WILLEMSTAD - “Too little attention is paid to the problematic situation in which many children grow up in Bandabou.” This is according to Jahaira Muzo, board member of Plataforma Bandabou and project leader at the Mangusá foundation.
The situation on Bandabou, the rural part west of Curaçao, has been substandard for years. Unemployment and poverty are alarmingly high. “Before Covid, the situation was already pretty bad, but the pandemic has only made it worse,” Muzo said.
According to Muzo, there is too little political attention to do anything, while the situation is alarming for many families. “We've sounded the alarm so many times, we don't know what to do to get help anymore.”
During the first lockdown, many people lost their jobs and became dependent on food packages. Muzo: “Many people on Bandabou worked in the hospitality industry and in tourism, this group was the first to be evicted when the pandemic set in.”
According to the project leader, nothing has happened in recent years in the field of social developments. “There are many young people with very good ideas, but there is no money to guide them so that they can take care of themselves. There is almost no social guidance and no social workers. We would like to have at least two social workers there to guide people.”
Before the end of the year, the foundation visited several schools and spoke with the management to find out what the greatest need for help is. Muzo: “What we hear from the conversations we have had is that there is a lot of poverty. The teachers are mainly concerned with solving the children's problems. They spend most of their time on this, which means that their core business – namely teaching – comes in second place.”
Lisette Marlin is principal at Don Sarto primary school in the village of Soto in Bandabou. She recognizes that teachers spend a lot of time on, for example, educational tasks instead of teaching itself. “Many children do not receive the support they need at home, such as help with homework or motivating the children that school is important. They don't get that from home, with all the consequences that entails. Because the results are not what we would like.”
Unemployment is a major problem in the neighborhood. “Many neighborhoods in Soto are having a really hard time. We also see this in the neighborhood of our school. I also know that there are other neighborhoods in the area where poverty is even higher.”
According to the school director, there is also little to do for the young people, nothing to help them develop themselves. “Many parents cannot afford to send their children to music or sports. If you want to make a change on Bandabou, you have to come up with programs to educate these young people.”
She would also like to see social workers deployed in the neighborhoods. “We have a social worker at our school once a week. But for a school with many problems, this is not enough. In addition, these social workers should also be in the neighborhoods because often the whole family benefits from guidance.”
Both the school director and project leader Muzo say that attention has often been drawn to the situation. But Marlin also says: “During the elections, politicians come here and hold campaign, but after that you never see them again.”