Only months after surviving Hurricane Dorian, Stacy Miller, 41, has found herself in the midst of yet another storm — the economic fallout of COVID-19.
Miller, who spent her entire life on Grand Cay, said she and her two sons — Dejon, 18, and Joshua, 12 — had been living in a shelter on New Providence in the weeks after Dorian until she found work as a housekeeper.
As she broke down crying, she said she spent Dejon’s birthday in bed yesterday, because she couldn’t even face him.
“He just turned 18 today…” she said between sobs.
“But I knew I was going to break down. So, I just stayed in my room by myself.”
Miller said she had to stay on New Providence so that her sons could go to school.
Within a few weeks of working, she was able to move into an apartment and furnish it with the help of the Ministry of Social Services, which she said provided her with her first and last months’ rent and security deposit.
“There weren’t any schools open in Freeport,” she said.
“…My sons and them, we’re used to working. We had our own house. Living at the shelter, I couldn’t do it. I had to find a job. So, I started cleaning houses and saved up a couple of dollars.”
Miller said she had only just started to feel like she was getting back on her feet when COVID-19 hit and left her jobless.
“I don’t depend on nobody for nothing,” she said tearfully.
“I came here and got my job, got my car, got my apartment. I have my boys. I don’t even want to talk because I don’t want my boys to see me crying. But now I don’t even have a job. I had five houses, five. I worked every day, even Saturday. Now because of the coronavirus, I can’t even go to work.”
Miller added, “Now these landlords, they want their money.
“I couldn’t even pay my rent last month. I gave the landlord $200 hoping I would have worked soon to finish paying it off. These people want their money. I’m a stranger in Nassau. I don’t know nobody who I could call and ask to lend me $20 until I can work or something.
“Thank God for a lady I met at NPCC (New Providence Community Church).”
She added, “She helped me from then to now, even if she had to go out of her personal pocket.”
Miller said NPCC has been providing her with two boxes of groceries each week and that is the only way she has been able to feed her family.
She said her husband and eldest son, who are both on Grand Cay, can’t even send her money to help her foot her bills. With the 24-hour curfew and no travel allowed between islands, they can’t get to a bank on Grand Bahama to transfer the money to her.
“You know how many people want to send us money?” she asked.
“And we can’t even get it because the police ain’t letting nobody on the island and ain’t letting nobody off the island.”
Miller said she has applied for unemployment assistance but has yet to hear if her application was approved.
She said she just wants to go home.
“God knows if I could go home today, if they could open up the airport, I don’t even need them to pay for my ticket,” she said.
“I’m not asking for anything. I just want to go home.”
Shortly after The Bahamas recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus last month, the government moved quickly to slow the spread of the virus. A state of emergency was declared, non-essential businesses were ordered closed, a curfew was imposed and social distancing measures were implemented.
As a result, thousands of Bahamians in the tourism sector were laid off almost overnight.
Workers in other sectors of the economy have also been sent home.
Seventy-two cases of COVID-19 have been reported so far in The Bahamas.
The post Dorian survivor in the midst of another menacing storm appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/04/24/dorian-survivor-in-the-midst-of-another-menacing-storm/
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