The Tribune

THERE is a saying – often said to be an African proverb but whose exact origin is unclear – that comes to mind after today’s story in The Tribune about support being pledged by the United Kingdom in case of future hurricanes.

British High Commissioner said the UK stands ready to support The Bahamas in any way it can in response to hurricanes, saying that Hurricane Dorian “shocked everybody”.

He met the Disaster Reconstruction Authority chairman and managing director, Alex Storr, yesterday to show the UK’s support.

Mr Hartley is standing on strong shoulders. His predecessor, Sarah Dickson, was right there in the thick of it when support was needed after the storm hit, helping to direct UK resources to where they were needed.

The saying that comes to mind is a simple one: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.”

We are blessed in The Bahamas with international partners who want to help. Who want to go together with us.

Also in today’s Tribune, you can read about the UK offering support to develop sailing, our still-new national sport.

The UK is not the only partner who has been of assistance in recent times.

The United States Embassy recently donated four vessels to the Royal Bahamas Police Force to help protect The Bahamas, with the boats to be assigned to New Providence, Abaco, Bimini and Grand Bahama. Those boats were worth $1.6m, while further donations included 45 ballistic vests and six jaws of life to help rescue people from crashed vehicles.

That donation follows support from the US Embassy to help restore the Elbow Reef Lighthouse in Abaco.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy has pledged support with the renovation of the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium – as well as a number of other projects, including donating medical supplies and signing an agreement to provide greenhouses to Bahamian farmers.

Mr Hartley spoke of another way that the UK can help after hurricanes yesterday, saying that it can help with disaster risk insurance, reducing the cost of insurance for tidal surges and for Water and Sewerage works. The risk is spread regionally, and he said “we would like The Bahamas to have access to that”.

He added: “There is an awful lot of thinking going on. And it is a real sense of partnership of what it is that the Royal Navy can do, what other agencies can do, and what is it that we can do to work out where the gaps are.”

As we say, we are blessed that we have people – nations – who want to help. We should be thankful – and we should definitely do an “awful lot of thinking” to find ways to make that process easier and to make the most of opportunities for countries to work with us.

Sometimes, we are aware that there are occasions when red tape and protocols get in the way of advancing a scheme. Finding ways to cut through that red tape might give us more days such as the opening of the Elbow Reef lighthouse. More days when we can admire a refurbished stadium. And in the case of working together on hurricane issues, more lives saved.

We should be thankful to our international partners, and open to what will come tomorrow.