Mud fire."  I did help her buy some food, but first asked her a question i missed before.  Water and Sewage in the Mud?  *note: in some of the photos you can see white PVC pipe above ground.  They have tapped into some water line and all share it.  You cant drink it, but can wash with it.  For sewage, 'they dig deep holes, cover them with concrete and a pipe on top.'  (like an old style outhouse)  I didn't press her for more detail but some of these houses have been there over 20 yrs?