De Light house on Rocky Hill
“When tempted sore to worry; and care my soul to hurry, I count dear Lord on Thee. I let the Storms pass o’er me; I know they cannot harm me; I count dear Lord on Thee, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I count dear lord on Thee!” Verse 1, Hymn 678, Salvation Army Song Book. One ah de most inspiring story coming out ah Hurry-Came Bare-ill’s destruction of de Southern Grenadines a.k.a de CAYS, is de survival of “de Ole Man in de lickle Hut at Rocky Hill!”
Let’s call him “Papa Bravo”. So he lived alone in a humble Shanti, has his health challenges. Happily however, de SDA members in de true spirit of brotherly love, embarked on ah project to build him a small, but comfortable and cozy timber (plywood) house.
The photo in de story suggests it’s a one bedroom (8 ft x 12 ft) unit compact with kitchen, dining and sitting room; concrete bath and toilet. Galvanize roof, plywood walls, painted in bright red roof ‘n’ blue walls. Small but yuh can’t miss it, especially now as it is de only structure dat remains standing from among de many mini-palaces on Rocky Hill.
Ah close Church Brother said that the house was built a few months ago. And de good news is dat “Papa Bravo” had surrendered his life to Christ and was baptized. But when it was confirmed dat Hurry-Came Bare-ill was heading towards Union Island, church members offered to take him to a bigger and more secured shelter, but Bravo firmly refused to budge, making ah firm statement of his confession of faith.
He reminded dem dat in de first place, is de Lord who gave him dat house to live in; dey’s way de Lord wanted him to stay, so: “ I will let de Storms pass o’er me, I know dey cannot harm me, I count dear Lord on Thee.” Dat man is ah Hero and so are most Grenadines people. Resilient, something in dey Culture. Sea-faring people, brave and able to withstand de roughest times, winds and seas, and recover quickly from difficult conditions.
And doh fool we-self, we on mainland have ah his-story of discrimination when it comes to dealing wid our Grenadines brothers and sisters. Wid de exception of Sir James’ NDP, remind me of what have we done lately foh de Grenadines. Fifteen years we hearing about de construction of ah new wharf on Can-One.Years ago during NDP time, dey were discussions at CWSA to introduce desalination plants to begin extracting and delivering fresh water from de sea in de CAYS. What about de Church Organ-I say–shun dat has been showing interest in a fresh water plant in de CAYS?
So everybody panicking, hurry-hurry, ready to correct de many histerical and historical wrongs and neglect. All dis moving people into shelters to live indefinitely needs to be thoroughly discussed. Even Lie-Za knows dat moving children off dey shores, disrupting dey simple lifestyle way de bathe, swim, snorkel, fish, to ah completely new environment, is ah recipe foh trouble.Yes now de Too-Too start to hit de Fan. Dey’s no we, is just Me-myself and I who calls de shot. He says consultation, but people asking where is de Hon Terrance Ollivierre, de man de people elected as dey Rep for all three islands in de Southern Grenadines, when all dis one man consult-stay shun on de ground was going on? Way we doing last should ah bin done first. Lie-ZA say she doh NV de PM. But monkey must know way he going put he tail when he ordered pants. De road to recovery after Hurry-Came Bare-ill is ah long long and hard way to travel. And wid dat is gone ah gone again One Love Bassy
_ Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.
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