Before Hurricane Beryl came and set back development in Grenada, the government ran a programme of town hall meetings across Grenada. These were to celebrate two years in office, to showcase development and allow residents to voice concerns and questions. I decided to attend the one for our area of St Patrick which was at a local secondary school.
We sat waiting for the meeting to start with a panel of people on the stage of the school hall and then a car with flashing blue and red lights appeared and in walked the prime minister, to a standing ovation. It then transpired that the panel which looked like a row of teachers and the head teacher was in fact the MPs and Prime minister!
The meeting was a good insight into some of the current issues of Grenada and the future plans of the government. A major issue that was raised is that some houses do not have internal bathrooms but need to rely on pit latrines outside. The government had started a ‘WASH’ programme – ‘Water Access and Sanitation in Homes’ to build proper bathroom facilities so that everyone has access to clean water and flushing toilets. I was particularly aware of this issue during Hurricane Beryl and imagining families without internal bathrooms when the weather is torrential rain and high winds.
The medical service was another area of concern and in particular someone raised the shocking issue that the maternity cover for our area is daytime only and is not 24hrs. Knowing how often babies are born at night, I found this a particularly concerning issue and is due partly to a shortage of nurses. The Prime minister talked about his plans for a large new medical village that would encourage medical tourism. This was a new concept to me and Grenada hopes to attract people from other Caribbean nations or beyond to come to Grenada for medical treatment. However the plans also included promoting Grenada as a place of healing through experiencing its peace and tranquillity, connecting with nature and traditional healing practices such as the sulphur springs which was interesting in the light of our own vision for Hummingbird Retreat.
Education is another major issue and a few of the questions raised highlighted concerns about the low level of literacy amongst children and young adults. One of the questions came from a primary school girl who said that she and some of her friends couldn’t afford the school text books that she needed and how could they manage when the school didn’t have its own library. As someone who has just put together a library, including a small children’s library I was very interested to hear this need and low literacy rates is definitely something that I want to explore further. This young girl asked a second question which was, what could the Prime minister suggest to help her to be the first female Grenadian prime minister which got a lot of cheers and laughs from the audience. It was lovely to see how the Prime Minister took her seriously and invited her to shadow him for a day at work. I later met her and discovered that this confident 10 year old is called Haylie Philip and the photo below shows her in her school uniform. She has been one of the first people to use the new library at the retreat house, along with her mother.
I have heard from a few sources that there is a real crisis in education with teachers not feeling able to manage classroom behaviour since corporal punishment has been discouraged in schools. Significant numbers of teachers just don’t turn up for lessons with no accountability and so children have a lot of free time which inevitably can lead to more trouble.
On a positive note, the government is wanting to introduce the concept of blue schools to Grenada in the recognition that Grenada is a ‘small island but large ocean’ country. The philosophy of blue schools is to teach children more about the ocean and sustainability such as renewable energy solutions and better fishing practices.
The government meeting also focused on new building work such as community centres, a cinema and more social housing. I discovered that most of the police stations on the island are rented and that this area has only recently been given its own fire engine and ambulance. The prime minister also explained that the government was setting up a pension scheme for those working for the government whereas at the moment only long term workers, over 27 years of work, qualify for a pension.
I was so glad to have gone to the meeting to have my eyes opened to many of the issues that Grenada is grappling with and to better understand the level of development here. Sadly, many of these plans may have to go on hold as the country focuses on rebuilding after Hurricane Beryl.
Another public meeting I attended was run by St. Patrick’s Environmental and Community Tourism Organization (SPECTO). They were talking about how to protect local mangroves and in particular the damage caused by a large hotel development that has started in the Levera area. It was good to meet others who were passionate about protecting the natural landscape and the beautiful Levera Pond that I often go and sit near. Sadly Hurricane Beryl has destroyed a lot of trees in that area and has exposed the hidden hotel building site at the far side of the lake.
I’m aware that I started these blogs talking about the wonderful wildlife and tourist sites of Grenada and then last month focused on the devastation of Hurricane Beryl. Now this month, this blog has focused on some of the challenges facing Grenada. Perhaps this reflects my own journey of coming to live here and first seeing the island as a paradise location with the opportunity to see new wildlife and new experiences. Having lived here a little longer and in particular having gone to these public meetings I am beginning to see below the tourist brochure view of Grenada to the issues of a developing nation. This is important for me to have this full picture of Grenada and important for the development of our charity here in terms of what we may focus on in the future. It is all part of my learning journey to get to know both the strengths and challenges of this beautiful country.
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