Many Bahamians are in survival mode

Many Bahamians are now in survival mode after the government moved to extend the public state of emergency, the 24-hour curfew and weekend lockdowns to stave off the spread of COVID-19.

Pensioner Curtis Deveaux said he doesn’t know how he’s going to survive without having to resort to borrowing money from family members or friends.

When asked how he’s making it, all Deveaux could say was: “I don’t know.”

“I’m almost broke right now,” he told The Nassau Guardian.

“I keep thinking, ‘What I gone do?’”

As scores of non-essential businesses were ordered closed because of the curfew order, thousands were laid off.

The state of emergency, originally put in place until the end of April, was extended to the end of May.

Tens of thousands of Bahamians have been forced to seek aid from the Department of Social Services or claim unemployment benefits from the National Insurance Board (NIB).

Collin Galanos, 57, said he is choosing not to rely on NIB for support.

Galanos said has been self-employed since 2013, and that he is not worried about how he’s going to survive despite the pandemic’s effect on his sources of income.

“I’ve been deep in survival mode like most people, I guess,” he said.

“As a matter of fact, even though it’s been a continuous struggle, I’ve been managing. I’ve always been very resourceful…”

He added, “I anticipated that it (the state of emergency) wouldn’t end when people said it would and I don’t think it’s going away any time soon.

“I think we’ll find that in the long run everyone is going to have to dig in deep, deep and do what they can.”

Galanos said he had just begun teaching computer lessons and graphics and illustration classes at Incudesk on Chesapeake Road before the pandemic took its toll.

“I was gaining momentum there, and that took a hit so it’s a setback, really,” he said.

“But no use crying over it… I’ve been on my own long enough and been a survivor long enough to know that I’ll be okay.”

David Spence, 64, a hotel worker who was laid off, said he’s trying to “hang in and try help yourself”.

“With work stopped, ain’t nothing much you could do,” Spence said.

“You just got to hang in and try help yourself. Along with this COVID-19 thing, stay away from social gatherings and then you know the rules what they put down.”

Spence said his family “could hold on, by God’s power, for as long as this lasts”.

“My NIB [unemployment benefit] is on track, that’s moving properly; and then I have a daughter, she works for the [Public Hospitals Authority] so she works between now and then,” he said.

“She don’t live here, but she’ll call me sometimes and check on us and see what’s happening.”

Another laid off hotel worker, 47-year-old Karen Thompson-Rox, said she is doing her best to budget the unemployment benefits she receives from NIB to get by.

She said she “thanks God” that her unemployment benefits are coming in, as many Bahamians have claimed to be waiting months with no response.

“How I’m coping is through the payments from NIB,” Thompson-Rox said.

“I try to stretch that the best way I could, and just try to keep the basics in the house like water, which you normally need, and little hygiene things like soap and stuff like that. Keep your bleaches and stuff around, try to stretch the money the best way you could.”

Unlike Spence, who has no dependents living with him, Thompson-Rox has four children to look after.

“I have three kids – actually four, because my son, he lives with my mum, but through the daytime he comes here seeking food and stuff,” she said.

“But I have three that are in-house with me and my husband. But he just went back to work.

“He was on vacation during this time. He just went back to work as a security officer, so, you know that also helps with stuff because his pay only pays part of the rent because they don’t get pay much. So I try to keep his funds what he [gets] to pay rent.”

In the House of Assembly on Monday, Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis revealed a rental assistance program for residential tenants which would enable them to defer a portion of their rent for three months.

But Thompson-Rox said that as much as possible she would avoid having to use that program.

“I saw that but I try not to have things build up on me, because if I could pay it the best way I could rather than just split the rent half-half and stuff like that, I would try to see the best way,” she said.

“Sometimes my mum will step in and help and I’d pay my rent just like that. But I try not to let those stuff pile up on me.”

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source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/04/29/many-bahamians-are-in-survival-mode/