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Bahamas: 9.3% of the country’s population represent the face of Bahamian poverty
Related to country: Bahamas

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Poverty On The Rise:
By Candia Dames -
Nassau, Bahamas:



More and more Bahamians are buckling under the weight of the rising cost of living and slipping below the poverty line in The Bahamas, a senior government official has confirmed.

The worrying situation comes amid ongoing concerns about food and fuel prices, which continue to climb.

Minister of State for Social Development Loretta Butler Turner told the Bahama Journal that her ministry has updated the 2001 Bahamas Living Conditions Survey, which showed that an estimated 27,000 people or 9.3 percent of the country’s population represent the face of Bahamian poverty.

The 2001 report determined that the minimum amount of money needed to purchase adequate low-cost meals with allowances for non-food needs was estimated at $7.84 per person.

This translates into an annual poverty line of $2,863 per person.

Mrs. Butler Turner said more people are slipping below this line, which is why the government increased its allocation for the poor in the 2008/2009 budget.

"We do believe that we are seeing a rise," she said, but quickly added, "The Bahamas is very fortunate. When you talk about poverty, we’re a country that does not have abject poverty – like Haiti, for example – and so to really lift our people out of the grasp of not being able to have a decent meal, not being able to have shelter and so forth, we imagine that just over $3,000 per annum is able to lift that individual."

Mrs. Butler Turner said the Bahamas is "very, very fortunate" that it does not have any significant number of citizens who suffer from malnutrition.

She explained that the Department of Social Services has offices in every island and employees at those offices document when people come in to access services.

"And so we have records of all individuals that come and get services from the Department and we’re able to computerize all of these records and check the data, and so we have seen an increase in the numbers that have been approaching," Mrs. Butler Turner told the Bahama Journal.

She noted that the government’s food assistance starts at $50 per individual per month.

Mrs. Butler said, "Fifty dollars does not buy a lot.

"We know that with the rising cost of food that certainly we had to increase that."

As of July 1, the government plans to raise this assistance to $80 per month.

"We will be going as high as, I think, $320 in assistance to individuals and their families," Mrs. Butler Turner said.

That kind of assistance would be welcomed news – although it is only a drop in the bucket to support a family, according to some Bahamians who are finding it more difficult to make ends meet.

Karen Bowe, a single mother who has five children, said she’s doing the best she can, but is currently unemployed.

"It’s very difficult, especially at the level of the poverty line that we’re in," Ms. Bowe said. "Groceries are expensive, the price of gas is expensive and ‘baby daddies’ are not doing what they are supposed to do."

She said her five children are for three different men. The eldest child is 18 and the youngest is a year old, said Ms. Bowe, who told the Journal she is also finding that baby food is more expensive these days.

"Because I have five kids the luxury of getting certain baby foods, I don’t do," she said.

Ms. Bowe said she was a beautician and is currently looking for a job.

She said she has cut out purchasing fast food for her children because she is finding that even that is too expensive.

Renaldo Ferguson, a young man who lives in an Over-the-Hill community, also claimed that he cannot find a job.

On a recent afternoon, he and a group of young men were roaming the streets when they stopped to talk to the Bahama Journal.

"I don’t want to go back to jail and I don’t want to rob, so what I do is just pray to the Lord that the Lord finds me some work," Mr. Ferguson said.

He claimed the government needs to do more to provide jobs.

The young man told the Journal he can do construction work and often goes to job sites, but is told that no one is hiring.

"Things right now are very tough," Mr. Ferguson said, "tough and rough."

Anita Forbes, a single mother of six who does maid work for different people, said supporting her family is very challenging as well.

"The prices of things are getting higher and higher; your wage isn’t going up. The minimum wage is very, very low and gas prices continue to rise. I have children in school and it’s very, very expensive paying the bills," she said.

However, Ms. Forbes said she has more jobs now than ever before and noted that three of her children are able to support themselves.

She said she earns $30 to $40 on jobs, and she makes sure that money stretches.

But she said, "Everybody’s always crying, but instead of crying you just try to make it one day at a time. You try to work with what you have and save. The pay is very small, but if you could save like $5 a week eventually you would get there. A lot of people complain too much. We need to sit down, plan and organize."

Ms. Forbes lives in Peardale, off Wulff Road, in a small rented home with several other rental units in a dirt beaten, trash-filled yard.

She pointed out that it is rodent infested, so she is trying to make a better way for herself and her children and hopes to be in a better environment by August.

Her 18-year-old daughter has a seven-month-old son and she is not working.

June 16, 2008

June 16, 2008 | 11:02 PM Comments  0 comments

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