Shantytown Dwellers Facing The Inevitable

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Government plans to demolish the area are moving forward, even as many residents face the reality of having nowhere else to go.

Any day now bulldozers will arrive to flatten these structures.

Tucked just off Fire Trail Road, this small shantytown remains hidden from the main street, but it’s about to disappear.

When we arrived around 8 a.m. on Monday, dozens of Haitian nationals were gathered in the yard, waiting to be picked up. Many turned away from our cameras.

I knocked on the door of a woman I met on a previous visit. She shared that, despite the impending demolition, not much had changed for her. She and her six children have nowhere to go, and she says social services have provided little help.

RESIDENT
“They tell me to come when it’s about to happen, but when I went last time, they didn’t assist me. They said they could put me in a shelter, but how will I find a place after six weeks?”

This is just one example of a Bahamian family living in an unregulated community, but the woman claims the land belongs to her family and that she was promised her home would be spared.

RESIDENT
“I met with them in the shack before I came here. Half of them already moved. I told them they need to move out.”

Despite any promises, demolition is imminent.

The Ministry of Works and Family Island Affairs, through its Unregulated Task Force, has already demolished six shantytowns, three in New Providence, two in Abaco, and one in Eleuthera, transforming compacted communities into flat, cleared acres of land.

For many of the Haitian nationals living in the area, while they understand the government’s position, the situation is still heartbreaking.

RESIDENT
“Once one Haitian feels it, we all feel it. Even though we don’t stay here, it still hurts to see someone left on the side of the road.”