Submitted by Yesitsme (as a comment)
Let’s look at what this Returning Nationals/Barbados Network program is and is not. It is poorly run! It is designed to extract as much money as possible from Returning Bajans by making the program as complicated, inefficient and cumbersome as possible. It is run by John Blackman who is unorganized, not a people person, does not return phone calls, never available, paints a glorious picture when you contact him while outside of Barbados and then he gives you hell when your container is in Barbados at the Port and you’re trying to get it out.
You’re gouged by Agents, Brokers, the Government, the Port and just about everyone involved in the process. The Government is looking to our retirement money on a monthly basis fuelling their foreign exchange issues or should I say crises.
We buy houses and everything involved in living here. Yes we help to employ Bajans, establish business and you could go on and on…
Bajans who have never travel do not want us here, evident by many of the response and narrow mindedness seen on this site (I’m not blaming the site) and elsewhere. Returning nationals are giving up quite a bit by being here. Duty free on household goods and a vehicle is minor compared to what we contribute initially and over the years. And by the way, the government touted back in August that the program was being improved to benefit Returning Nationals.
The program has not been improved…..it has been made more difficult by the 3 to 5 year change.The only thing that has been changed is the NAME… Barbados Network, which nobody uses because of it’s non-descriptiveness. In addition, opening the program to under 50 year olds sounds good but does nothing because you would have to be doing terribly Overseas to want to return before retirement age if at all.
Those who have a parent in Barbados might want to return in order to help care for them.
The hassles, trouble, Mr. John Blackman, delays, penny pinchingness and the other negatives of the program makes it very undesirable to want to return as a National Returnee unless you have a parent you really care about, that you want to help care for.
Would I do this again….HELL NO! The small minds running the program and the greedy and incompetent government would convince me not to.
chupse………real loud
My brother and his wife are returning in less than a month, I pity them. I’m staying put, this was my resolve before I left in 1960 and nothing I have seen since convinces me to change that.
Have I done OK? Am I doing OK? HELL YES! OK and beyond.
@Sid Boyce,
If your brother and his wife do not expect better faster cheaper that where they are now, they will be fine.
I have friends who have returned to Barbados and are enjoying life.
Money is not a problem for them and they have adjusted.
Best wishes to your brother and his wife.
While, the government has taken strong measures in the returnees programme, they must carry some of the blame. Since they were allowed two duty free vehicles among many other goodies, many came here with the pretence of staying and brought down fancy vehicles and other household items and sold them at some rediculus prices compared to what they paid for them. Also, many came back with the attitude that they are the ones who built up barbados and that they should be given preferential treatment; what about the bajans who worked their backsides off at home to be the ones who really built a legacy for this country? There are many returnees who have adjusted well and are enjoying a beautiful life in this paradise country. The problem is, when these bajans went up to Britain in the 60′s they adjusted to life there, now they come back here, they think they have the right to tell us how to live, no, it is time you adjust again in your old age and go with the flow.
Scout “it is time you adjust again in your old age and go with the flow.”
Man I like I had betta stan wey I is or become a snowbird.
Hants
Too many of the returnees come back here with an attitude, many left barbados when things were down and out and they never returned not until they were ready to come home. They then return wuth this preconceived idea of what barbados is like to get a culture shock on their return,then to justfy themselves they are going around saying that they are the ones that caused barbados to be so developed. MADNESS, that is what is causing the friction among a lot of them and bajans. Given they are also many that are loving it and alternately many are are sellingout and returning to Britain. my advice to my relatives and friends who live overseas for a long time, especially Britain, is to reurn home occasionally, get accustom to the modern barbados, then make the decision whether it is what they want. At one stage a group of British returnees were lobbying government for their own supermarket and social center. I once attended a dance that they had at LLoyd Erskine Sandiford Center,(i was invited by a british relative) and one returnee asked me how long I spent in Britain, my reply was a
maximum of one month at any stage. I was then asked ifthat meant that I wasn’t living there, to which I replied no. The next statement got me very upset, I was then asked, why was I at their dance; PLEASE DON’T ASK FOR MY REPLY.
Well, I have to admit…out of sentiment for my only sister who is older than I am, I retired and returned Sept/10. Mistake! Do NOT let sentiment rule you! Cost of living out of whack! Customs duties high as a***; $3,600 to clear a ‘duty-free’ car; 5 barrels containing nothing new and a tv. Damn! $900 road tax. Foreign Affairs staff not too swift either. If you don’t put the pressure on, you can rack up port charges of $150 a day (they give u 10 days ‘free’). They took 30 days to check my passport, Barbados ID, letter of retirement and receipt showing I paid for the car overseas. 30 days!!! I so want to leave but can’t since I have to ‘report’ to that Blackman guy every 5 years proving that I still own the car. On Sept 1/10 they changed it from 3 to 5 years. I console myself that Winter was never my favourite season..and so I will remain here.
Returnee
I am a bajan, who remained in Barbados and contributed to the development of Barbados fromin the mid 60′s when i started to work. For me to own a new car or a imported used car, I have to pay between 200% to 225% duty for that same type car that you can bring in duty free. Let me put it another way, a car valued at bds $ 10,000.oo C.I.F can cost me in excess of bds $ 25,000.00 to get it out of the port and the same thing goes for most other items and you complaining about paying bds $ 3,600.00. The problem is that too many of you expect to waltz into Barbados and showoff on bajans that remained here but that can’t happen.
@The Scout
You maybe off base on this one.
The government has started an initiative to woo Barbadian retirees in the Diaspora because of the hard currency resources they have at their disposal and the reality that Barbados needs those resources at the moment. In the past the imitative was abused, agreed.
What is the difference giving incentives to foreigners but we resist it for our own? You are the one who has been preaching the need to support Bajans over foreigners.
David
I agree but not at the arrogant cost to us bajans who have worked had to develop this country. We welcome retirees back home but when they come back with an attitude that we are or have been dependant on them for our survival is insulting to us bajans who have also done our part. Please don’t get me wrong, but many think that because they lived in Britain they are superior to us who remained here and just visited these countries. Having visited Britain especially, I have a lot of respect for those who livedthere for forty plus years but they must also have respect for me who stayed here to provide some where for them to return to.Some are envious of what they came back and found some of us with, in some cases better off than those who went overseas, I know of one lady who just could not accept it and just left everything and went back up to Britain and promise never to returnto Barbados, simply because her little sister who she left here now lives in a beautiful two storey house and she couldn’t afford to build one on her return.
She was even spreading the rumor that it was her money that built the house, simply because she would occasionally send back a few pounds to assist with her parents when they were alive. She didn’t even come home for either of them funerals nor did she send anything to assist in the expenses, so the only thing she could have resort to is to spend nasty rumors about the lady. pure envy
@Returnee and the other ‘returning nationals’ if you do not like Barbados the way it is now pack your bags and go back. You complaining about $3,600.00 in duties.For a little car 1500 cc I have to pay 170% duties, meaning a car that cost me $8000.00 would cost me $17,000.00 in taxes alone that has nothing to do with Port charges if I cannot come up with it right away.Don’t talk about the jeep or 1600 cc and over the Taxes are 220%. We travel the world over so get off the band wagon saying Barbadian who have travelled nowhere, many of you live overseas in squalor save your little pennies send back money every once in awhile and then when you come back here you came back with a fake accent looking down your noses at us who choose to stay and reside here., expecting that we gine bow are you command get real, When you get back here you are shocked to see that a little hawker live in a mansion, that your friend who was a maid now driving a big car.We know how to cut and contrive the Barbados you left and did not look back at in the 60s and 70s have moved ahead however you have remained back there in your minds.The common sense thing to do would be to do a check first before coming back, see what the duties are see if your documents are correct see if your savings and pension can maintain you for the rest of your life while here in Barbados.It takes real money to live here in Barbados.But I have seen many coming back and living here comfortably.If it does not suit you go back to the comfort of the snow the racism, the squalor living etc, and I have no apologies to make, most of you all come back mad anyway.And the study they carried out in England years ago about the madness is false, they said most of you leave the West Indies like that, I differ most of you got a culture shock, poor treatment, poor living conditions and just could not bear it.Stop bellyaching and do a study next time before you come back., to complain about our standards.
Anytime someone highlights poor service in Barbados there are those “small minded” characters who promptly criticise returnees as if it were a crime to have went abroad. However, when your tourist based economy collapses from the inevitable fall-out from Canadian, American and English tourists bypassing your paradise for Cuba, Dominica Republic, Jamaica, I wonder if these bigoted grandees will still be spouting nonsense about returnees. Returnees do not believe they are better or do they want to be treated more favourably than locals. One thing is certain of small minded people: they are prejudiced, vindictive, petty and not perceptive.
As a returning national I’ve met no real problems. Strolling to the beach every morning in warm sunshine alone is worth the trek back from Brooklyn. Bajans who never left aks me all the time if I live over in away after that we move on to a bit of grog. Barbados sweetest and safest place on earth to live.
Hello
Welcome home, it is people like you that I can deal with, you obviously came back to PARADISE to enjoy the rest of your life not to tell us what we have to do to be like Brooklyn.
Willie
You too can be like Hello, come back adjust to the system here and don’t try to make us feel that you were living like a KIng in Britain and should be treated the same way in Barbados. Bajan are not the type of people who put people with an accent on a pedital, that’s why so many famous celebraties come here on holiday and walk the streets like any ordinary person and even when they are recognised they are not mobbed. I welcome you to Barbados but just fall in line, like the song by the late El Verno Del Congo said ” don’t try to change us, or rearrange us, we love simplicity, this land is my land this land is your land, welcome the morning sun.”
R E S P E C T …………That is all it is all about! Let us be really open, we black bajans have no respect for each other. We cannot serve each other with pride and courtesy. When the returning nationals come back to live here they are affronted by the rudeness they meet to which they are not accustomed to. Sometimes I can easily believe that we are so used to rude treatment from all areas that we have accepted that is the norm. This has spilled over into the tourism market where Black visitors are given the same treatment. Yes I can agree that some returning Nationals come back with the British arrogance that they are better and butt heads with the local arrogance creating a melee of ill feelings towards each other. However Bajans must learn RESPECT AND COURTESY TOWARDS EACH OTHER FIRST AND AFTER EVERYTHING WILL FALL INTO PLACE. I wonder if the white returning nationals have these same problems?
It seems that the North American returning nationals assimilate into local society more easily than their British counterparts. I wonder why?
I am not surprised that the Unit is a sham. Actually, Buddy Larrier and I went to the ministry of foreign affairs with plans for us to set up the unit as an NGO. After several meeting that outlined the blueprint for how it would operate, they stole the idea. Never even returned our calls.
Pennypinching? Small minds? Good descriptions. However I am a Bajan living in Barbados and while I have no problem with the fact that returning national do make a contribution, it is ludicrous to talk about returning national employing Bajans at home. Our workforce is about 130,000. How many are employed by returning nationals?
Pennypinching? Small minds? Please do an inward inspection and make sure that you are not of the same ilk.
Hmmmmm….
ROK …….stop exposing dem thiefing SOBS …LOLLLLLLL
Aren’t these returning nationals retired people?
@islandgal 246
look bajans respect each other, I don’t know where you getting this idea that bajans disrespect because the other person is black, stop that foolish talk.I travel all over the world and the racism I meet is from blacks, just like me. I am treated like a queen overseas by white people, blacks does get on like they have a chip on their shoulder.Even here in Barbados, I am treated stink and cursed sometimes because bajans look at my hair and assume that i am guyanese, till I have to open my mouth and blister them.I have a black barbadian friend living in england, he could not come black here to live.He has a black mistress and a white wife, he spends 3 days with one and 3 days with the other on Sundays all of them come together at one of their houses.When he leaves the house of one he locks the woman inside, he is always driving and saying the white people hate him the racism he feels in england.Now he cannot live here as a returning national cause he would not be treated like a king as he is now treated.If you really want to see how some of these returnees live all you have to do is go on to the website, as long as they vote in England, the website gives you details about the neighbourhood, if it is poor, affluent, crime free etc. so a lot of these returnees that does come back in their mind high and mighty does only get laugh at. And how much is there real monetary contribution to the economy in any case, I say minimal.I say again if you don’t like the treatment go long back, why is it the Canadian bajan or even the American bajan don’t have as many problems as the mad ones from England
Why by the way does these retuning nationals would want financial institutions to sponsor a dance, please if you cannot put your hard earned money in something more profitable, then we bajans do!!!!!!!!!But don’t insult yourselves by asking for that kind of assistance this is not the 60s or 70s, any cat or dog could keep a dance
@ Pretty Blue Eyes | November 18, 2010 at 4:35 PM |
What have you written that is any different from what I have stated? Can’t you read and comprehend?
Pretty Blue Eyes
I is a ‘returnin national’. I returnin from Jinkins. I keepin a dance nex weak. You comin or wah? I gun be doin de samba, rumba, paso doble, jive,waltz n a few lil wuk-ups n jucks in between. Doan miss it. I lookin fa ya.
@Bonny
Ha ha ha Bonny you is someting else, I gine crash de dance and will be doing de Macarena, meringue and de limbo. LOLLLLLL
Boy it getting nasty up in here!
@ ac
Whatcha tawkin bout?
@ ac
How tings? what happen de rain bring yuh? LOLLLLLL
@Island gal
How yuh doing sista? We bajans can be very territorial and we not going buddy up easy to outsiders even we own when it comes to telling us what to do. I remember one day in woolworths and dis woman shouting as loud as she can ‘Bajan yankees go home” and to think that all the bajan yankee was doing was spending money into the economy ! Need i say more!
@ ac
Even the ignorant must have their say, even though they love cutting off the hands that helping them.
I was anticipating the kind of response generated from the submission. This was not surprising. Just because a person leaves their country for a better opportunity does not meanthat their love for the country is less than the person who stayed . Everyone whether living home or aboard have played a part however small in helping the country developed and those who remain should not be so easy to castigate and maligned the ones who left . Remember there are your brothers and sisters and in the end “There is No Place Like Home”
Why would anyone expect Bajans to be different now than when we left 40 or 50 years ago.
Bajans and Bajan attitudes have not changed from when I left.
I have been fortunate over the years on every return visit to encounter mostly good service and attitudes but some oh the same idiots and igrunt attitudes we had to deal with in the 60s,70s and 80s still bout dey.
With regards to the duty free issue. If I bring back a car and don’t have to pay duty but Customs charge me $10,000 why should I complain when a Bajan would have to pay $100,000 in duty for a similar car.
The rules and regulations for returning nationals are available at the Barbados consulates.
Returning Bajans should read them carefully and plan accordingly.
If you have mauby pocket don’t go back expecting to live large because Barbados is relatively expensive.
You might have to buy yuh vegetables from street vendors if yuh doan got Superior Central money.
Each to his own but I think Barbados is a still great place to live.
Just remember that living overseas does not mean you are now superior to de locals.
Hants
I wid you all de way ma boy. ya coulda went way befo I born, doan cum ta tess me n tell me na shoite bout ‘tings bout hay expensive’. nabody in sen n call wunna so wunna welcum ta ga back ‘home’ whey de tings cheepa. I love my B/dos bad too n doan k whay i rome, it gun alwayz be home.( de nex time i in Toronto, i won’ mind linkin up wid you a’tall)
ac
is me dat did shouting out in Woolworf. LOLLL. I din tek my ‘medication’ befo i leff home dah mornin. murdahhhhhhh.
islandgal
but when ya doing dem sorta dances like de maringa n makarina etc, ya got ta ware a short flare skirt n nutton up undaneat ya kno? especially de ‘limbo’. walosss, dah does mek de dance mo excitin man. ef ya dout me, ask any man. LOLLL
@ Bonny Peppa
I is a decent wommun, yuh want de animal control to come and collect me when dem getta call fuh a black hairy cat pon de loose pon de dance floor, nuh? LOLLLLLLLL yuh tooo wutlesss
But tooo swoite.
@ Bonny
De next time yuh gine in town PLEASE TEK YUH MEDICATION. Yuh embarrassing weee.
I think that we Bajans are very quick to dimiss a suggestion or idea given by outsiders including bajans who have been away for many years. To us it is seen as “Telling us what to do” when in fact it may be just another person point of view.
@ac
I have seen the pain that returning nationals have caused to Bajans living at home but nobody talks about it. I have seen returning nationals, especially from UK, who turn up suddenly one day after 30 or forty years and uproot Bajans living at home and on land for more than 50 years.
I have even seen a case where a returning national came back and sought to uproot an old man off his own land, because he thought the land was his father’s… and he came back and without even going to see or talk to the old man, he proceeded to file for a title suit, saying the old man (whom he know to be his father’s good friend) is a squatter.
Fortunately, we were able to prove that the land was the old man’s land and merely lent it to his friend (the returning national’s father) and so, as a youngster the boy never saw his father pay rent… but after his father got his children overseas, he gave back the land to the old man before he died.
In all, returning nationals or not, I agree that we are all Bajans, with the same nasty attitudes and all. They have nothing on their counterparts here, whether they think so or not. Having to make the complaint in itself is an indicator of this.
Let’s face it, when a person lives overseas and becomes accustomed to a certain way of living, it is ridiculous and unfair for them to come back home and find the same environment which they have become accustomed to out there, because Barbados is not the USA nor the UK. They have their own nuances out there. Furthermore, why should we keep importing USA and UK society and culture as if we don’t have a life? What kind of life? Well, why they want to come back home? To bring back UK or USA? Sorry!
Basically, I get along with returning nationals. I simply turn away when they start to get on because I ain’t in for no lotta long talk… but I know Bajan society and they could talk as they like, it ain’t going to change Bajans so; including them.
I agree that all-o-we have to learn to respect one another and don’t come here thinking that they have any answers because the ways they seek to impose is more harmful than helpful. We want to be in Barbados and if you say that there is no place like home, then you should appreciate Bajans for what they are not not what you expect them to be. Simple! Just a question of attitude; and on both sides too. To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
ROK
Furthermore, why should we keep importing USA and UK society and culture as if we don’t have a life?
**********************
And Returning Nationals are responsible for the importation of this culture?
Frankly if some of you don’t know what you are speaking about you should keep your pie hole shut. There was a reason that Owen Arthur was going to Britain and meeting with every Bajan that he could lay his eyes on, whether it was at a meeting hall or the local pub. There was a reason that David Thompson made those frequent stops in New York and Toronto meeting with the Bajan community imploring them to invest in Barbados. There is a reason that Gov’t has made concessions for “Returning Nationals” making it easier for them to relocate to Barbados.
They have seen the numbers and numbers don’t lie. Ask any official at the Ministry of Finance about the remittances that these “returning nationals” have made; ask them about the value of their pensions that are being plowed into the local economy. Ask them about what those funds mean to the Barbados economy.
If one or two “retuning nationals” (Thompson was going to change that term) complains about inefficient service and service improves doesn’t that help all Bajans? Did the Gov’t establish NISE because service was impeccable?
Why is so much rancour directed towards returning Bajans especially those who have resided in the UK?
Keep harping at “returning nationals”; keep ridiculing them saying that they are “mad”; keep up the sentiments that a few of you have expressed in these pages and you may get your wish.
There are always other options.
Sargeant
It would seem that you should take you own advice. Of course if you go to a foreign land you will come back with what you learn and yes, for sure, when you promote it and get people to do like you, yes you are importing a foreign culture. We have sufficient of it already and what returning nationals do is reinforce it.
You study human behaviour though? but you just spouting right?
Furthermore, if Bajans in UK and USA did not still retain their vote, neither BLP nor DLP would go out there to meet with them.
Why so much rancour against returning nationals. That is what you call it, but what I wrote is what I observe. What rancour what? My problem with people is that when they are on the giving side of the fence all is well but when they on the receiving end, all commonsense and objectivity ends.
You very touchy. In case you missed it, I said that both Bajans living at home and those abroad need to mend their ways; because by the same token, I see some returning nationals smell some hell, complaining about everything their neighbours do.
For them it is hell; that is how their minds are conditioned having lived in and become accustomed to another culture for most of their lives. I also know of an elderly returning national, who so much wanted nothing to do with his neighbours that when the house caught fire, nobody could get past the wrough iron to save him. This is the extent to which we hurt one another with this foolishness.
@Sargeant
“Keep harping at “returning nationals”; keep ridiculing them saying that they are “mad”
I hope that is not referring to me. I never said any such thing and don’t think it. I know several returning nationals who were deemed mad that are my friends and I don’t see them as mad.
I also know several returning nationals who have taken to the streets, but even then, they are not mad. As far as I am concerned their present condition represents hope turned to despair for most of them. Are you going to kill them for that.
Sarge, there was a time in Barbados when nearly every returning national from UK was under suspicion of being mad. That still happens? I really don’t know when last I heard it. At least not among the young generation. Maybe you need to change your friends and keep more young company, LOL!
ROK
You wrote about “importing USA and UK society and culture as if we don’t have a life?” in the context of “returning nationals” as if they are carrying some foreign strain of culture to impose on Bajans. I can think of other “cultures” that Bajans readily adapt and adopt that in the long run will be damaging to the country.
The other part of my submission was not specifically directed at you but to those who make generalizations about “returning Nationals” based on the behaviour of a few.
When visitors make broad statements about some deleterious aspect of Bajan life based on their interaction with a few people don’t you get upset? Why should “returning nationals” be any different? As the offspring of a “returning national” who may also return to Barbados permanently I know a little bit about the subject.
Some of us can’t return and some don’t want to return but those of us who choose to do so will not be the “whipping boys” for those with axes to grind.
This discussion is really interesting.
I emigrated to Canada in the 70s.
I had to live under the constraints of Canadian laws and customs.
Fortunately the presence of an extended family and the availability of Bajan food has helped to make life comfortable up here for me.
I have been returning to Barbados over the years and frequently during the last ten years.The only real problem I have with Barbados is that Lawyers take an obscenely long time to settle estates and property transactions.
I will avoid these “problems” in the future.
As a consequence whatever I own in Canada will stay in Canada and my children will inherit what I leave behind.
The same way we had to adjust to the Laws and Culture in the countries in which we are living, we should expect to adjust to Barbados laws and culture as a returning national, overseas Bajan, Diaspora Bajan or wuh evah wunna call we.
There is one thing all of us need to learn. If you interact with your fellow Bajans with respect you are likely to get treated with respect 90% of the time.
Sargeant
We are asking anyone to be whipping boys to us, like when your parents went up to Britain, they adjusted to the culture and conditions, when you come back do the same, don’t try to tell us that we’are doing things wrong, it is just different and we like it this way,
ROK, Hants, Scout
I endorse evryting you said. Evryting.
Sargeant
I still trying to figure out if to laff or cry at your comments. Think i will stupseeeeeeeeeeeeeeee instead.
ROK
Still luv ya de same as yestaday, taday n tamorrrrrrrr. ya hurt ma sa bad doe. i still want de rings.
Frankly speaking as I said before . We are very territorial and we don’t take kindly to others telling us what to do . WE see it as imposing and further we protray the attitude that we made it without outside influence, Therefore we don’t have to listen to what is being said by anyone.Could it be that we feel threatened by the returning national and we would rather disregard anything of value they have to say?
@ AC
Some of us are a bunch of insecure people. Look when someone is employed for the first time. Nuff people does think that you come to tek dem job. If you work in an organization and doing a good job, many times the boss or supervisor feel that you trying to outdo them and tek their job. We are our worst enemies.
@ac
We practice something I call fear-mongering. We are very susceptible to it for some obvious reasons. In days gone by, former PM, EWB used to speak of rumour-mongering. I believe this is a culture we dealing with here; just as we move from Calypso to Soca; same flavour in a different coat.
@Bonny
Why you don’t stop this impressionist thing you getting on wid though? How you mean I brek u heart? You lonely enough now that if i come home you ain’t going to chase me way again?
LOL!
@ROK
USA and Britian understood the value of the nationalist and was quick to seize the opportunity in using them to bulid their country.So why isn’t the returing national in Barbados not seen as much value to the country of Barbados by its people on their return home? THey do have a wealth of knoweldge and expertise in areas which would serve the country well only if they are given a real chance in doing so.Unless Barbadians are fully aware of such we would continue to have the great division is which is foolish and unecessary.
@ac
Really! I can’t believe that you can’t see the difference. UK is based on the culture of the UK people. It suits them. What they put in place for them even take into account the weather.
It is like saying that the engineer who builds a city on water is the best city builder. Put him to build on rock, he may very well waste materials and vice-versa.
A lot has been imposed by British culture on its colonies and its colonies revolted and opted for Independence. What are you saying when you bring what we revolted against almost from day 1?
@Rok
What I am speaking of is vision . THe USA and Britian had the forsight to see the value of the Immigrant fromthe Westindies and in doing has benefited considerably. I am hoping that the natioalist upon returning to the country of birth THAT they would be seen in a sinilar light rather than be outshouted, ridicule and castaside..
@ac
Not sure you got that right. They used us to build what they wanted to build for themselves. The nannies, bus conductors, etc. We did not put any vision into the UK culture or society, it’s their vision which we fulfilled for them by taking on the menial jobs. Then fought to wriggle out of the scenario. For sure, they did not tolerate us bringing our Bajan with us, except the work ethic which made us good pawns.
@ROK
O. K. Rok I think you are a liitle slow tonight.
a. USA and Britian had the vision.
b .Now all Britian needed was workers who were desperate and willing to work hard.
c. USA and Britian took full advantage of that to accomplish much.
No society ever accepts in the begining outside influence . However in the long run they willingly accepts it when they see that the benefits outweighs the fears. I for one believe that the returning nationalist have more to give that would benefit the country than not.
@ac
Not sure I am following you. As for the part of a society accepting outside influence… the only time outside influence is accepted is by invasion. Like Rome impose itself on its neighbours and then recruited soldiers from the nations it conquered to become loyal to Rome.
Furthermore, many returning nationals come back when their youth is spent and they have given the best of their time and effort to the “masters” and seeking to retire on what they consider to be their fortune. Those who may have something left in them, come back here to make money and now that they deporting them back here, that becomes another bill we have to foot.
Let me hear the contribution you say they are making again?
But let me say this, before you become returning nationals and before your lifetime is almost spent, you could really invest in some businesses. In position in both USA and UK, you are well poised for trade and for services, but sadly, this is not forthcoming and it is the one area where you can make a tremendous contribution. The first thing returning nationals or Bajans living overseas want to do is have a meeting with the prime Minister or Minister rather than get on with the business. Inevitably, those meetings come to “naught”. As a result, in nearly all the cases everything else comes to nothing as well and then they walk about talking about what they could have done for the country.
That I can’t get understand and I have wasted too much time with that sort of nonsense. Even to open the damned unit and got it snatched from under us. Steupse!
@Rok
REf “let me hear the contributions you say they are making.”
isn’t it the government who is offering concession to the oversee Bajans on their return to the island . Is this all for naught? or is the government making fools of them?
Seeking to retire on what they consider a fortune might not seem of importance to any single individual but when it filters into the economy it stops some of the bleeding. Even you knows that every penny counts.
“Get on with the business” Isn’t it a person right to ask questions ?
and who then should the returning naional seek the answer from?
Wasn’t the head of government the one who made all of the promises to them ? So is it unfair for the nationalist to have answer.
Like you said many of them were treated like slaves in a foreign countries, So maybe it is that road they fear they might be taking when they return to their place of birth again only to be used and abuse.
ac
No-one is looking to use or abuse a returnee, but on the other hand, we’re not prepared to be considered less than them because we did not migrant also. Too many returnees come back here with the attitude that they lived in Britain for many years so they know it all and we are dumb, so what they say is law. one even said to me one night, you didn’t go anywhere, so you know nothing.
Bajans now travel extensively and we see the lifestyle of many of those who come back here and try to make others believe that they were living properous lives but came back to assist us “poor” bajans. Far from the truth, many came back because life had gotten hard and from Britain because they could no longer take that cold, damp weather.
@Scout
There seems to a be an inferior superior complex which has skewed ones opinion of returning nationals, What difference does it make for they return . Moreover if one has seen the plight of the returnee in other countries that should be enough of a reason to embrace, them . However the Superior inferior Complex which maybe true or unreal as seen by many is standing in the way in order for both side to engage in meaningful dialogue.
@Rok who wrote,”But let me say this, before you become returning nationals and before your lifetime is almost spent, you could really invest in some businesses. In position in both USA and UK, you are well poised for trade and for services, but sadly, this is not forthcoming and it is the one area where you can make a tremendous contribution.”
Let me say this, The laws of Barbados says that I Hants can return to Barbados anytime and have the same rights as you and all other born Bajans.
You can’t tell me what I can,should or would do and set out any conditions for any Bajans who live overseas.
The Barbados Prime Ministers coming up to New York, Toronto and London thanking Bajans for sending home millions every year and INVITING Bajans to Invest and to retire in Barbados.
The Barbados consulates and missions like Invest Barbados singing the same tune.
Sargeant don’t let a few bad minded Bajans raise yuh pressha. You can have the best of both worlds 189 days at a time. Just remember to be in Canada from about May to october and Barbados October to May.
@David,
Can tell your readership the monetary value of remittances to Barbados from we Overseas Bajans?
@Hants
Check this document out (page 7). Remittances is a significant contributor to the economy over the years. The fact that Barbados is not* and export oriented economy means any avenue which generates foreign exchange is significant.
Thanks David,
I am confident that Bajans in the Diaspora will continue to help their family and friends in Barbados cause we is we.
If I did not deduce better, I would feel that you fellas doing a Hamla Persad. You guys either really unreasonable fuh truth or you clutching at straws and I would like to believe the latter. You know, part of the argument for compensation for nurses recruited to work overseas is that we are being robbed of a resource. When citizens leave these shores and work for other countries, it is the same whether or not you are a nurse; a resource is gone.
This attempt to leverage on the remittances is amazing. It is like many of you are contributing to your families and you are still holding out for rewards for doing it. Yet those who remain home do it without the holding out for rewards. Hence, I think the argument to be rather gross and smacks of a superiority complex, unless as I said, you are clutching at straws.
So Bajans who leave these shores feel that they have become better off and worthy of more than a Bajan living at home? Should be accorded special treatment? It certainly seems that is what you are arguing.
I think that every Bajan who lived overseas should be entitled to bring back their possessions. I know they will be some who will flout the rules, but that minority should not take away the rights of the rest. For my one part, if they could bring back their houses and all, they should be allowed to come in and free of duty too.
As far as I am concerned they paid their taxes on their goods when they bought them. They contributed income taxes where they worked and they should not be taxed twice. These are unfair things to me.
The other arguments, you can throw through the door and if such a policy was instituted, I suspect that there would be no need for the arguments. We let these small matters drive wedges between us; and look where you have to go to get justice? My Creator!
Are we not over analysing this matter?
We have Bajans who have lived overseas a long time (until retirement) and the government makes it financially attractive for these people to comeback home.
Of late because of the declining economic conditions the government has implemented a strategy/policy of courting this group in the Diaspora because of the hard currency at their disposal.
What is the big deal? We give foreigners tax holidays to invest here why not give to our own?
Well i have read some comment in my time but this beats the lot , some spoke of overseas bajans not building the country up i am nealy 60 years old, left when i was 13 years old the pound was woth $4.80and mother was sending back £30.00 every month even after i joined her so who did you say built up the country ,i helped gran weed @ 3 plantations from the age of ten until i left for england @ 14.i buried gran,mum and dad and have paid land tax on 4 spots if i come home my fruits are taken in front of me with out a howdy do , should i comment to them or the coconut vendors i get told why dont you f- off back where you come from my naval string is buried on this rock,i visit every year for 4 weeks from the time i reach 22 so yes this island of ours ows all bajans something .
@ROK
What rights being taken away from which minority ? Can you be more specific?
@DAVID
No we are not over analysing the issue. This a well meaningful discussion and one that is necessary. The feelings here by both sides are real and should be aired openly in order for one to understand what the real fears are that are stopping both sides from seeing things in an amicable way. We may not all agree on the same point of view . However it can only help build a bridge of understanding between both sides instead of hysteria in the future.
As I recall, most of the migrants who left Barbados in the period 1960s – 1980s were not employed in Barbados, or were not in employment considered secure; they therefore sought opportunities abroad in the UK, Canada, the USA and other places.
Citizens are considered a resource it is true, but the “unemployed youths” on the block in Barbados now, are also a resource, but if they are unemployed, could one blame them for seeking gainful employment overseas – if they so choose – to help themselves and their families?
Many Barbadians who migrate abroad are successful, and have done very well for themselves. There will always be some who are not successful, because that is a feature of life, in Barbados as it is abroad.
Most successful countries evolve over time, they do not remain moribund, thus the success of America, Canada and Australia. . . . migrant countries. This is because ideas learned elsewhere are introduced, and then improved upon, in most instances becoming better than the original from which they sprung.
For any country’s residents, to say we cannot learn anything from this or that person, seems rather limiting.
The fact is, a foreigner or white person can come to Barbados and tell Barbadians what to do, not a murmur will be heard. A black Barbadian graduate returns to Barbados, very well qualified and makes the slightest of suggestions, and will be told. . . . who does he/she think they are.
Arguments among each other, often prove nothing and dissipate what talent we possess, in argumentative discourse, that benefits no one.
Case and point .My father through no real choice of his own had to take a job in England in order to support his family .Sent his earnings back here which was used to pay taxes on the home which he built and purchases of land. Not to mention the other ways in which the money was spent into the Barbados economy to take care of the family . Now you mean to say that on his return to the island his input is being treated as if he is an intruder . This truly defies logic. Where is the reasoning in all of this?Also the substantial amount of money he put into the banking industry and insurance industry . Don’t you people realise that these returness even though they were not living in the island have done just as much as those who did not migrate to the development of the island financially and yes they should be allowed to have equal input into the affairs of the country.
a/c
We bajans did all the things your father, mother, orany other member of your family did and most of the time more. We appreciate the effort made by those who migrated and most of us know of the difficulkt times that most of them had in the early days of living in Britain especially. That’s why I agree with giving them some concessions to assist them to coming back and live their senior life back home, but the problem with too many of them is that they return with a ” I’m better than you” mentality. This is what ticks off bajans, it is not making suggestions but the way it is said and the criticism of our way of doing things, that infuriates many bajans.
@Bonny – nex time you gine in Woolworth shout me.
I din say that everybody who went way come back mad, I said it is only the ones who went to England that come back mad at least most of them if not all.
@Scout
In your above statement you said”We bajans ” aren”t the returning nationals not considered bajans. There in is where the problems lie . In the minds of most they are no longer Bajans and should be treated as such.
a/c
When I say “we bajans” I’m referring to we bajans who remained and build barbados from at home. Futhermore many returnees even come back and criticise us for speaking bajan yet they accept the cockney some of those english people speak.
@Scout
Yes sireee.
Questions Are the returning bajans consider bajans? To sterotype your own people is very sad . They are not foreigners they are still Barbadians . Your choice of words are to say the least deragotory!
and no kind of explanation would suffice. as for the language this is an ongoing debate amongst many bajans and to single out the returnees as being critical of bajan dialect is disingenuous.
@ac
Really, I would like to know what is the real issue. I don’t like the idea that you seem to be backed into a corner… and I suspect that by now, Scout teasing you…
but seriously, why do you think that you need to go there? Nobody can take your Bajan from you, whether or not they think you are Bajan. What is the real reason for going own this road about remittances?
If you are trying to say that returning nationals are treated unfairly by the Government when returning home, I can understand, but trying to defend this as a serious position within the population itself is being belligerent; can only cause a noise.
I know so many returning nationals who come back here and mesh in like they never left and they don’t have problems. The ones who get stuck with this thing are the ones that get problems; the ones I speak of would not even entertain this conversation.
@Rok
Maybe you don’y see the indifference in attitude . However they are those who are content to say or do nothing no matter or horrible or miserable they circumstances be . hen again they are others wo would prefer to speak out ! What corner what!I am not the one who to refer to myself as Bajan and the returnees as “Them and Those people.” I give respect where respect is due.
As a matter of fact I have not even mention the governments way or none way of dealing with the returning nationals. My focus have been and solely commenting on the differening attitudes towards the returning nationals and to say the least which has been appaling.
I would comment and read this site if I could. The black type on a dark green background makes it literally impossible for me to see anything on it.
@Brooks …please go and get your eyes checked. You may have a problem.
Perhaps the computer is old or the resolution is poorly set.