Govt to help stranded Bajans

There are no plans for Government-sponsored airline charters to transport Barbadian citizens stranded across the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) back home.

But, Ambassador David Comissiong says the Foreign Affairs ministry is compiling a list of citizens to assist those in dire need.

He was responding to issues most recently raised by Patsy Pierre – a Barbadian who has been stuck in St Lucia for weeks without money or access to essentials.

Earlier this week, the chef, who left Barbados on March 18 revealed that she had been caught off guard in the capital city of Castries when Prime Minister Allen Chastanet announced a national shutdown and regional carrier LIAT grounded its flights.

Pierre was reluctant to disclose the “private” details which pushed her to seek work overseas amid the worsening pandemic. The mother of two however admitted that extreme economic hardship in Barbados compelled her to pursue new opportunities at all costs.

The 36-year-old claims that last week an official from the St Lucia Tourism Board informed her that the Barbados Government had agreed to charter a flight leaving Vieux Fort on Saturday, April 18 to repatriate a group of Barbadians.

But after packing and waiting all day on Saturday, those plans did not materialise.

“When I go online, I’m reading that Trinidad is trying to get their people home, other countries are getting their people and you just want the hope that they’re at least looking into something but you aren’t hearing anything,” said the frustrated citizen.

Comissiong, however, said he was unaware of any such arrangement regarding a chartered flight and suggested that amid the unfolding COVID-19 situation and the current state of Government’s finances, the prospect of chartered flights for Barbadians around the region is “difficult to envisage” at this time.

“I am not aware of any such chartered flights and my own commonsense would tell me that at a time when the Government’s resources are going to be under a lot of stress, the idea of the state organising and paying for chartered flights to pick up one or two persons is not very likely,” the Ambassador said while expressing hope that carriers would restart operations soon.

The stranded Barbadian has been depending on the generosity of a landlord and handouts from good samaritans in the Eastern Caribbean island. But regular access to food, water, critical medication, and sanitary products is limited.

“I had to take whatever loose change I had and go to the pharmacist and ask him to assist me with a few tablets to stop my menstrual cycle from coming… I also suffer from severe acid reflux so I am constantly in the bathroom throwing up when I don’t have anything to eat and the acid flares up and the inhalers for my asthma have all been used up,” Pierre told Barbados TODAY.

She expressed even more concern about the wellbeing of her elderly mother in Barbados who suffers from a heart condition and is currently struggling to look after Pierre’s two daughters.

“My mother is calling and crying because things are really hard. I used to go and get medication for her and I am not there to do those things. Her Massy card is maxed, she can’t get anyone to take her for groceries and she is scared to contract COVID-19 because she keeps saying if she catches it, she knows she will die,” she told Barbados TODAY.

When asked about Pierre’s case, Ambassador Comissiong revealed that Barbados’ honorary council in St Lucia and an official from the Foreign Ministry have contacted her and are assisting wherever they can.

He added: “Right now, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is in the process of collating information about any Barbadian who might be ‘stranded’ in territories across the Caribbean, but the regional airlines have stopped flying and we have to wait and see how soon those flights will start back.”

Barbados TODAY has also learned that parliamentary representative for St Michael South Constituency, Kirk Humphrey has been assisting with food and groceries for Pierre’s mother and children.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb