Don’t be fooled into thinking that I am in some far away place you never heard about but for those of you who did not know, Iyanola is the indigenous people’s name for the island of St. Lucia where from June 17-19, representatives of Caribbean Civil Society Organisations met at the invitation of the Caribbean Policy Development Centre and the Commonwealth Foundation in a regional consultation to inform civil society positions to be taken to the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Nigeria in December. I will report on that meeting elsewhere giving fuller consideration to the issues and strategies discussed but right now I want to share with you how I spent one of my nights on the island in hope that one day we can have the same kind of range of positive and progressive offerings on a regular basis in Anguilla.

It started with fact that I am seriously committed to flying with LIAT and to making my small contribution to seeing our regional airlines remain airbourne. It also had to do with the fact that to get to most other parts of this region from Anguilla when flying with LIAT, one has to fly first to Antigua. It also has to do with the fact that the Antigua airport as a hub is a great place to see, meet, have serious meetings, serious limes or serious grumblings about anything going wrong with travel plans, with people one knows from other islands. So it was that at V.C. Bird I met St. Lucian economist and cricket enthusiast Peter Adrien who told me that he was going to be launching the second edition of his book Cricket and Development at the public library in Castries the next night and that I should come. Well he did not have to ask me twice so I found my way to the book launching and found myself listening to the most titillating lecture on Cricket as an economically viable industry for the Caribbean Region. The publicity flyer for the book tells us that it is being used as a supplementary textbook at the University of the West Indies. Cave Hill Campus has incorporated cricket in the curriculum. The book includes comments on Lanville Harrigan and the lecture included mention of Omari Banks. I thought that every Minister of Finance in the region should have been present at that lecture but I will say not another word about it because I am inviting Peter to let me organize a similar lecture and book signing in Anguilla though this may not be possible until the end of July. When you hear about it, just come and make the very worthwhile investment in that book.
I left that lecture a little sooner than I would have liked to as I would have liked to hear the discussion after but my brethren arrived to take me to another lecture that was in progress at the Town Hall. The lecturer there was a St. Lucian whose name I cannot remember but to whom I made sure to give my card because he has to help me develop that African Studies curriculum for the Caribbean RastafarI Organisation. The title of that lecture was, They Came Before CARICOM and it featured the extent to which the African presence had established itself in this part of the world before the Europeans arrived. Ivan Van Sertima’s seminal work They Came Before Columbus was a major reference but there was so much new information that it made me want to go back to school.
The third happening in the one night was the RastafarI Calling radio programme in which I was introduced as the guest sistren. Having had this experience in several of our islands in non-government owned FM radio stations, I have become highly appreciative of the kinds of openness and avenues for expression that seem to be still not facilitated by government owned media and it make me wonder if they can truly survive and remain vibrant in this newly competitive arena. If you ever find yourself in St. Lucia on a Wednesday night, just tune in to 100 FM at nine o’clock and you will see what I mean.
Since the brethren lived in the far south and I was traveling North I think, I took the public bus home at about 11 p.m. that night and had absolutely no reason to feel afraid, feeling glad instead that I could pay EC $2.00 instead of EC $40.00 to a taxi for the twenty-five minute drive home. Since I am a chronic insomniac and cannot sleep easily if my bed time has passed, I turned on the TV only to become really wide awake and excited to find Professor Hilary Beckles of the University of the West Indies at the start of a lecture on West Indies cricket. Twice in one night – I could not believe it. While Peter’s lecture focused on the economics of cricket and the region’s preparation for the World Cup in 2007, Dr. Beckles’ lecture focused on the psycho-cultural investment that Caribbean people have made in West Indies cricket. What a rich offering.
As if that was not enough, the programming up to the point that I felt sleepy made me think that I could get to like TV if I lived in St. Lucia. I got Chief Minister Osbourne in his capacity as Chairman of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States delivering an address to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the Treaty of Basseterre by which the OECS was established. The newly appointed and very glamorous new Director of the OECS, Dr. Len Ishmael, followed him. The crowning glory, even though by this time I had begun to yawn, was a Cabinet Press Briefing in which St. Lucia’s Cabinet Secretary, walked his audience through the workings of Cabinet proceedings in a superb piece of public education. I drifted off to sleep feeling really enriched and ready to link the next day’s work with reflections of my night before and armed with a set of ideas to share with Teacher Charlie from my membership of the Anguilla Council for Adult and Continuing Education. Needless to say, breakfast next morning consisted of my usual fruit plate but instead of juice and ginger tea, a cup of strong, black, caffinated coffee.

Ijahnya Christian

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