Citizenship Minister Winston Felix on Sunday evening assured that the Government is working to have approximately 23 Guyanese on hurricane ravage island of The Bahamas, back on home soil.
Minister Felix made this commitment moments after he along with Minister of State, Dawn Hastings-Williams; Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Karen Cummings and Director General of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC), Lieutenant Colonel Kester Craig, welcomed back home a family of five.
Mr and Mrs Orin Grimmond and their three children arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri just about 22:00h.
Minister Felix said that in the coming days the Government will finalize arrangements for the other Guyanese to return home.
“We dealt with this first five, this family, and we anticipate there are others. We do not leave Guyanese in distress, who are outside of Guyana. We do not do that. We showed that in 2017 and it continues now,” he assured.
The Minister said there are indications that about 23 persons are interested in returning to Guyana, as such certain logistical matters will have to be resolved to facilitate this.
Grimmond said he was happy to be back on home soil after the “horrifying” experience. He recalled that his family first sought refuge in the ceiling of their Marsha Habour home as the hurricane passed though the island.
“The water was rising…It was terrifying because there is no way to escape…And so what we did, we kicked the door out,” he said, adding that it was a miracle that he and his family survived.
While he has no plans to return to the island to work, Grimmond said they will probably return to visit the friends and family, who are still there.
Hurricane Dorian, a category five storm, pummelled the Abaco Island and Grand Bahama during over three-day-period, leaving at least 43 people dead and hundreds missing. It also left behind enormous infrastructural damage across the island.
There are about 80 Guyanese families living on the affected islands. The Government, through the CDC, is coordinating relief efforts for Guyanese living there.
