Teaching in the Bahamas

The Commonwealth of the Bahamas is an archipelago of 700 islands and 2,000 cays. Of the population of 270,000, about 170,000 live on New Providence, where the capital, Nassau, is situated. Freeport, on the island of Grand Bahama is also growing in size and prominence. The rest of the population is scattered throughout the archipelago in a variety of settlements of different sizes. It is said that each of the settlements of the Family Islands (Out Islands) has its own distinct identity.

Tourism is the Bahamas' main industry, employing the majority of the workforce in one way or another. The financial services industry is the next most important area of the economy.

Ecotourism is starting to become more prominent. The Bahamas has the third-longest barrier reef in the world.

In 1648 all that changed. The Eleutheran Adventurers arrived to form the first republic in the New World where they could practise their religion freely without persecution. There are still people today who can trace their descent directly back to these pioneers.

Ignoring the age of pirates on this whistle stop tour of Bahamian history, American independence brought an influx of British Loyalists from the colonies who brought their slaves with them. Other people of African origin arrived as survivors of wrecked slave ships or as free people seeking a new life outside of America. However, even today, 90% of the country's wealth is reported to be in the hands of the white minority who make up 15% of the population.

The 1920's brought notoriety to the Bahamas as a centre for rum running to America under prohibition. During World War II, the Duke of Windsor was stationed here as Governor General.

Modern Bahamian history would not be complete without mention of Sir Milo Butler, Governor General and Sir Lynden Pindling, prime minister who oversaw the independence of the Bahamas and the introduction of majority rule in parliament. For all his failings, sir Lynden brought about many positive changes towards equality for all Bahamians, whatever their colour.

In 1997, the Free National Movement, led by Hubert Ingraham, was returned for a second term by a landslide victory of 34 seats to 6 over the Peoples Liberal Party led by Sir Lynden. Recent years have seen the expansion of the tourist industry in the Bahamas with major capital projects by foreign investors.

In short, the Bahamas has been an independent nation for 24 years, has had an emancipated population for 168 years and been governed by a parliamentary democracy for 267 years.

In general, the Bahamian people are very hospitable. It has been our experience that if you are invited to a Bahamian's home, it will probably be to a proper sit-down meal. Bear this in mind when you invite Bahamians to your home too.

Another generalisation: culturally, the Bahamian people are very religious. To many, the public consumption of alcohol, going to night clubs, (in some extreme cases even going to the cinema) are seen as inherently sinful. It is an odd paradox however that a society which outwardly values Christian morality so highly also has an extremely high illegitimate birth rate.

Immigration procedures are streamlined for the processing of tourists visiting the Bahamas. If you know where you will be staying, have sufficient funds to support yourself during your stay and have a return ticket, it is quick and painless.

For example, a U.S. citizen is able to visit the Bahamas as a tourist for a stay of up to eight months. For longer stays: an annual residence permit costs about $1,000 p.a. If you own property in ithe Bahamas, an annual residence permit should cost you about $500 p.a. Permanent residence is possible - it can cost up to about $10,000 depending on how long you have lived in the Bahamas etc. There is an immigration fast-track for expatriates who wish to invest $250,000 or more in property or business in the Bahamas.

In all cases of non-tourist immigration, you will need evidence of a clean police record, two written character references, financial references etc. The process of granting a work permit, in our experience can be S-L-O-W and stressful.

According to the Bahamas Handbook, the immigration department take an EXTREMELY dim view of people who abuse the Bahamas' hospitality by entering as a tourist and then subsequently apply for a work permit. Don't try it.

Many of the private schools belong to the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools. Two schools (Lyford Cay School: currently K-9, and St. Andrew's School: K-12 are also members of ECIS). Some schools are also members of ACSI. The Bahamas Handbook recommends four schools: Lyford Cay, St. Andrew's, Queens College and Kingsway Academy.

AS far as I understand it, by law if a Bahamas General Certificate of Eduation (BGCSE) syllabus exists for a specific subject, a school is obliged to offer courses following the BGCSE syllabus (similar but not identical to the UK GCSE) for external examinations in preference to foreign syllabuses on the same subjects wherever possible. Students take their Bahamas Junior Certificate (BJC) examinations at the end of Grade 9, and their BGCSE examinations at the end of Grade 12. Since many students travel to the USA to further their education after high school, they may also study for USA SATs.

Further education and vocational education is available at a variety of institutions in the Bahamas; including the College of the Bahamas (COB), the Bahamas Tourism and Hotel Training College and the Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute. As far as I am aware, COB only trains elementary and physical education teachers at the moment.

The local TV station, ZNS-13, has been known to abandon scheduled programming to bring live coverage of major church events. There is a national public radio station, ZNS-2 Inspiration 1240 AM, which is devoted to religious programming. Other radio stations also carry a great deal of religious programming on Sundays. Even the daily morning newspaper, the Nassau Guardian, carries a weekly church news supplement on Thursdays, as well as publishing a variety of regular religious features, religious adverts and no horoscopes (although our psychic pals in the USA have a significant number of regular small adverts). The telephone directory carries 16 pages devoted to churches (to put this in perspective, banks - the second most important industry in the Bahamas - take up 21 pages).

Compared to the UK, views on spirituality in the Bahamas tend to place greater stress on behaviour and experience than on attitudes or beliefs. This means that groups which emphasise obedience to a set of rules as a measure of spirituality, like the Seventh Day Adventists, are more acceptable here than they would be in UK evangelical circles.

In recent years, Rastafarianism has started to make more of an impact in the Bahamas. For pagan expatriates whose interests are more New Age, the Bahai faith and the Yoga Retreat on Paradise Island are active.

It is possible to get a comfortable 2-bedroomed apartment on the eastern side of New Providence for around $600 per month. Your first month in the Bahamas could prove to be an expensive, so budget for this before you arrive. Normally a landlord will ask for first and last month's rent up front. Deposits for water, electricity or gas may also be required (expect to put down another $300 or so). You may also need to put aside up to $400 as a deposit for BATELCO, the telephone company. Don't be surprised if you never see a formal written tenancy agreement. Air conditioning is useful when it is REALLY hot. The average temperatures published are exactly that - the maximum temperature can be considerably higher. At night, the temperature is comparable to a hot summer's day in the UK. However, using cieling fans as an alternative most of the time is more economical. Frugal use of electricity will keep your electricity bills below $50 per month.

Get used to storing most of your fresh food in your large refrigerator. Cooking tends to be done on gas stoves from bottled gas which is delivered by truck. A full cannister will last you about 3 months or so. At present it costs about $50 to refill a cannister and up to $170 deposit on a new gas bottle.

Having laundry facilities at your apartment is also useful. Many washing machines here seem to be top-loading. Water is metered. Water bills are paid quarterly. Budget for $10-$20 per month. Remember, showers are more economical than baths. Some apartments may have water pumped from their own wells, which is fine, except when you have a power cut. Most people drink bottled water. The most economical way to buy this is to use prepaid coupons ($30 for 10) to purchase 5-gallon plastic drums of the stuff. Small hand pumps to fit these bottles are available at a cost of $15-$40.

If your yard has fruit trees, bananas or coconut palms growing in it, it makes sense to nurture them and reap the benefits later.

Do not expect every apartment to have a swimming pool, beach view or cable TV. Such things do exist, you will pay more for the privilege of having access to these facilities though.

Other items have high duties charged on them, and after the retailler's markup, they may seem unrealistic to someone newly over from the UK. $5 for a box of breakfast cereal, $1 for a single pot of yoghurt, $2 for a loaf of white bread would not be unusual. Some canned goods, particularly fruit and meat, tend to be particularly expensive when compared to UK prices.

Some fresh produce is sold undated. Always check items for freshness and if they have use-by dates on them, check these before purchase. To illustrate this, let me relate the following incident I witnessed. An evangelist at a Pentecostal church once had a "word of knowledge" for a person who that day, the Lord had revealed to him, had bought a loaf of bread, which when they returned home, they found was mouldy. Three people responded to his appeal!

To illustrate our ignorance, before we came to the Bahamas, we thought it would be a good idea to bring a vegetarian cook book with us. We reasoned that as we would be living on an island, imported meat would be expensive and that locally produced fruit and vegetables would be cheap. We were wrong! The price of certain cuts of meat is relatively reasonable, although the cuts are often given American names which can confuse you if you're used to British labelling. A great deal of meat is sold frozen in the supermarket.

On the other hand, fresh fruit and vegetables are relatively expensive and often of variable quality, depending on what the boat brought in that week. Seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables are also available from roadside stalls. Again, the quality varies from day to day. We usually go to "All My Children", a vegetable store near the Village Road roundabout early on a Saturday morning, as by then all the produce from the latest shipment should be on display. If you go later in the week, you could be disappointed. The price of tropical fruit comes as a shock however if you're used to relying on the quality and prices of items available in the UK.

The pineapple is an appropriate example. In the UK we would not dream of paying more than about $2 for a pineapple on Leeds Market. Here, a pineapple will usually cost about $6. More poignantly, although the Bahamas is the original home of the pineapple, these will be probably imported from Costa Rica! Locally produced pineapples are available May/June when they are in season at about half that price. One consolation: you can easily propagate a new pineapple plant by planting the top in sharp sand.

One way to keep costs down is to join a warehouse club like Solomon's or Cost-Rite (joining fee: $25) and buy some of your groceries in bulk. Also, keep an eye open for special offers and promotions, buying several items when they are cheapest.

Hardware purchases can be made at branches of John S. George around Nassau, or at Kelly's in the Mall at Marathon. However, it is prudent to visit plenty of patio sales during your first month (particularly those where the owner is leaving the island). Linens are much more expensive here than you would be used to in the UK. Plan for this when you pack your suitcases.

A car is seen as an essential tool for survival on this 21 by 7 mile island! You will need to therefore budget for this before you arrive. Be warned, $2,000 will not buy you much of a reliable machine. Expect to pay significantly more ($3,000 or $4,000 perhaps). If possible, buy a second-hand car from a rich Bahamian who could probably afford to have it regularly serviced.

Public transport is provided by the local jitneys - minibuses which operate on one-way circular routes. This means that although getting from A to B may be quick and direct; getting back from B to A might take you round half the island through all sorts of places you may not want to go.

Although the weather here might be ideal for motorbikes and bicycles, for safety's sake leave these forms of transport for tourist areas. Local dogs (potcakes) are fond of chasing cyclists.

New Providence is served by two airports, Nassau International Airport in the west of the island and Paradise Island Airport on the south-east side of Paradise Island. It is usually much more converient for people to meet you if you can arrange to fly to Paradise Island. However, only Paradise Island Airlines travel to Paradise Island.

It is possible to travel from New Providence to the Family Islands via Bahamasair or the mailboat service.

The postal system is not as reliable or as fast as the UK postal system, but probably compares favourably with the US system ;-> Fed Ex is a more expensive alternative available here. Postage stamps also make attractive, cheap souvenirs.

BATELCO have a monopoly of telephone services here. It is possible to use a calling card from other private companies to save you about 20% on overseas calls. Local calls are free, international calls can be expensive (about $2.75 per minute to the UK). Using email to paper and email to fax services are therefore an attractive option here.

Internet access is also relatively expensive in the Bahamas. There are two main full internet service providers in the Bahamas. Bahamas On-Line and BATELNET. Initial setup costs about $40 while time online costs about $2 per hour for a home user.

There are two daily (Mon-Sat) papers. The Nassau Guardian is published in the morning, and the Tribune in the evening. Both are available from street-corner vendors. On Thursday, the Punch, local tabloid/scandal/gossip paper is published. Overseas newspapers are available in some of the hotels and shops in downtown Nassau. There is even a News cafe on Paradise Island where you can read a paper while ordering a meal.

There are two national public service radio stations (ZNS-1 AM 1540 and ZNS-2 AM 1240) and one National public service TV station (ZNS-13). A number of commercial FM music radio stations (eg More FM, Love 97, 100 Jams) have started up in recent years. It is possible to also tune into the south Florida AM radio stations (eg 940 WINZ) or to listen to the BBC World Service on SW radio. Cable Bahamas provides a variety of packages for people who want to watch more than one TV station and don't want to use a satellite dish.

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