St. Lucia, beyond the resorts

Most of the Global Volunteers’ work took place in Anse La Raye, which was about a 20 minute ride from our hotel in Marigot Bay.

Permit me to give you a tour of this sweet little town.  First a history lesson from the town square.  Sorry about the wire–I figured I’d better not mess with anything electrical!

We were in Anse La Raye during Lent, which meant that the fish fry described above was not as festive and exciting as it normally is, so none of us attended.

Here’s what the rest of the square looks like.

The first Sunday of our visit, the  Volunteers were introduced to the congregation.  During the service,  we were asked to stand and the entire congregation applauded for us, making us feel so very welcome.

Seems no matter where you go in the world, you can always find caffeinated, sugary drinks.

Here’s Edith leaving one of the town’s two bakeries.  This one has delicious rolls that you can get early in the morning, before starting work.

Then at noon time, Edgar has some wonderful creations.  I particularly liked his coconut squares.   And yes, that IS a NY Yankees cap that he is wearing!

Although the town lacks billboards, there is no shortage of inspirational messages.

For lack of a better name, we referred to this place as the “Bounty Rum”.  It was a gathering spot where we could get coffee, water, fruit juice and snacks.  We were always working, so we never got around to sampling any of the place’s name sake.

And while we are on the subject of food, this is the local ice cream store, where you can get a cone for $1 EC, or about $0.40 US.

Remember how clean the children are?  That is not something easily accomplished.  As we strolled through town we would often see uniforms hanging out to dry.  Recognize the little red skirt?  That’s the bottom half of the Kid Step uniform.

These ladies are working in the local open air laundry,  right by the ocean.  Talk about putting things into perspective–when I do laundry, I just press buttons!

This woman doesn’t need to go to the gym.  She got those muscles in her arms by scrubbing clothes.   Notice the wonderful smiles on these very gracious ladies. 

Right next to the laundry is the market for souvenirs.


The lady on the right told me if I bought something from her, she’d give me a very BIG smile.  This was not a problem, because I was trying to buy a little something at each stall anyway.

After chatting with them, I learned that they are sisters, and that I had been working with their little girls during my week at Kiddie Homey Day care.

Here are their daughters, Starr and Gladice.

Not every vendor can afford a store or a booth, so they spread their wares on a blanket on the street.

Below is the public shower and toilet for  town residents that don’t have indoor plumbing.  It is right across the street from Kid Step Day Care.  The facility  lacks a bathroom for adults, having only a toilet for the children, so the staff suggested that the volunteers  go next door to use the bathroom at Kiddies Homey Day Care.  The staff, however, used the public toilet. 

The town also had its share of beautifully decorated, well maintained homes.

I’ll end this post with the Primary School’s Motto, which tells you a lot about the spirit of the people with whom we came in contact.

Contest answers

Sorry for the delay in posting the answers. Wifi is only available in the reception area these days. That hot spot by the bar? It is now stone cold.

The fun part of this contest, for me at least, is seeing what friends and family choose for their answers. Not surprisingly, Mike has the most points. After 36 years he should know a thing or two about me!

Welcome Jim and Kristy! I’m glad you are participating. And now for the answers.

Every one except Lindy and Mike thought I had “misplaced” my money. That was a good guess, given my past history, but so far, the only thing I misplaced was my footwear. The correct answer was my investment in “end of the day” red wine. It is not that I am a lush; I just never carry much cash when I travel. Instead I use the ATMs, the ATR (Augusta T Rosenthal), and of course, Mike, as my sources for liquid assets.

Mike was the only one that got the second question right. I did indeed go snorkeling. That was a hard one, because three of the choices were very appealing. The only one I would never do is sit by the pool. Ordinarily I would have done zip lining, but we were advised against it for safety reasons. Kayaking without Greg would be a totally different experience. I’d actually have to paddle.

The boat trip to the snorkeling sites was lovely. Here are some photos taken with my iphone.

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The last photo is of Mark, our guide.
I’ve only been snorkeling twice, so I was absolutely mesmerized by the sights. My favorite fish was dark blue, covered with luminescent blue spots that looked like sequins. Its tail was nice accent–a brilliant yellow. I was wishing I’d bought one of those cheap disposable underwater cameras!

Kristy and Sandy were the only ones that got the last answer right. Three of us INTENDED to take a bus, but they don’t run on Sunday mornings, except to the local churches. Fortunately, we met Jeffrey (the source of this last bit of information) while walking to the bus stop. We used our considerable powers of persuasion (and cash) to convince him that he should be our tour guide for the day.

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Who could resist wheels with “cute face” written across its hood?

Jeffrey dropped us in town, then went to pick up his fiancé, Ashley. Aren’t they a cute couple?

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So here's the score so far:
Mike- 2
Lindy, Sandy and Kristy – 1
Sue and Jim – 0

Time for some educational questions. To make it harder, it won't be multiple choice. Or maybe that will make it easier?

Question 4: The cruise ships dock at which St. Lucian city?
Question 5: Which two countries spent150 years fighting over St. Lucia?
Question 6: In what year did St. Lucia become independent?
Question 7: What St. Lucian poet received the Nobel prize for Literature in 1992?
Question 8: St. Lucia makes a unique kind of ketchup. What is unusual about it? (and do you think it might be one of the prizes?)
Question 9. Tomorrow night we will be having dinner in St. Lucia's capital. What is its name?

Photo of the three intrepid travelers, with assistant tour guide Ashley, doing her Angelina Jolie pose.

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A beautiful day

Today was an exciting day. The earth boxes arrived and the kids were pumped! Kathy and Jan did an incredible job. They are so patient with the children. They managed to get the job done, while making the children feel like they were contributing something really important.

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This was supposed to be a project for the five year olds, but for a while, the four year olds inserted themselves into the midst.

While the earth box ladies were working in the front, Kathy’s husband Tom and the other Tom were hard at work fixing the fence behind the school.
Here’s the construction team hard at work.

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Here are a few more kid photos. Notice the uniform color is different.

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These are the kids from the kid step preschool, which is right next door to the kiddie homey day care.

A wonderful first week

So much to say, so little time to get it typed up! First an earth box report for Julie. Kathy and Jan discovered that the earth boxes at the primary school were getting a little too much love and attention. The kids had cut holes in the “shower cap” so that they could water around each seedling.  They were watering from the top AND the bottom. The little seedlings were in need of an ark! What the seedlings got instead was kids educated about the need for  plant roots to breathe.  The team created charts so the kids would know whether the boxes had gotten their daily watering. Some boxes  received  a week’s worth of watering in one day because multiple kids were caring for them.

The boxes had to be moved so the ground  could be leveled?  ( not sure why, but Iimagine Julie would know)  In the process, a box was overturned, which provided the team with a “teachable moment”…an opportunity  to show what happens to waterlogged plants.  The kids then painstakingly scooped up the dirt and put it back into the box.  They LOVE those boxes.

When the earth box team comes to the Kiddie Homey Day Care Center, I’ll try to get some pictures, but the short report is that all is going well.

About the hand washing…take a look.

Kids are your hands clean??? The bluriness of the photos give you a good idea of the level of activity!

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Today was an especially great day at the Kiddie Homey Day Care Center because the construction team installed the equipment that stops the doors from slamming. I have no idea what their official name is. I just call them “sanity savers”. There still is the noise from the high ceilings and the sound bouncing off the concrete walls, but those “sanity savers” made a huge difference in the sound level this afternoon!

The kids love to color, so I decided to try to get them to color their names. As you can see, they really got into it. I took the first shot before they saw the camera. Once they did, it was all over.

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Ms Frederick tells me what the different kids need to work on.  Starr and Gratia needed help with numbers, so i created a little game for them.  They liked it so much, they insisted we play it again and again. I told them to “mess up the card”, then put them back in the right order.

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And now it is time for the weekend to begin!

Greetings and thank you to Team One!

I’m so glad that some of the members of the first team found my blog, so I’m pleased to provide great news. The hand washing education, at least at the Kiddie Homey day care center, was wildly successful! The kids wash frequently, proudly and enthusiastically. I’ll try to take a picture before the end of my service, because it is something to behold. I had brought bottles of liquid soap with me and when one of the kiddies spotted it, she insisted that she needed to wash her hands. They are also quite fond of hand sanitizer. So Team One, savor your success. Michelle, I’ll take a closer look at the dispenser tomorrow, and will also check on Precious’ foot. I haven’t had a chance to work with Yasmine yet. She was out today, but if she is in tomorrow, I’ll get to her first thing.

I love the way Miss Frederick works with the kids. She reminds them every morning in song that they are”more precious than gold”. I’m hoping to get that morning song memorized before I leave.

Julie, if you have any questions about your project, let me know where you worked and I’ll check with those team mates for an update.

At our debrief tonight, the primary school team reported that the children were learning to write letters and could choose the recipient of their letter. Several opted to write to the January Global Volunteers, Vickie and Linda. Here are some verbatim quotes. “I loved how you treated me”. “I wish you could come back to see how I wash my hands”. Warren is going to try to get the letters to Vickie and Linda, but Julie and Michelle, if you are in touch with them, please let them know that they made their mark.

Today I found the wifi “sweet spot” by the pool, settled in with a glass of wine, thinking that I
would no longer have to sit in the reception area whenever I wanted Internet access. My success was sweet, but oh so brief. Oh well. I might not have Internet access by the pool, but at least I have my glass of wine, and cool water, so life continues to be good.

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I’m in love!!!

Beautiful, funny, cute, smart, precious….I could go on and on about these kids. Suffice it to say that my heart has been stolen by these little munchkins.

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I brought name tags so that I could more easily memorize their names, and I thought it would help those that don’t yet know how to spell and write their names. They really liked it. In fact, if I didn’t get out the name tag fast enough, they reminded me to get with it!

Dotty and I are loving our assignment. Yes, it is noisy, but hey, what do you expect from a bunch of kids under 5. Today we used the board books that I brought and they were a hit with all of the younger kids. Tomorrow will be Cat in the Hat day for the older kids.

After lunch the kids rest, which gave Dotty and me a chance to stroll around the town. Good news, boys and girls. There WILL be a contest. You know how I feel about dropping dollars into the local economy, so I will be picking up a few odds and ends for prizes. All I have to do is figure out the questions. Then Game ON!! (Mike and Augusta, since neither of you are with me, you get a chance to play too). I can’t do a packing question this time around because you have already seen the contents of my luggage in previous posts. I am sure I’ll come up with something eventually.

More photos of the objects of my affection. Notice how neat and clean they are…perfect in every way.

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“Be flexible, so you don’t get bent out of shape”

We start every day with an inspirational thought. Jim’s quote reminded us that we should expect and accept the unexpected.

Yesterday we were welcomed to the Anse le Raye community by Father Athanase Joseph at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. He is convinced that Divine Providence sent Global Volunteers to his parish, and expressed gratitude for all that the first team accomplished in January.

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The service was almost three hours long, but the music was wonderful and the beautiful, well behaved children were fun to watch. Unlike the catholic church in the USA, you are allowed to bring water bottles with you and the younger children were allowed to move from pew to pew (if they were in the back of the church). I noticed that it didn’t matter whose child it was, the women acted as if every one belonged to her, interacting with whichever one happened to slide over to her.

Yesterday’s other major accomplishment was meeting all of the team members. Introductions were a variation of the game, “I’m going to the market”…then listing objects in alphabetical order, each person repeating the list from the beginning and adding on. I remember playing with my sisters on a road trip to Florida. (I even remember the first two objects were “aristocrat” and “bing”. Okay, so my sisters are weird…especially Sandy.) But back to the intros…the last person was tasked with repeating the 24 earlier names. It was actually an very effective way to get everyone’s names memorized! In the afternoon, we learned more about our fellow volunteers. Four of us are “virgin” volunteers. The rest have been on multiple projects, with some logging over twenty.

Today was our first day at the various sites. Four of us were assigned to the two preschools in town. I’ll be spending this week at the Kiddie Homey Day Center, and I’m delighted. 40 adorable, exuberant kids under age 5. This is my alternative to whining about not having a grandchild. (You’re welcome, Greg).

Dotty and I are following the recommendations of the first team, and are working with the kids in groups of two. When I asked one four year old girl if she knew how to spell her name, she said, “Miss, I could WRITE my name when I was THREE”. I guess she set ME straight.

The dinosaur coloring book I brought with me was quite popular. One three year old boy thought the dinosaur looked like a shark, or maybe a whale. He then launched into an enthusiastic story about a whale “vomiting” and Jonah had “feesh” all over his head! Once I heard the name Jonah, I figured it out.

I’m looking forward to seeing these little cuties tomorrow! Here’s Dotty with one of our charges.

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One plane, two plane, jet plane, blue plane

Fortunately, our pilots realized there was a computer problem while we were still on the runway. Back to the gate, onto another plane, then three hours later we were off. Kudos to Jet Blue for making it as painless as possible. We were lucky to have a relatively mellow crowd on the plane, so grumping was almost non-existent.

I noticed a yellow Global Volunteer tag in an overhead bin, so I used my keen investigative skills to locate Jeanne. Knowing I would not be the only latecomer was quite comforting. I was confident that together we’d figure out a way to get to the hotel.

Luckily, our team leader Warren was kind enough to wait for us, so after clearing customs we hopped into the van and headed for JJ’s paradise. The hour and a half ride up, down and around the mountain could be described by numerous adjectives, but I’m going to stick with “memorable”. Suffice it to say that we were grateful that Warren was behind the wheel and used to driving on the opposite side of the road.

We joined the rest of the team at dinner, but Warren saved introductions for Sunday morning.  In his introductory comments, he told us that the first team, in January build a very solid base upon which we can build.

He also told us the St. Lucia project is unique in that the teams are bigger, and we are being dispersed throughout the community. In his words, “there are lots of moving parts”. The 27 of us are formed into teams for the infant school, preschool, primary school, secondary school, medical, home visits, computer education,construction and community gardens.

He left us with this thought for our first day:
“Leap and the net will appear.”

Here are some visuals of my home for the next two weeks:

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My room—WAAAY up the hillside.

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