Bahamas News
09-17-04, - 11:07 AM
ANDRE': Paradise Lost
By Nadine Thomas-Brown
Nassau Guardian
http://www.bahamasissues.com/images/news/ANDRE.jpg
'That fellow over there is no ordinary "joneser"'. This is what a friend of mine whispered to me several summers ago before I found out his name. Curiosity aptly pricked, I asked her to elaborate. 'Well he is rich...' she began, before I cleverly interrupted, 'in dirt?' taking note of the really worn dirty rags that encased his worn tired looking body. My friend couldn't tell me much more than that she had heard that he was from a wealthy family. Forever inquisitive, I decided that I would find out for myself what his story was.
I began to take note of him whenever and wherever I passed him. I noticed that he was white (not bright as we refer to light skinned people) which to me was a novelty. I ain't never seen no white beggar in the Caribbean- but I digress. I would often see him by the service station at the junction of John F. Kennedy drive and Farrington Road. So I thought to myself what better way to find out about him than by striking up a friendship? So I did. After a few months He would pick flowers and hand them to me at the stoplight. He never begged for money. I eventually asked him for his story and after meeting with him and his dog (yes his dog) behind a smelly dumpster in an Oaksfield service station (he had re-located), the following story emerged.
Nadine: What is your name?
Andre`: My name is André Leonard Chapelle
Nadine: Who are your parents?
Andre`: My father was Leonard Michael Chapelle. My mother was Molly Chappelle. My Dad was English. My mother was Bahamian.
Nadine: You keep saying was, are they dead?
Andre`: Yes they passed away. My dad died from Alzheimer's my mom died I think from a broken heart. My dad divorced her after 27 years and ran off with a lady who looked like my mom ten years earlier.
Nadine: Do you have siblings?
Andre: I have one sister living quite comfortably in Florida.
Nadine: Do you have other family?
Andre`: My mother had seven sisters and one brother but it wasn't that family reunion kinda family.
Nadine? What schools did you attend?
Andre`: Well right now I'm in the school of life. You don't particularly graduate from it, you just continue to learn (self deprecatingly). I went to Wee Wisdom in Nassau on Collins Avenue. St Andrew's. Up until 1975, I went to the Lyford Cay school, I then went to Ridley College in Canada for four years- a private school-
then Oxford Academy in Connecticut (in 1981) - an American preparatory school where the ratio of student to teacher was one to one. The school had about 80 students and the student population was made up of kids with influential parents from all over the world –Kuwaiti, South Africa to name a few. I went to college in Florida to be an accountant. My life was mapped out for me. My father had already lined up summer work... (His voice drops down low.)
Nadine: So what happened?
Andre`: I am not an accountant!
Nadine: What did you want to do?
Andre`: For the first time in my life I was away from my parents. I learnt more about myself I didn't need any books. I maintained an 86 average even though I did not open up my economics books. But enough about education...
Nadine: Where are some of the places that you have traveled to?
Andre`: I have not been to the continent of Africa nor the continent of Australia. I have been everywhere else. I was very fortunate. My family ... we traveled, we went around the world once in three months. We went to Iran a month before the revolution, we saw the crown jewels, huge diamonds and rubies, the peacock throne (Persian throne).
Nadine: You've been everywhere, do you speak any other languages besides English?
Andre`: A little Spanish, French and German (he added jokingly) and body language.
Nadine: Tell me about life on Lyford Cay.
Andre`: Everybody feels that that is the ideal and that once they get there it will make them complete ... the reality is that there are plenty of miserable rich people on Lyford Cay.
Nadine: What was life like for you growing up there?
André: We lived there for 16 years. We moved out in 1973. It was Fantasy Island. I was exposed to things that people only see on TV. I did not know any different because that was what I was used to. My friends would fly in on their Lear Jets for the weekend as I watched from the beach. When you think about the money out there it's ludicrous.
Nadine: If someone were to offer to take you back there would you go?
(He thinks about the question for five minutes.)
Andre`: Yes, but I would have to set certain conditions.
Andre then goes on to tell me many anecdotes and facts of life about life on Lyford Cay when he lived there in the 70s including the no tip policy-15 percent gratuity is added to bills- and the fact that money is not exchanged, instead the residents sign for whatever they want.
So with all these opportunities and privileges how did he end up on drugs and then ultimately the streets?
Andre`: It was socially acceptable (this was in 1978, the average person could not get it like that, it was a rich man's hobby and expensive) People were not aware of the pitfalls. Alcohol in this country kills more people in this country-every weekend a car goes over that roundabout (he points to the roundabout near The College of the Bahamas). I am not trying to make excuses for my own but the first time I was drunk I was six years old.
Nadine: How Come?
Andre`: 'Because I liked the way Daiquiris tasted. My father's brother was going back to England. I used to make cocktails for my parents when they got home from work in the evenings and taste them to make sure they were just right, a little sip here a little sip there. At 13, I started grass; at 17, a family member introduced me to cocaine.
Andre` spoke bitterly about this particular family member for several minutes as well as former friends and other relatives who pretend not to see him when they drive by. He then told me about the body guard his parents assigned to him to keep him safe because he kept disappearing during his drug binges and would end up in Bain Town. His parents, according to Andre, would give the bodyguard money to buy him drugs and assigned him a section of the house to do drugs in because they were so scared he would wind up dead. At this point tears were gleaming in his eyes. Sensing his distress, I tried to console him.
Nadine: I sense you are having a hard time with this
Andre`: Yes it hurts.
Nadine: How did you end up on the streets?
Andre`: My mom passed away and my home was wherever my mother was and when she passed away that was it.
Nadine: Tell me about what happened to your hand.
Andre`: I was attacked by somebody I don't know. He drove by, stopped, came out with two cutlasses and chopped the hell out of me.
Nadine: Are you still on drugs?
Andre`: Occasionally, I have people who give me drugs
Nadine: Have you ever been to rehab?
Andre`: I used to run one in Florida...I ran a teen challenge programme. I worked with them for two years.
I've been through all the programmes here.
Nadine: What do you think about the drug program here in The Bahamas?
Andre`: I think it is crap. The majority of people who are in the programme do not have the psychological or counseling experience to know what they are doing.
Nadine: What do you do when the weather is not pleasant?
Andre`: I find shelter at a nearby bank.
Nadine`: How much are you worth?
Andre`: About seven figures.
The sun was going down by the time I finished my interview with Andre`. We bought sodas and cigarettes and enjoyed a few good laughs. He told me about his former dates with models and other influential people. Some subjects seemed taboo and being his friend I did not delve too deeply. His dog- which he has yet to name- joined us and for a moment we were silent. He no doubt was thinking of all he has lost, and me hoping fervently that one day he would find his way home.
By Nadine Thomas-Brown
Nassau Guardian
http://www.bahamasissues.com/images/news/ANDRE.jpg
'That fellow over there is no ordinary "joneser"'. This is what a friend of mine whispered to me several summers ago before I found out his name. Curiosity aptly pricked, I asked her to elaborate. 'Well he is rich...' she began, before I cleverly interrupted, 'in dirt?' taking note of the really worn dirty rags that encased his worn tired looking body. My friend couldn't tell me much more than that she had heard that he was from a wealthy family. Forever inquisitive, I decided that I would find out for myself what his story was.
I began to take note of him whenever and wherever I passed him. I noticed that he was white (not bright as we refer to light skinned people) which to me was a novelty. I ain't never seen no white beggar in the Caribbean- but I digress. I would often see him by the service station at the junction of John F. Kennedy drive and Farrington Road. So I thought to myself what better way to find out about him than by striking up a friendship? So I did. After a few months He would pick flowers and hand them to me at the stoplight. He never begged for money. I eventually asked him for his story and after meeting with him and his dog (yes his dog) behind a smelly dumpster in an Oaksfield service station (he had re-located), the following story emerged.
Nadine: What is your name?
Andre`: My name is André Leonard Chapelle
Nadine: Who are your parents?
Andre`: My father was Leonard Michael Chapelle. My mother was Molly Chappelle. My Dad was English. My mother was Bahamian.
Nadine: You keep saying was, are they dead?
Andre`: Yes they passed away. My dad died from Alzheimer's my mom died I think from a broken heart. My dad divorced her after 27 years and ran off with a lady who looked like my mom ten years earlier.
Nadine: Do you have siblings?
Andre: I have one sister living quite comfortably in Florida.
Nadine: Do you have other family?
Andre`: My mother had seven sisters and one brother but it wasn't that family reunion kinda family.
Nadine? What schools did you attend?
Andre`: Well right now I'm in the school of life. You don't particularly graduate from it, you just continue to learn (self deprecatingly). I went to Wee Wisdom in Nassau on Collins Avenue. St Andrew's. Up until 1975, I went to the Lyford Cay school, I then went to Ridley College in Canada for four years- a private school-
then Oxford Academy in Connecticut (in 1981) - an American preparatory school where the ratio of student to teacher was one to one. The school had about 80 students and the student population was made up of kids with influential parents from all over the world –Kuwaiti, South Africa to name a few. I went to college in Florida to be an accountant. My life was mapped out for me. My father had already lined up summer work... (His voice drops down low.)
Nadine: So what happened?
Andre`: I am not an accountant!
Nadine: What did you want to do?
Andre`: For the first time in my life I was away from my parents. I learnt more about myself I didn't need any books. I maintained an 86 average even though I did not open up my economics books. But enough about education...
Nadine: Where are some of the places that you have traveled to?
Andre`: I have not been to the continent of Africa nor the continent of Australia. I have been everywhere else. I was very fortunate. My family ... we traveled, we went around the world once in three months. We went to Iran a month before the revolution, we saw the crown jewels, huge diamonds and rubies, the peacock throne (Persian throne).
Nadine: You've been everywhere, do you speak any other languages besides English?
Andre`: A little Spanish, French and German (he added jokingly) and body language.
Nadine: Tell me about life on Lyford Cay.
Andre`: Everybody feels that that is the ideal and that once they get there it will make them complete ... the reality is that there are plenty of miserable rich people on Lyford Cay.
Nadine: What was life like for you growing up there?
André: We lived there for 16 years. We moved out in 1973. It was Fantasy Island. I was exposed to things that people only see on TV. I did not know any different because that was what I was used to. My friends would fly in on their Lear Jets for the weekend as I watched from the beach. When you think about the money out there it's ludicrous.
Nadine: If someone were to offer to take you back there would you go?
(He thinks about the question for five minutes.)
Andre`: Yes, but I would have to set certain conditions.
Andre then goes on to tell me many anecdotes and facts of life about life on Lyford Cay when he lived there in the 70s including the no tip policy-15 percent gratuity is added to bills- and the fact that money is not exchanged, instead the residents sign for whatever they want.
So with all these opportunities and privileges how did he end up on drugs and then ultimately the streets?
Andre`: It was socially acceptable (this was in 1978, the average person could not get it like that, it was a rich man's hobby and expensive) People were not aware of the pitfalls. Alcohol in this country kills more people in this country-every weekend a car goes over that roundabout (he points to the roundabout near The College of the Bahamas). I am not trying to make excuses for my own but the first time I was drunk I was six years old.
Nadine: How Come?
Andre`: 'Because I liked the way Daiquiris tasted. My father's brother was going back to England. I used to make cocktails for my parents when they got home from work in the evenings and taste them to make sure they were just right, a little sip here a little sip there. At 13, I started grass; at 17, a family member introduced me to cocaine.
Andre` spoke bitterly about this particular family member for several minutes as well as former friends and other relatives who pretend not to see him when they drive by. He then told me about the body guard his parents assigned to him to keep him safe because he kept disappearing during his drug binges and would end up in Bain Town. His parents, according to Andre, would give the bodyguard money to buy him drugs and assigned him a section of the house to do drugs in because they were so scared he would wind up dead. At this point tears were gleaming in his eyes. Sensing his distress, I tried to console him.
Nadine: I sense you are having a hard time with this
Andre`: Yes it hurts.
Nadine: How did you end up on the streets?
Andre`: My mom passed away and my home was wherever my mother was and when she passed away that was it.
Nadine: Tell me about what happened to your hand.
Andre`: I was attacked by somebody I don't know. He drove by, stopped, came out with two cutlasses and chopped the hell out of me.
Nadine: Are you still on drugs?
Andre`: Occasionally, I have people who give me drugs
Nadine: Have you ever been to rehab?
Andre`: I used to run one in Florida...I ran a teen challenge programme. I worked with them for two years.
I've been through all the programmes here.
Nadine: What do you think about the drug program here in The Bahamas?
Andre`: I think it is crap. The majority of people who are in the programme do not have the psychological or counseling experience to know what they are doing.
Nadine: What do you do when the weather is not pleasant?
Andre`: I find shelter at a nearby bank.
Nadine`: How much are you worth?
Andre`: About seven figures.
The sun was going down by the time I finished my interview with Andre`. We bought sodas and cigarettes and enjoyed a few good laughs. He told me about his former dates with models and other influential people. Some subjects seemed taboo and being his friend I did not delve too deeply. His dog- which he has yet to name- joined us and for a moment we were silent. He no doubt was thinking of all he has lost, and me hoping fervently that one day he would find his way home.