Tobago 5

Tobago is the very attractive little sister of Trinidad, but considering its size, Tobago ought to be more than happy being a part of the country's name. It's a beautiful little island that has far more to offer than just nice beaches. With this in mind one might wonder why BF-delegates normally just visit Tobago for a few hours.

The flight from POS is just 15 minutes, and the BF-delegates so far have just been over on day trips. So the Y's men I met, were impressed and flattered when I told them that I was going to stay on Tobago for five more days at my own expense.

As it looks so far, each place I've been has one enthusiast who is extremely important to our movement. On Tobago his name is Clyde Roberts, and he is retired like Woody and Vernon. Clyde met me at the airport and guided me through the few hours my official visit lasted.

First we went to the Y'smen office, a small room in a communal building, where some of the rooms were at the disposal for non-governmental organizations. Then we went to a similar building in another part of town (Scarborough ) where YMCA are "tenants". There we had a meeting from 4.p.m. to 6 p.m. About one half of the 14 club members were present. In addition there were some Y-people, so we were more than 10, a new record! I was wondering why the meeting was held so early, but I didn't ask.

The meeting was very similar to the previous two I had attended. To have a slide projector seemed hard this time. There was one available, but I was told the bulb was broken and that the cord was missing. After having "cuddled" with it for a little while, everything was fine. The Pulpit in Lysefjorden (a rock shelf 600 meters above the water) and Kjaeragbolten (an egg-shaped rock stuck between two vertical mountain sides 800 meters above the water (with me standing on top of it) were the pictures that impressed them the most.

9 out of 14 members of this club from 1967 are women. The yearly membership fee is 300 TT dollars which includes everything. That's quite a big difference from Trinidad. It is after all the same country.

The club has its meetings the first Monday of every month from 5 to 7 p.m. Tea parties and sale of cakes are their main activities for fund raising. The members have tea parties in their homes, and the guests pay 5 TT each (goes up to 10 TT next time). In a normal year, this brings between 2500 and 3000 TT to the Y.

The main activities of the Y are Grow box farming (to plant vegetable seeds in small boxes) food preparation, computer illiteracy and ballroom dancing. In addition there are sports activities.

Tobago YMC has a problem of recruiting new members that some of you will recognize. Of the youngsters who leave the island for further education, just 5% return. I sincerely hope they can find a solution to this problem. When leaving Tobago I will do some island hopping, and I will be back on the Y-track October 24th entering Barbados.

Y'sly

Arne Augedal