The Bahamas Opens Its Doors To Dominica

The Bahamas becomes the latest Caribbean country to open its doors to citizens of Dominica in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

Bahamian Prime Minister Hubert Minnis extended the offer to his Dominican counterpart Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit as they held brief talks in New Providence on over the weekend. He said schools would also be accepting students from Dominica.

“There would have been a lot of children that would have been displaced, and therefore we are opening our school system to accommodate them,” Minnis told Skerrit.
“Our Immigration Minister would deal with that matter so that they can be placed within our school system.”

Stressing that The Bahamas was a caring nation, he also appealed to citizens to open their homes to temporarily house their displaced Caribbean neighbors severely affected by Hurricane Maria.
“I am sure we have a lot of Bahamians out there who would assist in accommodating these individuals, both financially and otherwise.”

“Then there are a lot of Dominicans here who would also have families there, and therefore we would accommodate those individuals also. They would contact their families to come to The Bahamas, and we would make it happen,” Prime Minister Minnis said.

A grateful Skerrit welcomed the offer, saying it would help a lot of Dominican families if children were allowed to return to school in The Bahamas.
He acknowledged that several other countries have made similar offers and explained that the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) would be coordinating that exchange program.

“Once we have the list of schoolchildren whose parents will allow them to leave we will certainly pass this on,” Skerrit told reporters.

According to Skerrit, the situation in Dominica remained “grave and precarious”, he added that the immediate focus is to provide food and to ensure everyone has temporary shelter so the country can get on with the rebuilding exercise.
“We have to settle people who are homeless. Our preoccupation now is to get as much food supply and water to every household in Dominica. We will be pushing this. We are getting additional helicopter services because many of the communities are inaccessible by road,” Skerrit said.

Acknowledging that it be a “long and difficult road to normalcy”, Skerrit stressed that Dominica could not do it alone.
“Certainly over 100 percent of our gross domestic product has been washed away, blown away,” he said.

“It will take a long time. We have to build homes for people, infrastructure and schools. We have to build health clinics. Our hope and prayer is that the international community will reach out to us, because clearly we cannot rebuild our country alone.”

Source: Caribbean360