As I sit and I read, and I listen to the ongoing debacle stemming from the 90 Nigerian students who have travelled to these shores, the only question I can truly ask is: are we mentally sad?
As a country which prides itself on a standard we so often like to boast of, how is it that we find ourselves in a position where we look down upon those of another nation? Asking them to accept whatever we give simply because “we” believe they know no better?
As a nation we progress but with a backward mentality, fuelled by ignorance. Ignorance being the lack of knowledge, and it is only when we remove our heads from the clouds that we will see that as a country we are slipping from the once lofty, comfortable seat in which we sat.
We speak of a tourism product which is second to none, a world class destination, and yet I am left to wonder whether this only applies to those of lighter skin tones with heavy British and other liked accents.
One can only wonder the insult and sheer disgust felt by those students as they are captured pulling water from pools just to shower and questioned if they are accustomed to television and air conditioning. Does even the thought of such a question portray an educated society?
“We” have locked them away in a St Philip castle, miles away from true Barbadian civilisation and interaction, leaving me no choice but to think if this might at last be the Ebola centre in beta stages.
At no point has any authority involved stopped to think of how this will impact our already struggling tourism product, or do we also think these “village” people have no voice?
Without truly realising it, Barbados the nation which was built through the blood, sweat and tears of our forefathers, is no more and if we aren’t careful, we will be the ones being asked if we don’t have television and air conditioning.
