Last week had its highs and its lows for me. After the encouraging interaction with the teenagers the previous week, I was overjoyed at my great nieces’ and nephew’s excellent school reports. Two are in primary school and one in her first term at secondary school. Added to this were their achievements in extra-curricular activities – cheerleading and karate.
I also had the pleasure of attending the last show of Alleluia Pork Chops, produced by The Gap Theatre at The Reggae Lounge, St Lawrence Gap. The production has been described as “a new attempt to revive theatre in Barbados in non-conventional space”. David Neilands, one of the leaders of the company and also an actor in the show, noted in the media earlier this year: “Too often tourists come to Barbados and while they are exposed to Oistins, the races, and other events, they don’t always get a chance to see theatre. We feel we need to have a presence in this tourist-oriented area of St Lawrence Gap that will appeal to both tourists and locals.”
Producer and internationally renowned Barbadian actress, Alison Sealy-Smith, described Alleluia Pork Chops, which is based on the writings of four Barbadian literary icons – Tom Clarke, Kamau Brathwaite, Timothy Callender and John Wickham – as “an insightful journey into our culture and identity, expressed through the words of noted Barbadians”.
I think it’s agreed that our tourism industry needs diversification of its attractions and Alleluia Pork Chops certainly filled that bill. It also demonstrated that Barbadian culture is not all “wine and wuk-up”. Hopefully, the Minister of Culture, who was in attendance, will reinforce this in his leadership of the development of the Barbados cultural industry. The new attraction also fits well with the St Lawrence Gap Revitalisation Programme.
While I don’t agree with all the suggestions made by the programme co-ordinator, I certainly agree that St Lawrence Gap has the potential to increase its capacity as a foreign exchange earner. I also agree with him that we need a well-lit street, nice plants, safety and security and a fully festive atmosphere seven days a week. However, the noise factor which seems to be integral to festivities these days must be addressed since the comfort of residents and visitors should not be disturbed by excessive noise continuing into the early hours of the morning.
Unfortunately, two experiences towards the end of the week dampened my earlier enthusiasm, in addition to making me fear for our future in tourism. The first was some atrocious customer service meted out to a passenger booked to travel to Canada who arrived at the airline counter five minutes after the time the flight apparently closed. There was no one at the counter and so she could get no information. I offered to call the office, since I had already called earlier to clarify an announcement which was distorted by the poor airport sound system which we have been subjected to for years.
The lady who answered this call was the same one I had spoken to earlier about the announcement and her response was the same – offhand, unhelpful and detached – as if she had no connection whatsoever to the airline. I was later reminded that airlines no longer have their own ground staff, but contract the business to various handling companies. This, I suppose, accounts for the lack of commitment demonstrated last Thursday. It seems logical that there should be some method of communication between the office staff and those in the departure lounge. Also, whether or not the passenger could be helped, there should have been more interest taken by the staff member.
This was quickly followed by the most shocking and disturbing event of my week when my Canadian friends were robbed just hours after they arrived.
Their beach house was burglarised, safes broken and several hundred dollars stolen. As if this wasn’t bad enough, they were apparently told on calling 211 that that since safes had been broken, officers might respond within 24 hours, but burglary was not a high priority for the police. Happily, the police did respond in about 30 minutes but nothing further has been heard, neither had the promised visit from the tourism liaison officer materialised three days after the event. Are we for real?
Dr Frances Chandler is a former Independent senator. Email fchandler@caribsurf.com.