Water For Life

It is amazing, the thought of my mom raising six boys and two girls. When I contemplate such a feat of strength and resilience, I marvel at her ability to run a household. My mom is one of many St Lucian women who make daily survival, seem like everyday living. Most of us only realize in hindsight what it difficulties of raising children and running a household. When we grow up and have families of our own and we become fathers and mothers, we become quite enlightened however. Our women have shown an inspiring ability to overcome obstacles with grace. Just imagine having to run a household with so many children. Now for good measure throw in the occasional unforeseen circumstances, such as an illness, a school trip or a water shortage. Sometimes when there was a water shortage in my community moms planed a family trip to the river.

Whenever there was a water shortage, conservation measures were put into effect and the taps would be shut off intermittently. Until the reservoirs were replenished, we would have to find other ways of accommodating our water necessities which sometimes meant a trip to the river. That was usually the highlight of my weekend. Going to the river was the best fun a kid could have, and of course that meant a welcome respite from the heat, it is one childhood pastime that most kids growing up in rural St Lucia, have enjoyed at one time or another.

The present,” water woes”, though not a new occurrence, should remind us of the importance of water to our survival. Many of us are familiar with the statement “Water is Life”; I believe it was famously used in an advertisement for water conservation in St Lucia. It is catchy yet poignant. water is life it is essential to our survival,we take it for granted and may only realize it is a necessity, when it is to late.

The statement "Water is Life" aptly highlights the crux of the matter, the importance of water to our very existence. That very water which as kids seemed so abundant and plentiful is no longer. Although there have been times of droughts or even water shortages in time past,we must however acknowledge that, we are living unattainably. We have an unsustainable approach to our water management in St Lucia and it is reflective in the fact that Streams have begun to dry up and rivers have shrunk and now we are grappling with climate change. Soon we may not have those rivers to fall back on when the pipes run dry.

As a child we splashed and played in the rivers and streams in St Lucia. I remember we would make boats out of old coconut shell and watch them sail downstream. At rimes we would pretend to wage battles with sailing fleets of coconut shells and at times we just raced each other, running alongside the swift flowing streams following our boats. There was always more things do than there was time at the river.

The excitement of being outdoors and having fun had no bounds and it freed up our imaginations and sense of adventure. We would use the time to go hunting for crayfish. If you were brave and was willing to put your hand under a rock, after a few scrapes and cuts you might come out with a really nice, big fat crayfish. Sticking your hand under a rock, to catch a crayfish was not for the faint of heart and most people never tried it. A few of the older boys however sometimes, pulled out monsters from under the rocks, the size of a small lobster, mind you not without a fight.

There was one other way that the younger kids used and although you only caught smaller crayfish about the size of prawns it was fun too. You only needed to submerge a bucket into the water and using a piece of coconut flesh at the end of a stick, slowly coax the small crayfish into the bucket. When the crayfish was into the bucket you would simply, quickly lift the bucket out of the water. It may sound simple but it took some practice and crawfish are notoriously quick at darting backwards, getting out of your intended trap.

It is unfortunate however, because many of those tiny streams have dried up. Agriculture was a boon to St Lucia but it precipitated substantial deforestation, especially around rivers and streams. So in some way we a reaping the seeds we have sown. It is not however too late and we can start to redress the situation. A tree planting program is a compulsory measure, in order to line all streams and rivers with trees. But we require a fully comprehensive approach to Water sustainability in St Lucia.

We have gotten to this point over many years of callous mismanagement of our water resources. Having arrived at this juncture, we can approach the situation as if it were, the last trumpet heralding the call to arms. This is essentially our last opportunity to nurture, preserve and conserve our water resource, in order to secure, good clean water supplies for us all, in the near term and into the future.

Desalination plants, Artesian wells. Tree replanting programs, Mangrove rehabilitation projects, manufacturing regulations and a comprehensive water management strategy, a few ideas we could start with. But for sure we need workable solutions to a comprehensive problem. The good news is that we have an opportunity to make a green shift, a shift towards a more environmentally friendly future. The Copenhagen Hagen Conference, on Climate Change, even with no other concrete outcome should keep us focused on the dire consequences of environmental mismanagement; the drought only serves to further emphasize that fact.

Water conservation is one issue that conservationist have pointed to being, the most pertinent issue facing the survival of life on this planet. It is not unique to St Lucia, although at this present moment, we find ourselves facing a very difficult few months before the rains arrive. It is a well known fact that “Small Island States” are at the vanguard of the effects of climate change. We are experiencing that reality.

The time has arrived for us to leave a sustainably and consider our impact on the planet we live on. From that standpoint; we must take measures that will ensure our children enjoy the world as we have. Let us ensure that we conserve this precious resource “Water” which is so essential to life and in so doing let us focus on our ecological environment, “Mama Earth is hurting”. I would like my children to enjoy the heart warming feelings experienced, from a quaint trip to the river and I hope that it is enjoyed by many more generations to come. Each of us has an individual responsibility and must play our part to help the planet live.

Divide and Rule

I hated Monday mornings, not because of the hangover from enjoying the spirit of St Lucia, a little too much, but also because it was the day before banana day. That meant that I had to run around all day long, getting ready for another early Tuesday Banana harvest morning. Oh yes by the way I said “Banana Day”, yep it was literally a full day’s work which ended in an early morning ride back from the wharfs. But back to the day before banana day, Monday mornings, when I had to drive from Micoud to Praslin getting ready for the next day’s work, affectionately referred to by the workers as” La fetes de Bourick “. A Creole saying which when translated literally means “The feast of the donkey”. You may infer a great deal from that statement, least of which could be, that the grueling physical nature of the work, on harvest day, was not to pleasing to the workers’. But I digress because my original intention was to highlight what I saw on my drive to the Banana Boxing Plant and that is the entwined destiny of the individual communities which i passed on my way. And yet at the same time I marveled at their separateness’ and apparent individuality.

“Divide and rule” an age old strategy utilized by the Romans in their conquests and the Europeans conquering of Africa. It sometimes seems to me that there still exist marked divisions between communities in St Lucia and I sometimes wonder whether this is partly because of slavery. I have come to believe that such a tribal mentality has slowly changed for the better over time and we have evolved into more social beings, able to form consensus across divisions. So my morning ride would take me first to Micoud, where I would pick up card board frames, which would be made into boxes in which the bananas would be packed into for export. On my way to Micoud I would have to decide whether to put gas in the vehicle either in Mon Repos or in Micoud, a choice which illustrated the division between communities.

I had a choice between stopping at the intersection of Mon repos road and the highway or choices between four different gas stations in Micoud. Come to think of it the competition must have been fierce. On my way to Micoud I usually refuelled at the first stop which was usually the Mon Repos Gas station. After refuelling I would head out to get the material needed for harvest day. On my way back from the boxing plant in Micoud I would probably make a stop off in Micoud to pick up one of the famous Dahl Puris, with peas stuffing and wash it down with a local soft drink, champagne or cream soda flavoured.

Malgratoute was a must stop on the days when I could pick up some fresh fruit, mangoes, plantain, even some roast pork. It was difficult to stop for too long because I had to get back on the road there was work to be done. Back on the road again and at the intersection of St Marie and La Pointe road, one would have to slow down because it was a blind corner and many people used it as a crossing point. Thank goodness for the lovely lady who protected and ensured that the school children crossed safely on mornings and afternoons. I would turn right into La Pointe and go pick up a friend to help me glue and transport the boxes to the farm.
If I had the time and the road was good I could either go through St Marie or Knockay Avenue to get to Lumbard, but that would take more time although the route through St Marie is very beautiful. But since I had picked up all I needed in Micoud I would not have had to go up to Lumbard, which had a banana input depot too, unless I found some excuse to go up the hill, probably to say hi to a friend. Praslin was the last community that I would pass through on my way to the farm, I enjoyed stopping off here. I often times bought fresh fish for my Mom and if I was lucky and coaxed one of the fisher men to give me a few extra crabs, octopus or maybe some lobster, my day would be made.

Driving through Micoud north with its diverse community there was always so much to enjoy and appreciate. There is one thing that I have always found surprising and it is that there seems to be a strong polarization between communities. It is almost like they are competing against each other. It is quite ironic since we are all on this small rock and reside in even smaller communities. I do believe that with time things have changed, but yet the more they change the more they remain the same somehow.

It’s like, there ounce were seven sisters who could never agree. Individually they each were strong, beautiful and witty, but together they would be so much more. They always disagreed and because of their constant disagreement they never got anything done. Micoud, Malgratoute, Patience, La.Pointe, Lumbard, Mon Repos and Praslin. It seems that there is a constant infighting and bickering within communities and most definitely across communities. It is tribal, it is family, it is North, South, East West, yet we found a way to survive for so many years together on this land. Don’t be shackled to a mentality that prevents you from dealing amicably with your fellow men and women, to divide and rule is their only plan.

Flambeau on Crime

Have you ever gone out to “Flambeautae “, I have and I must say it was one of the most fun things that I have ever done. If you have not and you do not know what it means to go “Flambeauteaing”, then you may want to go someday. You will need a torch or a bright light to shine your way and to also illuminate the fish, crawfish and eels, as they lay at the water’s edge sleeping. You have to have your cutlass because we hunted by slicing the prey through the water with one deft stroke. That is exactly what happens when one goes out to“Flambeautae “,shining the light. Flambeautae is simply fishing using light. Let us shine some light on the drug and guns making their way into St Lucia. Remove such underground activities out of the darkness and make it as plain as day. In so doing, we can make the situation seem as approachable as a home cooked meal. Let’s go fishing.

You needed to be well equipped to go haunting for the bounties we would find while we snaked our way down the Patience River. We would choose a spot somewhere up stream and make our way downstream to where the river met the bay. All along the way torches and cutlasses in hand, we caught whatever our light shone on, providing it was edible. We made sure we kept an eye out for other predators that might be out hunting that night too, a la fer-de-lance. We can use this same concept here when it come to patrolling our coastal waters, pursuing and bagging those criminal who attempt to enter our sovereign waters with illegal contraband.

A couple of unmanned aerial plane with mounted cameras or a hot air balloons deployed high into the atmosphere, somewhat like a satellites would provide eyes in the sky. We need logistical support for our coast guards so that they can effectively carry out their job. Letting them know when something is coming in with some eyes in the sky patrolling the length of the coast or would stop this influx of drugs and guns into St Lucia.

Let us shift some resources, source American expertise, training and funding to set up a drag net around St Lucia. We can set up a surveillance system that is as blinding to criminals as the fog lamps mounted on top of the coast guard patrol boats. Let’s get some surveillance going that will intercept the illegal narcotics and guns coming into our borders. Let’s make it unsavoury and even scary for criminals to approach St Lucia. With effective search and capture initiatives we can deters criminals from entering our waters, thus preventing guns and drug s from entering our borders.

Since we are on the topic of shining light on to things, the establishment of an internal investigation unit to investigate officers would help weed out corruption within the police force. Corrupt elements within the police force must be held accountable by an investigations unit which is separate from the existing Royal St Lucia Police Force (RSPL). The police should not be policing themselves.

With that said it may sound contradictory when i also suggest the establishment of a covert unit of officers trained in counter narcotics expertise, one that fly’s under the radar. I ounce had an officer friend of mine, who was an avid runner, he always used to tell me don’t let the criminals train harder than you and be more prepared than you, never let that happen. We need a team of officer that are trained to do the things people want but are afraid to face head on. They prefer to stick their heads and the sand and hope it is better in the morning.

All those found committing a crime associated to a firearm should be prosecuted, convicted and given a strict sentence with no leniency. Let’s take a different approach maybe we should pursue the gun manufactures. Let as rightfully place some of the responsibility of gun crime unto the gun manufacturers. The caveat here is that we should sue them and use the money to fund our counter narcotics operations. The cost of such undertakings should be placed squarely on the manufacturers’ shoulders. We need to get the gun manufactures to take responsibility for the negative externalities and effects that their weapons are intimately attached to.

While we continue to invest in a well trained core of coast guards, with reliable equipment, and training. Increase the number and frequency of patrols and build linkages with other islands. They are combating the same problems. We can share tools, expertise human resources. Drug runners like the fact that the Caribbean is an archipelago and is teeming with islands and hidden coves and bays.

The scourge affecting St Lucia is for the most part being imported in. The problem is not found at the top of a lush green mountain but rather on our white sand Beaches, it may manifest itself in the ghetto but it is the influx of powder and guns that is seeding this crime situation in St Lucia. These illegal underground imports to our shores, needs the bright light of justice shone on them. Shine our light all over our borders and land. Let’s take a page from an old tried and tested method, people let’s go “Flambeauteaing” for traffickers and we will see a marked improvement in the crime situation in St Lucia. Let’s go fishing, all aboard.

Papa Syndrome , Daddy Polictics

On a Sunday morning Catholic Church goers would have to travel to Micoud to attend sermon. That was before the St Ann’s church was built in Mon repos. For many years Micoud had the only secondary school on the east coast as well. Progresses have been made over the last fifty years on the east coast, but arguably it can be describe as simply the provision of basic necessities. Overall it can be summed up as Pipe borne water, electricity and the access to primary and secondary education. St Lucia’s legacy of community based political representation, leaves a lot to be desired. It is therefore understandable that people do not have faith in their representatives.
Mentioning that a politician is interested in the welfare of the everyday person is usually met with apathy and scorn. What have they really done for us is usually the question. Yes to be fair we have playing fields, the few major projects such as, the fishing complex in Denerry must definitely be mentioned. But really let us stop beating around the bush and asses political representation objectively. Of course we should not expect politicians to do everything for us but we must also remember the person applied for a job and is getting paid.

Our politics has rightfully been labeled chicken and rum politics because politicians are likely to socialize with the constituents at the rum shop, buy a shot for the patrons and maybe a few pieces of BBQ chicken for the people. An occasional “drop in” on the weekends and maybe more heavily during campaign season, should get the vote in. How often do you hear politicians express ideas that he or she is willing to undertake on behalf of the communities. It is mostly a patriarchal relationship characterized by the “Daddy X” syndrome. Daddy helps his supporters find jobs, go to school, travel, and deal with legal issues.

Well if the relationship woks why should we change it. The problem is it is not working because we can do better and of course by doing better both the people and their pappy benefit more in the end. Pappy needs to do something for the people so he can boast about it and the people need avenues to get ahead.

Rather than the relationship between voter and candidate being one, whereby the candidate sees his job as a privilege he understands it is a duty handed to him by the voters. He or she is not” Daddy”, but rather here to serve as the collectively elected representative. In essence the objective of the candidate is to seek out ways of bettering their constituents and the lives of the people therein. The candidate is getting paid to do a job and it is not charity on their part.

This is precisely why I am supposed to shock everyone when I say, we can build a wind energy grid on the east coast of St Lucia. People are supposed to say, how that will be done and why is that such a good idea. Because the east coast is the windward coast, and yes a proposal sourcing funding for a green initiative, would have a great chance of being successful. Not to mention the grid if it is owned by the Micoud north community , will be selling electricity and thus making an income and thereby pay off itself.

When the person you vote for is expected to conceptualize, create and implement projects that will better the communities they represent. Then the people benefit and the candidate benefits as well. The politics is elevated and the people’s standard of living is elevated. And providing that you can actually achieve some effective compressive change, you can be asked to be called pappy. Although one might want to keep that for home. Oh, and definitely do not post the video of you being called pappy on the net either, you’ll soon be on YouTube, talk or even TMZ.

Papa Syndrome: Daddy X

On a Sunday morning Catholic Church goers would have to travel to Micoud to attend sermon. That was before the St Ann’s church was built in Mon Repos. For many years Micoud had the only secondary school on the east coast as well. Progresses have been made over the last fifty years on the east coast, but arguably it can be describe as simply the provision of basic necessities. Overall it can be summed up as Pipe borne water, electricity and the access to primary and secondary education. St Lucia’s legacy of community based political representation, leaves a lot to be desired. It is therefore understandable that people do not have faith in their representatives.

Mentioning that a politician is interested in the welfare of the everyday person is usually met with apathy and scorn. What have they really done for us is usually the question. Yes to be fair we have playing fields, the few major projects such as, the fishing complex in Denerry must definitely be mentioned. But really let us stop beating around the bush and asses political representation objectively. Of course we should not expect politicians to do everything for us but we must also remember the person applied for a job and is getting paid.

Our politics has rightfully been labeled chicken and rum politics because politicians are likely to socialize with the constituents at the rum shop, buy a shot for the patrons and maybe a few pieces of BBQ chicken for the people. An occasional “drop in” on the weekends and maybe more heavily during campaign season, should get the vote in. How often do you hear politicians express ideas that he or she is willing to undertake on behalf of the communities. It is mostly a patriarchal relationship characterized by the “Daddy X” syndrome. Daddy helps his supporters find jobs, go to school, travel, and deal with legal issues.

Well if the relationship woks why should we change it. The problem is it is not working because we can do better and of course by doing better both the people and their pappy benefit more in the end. Pappy needs to do something for the people so he can boast about it and the people need avenues to get ahead.

Rather than the relationship between voter and candidate being one, whereby the candidate sees his job as a privilege he understands it is a duty handed to him by the voters. He or she is not” Daddy”, but rather here to serve as the collectively elected representative. In essence the objective of the candidate is to seek out ways of bettering their constituents and the lives of the people therein. The candidate is getting paid to do a job and it is not charity on their part.

This is precisely why I am supposed to shock everyone when I say, we can build a wind energy grid on the east coast of St Lucia. People are supposed to say, how that will be done and why is that such a good idea. Because the east coast is the windward coast, and yes a proposal sourcing funding for a green initiative, would have a great chance of being successful. Not to mention the grid if it is owned by the Micoud north community , will be selling electricity and thus making an income and thereby pay off itself.

When the person you vote for is expected to conceptualize, create and implement projects that will better the communities they represent. Then the people benefit and the candidate benefits as well. The politics is elevated and the people’s standard of living is elevated. And providing that you can actually achieve some effective compressive change, you can be asked to be called pappy. Although one might want to keep that for home. Oh, and definitely do not post the video of you being called pappy on the net either, you’ll soon be on YouTube and TMZ.

What We Do Best

An uncle of mine ounce told me about a time, when the community undertook a, “coup de main”. They hacked and slashed their way through the rain-forest to the Patience River’s source. This was done in other to lay the pipes that would bring water to houses, from Micoud to Praslin. Some of us may also remember how in an instant a flash storm brought tree trunks the size of cars, down the same Patience River. Consider how, change is constantly happening, sometimes like flash storms it happens unexpectedly and at times we are able to anticipate them. St Lucia must place itself at the cutting edge of innovation and therefore invest in research and development.Such measures will help better adjust to the constant economical changes.

One might ask what type of research initiatives should we invest in, when we do not have that much capital to spend in the first place. Investment in Research and Development Initiatives compliments the banking sectors perfectly. It is a win, win situation that provides the government with a chance to invest in its people and the country’s infrastructure and also provide Banking clients the opportunity to make greater returns on their investment, rather than if they had simply placed their monies in a savings account.

We can undertake research into, Malaria, Dengue, and Sickle Cell Anemia. We are already quite involved in food services, we should extend our commitment by investing into food research. For example a traditional food such as arrowroot, the plant which we call “Toloman”, has been proven to be a versatile and effective starch product. The starch said to be superior to thann that from other plant sources.

Another idea would be to,completely making St Lucia’s electricity grid run on clean fuels such, solar, wind and or wave action, thereby directly investing into green technology, and future innovations simultaneously. And one final example,the beauty and fashion industries utilize extracts from plants such as the hibiscus, aloe Vera and cocoa,the use tropical flavors such as passion fruit and tangerine,here is an opportunity for investment.

We have year round summers, arguably with our exposure, we should be dictating summer fashion. In these areas where we have an advantage we should be pushing the envelope and reach for the forefront of innovation and technology. The only way however to achieve this is to invest in Research and Development.

This quote was taken from the Star Newspaper of St Lucia “Those countries that do very well spend at least three percent or more of GDP on R&D (research and development)”. It was attributed to Mr Peter Adrien. The article was in reference to Sir Arthur Lewis’s theory on Economic development. Here is another statement gleaned from an online article of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB America Magazine) “South Korea invests more in research and development (R&D) than all Latin American nations combined”. South Korea like Taiwan is one of the few countries that has been able to foster economic success sine the end of world war two. These observations reinforce the importance of investing in Research and Development.

In the not so distant past, St Lucia could have easily been derogatorily referred to as a banana republic. At present a major part of our economy is dependent on tourism. It is also a fact that we are vulnerable to changes in the global economy. The recent global recession has once again proven that. In order to cope with such unavoidable problems, policy makers must be prudent, in that they must have responsive, yet innovative approaches to development. One proven approach has been investments in Research and Development. We are easily susceptible to the adverse effects of change and therefore we must make the fullest use of our economical comparative advantages.

Is There a Captain on Board

The leader of the opposition now has the opportunity to unify his party and use that momentum to gather the people behind a new vision for St Lucia. After the last election the ruling United Workers Party and their leader Sir John Compton were given a mandate by the people. Prime Minister Compton and his party were expected to govern, however the unfortunate and untimely passing away of Sir John changed everything.Providing that the leader of the opposition and his party can project a unified front, then they can tap into St Lucian’s desire for change.

The opposition have not portrayed a strong unified front over the last few years, that may benefit them in the long run. Because they did not muster up much opposition to the ruling party, the ruling party have had the opportunity to govern the ship of State with minimal interference. As a matter of fact the ruling party have spent resources and time trying, for want of a better term, "shedding light on the opposition’s leader activities during his time in office". St Lucian's have weighed and measured both parties and it is left to the people to deliver the verdict, on their abilities to govern.

When the St Lucia Labour Party found themselves facing a United Workers Party leadership change, they could have easily used the situation as an excuse to force another election. The opposition could have said that the people deserve an opportunity to vote in a Prime minister of their choice, since the New Prime Minister was not voted in as leader of the country. As time has passed and prudently, no real effort was made to replace the ruling party, the overall outcome has made it favorable for the opposition to now contest the ruling party.

The leader of the opposition has been prudent in his actions or rather lack of, over the last few years. He has not forced the issue of another election. The situation is commendable, as we are experiencing a recession and it would have cost the State money and would have engaged our political leaders in campaigning, when they could have otherwise been involved in public service work, on behalf of the citizens.

I now look forward to this election cycle, specifically the narrative associated to it. Hopefully there will be a healthy robust debate on issues affecting the citizens. With so many pertinent issues such as,a spike in the crime rate, youth violence, unemployment in a recessionary cycle, VAT, and leadership,it should be a lively debate.

Hopefully also we have constructive debates centered on the ruling party's achievements during their time in office. I also am interested in learning the opposition expressed vision and mandate as it pertains to these few broad topics. Law and Order, Employment and Economic Development and Good Governance, Accountability and Transparency.

On our little island, we have learned to coexist and live with each other peacefully. We have even managed to thrive creating a language and nurturing two Nobel laureates. We are a resilient people and we continue to prove it. We continue to strive for a better tomorrow everyday that we live. We can make St Lucia better and we should accept no less.