21 Feb 2013
It was another one of those days that didn’t turn out
exactly as we had planned, but it couldn’t have been better. We were planning on working at the church,
repairing and hanging doors, but the local carpenter guy had a job to do so he
couldn’t be with us. Instead, we decided
to do what we could for Louise. I
should say, Kory did what he could do.
He repaired her toilet and he repaired one of her window awnings. He also checked all the fluids in her car,
got the oil changed, repaired her windshield wipers and tried to repair her car
door latch, but he needs a part, so that will wait for tomorrow. We spent a good bit of time driving around
getting parts and groceries for the days we will be here, because the least I
can do is bless her with a few meals she doesn’t have to cook. It was a full day.
Kaleb hung out for a few hours with Jacob (age 3), next door
while we ran around looking for things we needed. We ate popsicles as the heat of the day made
them taste especially good, and we visited the chickens next door and chased
off pigeons trying to get their food. I took
lots of photos of “chimmies” a local little bird with the cutest yellow stripe
around it’s neck (above), also getting at the chicken feed. The day was warmer than any day we have felt
for a year or more and the breeze was downright Caribbean in nature. We could have been doing anything or nothing at
all today, and it would have felt heavenly, just being in the tropics in the
middle of winter.
We’ve had some interesting conversations with Louise, her
daughter and son-in-law. I made a fat
free vegan dinner tonight and invited them over as they live right next
door. In fact, the house Shirleen rents
used to belong to her son-in-law’s parents, so family stays close around these
parts – just like Norway.
Greg, the son-in-law, traces his roots back to 1729 in this
country, but on a different island. He
comes from British roots and is among the 5% of whites here, the rest are black
– either Bahamians or Haitians. The
native Arowak Indians died out long ago.
(Sad.) The local blacks hate the Haitians because not only are they here
illegally, but they work hard, pay their bills and keep their places nice. They take the jobs no one else wants, but
they also work their way up and take better jobs. The Bahamians are in nature, a little more
“relaxed” and will only work 4 days a week, so they are always calling in sick
at least one day a week. The Haitians
will work 7 days a week without complaint.
There is a lot of human trafficking issues here as the
locals know the Haitians have no voice because they are here illegally. Many locals hire them to do work and then
don’t pay them. Louise told of one guy
in her church that worked hard for 2 days then was stiffed the wages. She took him back over to the house where
he’d done the work and demanded the guy pay him. He said he didn’t have any money. She looked around and said, “Well, you have a
pretty nice car there. It would be
fairly easy for someone to come in the night and repaint it for you with spray
paint.” The guy went inside and got the
money and paid him. He then told
Shirleen, “You are one mean old lady,” to which she responded, “Yes, I hear
that a lot. Don’t you mess with my
people.” She loves these Haitians like
no one else. She is justice and mercy all
wrapped up in a tiny little body my grandmother would say is “no bigger than a
minute.” She’s a hoot.
No comments:
Post a Comment