Saint Maarten Hidden Shame

A community in St. Maarten to which no one is paying attention.

From the top of the hill this community looks to be somewhat organized but up close and on the inside it’s a shameful experience to behold. It’s inconceivable that people can live in such a shocking environment where sewage runs in every tracks in the middle of the narrow walk ways leading to homes in the area. Before the hurricane of 1995 this same location was totally dense with plywood shacks that soon became exposed when Louis wiped out the entire surroundings and the then Lt. Governor vowed that no more wooden shacks will be allowed to be built. Shortly thereafter the patrons who were leasing land in the area began putting down concrete structures for homes and soon the area slowly became heavily populated once again.

There is no structured road network in the area to accommodate any type of traffic flow in the event of an emergency. There was a fire that destroyed several homes that were built in close proximity to each other and to this day the debris remaining from the fire could not be removed. It’s just impossible for a flatbed truck to even get close so as to have these items taken away and dumped. That also raises the question how did they get these items in, in the first place to have these homes constructed.
From the outside it’s difficult to tell that even a church is erected in the community, unless you live there and knows about it. That shows the legitimacy of the commitment to the people living in the area, on the part of the pastor, and the organization who decided to build the church at the top of the hill.
There seem to be no Government official that can explain the state of affairs of the living area, since it appears to be off their radar. The minister of VROMI is ultimately responsible for housing and domain affairs and bears the responsibility to regulate by law the neighborhoods on the Island and to enforce compliance as the law requires for living conditions in our communities. This article will no doubt wake up the ministry to realize that this situation is serious and deserve some attention since it reflects the poverty areas and poor living conditions on St. Maarten and brings to light some of our hidden shame.