Svb - causando sufrimento ora hende ta malo

 Desde cu mi ta traha, ora mi bira malo, Svb ta contribui na mi dolor. Como tres aña pasa mi a sufri di pneumonia; mi tabata haya dificultad pa hala rosea, ta hopi zwak cu kentura, diaree y sacamento. Y toch asina mi mester a sinta durante mas di dos ora den sala di Svb warda pa control di dokter. No tin otro manera. 

Awe mi tin Covid-19. E sintomanan ta casi igual cu pneumonia. Loke ta yuda mi sinti miho ta drumi, bebe likido cayente, y ibuprofen. Pero durante ultimo 5 dia, mi mester lanta TUR mainta pa purba di resolve pa Svb paga mi mi dianan ao.

Tur cos a cuminsa e prome dia di control. Tabata e di tres dia di mi ao, dus mester haya yamada di dokter di Svb pa control. Door di kentura mi ta bay bin for di tino, dus mi tabata 'drumi' ora dokter di Svb a yama y mi no a contesta, pa loke mi ao no ta valido. Mi a haya hopi stress pero claro, mi ta respeta nan maneho y mi a compronde cu tabata mi fout. Esey tabata riba diabierna. Den weekend, mi a purba di tuma contacto cu Svb henter weekend. Mi a gasta 20 florin na carchi. Mi a keda mas di mey ora ta warda na linea sin haya contesta. 

Yega dialuna, mi a yama atrobe - atrobe mester warda yamada pa control medico. Sinembargo, ora e yamada a yega mi tabata den baño ta saca. Mi a core yama back mesora. Nan a yama 10:32; mi a yama back 10:34, pero nan a bisa cu 'dokter ya a pone cu bo no a contesta', pues atrobe nan no ta aproba mi ao. Comosifuera ta imposibel cu un yamada por bay perdi pa cualkier motibo - sea bo tabata na telefon cu bo doño di trabao, cu bo dokter di cas pa haya remedi, of bo tabata saca den baño. Maske mi a yama back mesora, dus mi no ta nenga pa wordo controla pa dokter, Svb a dicidi di no paga mi dia - atrobe. 

Okay, mi a pensa, ya cu mi no ta ao riba diabierna, diasabra, diadomingo y dialuna - y mi tabata ao apenas dos dia antes - mi a meld ao atrobe riba diamars. Algo den mi a bisa mi pa yama Svb y sigura cu nan a registra mi ao.
E persona cu ken mi a papia, di mal manera a informa mi cu mi ao 'a sigui core' desde diabierna. Ablief? Bo no a bisa mi cu mi ao no ta 'aproba'?

Mi a pidi pa clarifica si segun Svb mi ta ao of no. Nan kiermen mi ta ao desde e prome dia cu mi a meld, ta djis nan no ta bay paga, pero toch, mi ta ao. Mi no mag papia cu dokter mas pasobra 'dokter tin hopi hende pa yama', comosifuera esey ta problema di e ciudadano y responsabilidad di e ciudadano. Mi ta compronde cu mester ta disponibel, pero e hecho cu si cualkier cos bay malo cu un yamada ta nifica no por haci nada mas, ni si yama back mesora, simplemente, no tin nada mas pa haci, ta parce mi algo ilogico. E trato di personal di Svb tambe ta laga demasiado di desea: niun tiki consideracion pa hende cu ta malo.

Dus awe atrobe mester keda lanta henter mainta, sin usa telefon, y spera den Dios su poder mi sacamento of cualkier otro cos no coincidi cu e bendito yamada di Svb. Si no, mi lo mester busca manera pa biba cu 3/4 di 80% di mi salario fin di luna. Sin importa cu mi pago di Svb si ta yega completo tur luna. 

Svb, please, haci un maneho humano cu ta duna hende, cu ta MALO, oportunidad di papia cu dokter. Bin cu un maneho flexibel cu no ta djis yama dentro di un orario diminuto (7:30am-9am). Y por fabor, tene un tiki logica den boso maneho. Mientras tanto, DVG si a keda controla nechi cu mi ta den cuarentena, tur dia ta check up cu mi con ta bayendo cu mi sintomanan, y semper a trata mi cu respet y comprension. Unda Svb su servicio a keda?

PS: Cualkier persona cu tin storianan asina pa conta, please message mi. Nos ta bay yuda Svb mehora.

Who sits on the throne? I don't give a damn.

It's amazing how it's not even a conspiracy theory that the government of the Netherlands handed a hefty secret document to our prime minister, asked the government to agree to the terms by friday, and is banning anyone from knowing the contents. Anyone including Parliament.

As I understood, this is well within their powers and it is legal.
What they have to agree to,  we have heard basically that there will be an 'entity' of NL who will take over Aruba's finances, education and justice.

It amazes me every time our PM says she was surprised by things, because we could've told her this was a long way coming.

I'm just a citizen and I have to say, I'm not even mad? NL is saying they're pissed because our money was so mismanaged that we were already drowning in debt before the pandemic.I'm also quite pissed about that. And because our legal system is a joke. Again, I agree, and seeing how there were protests last friday about this very issue, it seems most of us agree. I can't say all the rumors I've heard but when you hear the level of corruption on this island, my people...

Why do we have the director of finances saying that our country's state is 'espantoso' (dreadful)? Why do we have the specialists alerting us that there is no ICU rooms at the hospital? I can't be mad that NL is mad about these things. In fact, we should've kicked up a stink and taken over before we even gave them the chance.

But we didn't. And now we have to move on to the next stage. I've seen people on social media saying that we're gonna be sorry when it's hard for an Aruban to get a good job. It's already hard for every Aruban who is not a 'friend and family' to get the top level jobs and positions. What do I care which privileged group gets the benefits. It's still just a privileged group taking everything and leaching off the rest of us.

I get so mad when I hear how much money is spent in government contracts. I always wonder if people really don't realize that it's -our- money. Like these people are legit telling us they can't pay our own pensions and healthcare, with our own money, but they can afford to give themselves enormous salaries, benefits, businesses, bonuses. Legal fees.
We, the people of Aruba, should be the ones spending our hard earned money. Not them. And not their friends and family.
So why should we care about this supposed 'autonomy' that 'Aruba' would be losing? It's just the political dynasties, the corrupt 'bussinessmen', the mafia, who are losing their autonomy. For the rest of us nothing is going to change just because NL installs an entity. Our government might make decisions in our name but not in our interest.

We have to get rid of them all. But like my sister says, we can't go into this battle hurt and angry. We can't go with resentment, with fear, or ignorance. We have to go from a position of love.

Aruba in the grip of mafia

I was reading the article about the death threat on mr. Atan Lee, who is trying to bring a referendum to see if Arubans want to be a municipality of the Netherlands like our sister island Bonaire. And for that, apparently according to one person, he should die. 

In his declarations when he was denouncing the death threat to the police, he said that it seems that Aruba is controlled by a mafia.

Regardless of his current situation, let's explore the ways in which Aruba is being run like a mafia:

• 'Friends and Family'
  Yea we all know here about this. It's basically the case that the big political parties come into government and immediately begin hiring all their friends and family with ridiculous salaries and benefits. Which is one aspect of it, but the other side of this situation is the people who are not adjacent to either party. Those people get nothing. I realized rather quickly after coming back to Aruba that if you don't have connections, you can't get a job here. You just can't. It's better to have zero education and connections - that way you will be able to get a position of director of a state company; but if you are super capable and highly educated without connections, forget it. Nothing for you. This does seem like we are letting our country be run like a mafia - where you never put anyone before 'family'.
  
• 'Omerta'
  Aruba has infinite taboos that will quickly throw you to the wolves. It's the case with many, many things, that 'everybody knows' but no one ever talks. That's the case with pedophilia, domestic abuse, mental illness, corruption. Keeping appearances is more important than actually making our island a just and healthy place. Say the wrong thing, go against the current - be banished. We have high-profile cases like most recently with minister Marisol Lopez-Tromp; but what about the people we don't hear from in the news? We all know at least two or three people who lost their jobs over pointing out something wrong they saw. Denounce a criminal and you find yourself a pariah.
  
• 'Organised crime'
  We all know. We all know how corrupt everyone is. We all know those businesses who obviously are engaged in money laundering with impunity. We all know who has investments in the drug and human trafficking industry. The few brave ones who denounced these crimes are now outside of our society, while authorities are involved in organised crime and will not do anything.Corruption with labor, permits, constructions, land, anything. We keep voting for the same corrupt politicians because 'friends and family'. It's better to be -in- the circle; albeit a corrupt circle. But it's still better than losing your priviledge of connections. No one wants their party to lose power because everyone is hanging on the same thread. Why are our leaders corrupt? Because we, as a people, are corrupt. Everyone I can think of has a friend they call when they are in trouble with the law to try and get out of it. It seems that we don't believe in our own laws.

Since last year it was revealed that the Netherlands is #8 in the list of least corrupt countries, I can understand clearly why a lot of people on this island don't want more involvement with the macambas.

No, we should not redefine beauty

Beautiful is beautiful. It means, well, pleasing to the eye. And indeed some people are better looking than others. Fact.

Now hear me out. I don't think we should redefine beauty to mean strong, to mean kind, or any other worthy characteristic. Why? Because well, why should beauty be the end-all? Why should beauty be all that matter?

Wouldnt it be better if we redefined -value-?

Yeah, youre not beautiful, but youre kind and that's more valuable.
You're not beautiful but you're smart, and that's waaay more useful.
Yeah, she's beautiful, but that's not getting us anywhere.

Nothing needs to be the new beautiful. We need to stop putting all the value on beautiful.

The end.

Education beyond school

Recently, MP Arends-Reyes wrote an OP which we published in Bon Dia Aruba, in which she criticized the government for using budget of the ministry of education to 'promote' cannabis. In her argument, she said that the money used for the cannabis conference could have been used for something related to education, like paying for schoolchildren's supplies or their tuition fees, or books, or something. She emphasized that money from the budget of education should be used for education... of children.

In my opinion, the cannabis conference was educational for many people and institutions, and it is a topic of extreme interest and relevance to the Aruban society. Education doesn't start and doesn't end at school, much less at primary school. Education is a life-long process, and reducing it to the formative years of primary school is a disservice to the Aruban population.

The idea that whatever budget the ministry of education has should only be used to educate children is, frankly, appalling. Adults are responsible for children's education, education also takes place outside of schools, so it follows that educating adults will translate to educating the children.

I will criticize, however, that a government-sponsored event had attendees paying Afl 100.- for entry. If the government is funding education, it shouldn't do it only for the elite, who in any case could probably afford their own education.

On this same note, we had Robert Candelaria rightfully questioning the origins of the budget for the conference, and whether the funds were used improperly. But then he does on to say that kids should be given the already failed 'just say no' lecture regarding drugs. I attached just one link for comprehensiveness, but I encourage you to do a simple google search for 'ineffectiveness of just say no campaign'. To have an MP in 2018 promoting Reagan-era failed campaigns is truly sad.

It doesn't seem like our current parliament is all that representative of the modern, cosmopolitan Aruban, one who lives and thrives online. With the current access to limitless information, it's hard to watch our representatives struggle to adapt to more hollistic and modern understandings of our health, well-being and mentality.

I'm living for the day when we have an MP promoting the use of education budget to provide the unemployed with new skills, or to begin the transition to more sustainable ways of employment for those who work in sectors which are predicted to disappear. I'm also living for the day when we think of educating our children in a way they can make smart decisions, rather than scaremongering them into doing 'what has always been done'.

The public beach is reserved

Recently, we had family vacationing on the island, so I found myself like the proverbial "turista riba mi isla", visiting the cool spots, dining out, and enjoying the beach.

One such day, we had just had breakfast at a beachfront restaurant, in a big group of about ten people, and we were just playing around the beach on the sand with my baby niece.
Not two minutes had we been there before we were approached by a woman, "nicely" asking us if we wanted to rent the beach chairs, since we were around them so much. I guess we weren't all that opposed to paying some cash to be able to frolic around the beach to our hearts' contents because we asked how much for the chairs.

It was $5. Per chair. Did I mention we were about ten people? Nahhh man. Nah. Miss me with that.

Ok, so we said no thank you, and the lady told us that the chairs a bit further from the ocean were allocated to restaurant customers, so we moved to those chairs and started setting up.
Not even a single minuted had passed, a man who was sitting on the chairs behind us started telling us about having to pay for the chairs. Seeing as we had already talked to the woman, we thanked him and carried on our merry way.

I don't know how patient you, my dear reader, are, but let me tell you that patience was never my strongest suit. So by now I was already sick and tired of the stupid chairs. The problem was, you see, that there was no space available on the beach that wasn't already occupied by the damn chairs. Like they literally arrive at the crack of dawn to the PUBLIC beach and set up their chairs all over the sand, and then expect everyone to just steer clear. Is this even legal?

Anyway, so after ignoring the random man.... we were approached yet again. I mean, we already had to clear our presence there twice but no, again, we had another man come over and say only if we pay the $50 we can use the chair. Mind you, we didn't even really want to use the chair, we werent even really sitting on the chair but because we were on the sand near the chairs, we were constantly harassed.

To the latest man, we even had to show our receipt so we would be allowed to stay.

But seriously though. It's a public beach. I'm all for people making their money and all but this is absurd. It's one thing if they placed the chairs on the beach as people rented them, meaning the chairs on the beach are being used. But that's not the case at all. Rather, those private chairs occupy the entire public beach even though the majority of them was unoccupied.

What if I want to bring my own chair and sit on the beach? Can I then remove the rental chairs and replace it with mine?
Point is.

Suggestions?

Of fishermen and fish

 Back in 2013 I graduated with a Master in Applied Ethics from Utrecht University. My last assignment, my thesis, which built on the work of biologists, veterinarians, and other scholars at my institution, sought to find the rightful place of fish in the moral compass.

Since then, I developed a stronger care for these wonderful creatures, and honestly believe that it is of urgent importance to protect the oceans.

Recently, there is a lot of talk about the new environmental law, which protects several native species of flora and fauna, and it is quite totalitarian.
It comes as a ban on fishing a bunch of different species, and the fishermen are in uproar. That is understandable. But here’s the thing, Rona, fishermen are grown men, not teenagers. We shouldn’t have to give in to their demands in the name of preventing an uncomfortable week for Daddy Government. We are currently way past the point of negotiation with this issue. Sure, let’s protect the traditional way of the fisher, all the way until there isn’t a single fish to fish anymore. Let’s pretend that there isn’t illegal fishing, hunting, and logging going on around the world, which already puts immense pressure on the global ecosystems.

Fish are incredible animals, and there is actually so much variety in what we call “fish”, that it sometimes doesn’t even make sense to group all these species together. They are not just a product to be pulled out of the ocean for a quick buck or a tingle on your taste buds. Particularly for those of us living close to the waters, species that live in the ocean “filter toxins from the water (,) protect shorelines and reduce the risks or algae blooms such as the red tide.”

This isn’t an issue where talking about it will help. We’ve been talking about the oceans since I myself was a kid, and we are still talking about it, and in the meantime, it is predicted that by 2048 the entire world’s oceans will be empty of fish. Oh, sorry, did I say predicted?
Nicola Beaumont, PhD from the Plymouth Marine Laboratory in the UK said in a news release “This isn’t predicted to happen, it’s happening right now.” She added that this decline in biodiversity means the marine environment will not be able to sustain our way of life.
This isn’t even about exotic species, but actually, 29% of edible fish and seafood species have already seen their numbers decline by a whopping 90%. It is not a gradual decline, either. It’s happening fast and getting faster.

Giving them more time is not a solution, not for the fishermen, and not for the fish.

Ok. So what can we do?

We can turn the fishermen into farmers! Yes we can. Growing food locally will not only leave the oceans in peace, but the reduction in transport costs for a portion of our food consumption will all-around help the environment. We can even set up a farm-to-table restaurant called “Former Fisheries”. We could teach the fishermen a new skill, like leather tanning, shoe-making, landscaping. Let’s support the fishermen in finding a more sustainable way of life.
It is not uncommon for professions and skills to slowly become obsolete. Think of all the people who lost their manufacturing jobs in the wake of the industrial revolution and yet, no one ever stood up and said we should stop introducing machines.

We are now once again at world-changing cross roads. “It’s not too late. We can turn this around. But less than 1% of the global ocean is effectively protected right now,” said Boris Worm, PhD of Dalhousie in Halifax and author of the study I’ve based this post on.
Sorry fishermen, but you will survive. The oceans will not.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/salt-water-fish-extinction-seen-by-2048