The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

“I keep telling myself not to give up hope to be brave and stay strong because I believe there are people out there who will believe in me and will help me through these hard times”.

When I look back over my life. I believed I would never amount to anything. As a child there was never a positive role model in my life.

My mother whose family is well off was disowned by her parents when she got pregnant with me at the age of fourteen by an eighteen-year-old high school dropout.

For all it’s worth, I have been told I was born under what is called an unlucky star. From birth, I was off to a rough start .

My dad left my mom shortly after I was born. Up to this day, I don’t know who he is.

Both of my uncles spend most of their time drinking and getting high.

After being kicked out by my grandparents she moved in with a cousin and from there on it was the downward spiral for her.

Shortly after giving birth to me for a while, she got hooked on crack and was in and out of relationships with lots of men. Resulting in her having three more children.

Thank God she has turned her life around and has put her past behind her.

I grew up in a neighbourhood where anything goes. And being exposed to drugs, alcohol, and illicit sexual activities at an early age it was not hard for me to become a product of my surroundings.

It all started at the age of ten with me stealing foodstuff from the petty shop to feed my brothers and sisters.

It all seemed so easy so I started shoplifting. It wasn’t long before I was placed in a foster home.

While that slowed me down for a while it wasn’t long before I returned to my old ways. Eventually being sentenced to prison for housebreaking.

Prison life is hard, you can’t imagine the things that go on in there. It is no place to be.

So, after I was released, I promised never to go back. But that promise was short-lived because once you’ve been to jail people treat you like you’re nobody.

No one wants to give you a job and if they do once, they find out you’re an ex they either fire you or put on enough pressure that would cause you to quit.

So, I wound up going back to prison this time for armed robbery. So, you see why there are so many repeat offenders.

I don’t care what anyone says once you’ve been to jail the only ones that accept you are people whose lives are the same as yours. Well, not everyone, but the majority.

They will tell you that’s not true, but I know better. Why do you think me and my girl is out here with our princess picking up bottles.

Do you believe we enjoy doing this? We get two dollars a case some days if we’re lucky we make about $10. But we have to eat as you can see both my girl and our daughter is slightly handicapped.

During the COVID pandemic, both of the major liquor merchants closed down their bottle collections. Taking away our primary means of survival.

We were devastated and didn’t know what to do. I faced many temptations. But it was my faith in God that helped us survive.

Thank God Jimmy liquor store has restarted the programme with that and my job at the gas station we are on the road to full recovery.

With all of the murders and armed robberies taking place it is only by the grace of God I’m able to be sitting here having this conversation with you.

The battle is raging.

But you know what I’m not going back to prison because I believe one day, I’m going to be able to take my mother, my brother, and my sisters out of that environment.

Thank you for spending this time with me, not many people are interested in my story.

I haven’t seen him in a while, but he used to be on south beach by the pools with his child who is handicapped and his fiancée who is also impeded with a limp from birth collecting bottles.

This is his story.

God bless him. God bless the Bahamas.

ANTHONY PRATT

Nassau,

March 26, 2023.