Some musings on My Caribbean

One day I was searching through the stacks in a library in St Lucia. I came across a book written by a sailor who had spent years sailing the waters around the Caribbean. This was that time in history when everyone was discovering the Caribbean and surrounds. His remark when he saw Jamaica was that he had encountered paradise. I wish I had made a note of the source, but then....

I have travelled the Caribbean. Most of the time with my 2 children. I started doing that when my daughter was a couple months old and just out of her specially designed straw bassinet. That’s a long time ago now, but then life takes time. The only island of the Caribbean that I have not visited is Haiti/ Dominican Republic.

I do not want to talk about the high crime rates in some islands or the poor attention to environmental conservation. This exists, but today others will take on that battle.

I must admit I have not kept abreast of the extraordinary writings of the Caribbean but there are two persons, who best express how I feel about the Caribbean viz. Kamau Braithwaite and Derek Walcott. Their use of sound and words, feelings ...oh me I can’t even express my thanks for being in this time and being able to experience their writings.

This is not necessarily a factual document. I think of it more as an emotional piece. The Caribbean is home to so many peoples from all ethnicities. These peoples have made the islands home. You see this in the many languages you encounter across the different islands. Walcott speaking of Sainte Lucie lists in French Creole such fruit as:

“Pomme arac Otaheite apple Pomme cythére Pomme granate Moubain Z’anananas The Pineapple’s Aztec helmet Pomme I have forgotten what pomme for the Irish Potato” Or For the English speakers we all know Soursop Pawpaw StarApple Christophine More types of mango than we can remember

More types of pears than we can remember Simpson pear, Avocado

Cherries

The list goes on. The point is we may have come from everywhere under different circumstances but we never lost our sense of self, our language, our foods, our ways of meeting and greeting and our respect for each other’s reality. Someone kept hold on these elements for the future. Consequently, we are able to share our knowledge with the world.