“Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.”

Lemony Snicket, Horseradish

 

 

Today Brent met some folks who did just that for the Mt. Zion Library! Wendy, Kathy, Karen and Wayne from  Eastern Ontario donated lovely books to the children's library.

 

Imagine if even ten of the thousand plus people on a cruise ship packed one book to bring to the library. In a month they would have received 200 books!! In the cruise season over 1,000 books.

 

Magazines are a great donation too as some people find books a little overwhelming especially with low literacy rates. As well old magazines can be cut up to make collages. I have yet to find any place that sells magazines so they would find a happy home in the Caribbean.

 

A book or magazine is such a small thing to pack, and Grenada is not the only island which could benefit from the donation of books. If you know of anyone travelling to the Caribbean encourage them to seek out a public library where they could donate reading material.

 

If you aren't planning on travelling, an idea instead of doing workplace secret Santa's is sending a Christmas barrel of books. Everyone could put in a couple of books that they think deserve to be in a library (in a very conservative country- no shades of grey here!!).

 

Shipping a barrel will cost about $100-$150 in total and you know it would be going to an amazing place. Here is the email contact for the shipper we used out of Toronto. pjpexporting@rogers.com

 

 

 



Lest We Forget

Cenotaph at the Botanical Gardens

This past week I did a "rap" session at NEWLO with the Electrical students. This is a period of time where the students discuss what they want or have a guided discussion. With Remembrance Day coming up I chose to discuss what that day means.

Only two students knew much about World War II and no one knew anything about World War I. Now let me first say, Grenada is a very peaceful country and has (as you will  in the video) a minimal military. So their sacrifices during the Great Wars are very different than what Canadians experienced. Next many of these students left traditional schooling very early and would not have been exposed to world history.

However it is not just the youth who don't know, we tried for weeks to find out what day the service was. No one knew if it was on the Sunday, or the 11th. Even when we arrived for the service the officers at the gates didn't give us the time it started! There might have been 50 "regular people" at the service and 10 were Canadians and Americans.  Not exactly an overwhelming turnout. But when there is no information about where or when, it is amazing that many of us showed up!



The Canadian Flag tucked behind the British

This troubles me deeply as the war is largely forgotten here and the act of remembering is not a huge priority. I was also frustrated because some of their veterans served in the Canadian Air Force (Jullian Marryshow) and there was a flag bearer for our flag, but no representative or wreath to honour Grenadians.

As governments struggle with the radicalization of marginalized people, these acts of remembrance, help create our collective consciousness and is an important part of including people who may feel on the fringes of society.

We do an amazing job in Canada of keeping Remembrance Day meaningful, and when I read "In Flanders Fields" the class was absolutely still - so I know it resonates with them.

Right now the Canadian Legions sends poppies to be sold here. I loved that those who did have poppies were wearing Canadian poppies. Maybe in the future those of my friends who are Legion members can advocate sending more than poppies but sending knowledge and instructional materials, so that the youth here can learn what our youth learn....

That is through the act of remembering that we both acknowledge sacrifice but also commit ourselves to fighting for a better world.

Governor General laying the wreath

Prime Minister Mitchell

The GGs car

The Prime Minister's car

Honour gaurd

I am thinking the whole Navy