The labour unrest of the past two weeks brought out the best and the worst in of us as we stood in solidarity with the East Indian workers whose united action and effective representation earned them the gains of improved wages and hopefully overall working conditions. I completely missed Week I but felt a mixture of shame and distress when someone called me in Jamaica to let me know what was happening at home. I was also angry because right up to the demonstration by the group of workers from the Dominican Republic I had been the soul of forgiveness. After that, I could not swallow any reason at all why the entire situation of contractual arrangements with migrant workers in Anguilla was not thoroughly investigated and addressed. My first response included an element of disbelief. That could not be happening in our “up market” Anguilla that is supposed to be doing so well. A tear or two escaped at news of wrigglers in drinking water and inadequate diets but that had to be exaggeration. In spite of cable television images, my associations with East Indians especially vegetarian Hindus is that they eat very well – healthy foods so I felt ashamed that in this little island to which they had come in search of a better life, hard working employees in Anguilla’s construction industry found it necessary to bring their plight to the attention of the Anguillian public and to the world.

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