Trinidad 3

Arrival on Trinidad was 02.00 a.m. September 19th, three hours late, and it took one more hour before I got my luggage and was installed in my new home. I didn't enjoy keeping my hosts away that long, but there wasn't much to do about it.

Upon arrival I got a printed program for my stay by my host, Vernon Modeste. He is RD in Caribbean at the moment. On Trinidad there are two clubs which will have a joint meeting tomorrow. One Tobago there is one club.

Trinidad is probably better known than Aruba, even if their proximity to Venezuela is about the same. Like Norway, Trinidad rely on oil and gas being pumped up from the sea. The population is about 1,2 million.

My first day here was quite action filled after a very short night. They have a tradition of letting international guests being introduced to the mayor. That was a nice experience. From there we went to a tv-studio to be live on the air. The program was called Dateline, led by a woman who has done this for 25 years. She was well prepared, and I was very happy with her questions and with our answers. Hopefully it was good promotion for Y'sdom! (The world's best kept secret - as some say)

One of the young members in POS YMC works for the tv-company and had been a door opener for us. How good are we at using media?

In the afternoon I attended a board meeting in the YMCA where Vernon is a vice leader at the moment. I was not on the agenda, but I told a little about Y'sdom and Norway when the meeting was over. The agenda could easily have been from a board meeting in our YMCA in Stavanger with some minor adjustments.

Teaching people to swim (special courses for flight attendants), pre school, after school care and a youth outreach program are the main activities for four full time and some 20 + part time employees. It was an amazing first day, and I look forward to the rest.

Y'sly

Arne Augedal