Bahamas News
Minister Moxey, pleased with home repair project in East Grand Bahama
By ROBYN ADDERLEY
Bahamas Information Services
#GrandBahama, The Bahamas, January 8, 2023 – Thirteen homes are being repaired in East Grand Bahama by the Ministry for Grand Bahama and the Ministry of Finance, targeting elderly residents as well as those with disabilities whose homes were destroyed during Hurricane Dorian in September 2019.
Minister for Grand Bahama, the Hon. Ginger Moxey, accompanied by a team of Project Officers, toured the homes on Friday, January 6, 2023 and spoke with not only the contractors but some of the residents, all of whom expressed joy and excitement at being able to move back into their homes within weeks.
She said: “We thought it was important to come out and see some of the work that was being done with home repairs,” a project within her Ministry for the elderly, disabled and indigent of East Grand Bahama who have been displaced because of Hurricane Dorian.
“We thought we’d make them the priority projects within the Ministry to try and get some of them back in their homes. There are some who are living in Freeport and living on (their) pension and receiving $250 per week, but they’re having to spend $900 a month on rent. So, we thought it was important to try and get them back in their homes and that’s what we’ve been working on.
“I’m excited to see the progress here today because we’re visiting some of the homes and many families will be able to move back into their homes soon. That’s a big deal.”
The Minister also commended the work being done on the homes, describing it as a community effort. “You have contractors who are from the communities, they’ve employed people from the communities and they’re working on homes of people in the communities they know. They grew up in the communities. It’s an exciting thing to see here today and have that type of partnership, that type of collaboration.”
Building contractor Rev. Lawrence Laing was also present and said residents are “excited and grateful” with the repairs being done and will be able to move into their homes shortly.
There are 13 homes in this, the first and second phases of the project stretching from McClean’s Town to High Rock. It is anticipated that the third phase will begin in February.
While this small home repair project is going on, there are also those being carried out by the DRA, as well as the Urban Renewal Home Repair Programme.
According to the Minister, “I’m very pleased with what I see here today and hopefully we can get a lot more going.”
Photo Captions:
Header: Project officers accompanied the Minister for Grand Bahama, the Hon. Ginger Moxey on Friday, January 6 to East Grand Bahama where progress inspections were done on several homes being repaired. The project is coordinated by the Ministry for Grand Bahama and has targeted elderly and disabled residents whose homes were destroyed during Hurricane Dorian in September 2019. Shown from left are: Arnold Cooper, Project Officer; Rev. Lawrence Laing, contractor; Minister Moxey; Jermaine Sawyer, Project Officer; and Conrad Jones, Administration.
1st insert: While touring the homes being repaired under a project by the Ministry for Grand Bahama, the Hon. Ginger Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahama, toured the homes on Friday, January 6 accompanied by a team of Project Officers. Shown are Rev. Lawrence Laing with Minister Moxey and Project Officer Jermaine Sawyer.
2nd insert: Pelican Point residents, Mr. and Mrs. Bursil Cooper, are the among the homeowners having their residence repaired under the Ministry for Grand Bahama’s Home Repair Programme. They arrived just as the Hon. Ginger Moxey, Minister for Grand Bahama and project officers arrived to view the progress during a tour on Friday, January 6. The home has had a wheelchair ramp installed and the bathroom has been equipped to facilitate Mrs. Cooper’s disability.
(BIS Photo/Andrew Miller)
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – The FBI is investigating a woman’s ‘suspicious’ death on a Carnival Cruise ship in February. The unnamed woman and her husband boarded the Carnival Sunshine on February 27th, for a trip to the Bahamas, but she was dead before they arrived in the port in The Bahamas. 
The FBI said Carnival’s team had administered life saving measures when the woman was reported unresponsive, but they were unsuccessful. The body and the woman’s husband were released to the Bahamian authorities when the cruise arrived in the country.
In a statement shared with US media houses, Carnival Cruises claimed the death has been a natural one. The Nassau Guardian said a source told them the police findings had concurred with that assessment saying it was a “normal sudden death of a tourist who wasn’t feeling well.”
The FBI was waiting for the cruise and when it got back to South Carolina on March 4th, they immediately boarded and began to investigate the room based on ‘evidence of a crime.’ The FBI also searched the couple’s car.
No updates have been shared to contradict the currently established cause of death.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TheBahamas, March 17, 2023 – “If you don’t like it, go to another beach!” Is what Aaron John, an Education Officer from The Bahamas National Trust jokingly tells our news team about sargassum blooms; his quip, motivated by the necessity of nature when pit against the notion that there is a real threat when the stinky seaweed makes its annual appearance.
John can admit, he says, that Sargassum isn’t very pretty but life isn’t all about aesthetics and in this instance that ugly patch serves a purpose.
“We love our sandy beaches, but in order to keep them we need Sargassum. When storms come, they wash away all the sand off the beach but sargassum acts as a mulch to protect the sand from water erosion. It doesn’t look good, it
doesn’t feel good but we need it.”
He said it also provides a habitat for small crustaceans, crabs, and insects that are all necessary to our ecosystem and islanders have found use for the weed.
“Historically, (in The Bahamas) we have been using sargassum as fertilizer, especially in the family Islands as far back as I know,” he said. “Birds don’t go on the beach unless there is Sargassum and what do they do? they feed – it’s beautiful.”
He encouraged residents to just leave it be if they came across it.
Sargassum isn’t harmful to humans, except for people with respiratory issues who may find the rotten egg smell triggers asthma. Despite this, it’s not advisable to walk through the weeds which may hide sharp rocks and bottles or vulnerable animals.
Experts say Sargassum blooms began to increase in size around 2011 and have continued to get bigger and bigger since. This year‘s bloom is around 5000 miles long and 300 miles wide and visible from space.
“I know it’s not a general outlook, but I would like to change the perspective on sargassum,” John said, pointing out The Bahamas National Trust is actively working to decrease alarm over the less worrisome events like sargassum as it raises the profile on the environmentally devastating.
Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 17, 2023 – The Turks and Caicos’ Bahamas Diaspora Office is moving closer and closer to opening day, following the Cabinet’s approval for the signing of a lease agreement.
The lease will be signed with FINCEN ltd in the Bahamas. Several weeks ago, Arlington Musgrove, Minister of Immigration confirmed to our news team that the location had been found and was being finalized; now a lease is
approved at the Cabinet level.
The interest in the TCI from TC Bahamians was evident in the diaspora meetings held in early February. The two meetings held in Nassau and Grand Bahama were completely full and over-subscribed by hundreds.
It’s interest which the Government hopes will translate to real life population growth, bolstering the local population before the native population ‘goes extinct’.
The Opposition PDM is on the record with what it feels is a far more viable solution to a dwindling native population; seek out the country’s own citizens and bring them back home.
Cabinet did not state when the office will open.
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