This week it came tuh me dat I should write about some o’ the positive things dat are happening in Barbados, but I gine have tuh tell you now that even though they are there, it is not the easiest thing tuh do, not when evah single day before you could open ya two eyes good, ya seeing and hearing ’bout bare negatives all the time.
Now, for example, nowadays if it ain’t somebody driving by in a car and shooting up, hurting and or killing innocent people, it is tragic vehicular accidents pon the roads or the police making big-able drug hauls and sometimes having shoot-outs wid the drug runners.
Then there is the wutless adults whose minds are so warped dat duh does go and interfere wid poor innocent li’l children who dem should be protecting and mess up duh young lives.
What about the domestic violence issue dat doan seem tuh want tuh go away any time soon or the men and women, old and young, who despite all the lot o’ information pon HIV and AIDS all ovah the place, continue tuh live a promiscuous lifestyle and refuse tuh change it, even though duh seeing how it destroying other people dat they demselves know?
But despite all o’ dat, there is still a lot more positive than there is negative.
For example, there are still children and young people who does pass you, look in you face and say: “Good morning” and “Good evening”. We still got children who does be going tuh Sunday School – doan mind some o’ the very parents who grow up in church doan go wid dem.
More well behaved I am sure dat if you ask any schoolteacher pon this island ’bout the kinda children duh got in their schools, they would tell you dat they have more well behaved children than bad behaved ones; both at the primary and secondary school levels.
And look, duh does still have prayers at morning assembly in the schools and, furthermore, nuhbody doan come in tuh the people schools in nuh jeans or polo shirts or T-shirts; no child, nuh matter how old he or she is, cahn walk into nuhbody schools pon this island dressed as duh like, all schools does have tuh wear uniforms. Sweet!
Talking ’bout uniforms, it ain’t only the school children who does wear uniforms.
Even people in business places, offices and banks does wear uniforms. We police officers does look good, the security guards, the postmen and women, the Customs and Immigration people, and nowadays ya does see the day care attendants and home help people wearing duh colourful scrubs pon the road as they go to and from duh workplaces.
Look, we in Barbados does forget how good we have it.
We cahn complain ’bout not being able tuh go tuh church – we got churches, we got freedom of religion; all types o’ denominations dat ya could choose from pon every street in Barbados.
Resource centres
We got community centres, what duh call resource centres nowadays, where duh does have all types o’ training and courses in almost everything, including cake icing, pottery making, dressmaking, flower arranging, computer courses, basketry, craft and a whole lot o’ other things where anybody who interested could go and improve pon what they already know or learn a new hobby.
A lot o’ these community centres also have sports teams, like, fuh example, basketball, road tennis, netball, volleyball and dominoes, tuh name some dat are very active.
Some even got ballroom and line dancing, which is very popular nowadays.
People ’bout here does open duh mouts and speak as duh like; we got freedom of speech. And talking ’bout freedom, we got free health care, like in the polyclinics and at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and we got home help fuh the aged. We got people who does go in tuh old people homes and plait duh hair, bathe dem, clean up duh houses, do the shopping and cook fuh dem. We even got meals on wheels.
We live in a good place, a most beautiful part of the world. We got people who does have duh windows and doors open from morning till night.
In most areas in Barbados, the people doan even have wrought iron at duh windows. Look, I have a next-door neighbour there who does have her windows open all the time. She does go out, come back, go tuh sleep and wake up and dem windows does be still open.
God is good tuh Barbados.
• Mavis Beckles was born and raised in The Orleans. She has an opinion on everything.
