Home Thoughts From Abroad

 “The P.A.C.K.” Purposed Around a Common Klesis (calling)

Two years ago we began our journey with a cohort of fellow MAGLers with whom we would struggle through nine courses in leadership. We spent two weeks together last February in Colorado Springs and now we are together once again for our Capstone Seminar to mark the beginning of our two final courses. We have lost a few members along the way due to the demands of finances or their full time ministry. Others are still on the journey but have needed to temporarily slow the pace or could simply not join us these two weeks because of family needs or work assignments. We dearly missed Timothy, Nikole, Kris, Allison, Jonathan and Kurt.

We finally were able to visit what will be our “alma mater” as the seminar was held at the main campus of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. The campus is beautiful and it was great to catch up with the lives of our cohort members. We did the intensive, in-class portion of two courses which we will complete over the next five months. Outside of class we had opportunities to visit over meals and walks through the charming, old city of Pasadena. It was a tiring intrusion into our summer but we are simply rejoicing that we “can smell the barn”.

Ever since we left Canada, my long time friend Sonya has been planning to visit us but life, work and school kept getting in the way. Now it has finally happened and it was worth the wait. Most of our visitors thus far have been family  so our explorations have been beach and kid activity stuff which is great. However having Sonya here gave us the motivation to visit some new sights.

The Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park is really lovely even though we were probably a week or two late the catch the flowers and trees in full bloom. It was still a very pleasant stroll on a lovely day and gave us the excuse to have lunch at the Lighthouse with the waves crashing around us.

We discovered Pedro St James and spent an afternoon learning a bit more of the history of the settlement of the Cayman Islands. Referred to as “The Birthplace of Democracy in the Cayman Islands”, Pedro St. James was the venue for a meeting on December 5th, 1831 where the decision was made to form the Cayman Islands first elected parliament.

We still had plenty of time for the regular island stuff like the submarine and beach walks;Sonya developed a new found love for snorkeling. We couldn’t help but use the excuse of company to take the night cruise to our favourite funky, little restaurant at Rum Point.

It seems unbelievable that our first year is over. It has been incredibly challenging, stressful, fun and rewarding. We still basically wake up each day and marvel at the beauty of this country and the joy of living here. We have made some amazing new friends but as always comes with this life style; that means we have new people to say good-bye to.

We have been trying all year to do an evening catamaran sail across the North Sound to have dinner with our friends Kevin and Angie. Angie was the elementary school principal and Steve relied very heavily on Kevin for the needed training and tech support to make this school year a success. Now they are headed back to the States to provide the care that is needed by their aging parents. We managed to get in a wonderful evening with themjust days before they had to leave the island.

As the Cayman Islands are an overseas territory of the United Kingdom, we have a Governor who is appointed by the monarch on the advise of the British government. The Governor is the de facto head of state and is responsible for appointing the Premier, the leader of the party with the majority of seats in the Legislature.

This weekend was set aside in honour of the Queen’s 90th birthday, and the celebrations began with a traditional parade of Cayman’s uniformed services, a royal 21-gun salute and three cheers to the Queen. This was followed by a ceremony at which some prominent local figures were honored.

Governor Helen Kilpatrick, after carrying out her duty as representative of the queen by inspecting the assembled uniformed services opened her home,  The Governor’s House for a traditional Garden Tea for residence of the islands.

(Photo Credit Cayman Compass)

It was a typical, beautiful morning in Cayman and we enjoyed attending the party and taking in some of the sights and sounds of the British heritage of our adopted home.

The first year in a new country is all about settling in and getting to know the culture and traditions of your new place. We were warned that this particular festival and parade was largely about revealing costumes and feathers but decided to take it in anyway.

The festival’s original name, Batabano, is a salute to Cayman’s turtling heritage. The word batabano refers to the tracks left in the sand by sea turtles as they crawl onto the beach to nest. Finding these tracks was – and still is – a reason to celebrate!

Carnival is a premier cultural celebration in the Caribbean – a kaleidoscope of music, dance and pageantry with roots mirroring the region’s diverse history of African and religious influences. Colourful costumes reflect the vibrant landscapes, heritage and culture, with the music the very rhythm of island life. Carnival in the Cayman Islands has a distinct flavour as the islands are home to a melting pot of over 100 nationalities – one country celebrating many cultures!

During carnival, districts and corporate groups join together to compete and showcase creative costumes, choreography and floats. The energy of Cayman Carnival Batabano is electrifying, with thousands of locals and visitors flocking to the streets to enjoy the spirited parade, which is all about expression.

(an excerpt from www.caymancarnival.com)

Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. In response to the “liberation” of France in 1789, Haiti staged its own liberation from slavery to France. It was rewarded for its impudence with a crushing defeat from Napoleon in 1813, and the penalty of war reparations. These reparations to France lasted for the next 80 years, extracting what in today’s terms would be in excess of 20 billion dollars, and ensuring the continuing debt of Haiti down into modern times.

The situation was exacerbated by the Americans who propped up the vile dictator “Doc” Chevalier and his incompetent son in order to prevent another embarrassing Cuban-style revolution. Haiti was once the richest colony in the New World, its wealth in coffee, lumber, and sugar cane exceeding the wealth of all the 13 colonies in America combined.[1] Now it is a denuded wasteland, reduced to enduring poverty by its former colonial masters who in typical capitalist rhetoric blame their victims for their plight.[2]

The Children of Haiti Project began as a response to the recent devastating earthquake, and was set up in the Delmas region of Port-au-Prince.[3] The byline on its website declares, “In the face of human tragedy, doing nothing is not an option.” Frank Anderson, former principal of the Colegio International in Caracas and superintendent of the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges, now retired, is the  driving force of the project.

Ms. Dominque Pierre, an American trained Haitian teacher, runs the school with complete devotion. There are 60 students who attend the school, and a number of them are orphans who also live on the school property. They are divided into four classes, and the mission pays for the teachers, who otherwise would not even enter such a poor part of town. Ms. Pierre watches over them with loving care.

We, that is four other teachers from CIS and myself, went to Haiti over the March Break to teach in the school. We took with us nearly 250 pounds of school supplies, generously donated by the students and parents of this community, packed away into five suitcases. Fortunately, we had no difficulty in either Miami or Port-au-Prince in getting this material into the country. Once there we settled into the COHP school where we boarded, along with the orphans at the school.

I was the only teacher with a smattering of French, sufficient to conduct my lessons, which were admittedly of a pretty simplistic nature. The four other staff, all young enough to be my children, made do with sign language and the occasional translation from Dominique, who had exceptionally good English. The lessons were all enthusiastically received, as were the games and the sports equipment that we brought with us.

That is why a school like COHP is so important. It represents not only education, but hope for the future. People like Dominique Pierre, who could easily make a living in the States, sacrifice much to help her country pulls itself out of its malaise. She could do with our help. I hope to return again soon.

[1] http://www.theweek.co.uk/politics/17323/why-haiti-so-poor-history-quake-hit-island

[2] http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/01/13/haiti.pat.robertson/

[3] http://childrenofhaitiproject.org/

When you live on the far side of the world, one of the things you miss the most is just hanging out with family and friends. In our home there never seemed to be a shortage of kids just lying around on the couch and we loved it.

Our first Canadian visitors in our Cayman condo brought back some of those wonderful memories. Dave and his two buddies, Cash and Raul, came to visit for a week. They eventually figured out how to best deal with the snorer in the group and settled in for a really nice visit. They took the car and explored the island by themselves but we also got to visit Sting Ray City and the underwater world with them. In fact, it was so nice that Dave decided it would be worthwhile extending his visit for a further week- and we are sure that we were the attraction.

Immediately on our return to the Caribbean from our Canada trip I was in Cuba for a few days to meet up with our TWR staff and get a sense of the work that is going on there. I also had the joy of attending the official opening and a dedication of the new home and office of the Cuban ministry team. Steve was able to join me for a quick getaway when Steve was able to join me for the weekend.

Havana is the culturally rich and colourful capital of Cuba and the largest city in the Caribbean. To walk around Vieja Habana (Old Havana) is to step back in time where the 16^th century Spanish colonial architecture is evident in the castles, cathedrals and mansions.  Although battered and badly in need of repairs, the city maintains its wonder and attraction. The streets are lined with 1950’s American made cars and the sound of music from the clubs and cabarets floods the streets and alleys. We will definitely go back there soon.