The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

Thank you for allowing me the space to recognise the proprietors and caregivers at homes for the elderly and orphans throughout the country.

Having visited several of these homes regularly, I am moved by the dedication of these compassionate and caring persons. Unfortunately, many of us do not understand the work being done in these homes and the cost of running them. In most cases, the main contribution is the monthly subsidies from NIB.

It is noted that it cost the government thousands of dollars a year for each prisoner held behind bars. We are talking about young, healthy men and women. Can you imagine the cost for each elderly fragile person in these homes? Elderly folks that have to be looked after 24/7. Folks that have to be cared for as we do a newborn baby. They have to be fed and given a bath three/four times a day; sometimes more because most of them are in sanitary undergarments.

While most residents in these homes are placed there by families who love and care about them, but lack time to take care of them the way they would like to, these relatives make every effort to ensure their loved ones are placed in homes where they will be looked after around the clock. They spend quality time with them at every chance, bathing and feeding them daily. Paying for their care while hurting to know they can’t do more.

But in some cases, some folks have been abandoned altogether. This is where NIB comes in. The truth be told, the pearls most neglected are the ones whose relatives are in a position to take care of them.

I know some of us are thinking that some children turn their backs on parents because of the way they were treated while young. But are they taking into consideration the circumstances that brought about the situation?

No sane parent sets out to intentionally neglect their child. Unfortunately, some people are caught up in drugs and alcohol that places them in a downward spiral that causes them to lose control. Not only are the elderly in these homes, but there are also orphans, some severely handicapped, who can do absolutely nothing for themselves. They, too, are left there by families that never looked back. What about them? Besides being born the way they are, who did they hurt?

The emergency hostel for children, the last time I visited, had 38 children, some severely handicapped. What about them?

I want to pause right here and say “thank you” and congratulations to the many families who have not turned their backs on their elderly and handicapped loved ones and the many donors who regularly contribute to making lives better for folks in the homes.

God bless you.

Every day on our streets, you can observe disheveled persons asking for a bit of charity, and when they approach our car, we roll up the glasses. Has it ever occurred to us that by giving them a little of the change in your ashtray once in a while, you are giving them hope, and one day, they might be able to repay you? Well, maybe not them, but our Heavenly Father who said the least you do unto them you do unto me. Are we looking at the bigger picture?

Every day, some youth is taken before the magistrate charged with all sorts of crimes.

Parents Spend sleepless nights worrying about where their child might be. Boys are sleeping in abandoned cars because they were locked out of their homes at night for staying out late. Many of them turn to gangs where they are welcomed.”

People don’t you understand the child needs a helping hand or someday he will grow up to be an angry young man. Teenage girls are thrown out because they got pregnant. What are to become of them?

Roberta Flack talked about them in Trade Winds."Young men of restless breed looking for a fight young girls soon to become streetwalkers in the night. Children of rich and poor searching for the truth, and if they don’t find it, God help tomorrow."

The young man you refused to let into the house is now standing in front of the judge or dead.

The pregnant girl is on the streets, trading her body for a hit. Her children, the oldest four, are left to look after his younger siblings, three and two. The beggar you did not give a little spare change is armed and about to break into your home. What are you going to do?

A sad fact is that there are many widows and orphans in the Bahamas who are left to fend for themselves. But what many of us have forgotten is that God mandates us to maintain an active role in providing for the underprivileged. It is our Christian duty, relatives or not.

James 1:27 says,"Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions.

Special thanks to Minister Butler at Unity House, Ms Ferguson at the Hostel, Deacon Sister Moxey at Pat's home for the elderly, Reverend Kendal at Good Samaritan, Nurse Rodgers at Persis Rodgers at her home for the aged, Nurse Bain at A&A Comfort Care, Dr Ilonka at Rebecca House, the Ranfurly Home. And others for the beautiful job they are doing in caring for the elderly, the orphans, and the underprivileged.

ANTHONY PRATT

Nassau,

October 25, 2021.