DAY NINE – MONDAY
On Monday we were scheduled to help with clean-up and maintenance for an older parishioner who is facing physical challenges. Tyrone is the catechist for St. Margaret’s Savannah Sound and has been since the 1970s. The catechist is an important role in the Anglican Church of the Bahamas. For many years there were not enough priests. The catechist held Morning and Evening prayer, organized parish life and prepared people for confirmation and communion. Even with a priest the catechist has an important role in the service and chooses the weekly hymns. Tyrone lives in Savannah Sound and was catechist for all three churches in the parish. He was a mentor and father figure to many of the leaders of this parish today. During his working life, Tyrone did the maintenance for an apartment complex on Windermere Island, the vacation home of the rich and famous (Mariah Carrey has a house here, Prince Charles and Diana honeymooned here, …). He is going to Nassau next week for medical treatment so we will hold him in prayer. We loaded up a weed-wacker, lawn mower, rakes, shovels, wheelbarrow and other tools to do yard pickup and cleanup. Fr. Eldon drove us in a smaller church van. His grandson, Cameron, joined the team, as did Janice and Mandolin.
Monday was a scorcher! The sun was out; it was hot by 9 am and hit 115 degrees by noon. The team worked on raking up leaves, cleaning up beds and trimming vegetation. Alexis suffered a touch of heat exhaustion and needed to get rehydrated and cooled off. Tyrone’s son, Roscoe, also helped with trimming plants and cleanup.
The work was messy and we filled bag after bag with debris. Ariana said she liked cleaning up the house but it was tough in the heat. It was nice to be able to do something nice for Tyrone. Rachael said it was extremely hot outside so our work was really slowed down. There was only so much work we could do so we focused o the yard and a little debris. She wished there was more that could have been done but so much of the yard was beyond what we could do in a single morning. With virtually no shade we called it a day at noon and went back to the Laughing Bird for lunch and a break.
Fr. Lance, Bailey, Claire and Faith went back to the doctor for a check-up on the stitches. Everything looks great and Claire’s cuts are healing nicely.
After lunch we split up into two teams and each group went on a shopping expedition to one of the two local stores to price the cost of the food package that we had distributed.
The parish normally distributed 40 packages of food each month. They have had to reduce this to 24 per month as economic stress has impacted church giving. Fr. Eldon said that the parish prioritizes providing support to its members. But the reduction in food hit those who lost the support very hard. The food packet includes sugar, oil, flour, oatmeal, grits, cream of wheat, rice, canned green beans and canned corn, Vienna sausage, tuna, sardines and canned corned beef. Each packet would cost about $40 if purchased in Governor’s Harbour. Pensioners can receive as little as $247 per month depending upon who they worked for. There are government clinics for basic medical care, but beyond that many specialized procedures require private insurance.
And then back to Sky Beach where all the kids can swim – even Claire who keeps her arm held up out of the water. Claire said that she enjoyed it very much even though she couldn’t swim. Today we walked on the beach taking boomerangs (short picture videos that can be posted on Instagram).
Tonight we cooked our own dinner of cheese quesadillas and refried beans. Rachael was lead chef for the quesadillas and she made a filling of black beans, chilies and sautéed onions. We had refried beans, fresh pineapple and mangos to round out the meal.
Tuesday is scheduled for a cultural day. Monday was cultural night. About 8 pm the electricity went out all over the island. There was a fire in the electrical plant. Normally the electricity browns out (which we had experienced) or if it goes out it is for an hour or two. The electricity was out for 14 hours - until 10 am! Don’t forget it was the hottest day yet – 115 degrees. No fans. No air conditioner. No lights. But lots of bugs. And a slight ocean breeze. By 8:30 Alexis said that it was very dark and really hot inside the unit. At first the girls played card games using a flash light. The team held our nightly meeting outside around a candle-lit table. Some of the girls were wrapped from head to toe in imitation of invasion of the mummies to avoid the bugs. And then to bed. With three girls sleeping to a bed everyone was hot and no one got much sleep. We taught the girls to wet down the sheets and put ice in bandanas around the neck. It was a long long night.
One blessing of the electricity going out was the opportunity to view a brilliant night sky. Lance, Bailey, Nancy and Chris went out to the beach to see the stars after the girls scurried back to the hot units to avoid the bugs. Later in the night, when the units were untenable, Chris took the girls out to the beach to see the night sky. The milky way covered a wide swath right across the center of the sky. Everyone could pick out the Big Dipper. But the stars were so brilliant and plentiful that it was hard to find Orion’s belt and the North Star. Mars was red, red, red. The ancients saw this night sky – a mirror of the creation.
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