Jeremie Tronet, a renowned professional kitesurfer who launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the population of Union Island recover after Hurricane Beryl, said on Monday his team is facing entitlement and arrogance like never before on Union Island.
Tronet said in a Facebook post that maybe it’s time for the staff to pack up and start focusing on themselves; ‘we have done enough’, he stated.
See Tronet’s undedited post below.
I lost it today, facing entitlement and arrogance like never before.
We have been donating our time for free for the past 30 days, sacrificing personal affairs and leaving our house in a terrible state to help the people of Union Island first. I have even advanced my personal savings, spending ahead of receiving the GoFundMe funds, which I still can’t fully access due to an issue with the French bank.
We managed to connect Union Island to the internet and brought thousands of pounds of supplies to the island, including water, food, generators, and lights for hundreds or thousands of people.
Yet, some people come to my room and arrogantly ask, “Where are my lights?” and get upset at us for not giving them a light earlier. They even get upset when we ask where they are living, even though they have surely benefited from our efforts in one way or another from the very beginning.
Fortunately, 99% of the people have been great and grateful.
However, when people accuse us of favoritism and claim that what we are doing is nonsense just because a well-off person didn’t get one of the free solar lights we distribute to everyone—especially when the shops in St. Vincent are selling lights—it’s incredibly frustrating and absolute nonsense to everyone that have been receiving from us as well as people following what we do !
I couldn’t hold it in anymore and expressed my frustration loudly this time, explaining that I am sacrificing my health, time, and everything to help as many people as I can. These few ungrateful individuals are jeopardizing all our efforts. They would rather we stop helping thousands of people just because they didn’t get something for themselves.
It is very sad, and this feeling is shared by our staff as well. I think it is time we start focusing on ourselves; we have done enough.
