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Mosseff House – Bahamas Feeding Network’s Little Kitchen That Could Delivers Over 2,000 Meals a Week Trying to Eradicate Hunger

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Bahamas Photographer

Bahamas Photographer

#Bahamas, August 24, 2017 – Nassau – In a world of fast-paced, high tech talk and expectations, a ritual plays out every week in a modest house in an even more modest neighbourhood that reminds us of what humanity is all about.

The building where it takes place is called Mosseff House.   Donated by the Davis family who never forgot their humble beginnings in the Fox Hill community, the little yellow structure next to the Fox Hill Police Station comes alive every Thursday and Sunday preparing food for the hungry.

Volunteers clean, chop, marinate and cook over 500 pounds of chicken a week. They grate cabbage for coleslaw, stir massive pots of peas ‘n rice, wash and tear enough lettuce to lay out a regulation football field.

And every movement, every stirring with a supersized spoon or plating and packaging in individual containers is accompanied by a smile and inspired by compassion.

“Hunger is a horrible thing to endure, but together we can wipe it out,” says Philip Smith, who has been feeding the hungry for more than a decade, these days as executive director of the Bahamas Feeding Network. “What we see out there breaks your heart. Some of the people in the community who come to collect their meal may not eat another hot meal until the next time they come to the door which could be three or four days away. We are a rich nation and yet there are people hunting for scraps in dumpsters.”

Founded in 2013, the Bahamas Feeding Network is the brainchild of its patron His Excellency Frank Crothers, Ambassador of the Order of Rhodes & Malta. Since its launch, the Network has provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in food coupons and supplies to help ease the pain of hunger. It has donated food or cooked meals for over 120 soup kitchens, churches with feeding programs, children’s homes and senior centres throughout The Bahamas. Its vans crisscross the island meeting up with church or feeding centre representatives or feeding centres, its packages are routinely shipped to Family Islands.

Bahamas Photographer

Bahamas Photographer

The Feeding Network’s board of directors reads like a Who’s Who of The Bahamas – Felix Stubbs, Chairman, Bamboo Shack and Sapodilla entrepreneur Elaine Pinder, financial services executives Shayne Davis and Patricia Hermanns, Osprey Development and Gunite Pools chairman Peter Whitehead, tireless community service worker Robin Symonette, McKinney, Bancroft & Hughes Partner Sean Moree, Pastor Timothy Stewart.

Nearly every major food retailer or wholesaler has gifted food or sold it at reduced prices for the cause.

Their donations are essential, says Smith. “We could not do it without our sponsors.”

But all the supplies, the 40-lb bags of chickens, the 50-lb sacks of rice, the hundredfold high stacks of Styrofoam containers would be inanimate promises of hope without the hands and hearts of volunteers like Skully and Solomon.

“Their dedication is unbelievable,” says Crothers. “I don’t know how they do what they do and do it with such love.”

Bahamas Photographer

Bahamas Photographer

Skully, short for Recina Ferguson, hauls hundreds of pounds of chicken. It may be 1 am Saturday morning when she unlocks the door at Mosseff House to begin prepping for Sunday. While others are sound asleep, she is cleaning, chopping, seasoning. A retired teacher and tutor, she’s been known to work 18 hours straight. And never a penny’s pay. “This is my heart,” she says. On Sunday, her male counterpart, Solomon, a tall, wiry and fit man, hoists a huge steaming tub of peas ‘n rice, running with the burning hot pan to replace the one that volunteers like Wendy Deveaux have just finished dishing out.

With as many as 30 volunteers, often buoyed by organisations like Rotary, Kiwanis and Rotaract that swell the numbers even higher, the cooking and preparation of containers can take as little as five hours or as much as nine. Last Sunday, people from the Fox Hill community collected 300 meals before the distribution with vans even began or church and feeding centre representatives showed up to collect the distribution trays.

“These meals are going to help people who largely fall below the poverty level which the government pegs at $11.74 a day. And the government’s own statistics show that one in every 7-8 people falls into that category. When we cook, plate, package and donate meals to the hungry, everything is carefully accounted for but what we can never measure is the love that goes into each one,” says Smith. “You have to be there, to hear the singing, watch the camaraderie and feel the spirit. Then you will understand.”

A small house with a very large mission.

Press Release: DPA News

Photo Credit: DPA

 

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Walker Confirmed as U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas: A Partner in America’s Extended Family

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By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media

 

The United States and The Bahamas share more than proximity — they share a bond of history, trade, and culture that Washington’s newest diplomat calls “part of America’s extended community.”

Now, for the first time in 14 years, the U.S. Embassy in Nassau will again be led by a Senate-confirmed ambassador. Herschel Walker, the Heisman-winning football legend turned entrepreneur, has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate as America’s official envoy to The Bahamas.

Walker, who will oversee one of the Caribbean’s most strategically positioned U.S. missions, told senators during his confirmation hearing that The Bahamas will play a key role in upcoming U.S. 250th Independence celebrations. “The Bahamian people,” he said, “will be included in this milestone year, because our stories are intertwined — through family, trade, and friendship.”

While his nomination was unconventional, his priorities are anything but vague. Walker vowed to counter growing Chinese influence in the Caribbean, calling Beijing’s investments in Bahamian deep-water ports “a direct threat to U.S. national security.” He pledged to work closely with Bahamian authorities to ensure American interests remain the region’s cornerstone.

“There’s a rise in drug smuggling in The Bahamas, and this is a real danger to the United States,” Walker said, referring to the Operation Bahamas, Turks and Caicos (OPBAT) partnership. He promised to strengthen intelligence sharing, joint patrols, and law enforcement coordination to disrupt trafficking routes that have grown increasingly sophisticated.

But Walker also emphasized opportunity over fear — signaling that his ambassadorship will not only focus on security, but on strengthening The Bahamas as a gateway for U.S. investment, trade, and tourism.

“I will advise the American business community of the vast investment opportunities that exist in The Bahamas,” he said. “And I will make sure the Bahamian government maintains an environment where U.S. companies can invest confidently — because America must prove it is still great as an investor.”

For a small island nation sitting less than 50 miles off the coast of Florida, this renewed diplomatic attention carries weight. Since 2011, the post of U.S. ambassador had remained vacant — a gap that many observers say weakened direct ties, delayed joint security initiatives, and allowed other powers to move in.

Walker’s confirmation — approved 51 to 47 — ends that silence. And with it comes the expectation that this former Olympian and business owner will translate his discipline, charisma, and resilience into diplomatic results.

Critics question his lack of foreign policy experience, but Walker counters with confidence: “Throughout my life, people have underestimated me. I’ve always proved them wrong — by outworking everyone.”

As he prepares to take up residence in Nassau, Walker says his mission is simple: rebuild trust, deepen cooperation, and remind both nations that their futures are tied not just by geography — but by shared purpose, mutual respect, and the enduring ties of community.

Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.

 

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PAY STANDOFF: Prime Minister Cancels Talks as Unions Warn of More Protests

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By Deandrea Hamilton | Magnetic Media

Monday, October 13, 2025 — Nassau, The Bahamas – What began as a calm holiday meeting has spiraled into a full-blown standoff between The Bahamas Government and two of the country’s most powerful public sector unions — the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) and the Bahamas Public Services Union (BPSU) — after the Prime Minister abruptly cancelled follow-up talks set for Tuesday, blaming public comments made by union leaders.

The announcement of the cancelled meeting came late Monday, just hours after a tense sit-down at the Office of the Prime Minister, held on National Heroes Day, where both BUT President Belinda Wilson and BPSU President Kimsley Ferguson accused the government of dragging its feet on salary increases and retroactive pay owed to thousands of public officers.

Wilson, never one to mince words, said the Prime Minister’s “technical officers” — the very people responsible for executing his instructions — were failing to carry out his directives regarding payment timelines.

“The Prime Minister’s issue,” Wilson said, “is that he has persons working for him who are not following his instructions. If those officers would follow through on what he told them to do, we wouldn’t be here today.”

Wilson added that the BUT and other unions are demanding retroactive pay dating back to September 2024, and that all increases be applied and paid by the October payday, not December as previously stated by the Prime Minister.

“Senior civil servants already received their retroactive pay — thousands of dollars — backdated to September of last year,” Wilson charged. “We’re saying the small man deserves the same. This isn’t a gift. It’s money already earned.”

Her comments came after the government publicly insisted that the salary adjustments would be implemented by December 2025, just ahead of Christmas — a timeline unions flatly reject as too slow.

Ferguson: ‘No More Excuses’

Following Wilson, BPSU President Kimsley Ferguson delivered a fiery statement of his own, telling reporters the unions would no longer tolerate delays or mixed messages from the Davis administration.

“The Prime Minister was receptive — but we’re not accepting excuses,” Ferguson said. “If the Prime Minister’s having a memory lapse, we have the Hansard from Parliament to remind him exactly what he promised public officers.”

Ferguson went further, warning that if Tuesday’s meeting failed to produce results, unions would “visit the House of Assembly” and intensify their campaign for immediate payment.

“Public servants, ready yourselves,” he declared. “We are prepared to stand together — all across The Bahamas — until our needs are met.”

Now, with the Prime Minister cancelling tomorrow’s talks altogether, that threat appears closer to becoming reality.

Government Bungles Response

Observers say the administration’s handling of the matter has been confused and contradictory, with conflicting statements on payment timelines and poor communication fueling frustration among teachers, nurses, and general public officers.

The government has maintained that the funds are allocated and will be disbursed before year’s end, but unionists insist they’ve heard it all before — and this time they want results, not promises.

The Prime Minister’s decision to cancel the meeting, rather than clarify or de-escalate tensions, has drawn sharp criticism across social media and among rank-and-file civil servants who see the move as punitive and dismissive.

Slowdown and the Threat of Another Mass Protest

Across several ministries, departments, and schools, reports are already surfacing of a go-slow in the public service, as workers express solidarity with the unions’ demands.

Many believe another mass demonstration is imminent, similar to the one staged last week Tuesday when thousands of workers gathered outside the House of Assembly on Bay Street as Parliament reopened after summer recess.

That protest brought parts of downtown Nassau to a standstill as union members sang, marched, and even sat in the street — a powerful show of defiance that now threatens to repeat itself unless the government moves quickly to resolve the impasse.

A Political Flashpoint

What began as a straightforward salary dispute has now evolved into a test of credibility and competence for the Davis administration. With a restless public sector, rising inflation, and unions unified across professions, the government risks not only another protest — but a full-blown industrial crisis heading into the year’s end.

For now, the unions are standing firm: they want retroactive pay from September 2024 and full salary adjustments by this October. Anything less, they warn, could push the country’s workforce from a slowdown into open confrontation.

Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.

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Nassau Cruise Port Marks Sixth Anniversary with Exciting New Additions for Visitors and The community

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[Nassau, Bahamas, October 8, 2025] Nassau Cruise Port (NCP) proudly celebrates its sixth corporate anniversary by unveiling a series of transformative additions that further enhance the guest and community experience. The anniversary comes at a pivotal moment in the growth of the port, with the opening of a new swimming pool, an expanded marina, and a state-of-the-art ferry terminal that will support transfers to the Royal Beach Club, which is currently under construction on Paradise Island.

Since its $300 million redevelopment, Nassau Cruise Port – the largest transit cruise port in the world – has welcomed millions of visitors and become one of the most vibrant cruise destinations in the world. This anniversary not only reflects its commitment to delivering world-class facilities, but also its dedication to creating meaningful connections between visitors and the Bahamian community.

“This milestone represents much more than the passage of time,” said Mike Maura, Jr., CEO and Director of Nassau Cruise Port. “It reflects our promise to continually elevate the guest experience, contribute to the local economy, and provide opportunities for Bahamians. During our first year (2019) of operating the Nassau Cruise Port, Nassau welcomed approximately. 3.85 million cruise guests, and 2025 will see well over 6 million cruise visitors visit Nassau. Our focus on driving cruise tourism and the $350 million investment in our downtown waterfront is a testament to our vision of making Nassau a premier cruise and leisure destination.”

The new pool offers a refreshing retreat for visitors enjoying Nassau’s waterfront, while the expanded marina will accommodate additional yachts, boosting tourism and local commerce. The ferry terminal expansion enhances passenger flow and supports convenient, seamless transfers to the Royal Beach Club, strengthening Nassau’s position as a hub for Caribbean cruising and leisure.

As part of its anniversary celebrations, NCP will host a series of internal and external activities to celebrate its team and to highlight its ongoing investments in the Bahamian economy, including job creation, local vendor opportunities, and cultural showcases at the port.

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