The Government and people of Anguilla have joined regional and international bodies in providing relief aid to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines – victims of the eruption of La Soufriere Volcano.
A forty-foot container with food items, water and other supplies, donated by businesses and individuals, was shipped from Anguilla this week. The container was loaded up on Saturday, April 17, during a meeting at the back courtyard of The Valley Police Headquarters. Those in attendance included members of the Anguilla-St. Vincent Association; Premier Dr. Ellis Lorenzo Webster; Minister of Home Affairs, Mr. Kenneth Hodge; Minister of Education and Social Development, Ms. Dee-Ann Kentish-Rogers; and Parliamentary Secretary, Tourism and Economic Development, Mrs. Quincia Gumbs-Marie.
The meeting was chaired by St. Vincent national, Mr. Elliott Forbes, Chairman of the Anguilla-St. Vincent Association (and Deputy Commissioner of the Royal Anguilla Police Force). Among other matters, he said that the presence and involvement of local persons spoke about the concern of the Government and the people of Anguilla for their Caribbean brothers and sisters in St. Vincent & the Grenadines.
Premier Webster said in part: “This shows our solidarity with you. We are one people, but separated by bodies of water. I believe in regional integration and that we should be able to help each other in times of need. We are all beautiful islands with different cultures but we are all subject to national disasters. We have hurricanes, you have volcanoes – and you are also subject to hurricanes. When we had our hurricane, St. Vincent and the Grenadines helped us. As a Government, we in Anguilla are committed to helping you. We want to let you know that we care about your loved ones who are at home because they are our brothers and sisters also.”
The Premier noted that the public and private sectors in Anguilla had benefitted over the years from the services of a number of Vincentians residing and working on the island – and the need to give back to them. He invited his colleague, Minister Kenneth Hodge, to inform the meeting about the Government’s decisions to provide assistance to the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
“It is a pleasure for me to see the outpouring of love and compassion, as the Premier said, shown to the Government and people of St. Vincent in their hour of need…The first major step the Government has undertaken is that:
• We are going to pledge and pay the sum of 150 thousand EC dollars to the Government and people of St. Vincent.
• Secondly, all Vincentian civil servants who have had their deferred salaries held from them, will be paid those deferred salaries.
• Thirdly, we have a portal and protocols for entry and we are encouraging members of the Vincentian community to put in their applications through the portal. We are encouraging members of your families overseas to go that route. And the Government has decided to waive the fees associated with those entries into Anguilla.”
Minister Hodge went on: “Let me say here that all the strict protocols will be followed. We are not slipping up on any of those health protocols which have kept us safe so far, and we intend to continue doing it.”
He said that the Anguilla Government was still examining ways of allowing a number of unaccompanied Vincentian children to come to the island and hoped to announce, in the coming days, how that matter would be dealt with.
The Minister of Education, Ms. Kentish-Rogers, stressed that there was a need for the Vincentian nationals to obtain the immunisation and school records of their children back home. If not, she hoped to work out arrangements with the Minister of Education in St. Vincent to see what could be done. She explained that there was a maximum number of children who would be admitted to Anguilla for entry into the island’s schools – and so it would not be possible to accommodate everyone desirous of coming to Anguilla.
The Minister said that the Anguilla Government had decided to bring in the children and other immediate family members in groups of 20 for health surveillance monitoring.
Mrs. Quincia Gumbs-Marie explained that two weeks after the first batch of Vincentians arrived in Anguilla, another 20 would be allowed into the island. “This will not be something that occurs overnight,” she stated. “Persons will be on a waiting list and, because we have to manage this pandemic, it will be a limited number of persons at a time in quarantine. It also [depends] on Government’s financial ability to maintain and support persons. We can only manage 20 at a time.”
Minister Kenneth Hodge added: “We are waiving the fees but persons also have to eat, and we are appealing to you [the Vincentians on the island], and will reach out to Anguillians, as well, to help in providing meals for these persons to ensure that they are adequately fed while in quarantine.”
Dr. Webster pointed out that children were not eligible for the COVID vaccination, but other persons, arriving from St. Vincent, should at least have received the first dose of the vaccine there before coming to Anguilla.
