Dear Editor,
The time had finally come to execute what we had been planning for, #YearoftheReturnto Ghana. I was excited and more than ready. Somehow it was not meant to be for me but for my suitcases instead.
My family and I had planned to celebrate my sister’s birthday on July 27 in Ghana. Ten of us booked to leave from Amsterdam on July 24. It was a direct flight to Ghana. I chose not to fly directly to Ghana from St. Maarten but to first fly to the Netherlands where I would meet the rest of my family. Together we would then travel to Ghana. It was definitely not a cheap choice but it was my choice.
The day had finally come and we were awaiting boarding. The flight was a bit delayed. When we finally boarded the plane the captain apologized for the delay. He informed us that the delay was a result of a faulty aircraft that they had to change. There were also issues with the fuel system. He said he would inform us as soon as he had more info.
After several long hours and barely any info, there was still hope to depart to Ghana. The captain said the fuel would be provided by trucks. A part would be flown in by helicopter to repair the defective fuel system. My excitement was slowly but surely fading away. The stewards couldn’t serve a warm meal because they couldn’t turn on the oven while grounded and besides that, they wouldn’t have anything else to serve when we would be en route to Ghana. Even though my excitement was dwindling, I tried to be as optimistic as possible.
In the meantime, we had to ask for water and we were offered one slice of pizza. Can you imagine that? They want to give a Caribbean woman like me one slice of pizza. Did I mention that the outside temperature was 37 degrees Celsius? Some places inside of the plane were not cool either. We too started to feel like the pizza they had offered us. We felt like we were in an oven. What made things worse is that we were not allowed to leave the plane. #BEINGHELDHOSTAGE
After more than 5 hours on the plane the captain unfortunately announced that our flight, just like many others, had been cancelled. The crew announced that we had to arrange our own bookings via the KLM website. Once we had disembarked the plane there was chaos in the hall. The hall was packed with people, reminiscent of the Festival Village on “Night of the Hit Makers”. Even disabled persons and children had to join the long queue. After so many hours sitting in that plane, waiting to take off and to eventually be told that the flight was cancelled, standing in that line was not an option for us. We were tired and hungry. In addition my mom (age 86) had to take her medication. Since a steward had told us that they would rebook everyone anyway, we decided we would contact KLM by other means to express our wishes.
We tried contacting KLM by telephone and social media but to no avail.
Since we didn’t hear anything from KLM and were unable to reach them, we decided to go to their office at Schiphol the next day, July 25. We had to stand in a long line at the KLM counter. While standing in line a member of the KLM staff mailed our wishes to the department. Nevertheless we remained standing in the line to know for sure that we would be getting what we had requested. After more than 7 hours in queue, KLM sent an email with our new tickets. To our surprise the group was not only split, but was also put on indirect flights to Ghana. This was not acceptable so we sent them a WhatsApp expressing our dissatisfaction. We also informed them that we are almost at the counter and would like to discuss the possibilities personally.
After more than 8 hours in line we finally reached the counter and again told them our wishes. Since KLM had nothing else to offer and we wouldn’t make it for my sister’s birthday party, we all decided to cancel our flight to Ghana. We were sent off with instructions to fill in an online form. We were also told that our suitcases would be delivered to our residences. We understood that it was also possible to go to “Arrivals” and inquire about our suitcases but since we were so tired we decided to go the following day.
Friday, July 26, we went to Schiphol to get our suitcases, since we had cancelled everything. To our surprise, shock and frustration they told us that our suitcases had already been loaded on the plane that would be leaving to Ghana in two hours. We asked them to take the suitcases off the plane. After many calls were made, we were told that they will not be able to take our suitcases off the plane, but we would receive them in a few days. It is so remarkable that this can be done for passengers that board late and for us, who are no longer going to Ghana, it was not possible. My suitcases were on their way to Ghana instead of ME. Yes my suitcases were more fortunate than I. #UNATTENDEDSUITCASESONTRAVEL
We were asked to fill in reports. I gave them my address but since they couldn’t find SXM in the system, they decided to put Aruba. We requested them to call first to find out where to deliver my suitcases because I was leaving the Netherlands on August 7. Now here I am two weeks later back on my sweet St. Maarten not having executed #YearoftheReturntoGhana. Meanwhile my suitcases, I assume, are still in Ghana. Do hope they are enjoying themselves as much as I would have, had I made it to Ghana. Only one of the 11 suitcases was found and delivered albeit after more than a week. We’ve been in contact with KLM every single day and the expected return date of the luggage is unknown. KLM can’t provide us with proper answers.
In this digital era it’s unbelievable that suitcases are lost or not traceable. Waste of the baggage labels! KLM and Schiphol, you have proven that you can’t handle a crisis! I could have saved approximately $1,000 going to Ghana via the USA but I wanted to travel with the family. Thank God I did go via the Netherlands else I would be in Ghana all alone. God is great. #EVERYTHINGHAPPENSFORAREASON.
M. Blijden
Dear Editor,
“Mister Russell they going come at you in the paper, because they say you write about everything, but you one-sided because you don’t write about the police.”
If I am permitted to explain why it seems so, I believe whoever is closely watching, will take more time and pay a little more attention to what is coming from all sides.
Ninety-five percent of the times that people try to condemn the police for something they did or did not do, it is not in accordance with the real story. These stories are mostly hearsay and from a third or fourth party. Because from experience I am aware of this, I hardly pursue whether their accusations are based on facts or not.
People know me to be this way because they always want me to write something for them and I refuse, it is not my opinion. I am not an elected official whose job it is to represent the people.
The opening sentence of this letter is what one of the two people who had approached me said to me. They had summed up some of the plain-for-the-people-to-see infractions against which no action is taken by the police. All color lights all over the vehicles; everybody driving around with hazard lights; anybody closing off the road when they want to do work in the area. Don’t talk about stopping anywhere to let people out of their car and these righthanded cars (cars with steering wheel on the right side) letting people out of the car in the middle of the road.
One of them gave me a sheet of paper and told me to “write about dah.” On that paper was written: You don’t know who is a taxi driver from who is a gypsy because some of them carry themselves more presentable than some taxi drivers. The police tell who they want about using the cell phone. The police does make who they want take off the tint off the car glass.
Ordinarily I would not have written about this but I also live on St. Maarten and what affects St. Maarten affects me also. So if I just sit by without doing anything about it, even though I know better, I will have to shut my mouth when things go wrong. And as we are seeing, things are not going too well with people’s behavior.
I have written about the lighting on cars in the past and there was also a reply in the papers concerning this. This seems to have been to no avail. I will state this. When I look at the road infrastructure of St. Maarten, and I apply the traffic rule governing overtaking another motor vehicle, literally, there is nowhere on St. Maarten where I am allowed to overtake another motor vehicle.
What happens here is that the driver at the back of you, especially drivers of heavy equipment, tailgate you as it were, trying to push you out of the way for them to pass.
Some people have tried to justify the infractions – black glass, etc. – by claiming that the vehicle was imported that way. My answer is: car-dealers should know that they should not deliver cars with infractions according to traffic ordinance. It is like importing a gun without a permit.
What leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, however, is that of late I have to be constantly hearing that the police do not do anything, especially about the traffic, because they themselves do not understand anything about the traffic ordinance.
My reaction to this is: If the people are seeing this and saying it, are those who are in charge ostriches? So many years now St. Maarten has been receiving help from our partner Holland. Is it really so that our sober and matter-of-fact big brother does not have a reasonable solution? Must I continue to be under the impression that “laat ze maar rotsooien” continues to be in play? When are our people in government going to nominate people who are loyal to St. Maarten and not like DJT loyal to them?
Russell A. Simmons
Dear Editor,
We know the open era in professional sports; the various open tennis tournaments; the golf open tournaments. In these open tournaments the playing field is wide open with minimal restrictions. It means amateurs and beginners can enter a tournament and compete with the best of them, the professionals. All that is required is the will to succeed and a titanium determination.
I don’t need to know The colour of your eyes Nor the colour of your hair Neither do I look at your skin colour All I need to know are you competent Do you have good character That is sufficient evidence That you more than qualify For my C don’t stand for colour But for Competence For that will give you the confidence In your ability to rise Above all And never to fall So never let Your colour determine your future Of success or failure But have confidence In your competence That will make the Difference And will determine whether You win or lose You are the only one To choose For if colour is a barrier Then chose competence As your carrier Raymond Helligar aka Big Ray
Dear Editor,
It was not that long ago that Hurricane Irma ravaged our island. It would be an understatement to say that the then-Marlin government failed to take necessary measures both before and after the storm to mitigate what is now regarded as the greatest disaster to befall our island.
We are now poised to feel the effects of another type of storm, an economic one, set to land in November, if we fail to adopt the FATF regulations. We will then be left trying to work our way out of a deep economic chasm that is completely avoidable.
If St. Maarten was a member of the G7 we would have had a say in setting up of the rules of International Trade. Sadly, we are not a rule-maker but a rule-taker. It is our choice, however, if we want to be a rule-breaker, Of course, this is the easiest course, which is do nothing Naturally the NA [National Alliance – Ed.] has taken the lead in this discourse because of their particular forte “paralysis”. But considering that the US dollar forms the backbone of our economy we had best tread carefully.
It seems to me our discussions in Parliament should be focussed on “What are the consequences for the island if we adopt the measure versus the consequences if we do not”. It would be useful if we could have this discussion without the regular and distracting “woe is we” theatrics. Mr. Emmanuel purports to speak for the bankers. But we got bankers, How about we let them address Parliament and speak for themselves.
So, when in doubt, check the Internet. I found there is a wealth of information on this topic. I checked YouTube, where I find the graphic representation of data far more digestible. I learned that the purpose of FATF was to combat money-laundering and terrorist-financing. (Strangely, no mention was made of the Theo investigation.) Failure to comply would mean our overseas financial transactions would involve extra scrutiny, take longer and incur additional costs.
“Once a country is blacklisted, FATF calls on other countries to apply enhanced due diligence and countermeasures, increasing the cost of doing business with the country and in some cases severing it altogether. As of now (this excerpt was published on YouTube March 26, 2019) there were only two countries in the blacklist – Iran and North Korea – and seven on the grey list, including Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria and Yemen.
The MOT laws already prescribe that we provide source of funds for transactions in excess of $10,000. So why the resistance to additional measures by our local politicians. Exactly who are they trying to protect?
Mr. Emmanuel’s rant was most revealing. The silence from the aisle that should be supporting our Minister of Justice is just as telling, the concern extends to more than extra paperwork on behalf of our banks. Indeed there are many rich and powerful people on our island who have more to fear than the regular hard-working citizen. Mr. De Weever’s proposal should be a no-brainer, but the political twisting seem to be setting us all up to pay the cost.
Name withheld at author’s request.
