The Tribune

By NICOLE BURROWS

Every month this year, PolitiCole is using this space to rally Bahamians living abroad (starting in America) to find out their hopes and plans for their native Bahamaland, their thoughts looking from the outside in on society, life and politics.

Terrilyn Hannah

Time abroad

I’ve lived in the United States since September 1993, to the present, so that’s 22 years and a few months. And I’ve worked officially, that is, non-student-related work authorisation since 2003/ 2004. So about 12 to 13 years since school.

Work

I’m a public sector administrator. I’ve worked in city government, county government and in private consulting for firms whose clients were primarily government agencies.

Education

My bachelor’s degree is in geography with a concentration in environmental studies, which covers all aspects of the physical environment, and my minor was in geology. My first master’s degree was also in geography, but my focus was urban studies and GIS (geographic information systems). And my second master’s degree is in public administration with a concentration in public management.

I studied in Georgia and I took the traditional student route for the undergraduate and the first graduate degree, and then an off-campus programme tailored for professionals with a Michigan university.

Where are you now?

I live and work in Georgia.

Returning to The Bahamas

When I was halfway through my first master’s degree, I made trips home on school breaks to prospect career/employment opportunities. It was very disheartening. I didn’t have a specific idea of what the work could or would look like, but I went to potential employers or places where I thought I would be interested in the work, or where there was an actual opportunity for me to make a contribution based on my field of study.

I talked to some people and they seemed to be intimidated by or amused by my ambition. You would think you’d be more encouraging to young people who desire to return home regardless of their field of work, but I didn’t get that. I received indirectly and a little directly that I wasn’t gonna get what I was looking for in terms of opportunity or money.

I don’t feel like they were thrilled about my enthusiasm or optimism about opportunities that were presently available, or my desire to create opportunity.

Current residency

I am still a citizen of The Bahamas, but I’m a permanent resident of the United States now and I am eligible to apply for citizenship. I’ve not done so yet, but, at some point, I intend to.

Future prospects for return to The Bahamas

Maybe I could move back to The Bahamas, but not under current circumstances. New Providence has changed significantly since I left 22-23 years ago, and I’ve decided I don’t want to pursue a livelihood there.

That’s where family is, and I’ll always have those ties and I feel attached because of that but otherwise, it’s not The Bahamas that I left, it’s not the Nassau of my childhood. And it’s not even the Nassau of my young adult life. It’s extremely expensive. The cost of land there is like the cost of a home here ... just to buy the land much less build a house on it.

Spouse and children as an incentive to return

I’m not married now, but I was married before ... to an American. I don’t have children. And I don’t necessarily plan to have children, but I’m open to having children, if the opportunity presents itself.

It wasn’t until, in the past ten years, when my parents actually came here and spent Christmas with me and my then husband that I realised my remaining desire to go back to Nassau, for the most part, was primarily tied to my family. And when my family was here with me, I didn’t feel like I was missing anything.

One of my greatest fears was imagining raising my child or children without grammy or aunty or cousin, not having my ‘village’ the way I grew up. But I don’t know that I would be prepared to move back to The Bahamas just for that now. The importance of family in our tradition, culture, society ... I get that, but no, I wasn’t prepared to and am not prepared to move back home to have that.

Following Bahamian news: I follow news sometimes. Maybe once a week through all media channels ... all the newspapers, and Bahamas News Ma Bey ... (laugh). And for me it’s to get the general sense of things, the general socioeconomic and political climate.

Looking at Nassau/The Bahamas

Let me tell you what I see when I actually go home. I see a lot of resources have been put into infrastructural improvement, obviously some of those tied to Baha Mar. I see too many unfinished projects in Nassau. I went down Baillou Hill Road and that park area ... Jumbey Village, it’s clear they’re trying to do something with it but the vegetation is already overgrown. I see plenty money spent, so why is it not open?

I see a lot of disinvestment in various parts of the island. The Carmichael area, for example, is so busy and it’s so congested, but businesses come and go quickly. And don’t let me talk about zoning and planning. Especially with capital investment by government, they do a very poor job with budgeting and planning. You can tell by all of the government facilities that there is no money allocated or utilised for operation and maintenance. You see things run down everywhere. Where are the professionals in The Bahamas government? (Politicole: “America.” Laugh).

There’s no real planning. I know the market drives development, but you’re supposed to plan to best tap into the market. You go into Palmdale, anywhere between the highways, Harrold Road all the way to Palmdale and through Marathon, you see a lot of abandoned buildings. And it’s clear to me that the things that are abandoned are small businesses.

Society and community

And as far as the people go ... I went to get my passport renewed this summer, and went to NIB, and the thing that stood out most to me, the office was full of young - and even younger - mothers with all these children. A whole bunch of children. And there seems to be a lot of idle young people, and for that matter idle grown people. People at work for government not doing anything. I see a lack of investment in the resources required to make everyday Nassau life liveable for the people. Where’s the investment in things that would make life easier for Bahamians?

Both of my parents are self-employed business people. My dad was fortunate to have some of the resources his father left behind. My mum didn’t have all of that. She came from some poor black people like most Bahamians who don’t have inheritance. I’m not knocking when your parents have something, but the reality is just that most Bahamians have nothing. And the fact that we, a small group of educated younger Bahamians, can see this, and see life and the world differently, is evidence that we are not the majority.

I don’t feel that I am better than anybody, but I know that I have a broader scope of education than the majority of our population. It’s a fact when you see how people sometimes behave, it correlates with education. Even if our parents didn’t go to college, they wanted us to, so they think the way we do. Education makes for most of the difference in thinking.

Your parents have a value system they impose on you and you develop the same with a whole different realm of experience. For example, my parents weren’t so involved with my schoolwork; they didn’t need to be! Because I knew what I had to do and what I wanted to achieve. Parental influence and guidance is key. I had enough in me to want something more out of life. Some people only know the hustle life; they have no perspective that includes education as an outlet from poverty.

We should have strong environments of public safety, good health care, strong education, great economic opportunity, even something as simple as homegrown food. But the children too busy having more babies. Having more babies is counter to socioeconomic progress. It’s been proven; people who can’t afford babies don’t have more babies to make a country progressive. That’s not a formula for a better quality of life.

Voting in 2017

It’s important to vote, I believe that. That being said, I’m 41 going on 42. I left for university when I was 19. For all intents and purposes, I’ve now resided in and know more about another country longer than the one of my birth. I only voted once in The Bahamas, in 1992... and I voted FNM. Put that in there.

Unfortunately, the people who are voting en masse are people with basic deprivation like no toilets, and they are taking promises from anyone they think can help them as soon as possible. They ain’ trying to have no intellectual discussion on ‘what Perry doin’. I’ne vote for Mr Christie. I ain’ ga never vote for him. He been round too long. Leaders need term limits. They need to be more responsible and more accountable.

I think this coming election, based on what I see, I think that the masses ... I think ... they are inclined to vote differently this time. Every politician has their own personal agenda, but if I had to choose, I would probably go with the person who has the best interest of the people at heart. It’s a gut feeling. The foolishness they doing now, we don’t want that. I can see that, and I don’t even live there!

You know what I also see? I see way too much violent crime. You know, education is really what elevated us beyond the environments that often lead to crime.

The next leader

Its going to take more than a leader to create the kind of Bahamas I want my children to inherit. You need a leader with a backbone, who is respected, someone who is a consensus builder for the good of the whole country, someone educated and exposed with world experience and

knowledge, maybe having lived outside of The Bahamas for a time .... to show Bahamians the world beyond the vacuum they live in now. You need a leader with dignity and integrity.

You know, we are resourceful and resilient, so many of the educated youth will find a way to survive in The Bahamas. Regardless of who is in the power, the people who have resources will find a way. Whatever our parents sacrificed for us, we make a way ... maybe

because we can see a way.

And I guess I could make it if I had to in The Bahamas, but I ain’ going through all that. I’m in a whole foreign country that’s been better to me, even by my own sweat and tears, than my own country.

• If you are a Bahamian living in the United States, please email to nburrows@tribunemedia.net or visit Politicole on Facebook to be interviewed.