Complaining that a number of homeless Barbadians were left stranded during this week’s torrential downpour, President of the Barbados Homeless and Vagrants Society (BHVS) Kemar Saffrey today appealed to Government for help in finding them a permanent home.
“We’re finding ourselves in some predicament where we have to watch our clients to some extent and the Government needs to do something,” Saffrey said.
He pointed out that many were caught off-guard by Tuesday’s downpour, which caused severe flooding across the country, including the streets of The City, which is home to many vagrants.
“There was no warning in advance,” Saffrey stressed, pointing out that his members were not connected to social media and therefore did not know in advance that flooding would occur.
With water levels rising, he emphasized that many vagrants were left with nowhere to run since “they are not really a lot of high points in Barbados that you can run to”.
“We definitely need partnership in that regard,” he said, explaining that while the Society was desperately trying to build a place of refuge for its members, it was finding it difficult to do so without Government’s help.
“The Government needs to take responsibility [so] that these persons are not left on the streets, especially in these situations because we as organizations can only do so much,” he said after receiving a $10,000 cheque from the Radisson Aquatica Resort.
While expressing his gratitude to the south coast hotel which has been sponsoring the organization for the last two years, Saffrey stressed that much greater financial support was necessary if the association is ever to achieve its goal of giving vagrants a permanent place to call home.
Article by Barbados Today