17 Months Later

I finished my service in the beautiful village of Thibaud (pronounced “tee-bow”), Dominica, near the end of August 2017. Unfortunately, just a few weeks after I departed, Tropical Storm Maria unexpectedly spun up to a Category 5 hurricane, and unleashed her fury on the little island. Dominica was devastated!

I had promised my students before I left in August that I would return again in a few months to check up on them (and to escape the cold January weather). Despite the lack of electricity and running water after Hurricane Maria, I kept my promise and returned to my village for a couple of weeks last January (see the previous story in my blog). Before leaving in January 2018, I promised to come back in January 2019.

As I prepared to make my return visit this year, I wondered how would it go, since 12 long months had elapsed from my last visit, and 17 months since I was living among them. Would I still be warmly received by the village? Would some of them even remember me? How would I do at remembering names and faces in the village? [During a lengthy layover on my way down in the San Juan, Puerto Rico airport, I drew up a little map and was able to place over 170 names of students and villagers in their approximate locations--it was good practice just prior to my arrival.]

It turns out that there was no need to fear--the welcome I received was quite heartwarming! In fact, my return just happened to coincide with a special holiday party for the village children (orchestrated by some of the diaspora, and led by my former Kweyol teacher and Dominican radio personality, Felix Henderson, and his wife) that had been previously delayed, so the timing was perfect. I had brought a cannister of the glow bracelets that the children always enjoyed getting from me, so these glowing lights added to the holiday party as it got dark. Below is a picture taken with a bunch of the village children gathered around me at the party.

Some of the locals explained that I need not worry about being welcomed in the village, because they don't consider me a visitor. Rather, I am more like a "cousin" who left the island (as is common on this relatively undeveloped island), but always comes back "home" to visit relatives. They consider me an honorary villager. I felt very honored!

Besides visiting with as many people as possible, I also wanted to help out as much as possible while there. The first week, I focused on the school, and was able to do a little bit of teaching, plus fixing up the school library. The timing once again worked out well, because the new program director for the American charity “Hands Across The Sea” happened to be visiting Dominica and paid my school a visit. We had a wonderful chat, and had our picture taken with the principal and a couple of students on the school steps, with the beach behind us.

By the way, the principal is retiring soon, and so the staff decided to do a retirement party for her while I was there. After school on my first Friday, we all climbed into a van and went down to the sulphur springs at Wotten Waven for a relaxing bath in the hot volcanic waters. We all had a great time!

I also wanted to do some special activities for the 6th grade class while I was there. Sixth grade is a very crucial year for Dominican students, as they take an important assessment test near the end of the school year. So I arranged a 6th grade class trip during that first week. We took them to the chocolate factory in Calabishie, where they could see the cacao pods (just like the ones that grow wild near our village) processed and turned into delicious chocolate bars. As I had done on a previous 6th grade trip while I lived there, we next stopped at a bar near the airport, which has an airplane next to it (this plane was totaled because of flooding during Tropical Storm Erika, and is now just “decoration” for the bar). I like stopping there with the kids so that I can explain how an airplane works. They see them flying overhead, but this is the only place where they can see and touch one up close.

We then went to the Kalinago Village, so that they could learn all about the original inhabitants of Dominica. It was very educational, and the cassava bread was a special treat. Finally, we ended up at a restaurant that has its own pool, where we swam before eating a delicious dinner (thanks, Poz!).

On my first Saturday there, a bunch of kids and myself hiked over the ridge, heading to the mouth of the Blenhim River. We had hoped to replicate a similar hike a few years ago, when we collected bamboo and made some crude rafts to sail on the river. This time, we brought along some rope and a machete (known there as a cutlass). However, the undergrowth was too thick (a “growing” problem during this recovery from Maria) to get there the same way as we had previously, so instead of making it to the beach area, we contented ourselves with lashing together some bamboo we found along the roadside, and creating a small, one-person raft. Obviously, it would not hold me, but the children enjoyed paddling around on it.

On my last Saturday, I arranged another shorter trip for the 6th graders. It rained off and on that day, so we started at the museum in Cabrits National Park, for more early history of the island. Then we swam at Purple Turtle Beach. While there, I got the idea to hire one of the local boats that serve as “taxis” for the visiting yachts. My students have often seen the boats that anchor in the harbor from the roads around Portsmouth, but I wanted to take them out into the harbor to see the boats (and the town) from a different perspective. Hopefully they will always remember the day we went out on the water in a little boat, to see all the yachts and bigger ships up close, such as the one below. We finished the day with a visit to the ice cream shop (where the owner remembered me!).

I also made a trip to Portsmouth for some shopping, and rode with one of my favorite bus drivers from a neighboring town. While riding on his bus during my return trip, an elderly woman with a cane climbed up into the van. After he let her off in the town of Paix Bouche, he yelled back to ask me how old I thought she was. I guessed age 90, because it was obvious that she was elderly but she was still managing to get on and off his cramped van. He then shared that actually she was one of Dominica’s centenarians, and she currently is 102 years old. I was glad that he shared that fact with me--and I hope that I am as spry as she is if I live that long. [Dominica has the world’s highest percentage per capita of people living beyond 100 years old.]

The good news is that Dominica is much greener than last January. You can still see the gray “skeletons” of large trees that were stripped of their smaller branches. Some are regenerating their own branches, while some of them are being overtaken with vines. Without the towering forest canopy to block the sunlight, vines, bushes, and other undergrowth are multiplying vociferously, as I alluded to earlier when discussing our raft trip hike. However, the lush greenery is a welcome sight. Plus, last year the color blue was prominent, thanks to all the tarps covering the roofs which had been blown away. This year, thankfully, I saw very few blue tarps. Here is a view of our village.

Another major change is the electrical system. Last year, black cables were still down nearly everywhere, often even criss-crossing the roadways. Poles had sometimes been broken in half by the hurricane winds. Now the island’s electrical system is 99% back to normal. The water system is also restored, so I did not need to take my showers at “La Soose” (the village spring) or wash my clothes in the river this January.

Besides the school, my other focus was with the village council. I enjoyed attending their monthly meeting while I was there, and it seemed just like old times again. I was able to restore the large “Bat Cave” sign which I had painted for them, but had been messed up by the hurricane. I also painted a few big signs for them about keeping the beach and the village clean. One morning I even assisted in tracking down an Excel formula problem in their budget spreadsheet (they are still using my 2012 Toshiba Satellite that I donated to them when I left--that laptop has a lot of miles on it, so I purchased them a new one).

I spent the vast majority of my time within the village, visiting with old friends and trying to help the local economy by purchasing food and drink there (including pig snout soup). I was treated with a few dinner invites (which were delicious), and given some free food items, such as plantain, sugar cane, sorrel juice, coconut tablet, ginger wine, finger bananas, and even a rare (after Maria destroyed so many trees) sugar apple. It is amazing to me how quick the villagers are to share. Many Americans may see pictures of my village and think it looks impoverished, but I look at it and see how generous these people really are. My life has truly been enriched because of them.

I was pleased to be able to sit in my old spot in the Catholic church again for two Sundays. The choir director even managed to sing my favorite hymn there for both services. The choir (and the congregation) can really sing this one well, and the words resonate with me.

Give thanks with a grateful heart
Give thanks to the Holy One
Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son
And now let the weak say, "I am strong"
Let the poor say, "I am rich"
Because of what the Lord has done for us
Give thanks

I am very thankful that I was assigned to the village of Thibaud. It is a remote but beautiful location on the rugged Atlantic coastline. The people there are friendly and welcoming. It is small enough to get to know everybody, and one can truly make a difference there.

Thibaud has a strong community spirit, which I first witnessed in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Erika shortly after my arrival in August 2015. While other towns awaited the government to come in with equipment to clear the many landslides, the Thibaud Village Council organized shovels, wheelbarrows, and volunteers to dig ourselves out. Another example of Thibaud’s community spirit is that it is one of the smallest villages that organizes its own Carnival celebration. Plus, the Dominican tradition of the annual Community Service Day always is strongly emphasized in Thibaud. [Below is another beautiful view of my village from the highest house in the village.]

The bottom line is that Dominica is recovering from the direct hit it sustained from Hurricane Maria. As I discussed in my report of last year's visit, the Dominican people are very resilient. They are building back, both bigger and stronger than before. A good example of this is the Seventh Day Adventist Church at the northern end of Thibaud, which had been destroyed in the hurricane. Instead of the wreckage that I saw last year, this year a new, larger church is under construction on the same site. There is hope for a new beginning in Dominica.

I sincerely wish that another volunteer will be placed there in the next class this summer, to continue helping Thibaud to improve. To me, it is the perfect village! And I look forward to returning for another visit next year!