Greetings from the Bahamas. I'm currently in the Bahamas taking it easy since my sister found some great ticket deals on a Disney Cruise. We are currently docked in Nassau and spent the entire day touring the island and shopping.

The amount of Creole I heard spoken in the streets is unbelievable. In some places, it seems likes the entire island is Haitian. They say Haitians aren't treated very well here, and unfortunately, I will not be here long enough to see this for myself. I would like to hear from Haitians in the Bahamas, or from anyone who knows about Haitian life in the Bahamas, to give us some insight on exactly why we are so despised here.

Not surprising CoolP....conservative estimates place the Haitian population at about 20% of the entire population.   That's  a heavy burden for any country to absorb.  In spite of all the reported discrimination, we still owe that country a big Thank You.

kreyolbro@aol.com

Tijou;  because that small country has provided an economic outlet for countless number of poor Haitians for more than 40 years.

kreyolbro@aol.com

Haitians do not owe the Bahamas anything. Haitians in the Bahamas are basically in slavery (except it is self imposed I guess). I have a classmate of mine who is Bahamian, and she tells me how Haitians are treated over there. It is understandable that the Bahamas is a small island, trying to develop and is not able to take in many Haitians, especially since the Haitians that do go to the Bahamas are among the poorest in Haiti. But, My Goodness, at least have some compassion. I mean we are the same people, in fact, it been said that many Bahamians are of Haitian descent.

From what she told me is that Haitians are treated like 2nd class citizens there. They are a huge part of the Bahamian economy, however, they are not appreciated. Most of them came on boats, they must find a place to live with relatives... they need to find a Bahamian that is willing to hire them, sponsor them for a work permit that is not even made out to the Haitian worker but to his/her Bahamian boss... they have to work harder to pay for that permit (usually cost $1000 or more per year), and on top of that they work harder and are paid less than Bahamians doing the same work. She told me that Bahamians do not like to do dirty jobs (cleaning, gardening, etc...) so they pay Haitians to do these kind of jobs. Haitians must in return suck up to these Bahamian.

Plus, Haitians are not allowed to obtain citizenship, even kids born in the Bahamas to Haitian parents are not considered legal. Haitians are constantly hounded by Bahamian officials in order to seek them out and return them back to Haiti. Most of them are living in conditions in the Bahamas that are worst than that of Haiti, no electricity, no clean water... the only thing is that they are able to eat, they have free education for their children and hospital is also free. Bahamians in general think that Haitians are using their social system too much (crowding the schools and hospitals) and the government need to stop the influx of Haitians into the island.

I personally will never step foot in the Bahamas. My parents went on a cruise there a few years ago and they were horrified by the conditions of Haitian immigrants there. I would rather spent my money on some other island in the carribean.

Not to deviate from the argument: Let's face. If the Bahamians were in our situation, us (and i know that) would treat them worse. Sa se pou louanj.

How do i know that? We can't even live with our neighbor! We are always watching our back: Voodoo-a bay anpil presyon papa.