Deacons Farm Residents Seek Action on Growing Health and Environmental Concerns

Deacons Farm residents have appealed to the authorities to deal with what they consider to be a growing health and environmental crisis from a breeding ground for mosquitoes and monkeys.

The residents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, pointed to a canal near the Deacons Primary School that has become overgrown with bush in recent months due to periodic rainfall and that despite their efforts to draw attention to the situation, nothing has been done, and mosquitoes have proliferated.

One woman said: “Since I’ve been living down here, over 47 years, I have never seen bush like this up here. When six o’clock on a night, everybody on this block and I believe the other block, have to shut up their place from the mosquitoes. So much mosquitoes, then you [have] monkeys. If some person is behind that bush then you can’t see them.”

Another resident chimed in: “Here in Deacons we need the bush cutting because it is the waterway, it goes down to the sea. It is also a hiding hole for all sorts of stuff, the mosquitoes are really bad, and it was never like this. Everybody that we call, no one is paying us attention, we need urgent attention to this matter.”

On a visit to the area, St Michael North West District Emergency Organisation Chairperson Doriel Gill-Skinner told Barbados TODAY that she had become aware of the situation late last year. The Drainage Division had initially promised to tend to the area early in 2024 but nothing had been done so far, she said.

She said she had the area cleaned privately on Thursday, expressing the hope that work could be completed early next week.

“In November, we had contacted the Drainage Division but having not heard from them, I said . . . we will get out there and do some work and get the areas de-bushed.

“It’s not completed; there’s still a lot of work to be done. It’s the entire stretch of the canal behind the Deacons Primary School and it is right opposite the day nursery. So the day nursery was being affected by mosquitoes,” Gill-Skinner said.

Meanwhile, former Democratic Labour Party candidate for St Michael North West Ryan Walters told Barbados TODAY he has been working closely with the community’s DEO for the last four years, and commended them for seeking to address the situation as fast as they could.

He also asked for more support to be given to the organisation.

“I want to take this time to commend them for the work they have been doing in the constituency as it relates to disaster emergency and keeping and maintaining some level of order when it comes to de-bushing, bad lighting, bad poles, etcetera. I think they are doing a wonderful job and I will continue to ask the authorities to give them more support that they need so that they can carry out their mandate.” (SB)