By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., April 19, 2021 — I have not been sleeping well over the past several weeks as a result of an eviction ruling by the D.C Superior Court Landlord/Tenant Court on Wednesday, March 17, in favour of my landlord because of back rent that I owe. The Court granted a stay of its judgment against me until June 1, 2021, which means that no eviction action can be taken before then, and I have been literally begging for financial assistance.
Response to my public appeal “begging” for financial assistance from friends in my native Bahamas has been extremely disappointing, resulting in an ongoing state of worry and depression; hence, the reason for me not sleeping well at nights. However, thanks to a generous donation I received from a very good friend, who prefers to remain anonymous, tomorrow I shall be able to pay this month’s rent, which was actually due on April 5. Hopefully, I shall be in the position to pay May’s rent on time and make a substantial payment on the back rent that I owe before the June 1 court-sanctioned eviction judgement comes into effect to demonstrate that I am making a concerted effort to pay my back rent.
I really want to continue staying at Modern on M for more reason than one. Aside from the fact that I really like living here, I have a physical disability as a result of two hip replacements that requires me to use a walker and I live within walking distance of a Safeway Supermarket, where I do my grocery shopping, and a CVS pharmacy, where I fill my monthly medications. What’s more, I am a baseball fanatic, having served as President of the Bahamas Baseball Association (BBA) for six years in the 1960s, and Modern on M is just six blocks from Washington Nationals Stadium.
As a veteran journalist, who was editor of both The Nassau Guardian (1998 – 2002) and The Freeport News (2002 – 2009), I returned to Washington, D.C., as the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at the Embassy of The Bahamas in 2013, having previously lived here for 21 years before returning to The Bahamas in 1996.
Before the Free National Movement (FNM) became the government in May of 2017, my rent was paid by the Embassy, but when my diplomat contract was not renewed, paying my rent became my responsibility. Rather than return to The Bahamas, I decided to remain in D.C. and established THE BROWN AGENCY LLC, a home-based public relations company that publishes the online publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, which was launched to keep Bahamians and nationals of other Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-member countries in the diaspora across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom up-to-date with news from their respective countries.
BAHAMAS CHRONICLE has attracted a huge following in The Bahamas, where I have several clients, but because of the devastation caused in September of 2019 by Hurricane Dorian in the northern islands of The Bahamas – including Grand Bahama, where I lived for 12 years before relocating to D.C. – and the current ongoing impact of COVID-19, generating sufficient income from my clients in The Bahamas to cover my monthly rent and make payments on my past-due rent have been an up-hill struggle.
I have launched a vigorous campaign among the candidates who have been ratified to run in the upcoming general election to assist in promoting their campaigns, but there has been virtually no response; hopefully, that will soon change – even if they have to remain anonymous – and I can “put my financial house in order” before June 1.
Given the gravity of my current situation, I am also once again appealing to Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren A. Henfield, whom I am told is a “Man of God,” to demonstrate some Christian principles and implement the proposal I submitted almost three years ago that I was told by Ambassador Sidney Collie – and subsequently confirmed by Attorney General Carl Bethel – had been approved. As I noted in a previous article, my original proposal was presented to Prime Minister Dr. Hubert Minnis when I was in Nassau in November of 2017 promoting my novel WOES OF LIFE.
I was seeking a monthly remuneration of $4,000 to continue doing what I did at the Embassy on a contractual basis, but after I did not get a response for several months, my financial stipulation was substantially reduced to $2,000 a month, and it is this amount that I was led to believe had been approved.
Additionally, as I also noted in a previous article, I still don’t understand why the Ministry of Tourism last December decided to discontinue our year-long contractual agreement for me to assist in promoting The Bahamas for a fee of $1,000 a month, given the fact that I thought I was doing an excellent job promoting The Bahamas as one of the world’s leading tourist destinations. Meanwhile, I have continued to cover Embassy-related events as well as promote The Bahamas as a premier tourist destination without monetary compensation because I love the country of my birth with the passion of a true Androsian.
Hopefully, I have some other friends in The Bahamas who would prefer to remain “anonymous” while helping me through this most difficult period of my life as I struggle to void being evicted. My Royal Bank of Canada account number: 05285-735-231-3.
