Independence

It is early afternoon and there is a knock on my door. I am greeted with a smile and a coconut. Egbert is the Village Librarian. He and I have been working on an independence activity in the village library. This year marks the 30^th anniversary of Saint Lucia’s independence from Great Britain.

The village library is small but with many books, however, they are dated and much of the material is irrelevant. The schools do not have libraries, consequently, this is the only place in the village where children can do research and get information. I taught for Webster University before I left. Each year the University has a “Volunteer Day”. They select a project and fund a small amount of money for expenses. A couple of years ago I helped make blankets for the families of our soldiers around the world. This year Webster has selected my village library as their project. They held a book drive and are paying to have these books sent to us. I am grateful for this.

Saint Lucians are visual and Egbert saw the PowerPoint slides I put together for Laureates Week last month. At Egbert’s request I helped him make a looping PowerPoint presentation with many pictures and a few words to document the theme, “A journey to be proud of, a future to look forward to”. This is an inexpensive way to create a resource for children and teachers, thereby adding value to the content of the library. Egbert wanted to learn how to do it and I was more than happy to teach him a new skill. The show turned out to be twenty minutes long with traditional music which got good reviews from children as well as their teachers.

Egbert is now the village PowerPoint expert. He showed the presentation to the librarian and others at Castries Central Library. They liked his work and want to make an even better show next year. He is working with them to create a new slide show for the next independence day celebration. This will be distributed island-wide. He is now teaching others the skill I taught him. Amazing!

In addition to his presentation, Egbert created a time line of history which led to independence. He researched his archives and came up with old original publications reporting on Saint Lucia’s Independence. Some publications were created especially for this historical event. Egbert cut them up for his display. Some of the original documents were placed near the display where children were free to thumb through them. I couldn’t help but think that this type of artifact would be precious in the United States and would be placed in a glass display case and handled with white gloves.

Saint Lucians express history through oral means such as folk tales and theater. People in Saint Lucia have passed stories and history down orally through the arts. They don’t have the extensive museums and artifacts that we enjoy. One must hunt for them. Many times collections are found in the homes of villagers. There are some that are concerned about losing their history, but most are more concerned with who is going to tell them what will replace the failing banana industry.

This reminds me of a book I read many years ago, Jeffrey Archer’s Kane and Abel. One of his characters moved to the United States, became rich and visited his aging mother in Poland who was suffering from dementia. It was a harsh winter and she was burning her furniture to stay warm. He left a wad of money on the table as he walked out the door. After he left she burned the money. Value is in the eye of the beholder.