Dear friends,
It is now 2:20 am, sleep isn't so sweet anymore, as I lay awake in
my bed, I couldn't help but think of the strong wind that blew away
the shelter that we erected to give thanks to God. My thoughts were,
was Jah mad at us? Was it a freak storm? Is it a warning? The only
conclusion I can arrive at is, this is a wake up call, it is a wake up
call because as I read the newspaper concerning the incident, I
realize that the storm hit nowhere else on the island but my village,
strange? Not really, I know that it is in no way any comparison to the
disaster in New Orleans, but it is a disaster nonetheless, the
newspaper report was that a few rooftops were blown of and a few
families were shelter less.
This incident showed the lack of preparedness of the local
authorities in responding to the community of Fyzabad, Trinidad. I had
experienced a similar wind storm on the 4th of August 2005 as we
worked to erect a shelter. Are you ready? Are you prepared for the
task ahead of us? The New Orleans disaster showed the world the just
how prepared the United States is in dealing with the poor people and
what their concerns are.
While I was in Trinidad this summer, on the night of the 6th of
August after I had finished making my presentation, I was approached
by a long time friend, Bro. Kamara, with the request to speak to a
certain youth about his lack of interest in school; I bought this to
the attention of Bro. Lance and the rest of the TTRU team in Trinidad,
we spoke to the youth and reasoned about his lack of interest. His
answers were, "school is no fun" and he is right, school and
learning was not set up to be "fun," school is a place that
is set up to prepare a youth to join the work force, these colonial
school systems that we have been made to go to under the pretext of
"education" is only geared to one thing, and that thing is
to prepare the next generation of cheap labor, of course they teach
you to read and count from one to ten, but they do not teach you how
to behave, that is learned at home, at that point I realized that I
was not only dealing with a youth but I was dealing with a whole
family and hundreds of years of disfuntionality, which is a syndrome
experienced by us all. In six months this kid would become a statistic
that was the thing was eating away at my brain. The question was for
me, how do I stop this kid from becoming a number? Do I encourage him
to return to the school system that I know is preparing him for
failure, do I encourage him to continue staying away from that system.
My answer is to step up my involvement in the community of Fyzabad and
stay involved, if I could prevent one child from becoming a statistic,
from becoming a number, I would have succeeded at Haile Selassie's
orders to be my brother's keeper, well, I found out recently that 13
year old Bro. Jesse did in fact return to school, much to the joy of
his parents. And that my friends are the fulfillment of this mission.
You see, I belong to a generation of children that the Trinidadian
society wishes to lose, I belong to a generation that the history of
my country wishes didn't exist, I belong to that generation of
children who became statistics, some of us are dead statistics without
stones to mark our graves, wiped clean from the minds of the following
generations, and today I sit and watch as the society's children wipe
themselves of the face of the earth, rob themselves of the chance to
develop to their true potential, while the leaders of the country sip
champagne and go into the parliament and throw plates and cups at each
other and plan to spend the country's money in building useless
stadiums while the healthcare system is in shambles and one third of
the population is subjected to living in poverty, while drugs and guns
infest our streets and while our children are fed with 20/20
development illusions. And I ask myself, is this quality of leadership
that my children must adhere to? Is this the quality of leadership
that I want to administer the affairs of my life? Am I going to be
subjected to this kind of leadership all the years of my life? And I
have to say that the answer is no. I will not sit idly by while my
people are educated to be poor and destitute, and their dreams of a
better life are nothing more than aspiring to an American daytime soap
opera, while they are kept in a drunken stupor of the local rum shops
and high energy partying which translates into " our
culture."
My friends, this was supposed to be my TTRU trip report, but
unfortunately I do not share the same joys as many of you are
obviously feeling, forgive me if I seem to not be responding favorably
to the joys and successes of our trip, nonetheless I encourage you to
enjoy your successes. My success, my enjoyment was that I was able to
share quality time with my daughter, to open the doors to her of a
society that she is interested in becoming involved with, and the
inequalities that exist therein. I did not think at anytime in my life
that I would hand to my children the legacy of a slave and indentured
country ; I did not think I would take my children into my country,
while my people struggle for equality and justice, struggling everyday
for the basic amenities of human survival. I did not ever wish for
them to see this side of my life, I do apologize if I sound
despondent, I assure you I am not, I am a little pissed of because I
cannot get to enjoy my sleep.
If there was some way I could create an environment that was geared
toward giving kids an opportunity toward preparedness and quality
living, then I would have succeeded at fulfilling His Imperial
Majesty's vision of collective security. I would have done my small
part in ensuring that the goals and applications of the commandments
given to us by Haile Selassie are carried out to its fullest capacity.
This why I have much respect for all of you who have come forward
to join I n I on this trod, you have earned my respect. You have given
of yourselves; I thank you all very much for taking the time out of
your busy lives to bear witness to the poverty and lesser quality of
life that exists outside of your own. You have selflessly given of
your substance to ensure the TTRU's commitment to uplifting the
quality of life for the children (Rastas and Non-Rastas) of Trinidad
and Tobago and the Caribbean continues.
I do feel some of the joys that you feel about the trip, but for me
and the idren in Fyzabad the battle is far from won, even though the
bamboo tent was blown away by the wind its no problem, it was a
temporary structure and the wind saved us the trouble of tearing it
down. Now we can continue building. We had put in place a plan to have
a new structure by the end of September, I suppose now we can do that.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all very much and may His
Imperial Majesty guide the I dem in all your dreams and aspirations.
Love and respect always Ras Ravin-I
