Rain still came on and off through the weekend. Looks like it might be starting to break now that we are getting several hours at a time without showers.
This past Saturday kept me doing lots of stuff all day.
---Got up to meet up with some of the primary school local boys to go down to the beach. Not sure why, but the older kids never seem to want to go-maybe they are just too cool. This group was a bit smaller than normal, but it was still fun. We really didn't get to swim in the ocean since all the heavy rains have made the sea very rough and very dirty (estuary at the beach with all the junk washing down >.< ). So the kids decided it was better to swim in the river estuary....lots of playing catcha (what they call tag).
A shortcut--Crossing the river in Spring Village on the way to the beach
Me and Lex--I think I am his favorite person in the village since he always wants to hang out.
Wading at the river mouth to get to the better side of the beach
Dem kids having fun
---Almost as soon as I got back around noon, made a quick lunch and skirted down to Clive's Black Struggler's Bar. This is were I usually 'lime' (if I'm hanging out) and am training to become domino master. ^_^ The neighbors had widened a drive road and they had to knock down part of the bar's shed for the work. So the local guys volunteered to rebuild it better than before. Last weekend they laid the concrete and blocks--I got to help this weekend with the carpentry end of things. Some of them were very happy to see me wanting to help and they got all excited handing me a hammer and nail--showing me where and how to use them. A couple thought it would be funny to get a pencil in my ear and tape measure on my hip, then show me to the others as a newly transformed carpenter. Actually, I think I put in about 6 nails, but I did help moving things along up on the framework. Although many of they guys do not have much of a formal education and some nothing past primary school, they are all tradesmen and build things all the time. It was cool to see them working live a bee hive, back and forth with all the little jobs. So I was a bit of the odd man out anyways. No worries; they were glad to have me there. I didn't get to stay until it was finished....had to get ready for a meeting at 5pm.
Rebuilding the frame
can you spot the one Vincy in action pose... ^_^ As soon as they know a camera is pointing, they love to pose.
wannabe carpenter for a few hours
---From kid sitter to carpenter to meeting organizer.....we had a fairly decent meeting this time around with my host organization--SUDO. It was a longer meeting, over 2.5 hours, and we covered a lot of ground. Now the trick will be to move forward on some of the things we talked about. SUDO runs the village library/internet cafe. The library doesn't keep any of the local papers, nor does it have easy access to any info 'Vincentian'. Some kids needed help to find info on local government ministers and our only resource was the computer...which are not always available. We are also hoping to start decorating the library with themes--since there is a large concern with people not really using the library portion and only using the computers. The group identified a lack of book diversity as a possible problem....so if you know of places willing to ship older books and other useful library type stuff....let me know.
My boss came by for the early part of the SUDO meeting to help address a joint concern (mine and his) about my organization's lack of response and function. It took 3 weeks now to gather its members for a meeting, of only 6 people, and that I'm assigned to the orgnaization and I've seen them perhaps 3-4 times as a group since I've arrived on St Vincent. Later in the meeting, I began to address some major concerns I've had about the structure, records, and general functions of the group as an NGO.....they didn't like what I had to say and I think it may have opened a couple wounds. They fall back on the good history and experiences SUDO has done for Spring Village.....so I hope to spend some time with its members and build the missing historical documentation to help strengthen the group. This should help close the wounds. Many of the various activities I am researching right now--steel pan & music, public speaking & debate, drama & dance, tutoring activities--all can be sponsored by SUDO, but I just don't trust them to take those reigns until they can begin to look more like a functioning NGO. They have been around for decades, but if it wasn't for the stories if its members and the communities stories, you'd hardly know they were around for more than a year. Sure, oral history is good and could be defened by saying they are a developing nation--but seriously? There are groups just as old that are the polar opposite in a positive manner that we will try to use as our benchmarks. Revival of this group is supposed to be one of my number one goals....it is the reason I am here. It will be done.
---Sunday was another action packed day. I was supposed to get up and be outside on the road by 6am to meet up with a group of banana farmers. A bit of celebrating from completing the shed construction from the night before helped me to oversleep a bit. Got up by 6:30....and missed the truck. Tossed on my waterboots, backpack and cutlass and began the LONG walk up the road, 'up da mountain' as they say. The walk through the village was good, as I got lots of suprise and positive comments from people here since they got to see me doing things and dressing just as they do for farming. Once I got out of Spring Village proper, I was on new turf. I'd never walked up the road this far....and was surprised at how long the road went--and I didn't even go all the way up!!! This is a really long road...not sure just how long yet, but there are many farm plots along the way. I think I walked a good 45min at least until I saw the first truck. Not the guys I was supposed to go with, but I knew them anyways so I spent the day with them--RasBen, XC, and their wives.
(lol...worked with them the whole morning and I don't know their names yet--yes there is something awkward when everybody already know your name and you don't know theirs. It is commonplace for now.)
The guys showed me around the banana trees and got a laugh at my cutlass--apparently I didn't need it for banana farming. They use a small wickedly curved knife to cut and trim the bananas. Most of my work was washing the bananas in a solution to slow the spread of 'crown fungal rot' as well as bagging and boxing bananas. I got to eat a yellow one (no clue where XC got it from) and it as great. We also had some fresh paw-paw (paupaya) and tangerines; always best super fresh. When we finished at the boxing shed, we loaded the truck and picked up a few other banana farmers & their boxes along the way. We stopped at the Fair Trade shed where a few others would be doing quality checks on all the boxed bananaas. Those boxes would be purchased by the Fair Trade group and loaded onto a big truck and shipped out. Most of the bananas we harvested go to England.
Evergreens in SVG!!!
RasBen clipping bananas
XC in the back of the truck
A banana shed on the mountain road, but not the one we worked in
Busted...washing the bananas in a preserving solution.
Bagging dem bananas--6 to a regular bag, 8 if they are smaller and into 'kid-pack' bags
Boxing up the bags for later shipping
RasBen in the back with our boxed up bananas
---A quick wash and lunch back home and it was off to the Sunday football game. It was decent game and we had our usual social party afterwards till about 9pm. That was also the norm, but what stuck out was the 15-20 minutes music that I really didn't expect to hear from the djs. Typically they play more localized music, Caribbean dance flavors. They started to play a big band song--swing, swing, swing--as well as other American music like Karma Chameleon and some unknown country song. Moreover, everybody dancing along was loving it, some even singing along. Now I love when people around the world share and enjoy music from all over, but in the weeks I've been going to these little functions this was a first experience. Not a bad one at all, just different--a good time.
That makes for a busy weekend and long blog...
Stay well and happy
ciao tutti
~your local wannabe jedi
~Shawn
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