At 2:50 PM on May 31st, 2024 our lives changed forever. I received a call from my fiancé, that our house had caught afire. She only had time to grab our daughter, Brílynn and run out of the house. By the time she had picked up our daughter and opened the bedroom door, the house was already engulfed in thick black uncontrollable smoke. After calling 911, I informed my father of the ongoing tragedy at our house, to his dismay his reaction was to get to our home as quickly as he could. Pulling up to the house his first reaction being to run into the house to retrieve my fiancé and our daughter, but luckily they were already safe from the devastating flames. The call back I received from my father as I raced home looking up to the sky and seeing the enormous ball of smoke broke my heart “Osano, our house is burning down, Oh my God!.. Our house is gone.. Oh My God!”.. as tears ran down my face, the phone disconnected and silence consumed everything around me. I had never felt so broken in my life.. Broken for my father and my mother, broken for my family.

As we begin the difficult journey of rebuilding our lives, we are reaching out to our friends, family, and compassionate Bahamians for support. We have lost everything—I cannot begin to tell you the difficult road we face as it relates to rebuilding.

We are mostly devastated and worried for our father Retired Captain H.E. Whitfield who is now three years into retirement and did not foresee anything like this ever happening to our family. My father built this house with his hands 45 years ago, and everything he built 45 years ago burnt down in 45 minutes. The loss is unimaginable and as we begin to pick up the pieces we would appreciate your help. We are trusting God to see us through. Our faith is strong and our heads unbowed, as we begin to pick up the pieces of our lives. Your support means the world to us. From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for helping us navigate this incredibly challenging time. - Osano -