18 IN an ID.” He sits down on an office chair, the wheels pressing into the sand. “Corona is a lesson to humanity. Whether you are St. Maarten, Dominican, Jamaican or Indian, it affects everyone. Everyone is equal: color, origin, whether you are poor or rich, young or old, it doesn’t matter anymore. Everyone has to stay at home.” He frowns, continues: “I think it’s good. People are confronted with themselves and have to think. A lot will change. But that’s okay. No hay mal que por bien no venga. (Every disadvantage has its advantage, ed.)” He concludes, thoughtfully: “So far, much has been tried on St. Maarten, but little has been achieved. Now people will have to help each other to move forward.” At home I make tea from Moringa leaves that Zongo brought. The sound of the waves breaks the silence. The sea throws a new load of sargassum onto the beach and swallows a large amount of sand. On occasion chained up hungry dogs whine, otherwise it is quiet in the neighborhood. A handicapped man who daily feeds chickens in the alley in front of his house complains that there is only a single chicken and rooster left. “People in the neighborhood are catching my chickens to eat,” he says despondently. After a day without food, 71-year-old Weldon Richardson has new stock in the room in the guesthouse where he is staying. “The supermarket on Pondville Road is doing delivery, thank goodness,” he sighs. “I had a good breakfast this morning.” Richardson is a Yacht Delivery Captain from Bermuda, he had brought a sailing yacht to St. Maarten on behalf of the owners and was unable to fly back to Bermuda due to the closure of the airspace. Now he is sitting in his room all day or hanging over the railing of his balcony staring at passers-by
who ignore the stay at home measure. “You are breaking curfew,” he shouts at me. I explain to him that I have a Media Disaster Pass and that I am doing news reports. Richardson eagerly starts to tell his story: “I’ve been bringing boats to various destinations around the world since I was eighteen. In Bermuda there are eleven sailing races with international participation. The owners of those yachts often don’t have time to return their boats home after the race, they leave that to Delivery Captains like me. The company that arranges the assignments also arranges the return flight. My flight has been canceled due to the lockdown.” He can’t afford to pay the rent for the room for weeks to come, Richardson says. “I hope the lockdown is not extended. I urgently need medication. I suffer from prostate cancer.” Sailboats are anchored in Great Bay, a few hundred yards from the shore. Anil sits under a canopy watching a dinghy as it slowly approaches the beach. The dhingy is empty, a man swims in front of it and pulls it on a rope. He is a Russian man and got into trouble on the water, the onboard engine stopped. Tourists staying in a nearby apartment call the Coast Guard, to no avail. The man decides to pull his dhingy towards the pier at Walter Plantz Square and ask for help nearby. “I wouldn’t be comfortable either stuck on a sailing boat for two weeks,” says Anil. “Those people are now hungry or need something else. I would like to do delivery of groceries with a jet ski. But the Coast Guard does not allow jet skis on the water.” The five dollars that delivery boys from Domino’s get would have been a welcome extra, Anil agrees. “And a free pizza for the people on the boat.” Mouthwatering: “Who wouldn’t want that?”
INSIDEstmaarten.com