Nuhbody ain’t got tuh tell ya’all how I Mavis Beckles feel ’bout my country. I would, and does, defend this li’l rock tuh the end because I believe God took His good time and mapped out Barbados.
It is one of the most beautiful places God created and I, fuh one, am more than grateful dat I was born here.
Leh me tell you something: one o’ my favourite pleasures or pastimes is tuh get into my li’l puma evah once in a while and just drive around the country, stopping and checking out some o’ the beautiful breathtaking views, getting lost and finding my way again.
I love tuh take the time tuh observe how the people in the country areas does be going along and getting on wid duh lives as oppose tuh the ones who live closer tuh The City.
Sometimes I does wonder at the way how the people in the country areas does feel or even see demselves, especially those who grow up and still live in dem far out places like St Lucy, St Andrew and St Joseph so, especially St Andrew and St Joseph.
Fuh example, of the eleven parishes, St Joseph is one o’ the most lush and beautiful, but it looks tuh me like it is one o’ the most unfortunate and often neglected parishes in Barbados. Now by this I mean dat evah suh often ya does hear s ’bout the many people who ain’t had running water in duh homes fuh weeks at a time.
Then there is the land slipping and carrying along whole houses wid it down in the gully. Another thing dat does get me is the many times ya does hear ’bout the young men who does get involved in some kind of criminal behaviour like drugs, or this young man killing the next just so and duh up before the law courts.
The other day there was a woman in the newspapers talking ’bout and showing ya how she does have to walk a road dat break away and it is very dangerous because it got damaged by the lot o’ rain water and Tropical Storm Tomas.
She was saying dat she didn’t know what would happen if something, some major emergency like a fire or a serious casualty, occur and the fire truck or the ambulance had tuh get down in there where she live.
Dat left me wondering if the representatives fuh these parishes doan see these serious problems when duh canvassing fuh the people votes; walking up and down pon the same dangerous roads, in the same deplorable conditions.
Ting, I was talking tuh somebody the other day and was shocked tuh hear dat duh ain’t got one official registered day care centre in the whole o’ St Joseph.
Another shocker tuh me is the lack o’ community/resource centres. Nowhere tuh meet socially or nuh programmes in place fuh the young people tuh develop duhselves or challenge duh minds and we know dat when ya doan challenge people minds what does eventually happen. Duh does just go astray.
From spending a good set o’ my growing up vacations in St Joseph, apart from a few schools like St Elizabeth, Grantley Adams Memorial and Lamming, which either get built or refurbish, I ain’t really see nuh lot o’ nutten dat get done in St Joseph ovah the years.
Of course, there’s a nice li’l beach facility over there in Bathsheba, but duh ain’t even build a li’l place out there with a roof where the craft people could sell duh wares wid out fear of the elements.
I was listening tuh somebody talking ’bout the bridges dat ain’t working, like “Dark Hole”, or the ones dat barely making it. They were talking ’bout the school buses, packed wid schoolchildren dat does have tuh travel up and down up in there by Chalky Mount and Coggins. If two buses meet in dat hill, one o’ dem does have tuh reverse and if Coggins break down, they will be forced tuh use Melvin’s Hill and dat deteriorating too.
By the way I writing this, you could see dat St Joseph is one o’ my very favourite parishes, but I cahn seem tuh understand wha’ going on wid their parliamentary representatives.
I remember duh had a local fella up in there for a lot o’ years, a grass roots fella name Rouse, who get beat a good few times, but he used tuh be in every cock fight dat happen up in there ’cause he know dat parish from the bottom up. Dat man used tuh help a lot o’ children wid lunch and God knows wha’evah else. Listen, from hearing people talk, he used tuh be every single place dat something was happening but ya know how we is: we Bajans have very short memories.
Look, St Joseph is one o’ dem parishes dat have so much potential, so much tuh offer but like it keep moving backwards. Ting, it is where we used tuh go and pick fat porks, cashews and grapes, but nowadays the young people doan even venture because all o’ dem tracks dat lead through the gullies and up in the bush are now all overgrown.
It like it ain’t name Joseph fuh nutten. Just like in the Bible when Joseph’s ten brothers sell he and fuhget ’bout he, it would seem like the other ten parishes have forgotten all about Joseph. I hope dat dat ain’t the case.