Trinidad 4

There are two YMC on Trinidad, both of them located in Port of Spain and surroundings. One has its name after the town, the other is called St. George East YMC. How old the clubs are, no one could tell me, so they must have been keeping on for some time.

The average age of the members is/was quite high in both clubs, so high that they would not be able to keep on too many years ahead unless something radical takes place.

For POS YMC this has already happened. In YMCA there was a group struggling to "survive". Then the enthusiast Vernon Modeste suggested that they joined Y'smen. This happened in the beginning of this year. So far it seems to work fine, and it has been the "salvation" for both groups. The number of members went up from 12 to 30. It will be interesting to see if St. George East YMC with 15 members, mainly women, will find a way to revitalize their club.

The clubs have their meetings on Saturdays from 4.30 p.m. to 6.30 p.m., one Saturday per month each. Some times they have joint meetings. POS YMC meet in the Y while St. George East YMC meets in a local school. They pay 10 TT dollars (USD 1,70) a month in membership fees. That doesn't seem to be much, but compared with our conditions we can multiply it by ten. So in this perspective our contribution isn't too impressive. I think it is another example that the less you have, the more you give. In addition comes the money the cashier manages to persuade the members to contribute to the various funds.

Their most common way of fund raising is preparing meals for special groups. Together the clubs donate between 80 and 160 USD a year to the Y.

Friday September 20th there was a joint meeting with just 8 members present. This time I was able to show my slides in addition to speaking about Y'sdom in Norway. I naturally got some questions why my club doesn't accept female members. It was of some consolation to them that most of the new clubs in our district have female members.

On Saturday we headed south on the island to the Pointe-a-Pierre Wildfowl Trust. It's a reserve where they in particular try to breed birds threatened by extinction. In addition they had their national bird, the scarlet ibis - an incredibly beautiful bird.

On Sunday we first went to mass in the local Catholic church at 8.00 a.m. I participated in a procession carrying bread and wine to the altar. The Catholics are normally quite strict on what they allow "outsiders" to do, but this was probably a tolerant congregation.

Later on the day we filled up the Y minibus, basically with young club members and headed for Trinidad's finest beach, Maracas. There was some flirting among the youngsters, and it struck me that this activity isn't too common in our movement. "I met the mother/father of my children in a YMC." How many of our members can say that?

Monday was supposed to include a visit to the Y in Sangre Grande to see a Youth Outreach program, but for various reasons, this was cancelled, so my Y-stay was over.

But I will stay three more days on Trinidad, accommodated in Pax Guest House on Mount St. Benedict, part of a monastery. It has a fantastic location up on a hill overlooking the central plain.

On the two places I've been so far, my hosts have had the total responsibility for me. This strengthens my belief in the solution we try to provide - to share the burdens and pleasures more between the members. I am by no means dissatisfied with my hosts, but it is a little unsatisfactory to "occupy" some person for so many days. But I suppose it is a question of capacity.

Monday October 7th, it's election time here. The campaigns are quite dominating, and fair play is not the standard. The candidates are more concerned about ridiculing their opponents rather than advocating their own politics. I suppose this is not mentioned in our media, but it is quite interesting concerning the multiethnic society Trinidad is.

The history lesson is postponed, but there are oil platforms out in the sea, and three times I have seen the penguin logo of Jotun Paints of Sandefjord - my fathers working place for 30 years and also my source of income during the summers I was a student.

Thursday I will be heading for Tobago.

Y'sly

Arne Augedal