Tenth Day - Closing Ceremonies - Dinner at Fantasea Resort

Friday, July 26^th. TENTH DAY – CLOSING CEREMONIES – DINNER AT FANTASEA RESORT

This morning when we got to school we gave the participants time to prepare their presentations. So they went through the usual rotation with one visit to the computer lab where George had them fill out evaluations on the blog. We had to have them fill out an evaluation for CTF too. Apparently they were very happy with the program, and what we had taught. But they were unhappy with the quality of the food and they complained that the union was unorganized. They knew about the ongoing union and ministry struggles and the ineffectiveness of Jimmy.

After they had lunch we all headed down to Memorial Hall for the closing ceremonies. It took them about an hour to get everything ready. All the media was there: radio, TV and print. There were the same speakers as the opening with the same order of protocol. Oswald spoke, Jimmy did not, and then George made a great speech about what we had accomplished, the partnership of CTF and SVGTU, and how much we had enjoyed our time visiting their country, experiencing their culture and exploring the sites of the island.

After all the speechs were made the three colour groups each put on a little sketch and/or song about their experience. They were excellent and made us feel really good about what they had learned. Each group gave one of us a gift from the whole group. When we were called up on stage one at a time we were cheered. The co-tutors presented us with gifts too. We presented gifts to our co-tutors, some union executives who had been especially helpful to us like: Jane (I took the Canada flag hairband out of her bag and put it on her head – the audience cheered and to her credit she wore if for the rest of the afternoon), Vibert, and Kent. George gave the union a laptop computer that the Nova Scotia board had donated through CTF. Finally the union presented us all gifts and so did Jane. It was unexpected on my part and somewhat embarrassing as we had really brought very little for them. But there were a 130+ of them plus the union people. CTF has little funds and it would cost us a small fortune to provide something worthwhile. Then George and I handed out the small tokens of Canadianna that we had brought with us. A third of the way through the line and one woman came back upset that she had got men’s socks and wanting to change. George discouraged that and told her and others to trade amongst themselves. We were embarrassed by the little gifts we gave them.

When the ceremonies were finished I was approached by a reporter from the radio who wanted to interview someone, so because George was outside smoking she took me and led me to a quiet little room at the back. She asked what I thought of the ceremonies, about our project, if we thought we had accomplished what we set out to do and what we hoped the teachers would do with what we gave them.

Then we all walked back up to the school to have our last catered lunch with the union exec and co-tutors. I won't miss the food. Gradually everyone left and there was just the three of us with our faithful guide Jane. We phoned Wayne to come and get us but he was in Georgetown, about an hour away. So we were stuck for a bit until Jane bailed us out and phoned a friend who came picked us up, drove us to Jane's house where she changed out of her dress and then to FastaSea Tours so that we could climb to the fort. We had a view of this fort on top of a huge rock just off shore, from our home when we first arrived. I had wanted to climb up to it ever since. So after asking Jane a number of times, she finally found time for us to do it. George begged off as he was tired from the hike yesterday, so Irnice, Jane and I took a water taxi to the rock and climbed the 60 metre tall volcanic plug using the 122 steps. Little did I know that Irnice was afraid of heights and the open-ness of the staircase unnerved her. Jane encouraged her to keep going. The view from the top of St Vincent and Young Island was beautiful. There was a small battery of three cannons there too. After a bit we climbed back down. Jane led and Irnice was hiding behind her and hanging on her shirt. They were so slow that I stopped and just admired the view and reflected on the visit. When I got to the bottom I found out that Jane was just as scared as Irnice, but she didn't let us know! Our water taxi came back and returned us to the mainland where we joined George who was sleeping on a beach bed.

We decided to have dinner and a drink at the hotel and to treat Jane. We ordered and then I changed and went for one last swim in the sea while the sun was setting. I had a conch roti and we had a really nice last meal, and one of only a few at a restaurant, with Jane. When Jane phoned Wayne to come and get us he gave her a hard time and he declined to come and get us. We had been aware that there was something going on with Wayne because he was very stand-offish with us the last few days. We also learned that he is Jimmy's brother and we wondered if he was upset by anything he might have heard that we said about the incompetence of Jimmy. There was nothing we could do about it since we were leaving the island in 10 hours. Jane was visibly upset with Wayne and embarrassed probably too because she believes in making sure that the union looks good, that we are serviced and that we enjoy our stay. Anyway after we all had a round of ice cream she called her friend and he came and picked us up again and took us home. We all said a very sad goodbye to a wonderful woman and great new friend.

I went down to Ken's to give his son the Canadian sunglasses that he liked so much and to say thank you to Ken and his family. Then Ken followed me upstairs to say goodbye to George and Irnice. He stayed for a half hour and we had a nice visit. He told us he had seen us on TV and heard us on the radio. Then it was time to finish packing and go to bed for a very early start.