The Carenage comes from a French term related to cleaning the hull of a ship. This is why you will find a "Carenage" in lots of Caribbean islands. There are a number of brick buildings in this area, which is uncommon for the rest of the island. This is because during the slave trade, bricks from the various European countries were used as extra weight for the ships. When the slaves were unloaded so were the bricks and then the ships were loaded with goods going back. So while they are beautiful they have a tragic history of man's inhumanity to man
Grenada's Carenage is a pretty little u shaped harbour. You can find fishing boats, restaurants and this is also where the Osprey leaves to go to Carriacou. I love the small row boats selling Jacks, Christ of the Deep (a statue to thank Grenadians for assisting Italian cruise ship passengers when the ship sank in the Carenage- the "Bianca C") and the British phone booths.
There is really not much point in going past half way. I would recommend a hike up past H.A. Blaize Street. Keep your eyes open there are stairs up everywhere. You can take beautiful photos looking down on the Carenage.
Carenage from Lower Lucas Street
The National library just received help from the Vatican to rebuild it! Hooray!
The Hospitality Department has been putting on a staff
luncheon each semester, where they can demonstrate their skills, as well as
practice serving. On Tuesday the hospitality class again hosted a luncheon and
this time it included a presentation to our family.
The room and the tables were beautifully decorated with
table cloths and centerpieces. I was so happy to see all the staff, including
a staff member from the school for the deaf who works here occasionally, attending. The
boys were really excited as there was all kinds of food and they were going to
get to be the first table to the buffet!
The meal was an excellent Grenadian fare, fish, chicken,
pelau, and salad. The boys told Brent that the chicken was “much better” than
his. The fish was done in a wonderful pineapple sauce which was fantastic.
For entertainment a young man sang two calypso songs.
Calypso originated "next door" in Trinidad and Tobago and is traditionally a style of music that is a form of political/societal criticism. His
songs were excellent about how Grenada was so dependant on the American and
western things of the world. My favourite line was something like we eat so
much Kentucky Fried we are going to fly away!
Sister then got up to speak. She acknowledged that Aiden and Owen had really sacrificed to come to Grenada with me. She thanked Brent for helping
out Mr. James. She noted that curriculum had not existed for the Caribbean
Vocation Qualifications and that the National Training Agency had been given a
quote to develop it of $250,000. So she was a bit sceptical that it would be
possible to do with just one volunteer.
Lucky for me I had no idea that most people thought it was
impossible, I just assumed that it was possible. In the past 10 months I have
created content to match the CVQ competencies for Cosmetology, Hospitality,
Plumbing, Carpentry, General Construction, Early Childhood Development and
Garment Making.
NEWLO presented our
family with this beautiful plaque to thank us for our service. Ms. Collins also
presented us with a gift straight from her heart, and Mr. Gay presented us with
an original piece of art representing NEWLO.
What I appreciated so much was that everything was from the
heart, not a “Hallmark” card or plaque thanking me for “contribution” or “ in appreciation
of” and then using canned words written by someone else. These were written by the
people who really care about me. They reminded me of my colleague Joyce back
home, who writes poems for people, she takes time to be kind and thoughtful.
Looking around the room I felt like I had a connection with
the 20-25 people in the room. I know about their families, have met their
children, they have welcomed me to their homes. They are friends I will miss.
So with ten days left we are starting to pack up our things.
And my most valued treasures from Grenada - are the gifts from NEWLO and the memories of times with friends.
Yesterday we all walked down to Grand Anse beach. Once we leave our street, Belmont Rd. and get onto Kirani James Boulevard it is about a 2 kilometer walk to the beach. Happily this road is one of the few with a fairly consistent sidewalk, of course narrow, but safer than being on the road.
Just after the traffic light at our road and Kirani Blvd is a pubic waste bin. Garbage is picked up daily in St. George's and all around the city are green concrete bins about the size of a small car that hold the trash from that community. It is pretty common to see rats hanging about scavenging for food- in fact we've named the rat near our house "Matty the Ratty". So I wasn't totally surprised to hear movement in the bin, however when I looked there was a man inside the bin with the garbage.
There are definitely homeless people in Grenada, often the have mental or physical disabilities. I have seen people sifting through garbage bins, but never actually in them. I can't describe the feeling of seeing another human being in such a state. You feel sick. And of course Aiden who is so sensitive to any kind of suffering was just gutted. Once we got far enough away I heard this little voice behind me say "I need a hug."
Aiden needed lots of hugs along the way. And he needed hugs when we got home, and hugs at bedtime.
In Grenada no one will die of exposure or hunger. They may die of malnutrition but there is generally speaking fruit or breadfruit that this available. But for people who have mental health, drug addiction or physical disabilities they can be too great a burden on their family and find themselves begging and sleeping in the streets.
I don't write much about the poverty, maybe because I don't want anyone to have a negative impression of Grenada, but like Canada, there are people who are living on the streets, on the edge, in the middle and in mansions with security guards.
Many of my neighbours heading toward Grand Anse don't have indoor plumbing. Bathing is done outside and outhouses dot the landscape. People squat in houses that should be condemned. On our street there is a man who lives on the porch of a house. I kind of admire him. He obviously has enough integrity not to break into someone's home to live, but the porch is littered with clothes, dishes and items I can't decipher. It seems more and more people are moving into these derelict homes, sadly with young children in tow.
I try not to think about what those kids are eating or where they are playing/going to school.
There are so many needs in Grenada, sometimes Brent and I will start a conversation with "What Grenada really needs is..." but then we give up because there are so many issues that cascade and you can't fix one without addressing the other. As an example affordable housing is needed but the cost of transportation means that even if you get a place to live the cost of transportation could make working almost a losing proposition. The cycles of poverty, corruption, economic depression seem insurmountable.
Sadly we had nothing to give the man in the bin. All we were carrying was a towel, sunscreen and a water pack. It was a really hard lesson for Aiden; that sometimes as much as you want to - you can't fix things.
As I get ready to leave Grenada I am thinking about all the problems I wish I had gotten more involved in tackling. There is so much that could be done and there are some really amazing organizations like Groundation Grenada, the Mt. Zion Library, Saving Brains Grenada that are doing great work, challenging paradigms and seeking social change. In the end I hope that I will have contributed in some small way to the development of this beautiful island.
This is one of my favourite songs by FLOM about Grenada.
Last week I got a startling glimpse at how precarious life can be.
One of the trainees came into see a colleague while I was present. We thought the discussion was going to be about his grades; he thought it was about the screwdriver he had in his pocket so he could stab another boy. Needless to say that changed things.
Once the screwdriver had been taken, staff tried to figure out what was going on. This boy is quiet and respectful, not at all someone you would expect to hurt anyone. When asked what he thought would happen if he stabbed the other boy he said "I would be sent home." He didn't have any thoughts of what would happen to the other boy.
While his inability to connect his potential actions to their results was disturbing, it was not nearly as troubling as what he was willing to stab someone over. The conflict? The boy owed him $1 XCD. In fact when we dug a little deeper, the boy did not in fact owe him the money. So this boy could have been stabbed over a perceived slight of about fifty cents Canadian.
For me this points to the lack of resources for mental health, and it is worse for children. There are almost no psychiatric or psychological services available. In 2011 the World Health Organization conducted a study in the Caribbean on mental health. In Grenada there were no psychologists and only "1.8" psychiatrists for the entire country. Teachers, guidance counsellors do what they can but they are not trained or equipped with the resources that are required to deal with the multi-layered problems children and teens face in the Caribbean.
I know in Canada we often bemoan the fact that there are few resources available for mental health, but in relationship to what is available here, we are so lucky.
In Canada we would recognize that this young man needs professional help (as it is recognized here) and he would be referred to resources. If he did commit a crime we would take his mental health into consideration and again find ways to provide treatment and rehabilitation.
Here I fear this young man will eventually do something stupid that will put him in conflict with the law and there will not be the same considerations given. He is a good kid on a collision course with a troubling future and without mental health resources there is little anyone can do to change this.
I am really hoping that a program called "Saving Brain Grenada" will start to make a difference in the area of mental health. I am hoping they will be able to stop these trajectories before they get started. They are training caregivers how to control their own emotions and reactions to their children and then use positive connected parenting skills so that there are less children who are physically, verbally and emotionally abused by well intentioned parents who just don't have the skills to do things differently. As Maya Angelou said "When you know better, you do better."
