La Toya De Roche (De Victorious Rock)

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.” Ah pop-yuh-law quotation from “ Romeo and Juliet,” one ah Shakespeare’s great Play. Eng. Lit. was not my forte, not my thing, in fact school in general was not my thing. What ah recall bout dis Play however, is dat de families of Romeo and Juliet, de two young lovers in de Play were arch-enemies, de family name had ??? marks, so Juliet was saying dat Names doh matter. Qualities in ah person are what matter most.

Ah remember telling Lie-Za dat at Girls’ High School (GHS), my daughter was all excited aboutbecoming ah Girl Guide. She registered in No 11 Kingstown Guide Company. Everything was going good until she came home complaining bout her Guider, Miss La Toya De Roche, she wanted to see us. ” Is your Guider French or Italian? “dat name sound far-rain,” I said. Wid ah subtle smile on her face, my daughter said: “ Daddy you know La Toya De Roche, she is ah Vin-sin-shun, born right here!”

Dat was ah lovely afternoon session we had wid Miss La Toya, she was not only our daughter’s Guider, but also her Econ/POB Teacher. We learned dat de school had two other Guide Groups (No’s 1 and 3) and de membership of No 11 wid (approx. 70 members) was more dan the other two Groups combined. We learned also dat Miss La Toya was also de Leader of de School’s Young Leader’s Group.

After our session ah made ah few phone calls and was pleasantly surprised dat our Teacher/Guider, is ah serious Business Woman, ah professional Event Planner. In de Classroom, she is ah Disciplinarian, Ah No-Non-cents Econ/POB Teacher. One who has ah near perfect record of 100 percent Passes in CXC wid close to 90% Grade Ones. Den he said :” Bassy Boy apart from having ah great love foh young people, ah think she is Head Mistress Material!”

Ah love her for de valuable time and interest she spent getting our young ladies ready foh today and tomorrow. Under her supervision ah number of Girl Guides, including our daughter have earned “Chief Guide Commissioner’s Award.” Dey attended an Inter-nah-shun-all Guide Camp in de UK, meeting and making friends from all over de Commonwealth.

Camp Life!

And dey was Guides Camp in Grenada, St Lucia. Lots ah photographs during ah 10 days camp on Union Island and de famous Tobago Cays. And dey’s Camp Pelargir right here in Brighton SVG. Dat was ah real traditional camp experience. Firstly de girls, everybody slept under Tents, tucked away in sleeping bags on de solid ground. Candle-flies, Lizards and Spiders kept dem awake screaming all night, dey was no flush toilets, so foh some ah dem, it was ah first experience answering ah bowel movement (die-ah-rear) , using de out-toilet in de wee hours ah de morning. These are only ah few of de things La Toya brings to any work place.

In Shakeapear’s play, Juliet was telling Romeo dat names doh matter, Qualities in ah person are what matter most. So true, and I am encouraged dat according to Google’s list of names: “La Toya De Roche” means “ de Victorious Rock,” and she is now Head Mistress of Girls’ High School. Congrats La Toya and wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

• Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.