VIDEO: Woman living in absolute squalor

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23 COMMENTS

  3. do we need to depend on “the government” or politicians for everything? Where are the families and the community groups and the volunteer organizations? Maybe the opposition should be finding more cases like this and working with NGOs to rally communities to help them.

    • YES people need to be able to depend on government. Thats what government is for. I do agree with you when you ask the question as to why society don’t help but government is set up or should be. This is a senior citizen. But so you know LOTS of people live this way in Antigua. I have seen it. Whole families in worse condition than this lady. Sounds like she spoke to some high level folks and got NOTHING

  7. Those living conditions are absolutely disgraceful. Talk of an economic powerhouse etc with no fundamental mechanism to support people with BASIC standards of living… I know most people go on so about poor provision of water but this is on another level… She will be one of many people living like this. This should not be tolerated.

  8. Ohh my Lord this is ridiculous. I am brought to tears to see a woman living in this condition. Where is her family, friends, Neighbors, supportive community groups?? This situation needs no pointing fingers at the Parliament Representative, it’s one to help one so we all can go forward. Let each of us help her so we all can live in love and harmony.

  9. @Skyewill,Ras Smood, what can we as good citizens do to help her in the short term. Antigua News Room,more information needed. Looking at the video makes my heart sick and I am a grown man,it hits me really hard,tears flowing down my face.

    • @Falcon and the Snowman…a wah a guarne? Money is always good for the short term. Outside of that, the long term solution would be to rebuild her house. This will take some time, hopefully not too long.

      I remember when all of the skilled craftsmen in a village would come together, and assist a family in building their house. To me this is as the forerunner tot organisations such as Habitat For Humanity.

      If I was on the island, I’d definitely strap on the tool pouch and volunteer the skills free of charge.

      RASpect….

      • If I knew who she was and had some concrete information.I would send her some cash into her hands only.I really wished I could help her now.Then longer term the Ministry of Social Transformation should be able to help her also.

  10. If governments cannot support anyone who falls into poverty like this, then the government isn’t fit for purpose.

    Gassy mout’ always ah run, but he’s gone very quiet on this one …

  11. Matthew 25:31-46
    New Living Translation
    The Final Judgment
    31 “But when the Son of Man[a] comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations[b] will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.

    34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’

    37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

    40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,[c] you were doing it to me!’

    41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.[d] 42 For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’

    44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’

    45 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’

    46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”

    • @Sideline
      Will you Sideline and some of your influential friends render assistance to this lady. I heard that you were a Rotarian. Please don’t stay on the left. Now is the time to move to the right.

  12. The onus of feeding the poor was given by Jesus to the church. Not to the government. We do not live in a welfare state. But we see time and time again that the church has failed and is still failing us every day. It is good to preach a good sermon, but what about your work? That is where people will see you are a follower of Christ. Not by talking about his goodness. Yes, we have many NGO’s and service clubs in Antigua and Barbuda that are spreading the goodness of charity. But they alone cannot do it. As a Rotarian I have been doing this for more than 40 years. My wife through the Catholic Church has also been involved in feeding the poor on a daily basis. We have a soup kitchen in Antigua. We have the government providing food packages, we have Mill Reef Club and Jumby Bay club providing tens of thousands of dollars in food hampers. You name it. I mean it is therefore very hard to believe that we still have some people living in these conditions in this country. This is an indictment on all of us, but especially her neighbours and her family. They are the ones thar are aware of this woman’s need and have done nothing about it. Shame on them. And to the website. Making this know is good, but I question your motive. What have you done about it.

  13. You do make some valid points, however, you cannot absolve the government of their legal obligations to help those who fall through the safety net and into poverty (not everyone has good neighbours, family or even the church to help them out).

    I am not sure whether you are an ABLP supporter or not, but you never seem to critique Gaston Browne in any of your discourses.

    What concerns me about our current prime minister is that he seems to care more for outsiders and ‘money paying’ tourists than the desperate plight of his own citizens.

    By the way, I note that in recent times the prime minister has started quoting the scriptures to make his point, however, even you must admit that Gaston, in having FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS WORTHLESS …

    • Brixtonian. You obviously haven’t read ALL my comments. There are times that I part with the PM on policy. Not that I am right, and he is wrong. But that is just the way I see it. Take for example anytime they talk about social security. I disagree on how the PM is dealing with Social Security. They own the old Treasury building and he allows them to go and rent expensive offices while they then turn around to rent out the Treasury building to another government agency. Which I do not think they are getting cash for. But be that as it may. I am not sitting in the seat and do not have all the facts. But most of the time I do agree with the PM’s stands on economic policies. Let’s take the social housing that the PM has undertook since he has been in office. If someone like me has to look at this, I am getting jealous that people are now getting properties subsidized with my tax dollars. Look at the Boony Alley project. The houses in there are just like the one the woman lives in. And the PM makes it his business to go and find funding to build a completely new housing block for the people. Improving their living standard by one thousand-fold. And because of politics some people are encouraged not to accept this proposal. Those that have agreed to temporarily move are now living in two- and three-bedroom homes with running water inside and shower and toilet. These things they never had in their former home. The PM has renovated people’s homes in his constituency with his personal funds. And the list goes on. So, you can say what you want but Antigua has not seen a PM like this ever. Through his efforts after hurricane Irma devastated Barbuda, now Barbudans are being given newly build homes for FREE. So again, I do not see where it is that you find he cares more about money paying tourists than his own people. It is true that he does realize that without these tourists Antigua would have an extremely tough time getting by. Tourism is our main earner of foreign exchange and contributor to our GDP. Without it we might as well be death. During the entire pandemic government lost over 50% of its revenue. Yet no one on the government payroll was sent home and salaries and government pensions were paid on time every month. On top of that food packages were distributed to the needy monthly in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And the government continued to invest in housing and infrastructure. Keeping the construction workers employed. Antigua has not seen rampant poverty and hunger the like which we even saw in the great United States where people had to stand in lines to go to Food Banks for miles in order to get a meal. We are surely a blessed nation. And to talk about Faith without work. I mean what more can you ask for? Covid has not been devastating to us as it has been in many other parts of the world. We have presently about 5 vaccines available to us, which many cannot say they do. And we even have more than we need. All because of the effort of this PM and his team.
      Critique is welcome but it must be based on facts and not just speculations.
      History will certainly name him as the best PM ever that has run the affairs of this country. And that not only on the economic front, but just because he managed to bring UWI Landed Campus to this country. Making tertiary education available and AFFORDABLE for ALL citizens. Give someone a fish and you feed him for a day, teach him how to fish and you feed him for life. He has by doing this fed the people of Antigua and Barbuda for life. Education is the key to get out of poverty.

  14. The government’s form of social support has been the massive over staffing of the public sector by all parties which at the end of the day uses up all available funds. Any conversation about changing our expectations of what a government should do needs to start here. Is the civil service meant to render government services effeciently or to be the means that the government uses to prop up the economy / supporters

    • Not just to prop up the economy, but to avoid people falling into poverty. A businessman takes decisions in the best interest of the company. Of which its goals are to make profits. The government is not there to make profits, but to ensure that people have the means of taking care of themselves. Not by hand-outs, but by providing for the environment to create jobs. By giving people money you run the risk of creating a welfare society. An entitlement state. And in the end LAZY people who do not want to take personal responsibility for their life. Don’t get me wrong. I do believe in having social safety nets for those that through no fault of their own fall in life. Lose their job or become unable to work for a living. But like Republicans in the USA, I am vehemently against creating a welfare state. I have criticized many times the way the government execute the People’s Benefit Program of the PDV Caribe office. They provide monthly the amount of $215 to beneficiaries. The qualification is that one needs to be earning less than $900 per month. Being the only income earner of that household. The other qualifier is being disabled. Well, I have a problem with, especially this criterion. I have voiced this to Baldwin Spencer and to Gaston Browne. A disabled person does not mean that the person does not make a decent income. Many disabled persons are well off. And still manage to do their profession. That criterion therefore to me is flawed. I will mention one person’s name. He is the president of the Disability Association. He has a government job and is paid a full salary like every other government worker. Now he gets to be qualified for the program and gets monthly $215. His colleagues who are not disabled are not qualified and therefore do not get the monthly $215. Can anyone tell me that this is fair. That this is a good way of spending government monies. And then we wonder why we do not have money to do some of the more pressing things. There should be a means test for programs such as these. And on a periodical basis this should be revisited. All pensioners that have contributed to social security are eligible to get a monthly voucher from the PDV Caribe of $100, which they can use to pay their APUA bills. That also makes no sense to me. The bank manager who has a lofty pension is not in need of that. Mr. Hadeed who has millions in his bank account, has no need for that either. But he is entitled to that. That to me is money wasted. Why is there not a means test for these things, so that monies are spent on the needy and not just given away to each and anyone. I really hope the PM has the political fortitude to correct these things and stop wasting our hard earned and scares recources.

  15. What happen to the Happy Project or adopt a family. The Happy Pro build project houses at Gunthroupes and put them on rent, help this woman. Does she has families?

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