Blog post by Shirley Dobbie – Santa Maria – 1st November 2010
Having lived on Sal for 3 years we have seen things improve, but some services are lacking. This was a letter I wrote to the Prime Minister.
Dear Sir,
First let me introduce myself.
My name is Shirley Dobbie I first came to Cape Verde Sal Island with my husband Charlie five years ago and fell in love with the Island. We bought a property off plan in the Praia Antonio de Sousa area. When our place was built we made the move to come and live in our new property, which now we have been here for almost three years. Three years ago we also invested in a shop in the Praia Antonio de Sousa area. My main concern is in the three years since living in Praia Antonio de Sousa area I have been very disappointed as nothing seems to be getting done up this end of town. It would be nice to have some roads instead of walking over rubble every day we venture out, also street lights would be good, as we don’t drive here and have to walk everywhere. If I am in town myself I have to make sure I am home before it gets dark as I don’t like walking in the pitch dark by myself. Last year when new bins got distributed around town they forgot about this end, also when the street cleaners were out in force clearing the roads again this end was forgot about. I was at a meeting a few month ago with the tourist board and it was talks on Santa Maria and work that has to get done to better the roads, I was angry that Praia Antonio de Sousa was not even on the map for any work to get done. Most maps seem to stop at the Sab Sab hotel it’s as if this end of town does not exist. There are packs of dogs also roaming about another reason I don’t like out after dark. We opened our shop 8 weeks ago the first shop in Praia Antonio de Sousa, my shop should be looking out onto the new town square, instead we are looking out onto heaps of rubble. Who would want to sit and have a coffee at my shop looking into all the mess? There are very nice buildings up this end, pity there are no roads, lights and pipe water. We pay our property tax for our house and shop every year and see nothing for the money we are paying.
Kind Regards
Shirley and Charlie Dobbie
NOTE: Shirley, Jorge and Jim had their photos published with the newspaper article. More information will be included when received and posted within this Blog.
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