Act 17 | Saint Lucia

Saint Lucia became yet another destination where the volunteer eye work I had lined up failed to eventuate; which was partly because the eye team from Cuba are doing such a fine job of providing public eye care on the island.

I decided to follow the advice that advises one to join ’em if you can’t beat ’em; As such, I spent a day with the large Cuban team that works out of the local hospital.

I also spent a morning with the (rather glamorous) Cuban doctor duo that head out to different parts of the island each day screening the general population for problems that they then send to the team at the hospital.

Staff members of the Saint Lucia Blind Welfare Association (BWA) took the time to talk to me about the significant role they play in providing eye care on the island.

I joined the team from the BWA who were staffing an information stall at a health fair (which was an initiative of the Ministry of Health and the local Methodist Church which hosted the fair).

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While in St Lucia I spent a little time with the George family; Tony (who I knew through church and soccer) had just returned from Dunedin after submitting his PhD (on 'grassroot' approaches to reducing poverty) and was busy rebuilding a St Lucian life for his family.

I was there when Tony and his wife Esther bought their new car.

I was around to help them to shift house (that’s the youngest of their two sons, Joce, who was supervising my every move).

Caleb, their first born, & I had a great time limin' down at the beach (which is literally across the road from the airport).

I managed to land an invitation to a one year old's birthday party. (She had one of the biggest birthday cakes I have ever seen; I'd love to see the cake she gets next year.)

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During my two week stay I helped Barbara to get the guest house she was in the process of establishing, set up and ready for Westerners (who have Western needs (like A/C & hot water (even in ridiculously warm climates))).

Barbara prepared most of the food I enjoyed while in St Lucia; I also learned to love eating ice (as a way of dealing with the tropical heat).

Staying with Barbara connected me to her large extended family, who all live within a stone's throw; Her recently retired brother kindly took me to see the sights down south, including the world's only drive through volcanoe.

On the same journey we saw the spectacular Pitons.

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Most of the people I met in St Lucia had some connection to Tony's local church (which is easily the whitest 'black church' I have attended).

Lurline went out of her way to help me salvage some good experiences out of a fortnight of frustrations.

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Bad weather and a large number of botched plans meant that I ended up with quite a lot of down time in St Lucia, which did give me the opportunity to resuscitate a couple of projects that were in danger of being abandoned.

One of those projects was the travel blog that you are now enjoying; Before the St Lucian leg I was two full months behind the action and starting to wonder if there was going to be time to catch up while on the road. (Barbara's sister who lived over the road was kind enough to allow me to access her internet which I could only reach from the window of my guest house).

I was also able to spend much time advancing my desire to read the bible in its entirely while travelling this year, I'm now in a position where only a disaster (like losing both eyes) can stop me from achieving that goal.

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St Lucia was therefore a lazy little fortnight-long 'intermission' in the middle of long stint of travel.