devils in trinidad

{Adam}

Charlotte and I had the privilege of attending a  pretty intense meeting the other day. And since I know everyone is itching to hear about it, I am going to outline the day here. Last Thursday, Charlotte and I get a phone call from our supervisor, David Williams, inviting us to the (re)swearing in of the Mayor, Adrian Cabralis. This was a formal affair, so after a frantic, sweaty, trip back home to change into a suit, we arrived at town hall. Imagine our frustration when we were then told that the ceremony had been pushed back 30 minutes….Welcome to Trini Time.

Although the “swearing in” portion of the ceremony was interesting, Mayor Cabralis’ closing comments really stole the show. Mayor Cabralis outlined the future of Arima, announcing that it will soon receive city status. This was exciting for Charlotte and I, as it showed us that we took part in the transition of Arima from Borough to City. Additionally, member of the national Parliament were present, adding an official air to the meeting as they presented. Overall, it was a great experience, and gave us a little taste of government’s functioning within Trinidad.

{Sheena}

Here is the second installment of the basic guide to Trini culture: local lingo! Though we’re all speaking English, we’re not all speaking English…here, a little guide to what some common phrases/words mean:

Lime. Adjective, to chill. Noun, a kickback.
I’m going to a lime in South.
or
You limin’ tonight?

“Oh shocks” = basically another way to say “oh shoot.” Usually in response to something surprising, and usually that something is neutral or slightly negative.
Oh shocks, Cash Cab is on.
or:
Person 1 (about Person 3): Your face looks terrible.
Person 2: Oh shocks.

“Serias?” = “Are you serious?” Pretty simple.

“Vex” = angry. Fun to say fast and furious.
Oh she got me VEX when she yadiyadiyadi…

“Y’all gettin tru?” = “Are you getting by alright?” I think Sarah and I probably hear it a disproportionate amount because we stick out so severely that people are always wondering if we’re lost or if we know what we’re doing, but nevertheless, a new phrase in my book.

Trinis also say “good night” for “good evening” and “good day” for “good afternoon.”

More to come…

{Steph}

Today officially marks the 15-day coutdown till we return to the States! Woop woop! With such a short period of time left in Trinidad, I’ve began thinking about all the things that have made this a one-of-a-kind experience for me.

The group. My groupmates are all personable characters in their own rights: full of personality, jokes, and just pure greatness. Though we’re strong personalities, we each bring something different to the dynamic of this group which makes for a melting pot of diversity. I couldn’t imagine spending 9 weeks with another group of people.(Special shoutout to Denise! She’s part of the gang too!)

Trinis. The people that we’ve met throughout our Trinidadian travels are all worthy of their own show. Everyone has been really welcoming and loves the fact that we’re “foreigners” lol.

Mmmm, FOOD. Not even gonna lie, I was definitely excited about this trip because of the food factor. I love, love, LOVE island cuisine and Trinidadian food hasn’t disappointed. Yum, yum, yum!

“Sweet, sweet T&T.” We’ve been ALL over Trinidad which is definitely one of the perks of this island being so small. North, South, East, or West, we’ve been there; done that. Traveling all over has kept this trip fresh and exciting!

{Adam}

This past weekend, I was lucky enough to have my parents come visit me. In between taking them to the local hotspots, my workplace, and Tobago, some discussions began about the different things that I am hoping to accomplish here.

One conversation in particular has stuck with me for the remainder of the weekend and has forced me to do some serious thinking about my work here. At dinner, my mom offhandedly asked a Trini what he thought about our work. This person has extensive knowledge of our program and its lofty goals. Yet, he responded with the feeling that our work will be placed in a file cabinet somewhere, and little will be done with our ideas. Although this was a shot to my hopes for Arima, I didn’t take offense to it. This individual knows the work we’ve done and respects us for it. Rather, I began to see it as a lack of trust in the government here. People realize that radical changes and shifts need to occur, but do not feel as though they can trust their leaders to bring it about. But change takes time. Hopefully, our report will be thoroughly analyzed by those with the ability to bring about help for the vendors of Arima. And maybe, later down the road, these suggestions may shape the future of economic development in the city.

{Charlotte}

Last week, we finished making our slides based on the report we wrote. The PPT contains about 50 slides, which is far longer than we expected, but we indeed have much to say about the project. As our work going on, I realized that there are more issues within the market than I expected. At the beginning, I only observed the sanitation, security, illegal vendor, and size issues of the market. As we gathered information from vendors, customers and market administrators, more and more complex issues appeared. For example, the vendors complain that some vendors leave their tents outside even when they do not sell goods, which provide sheds for vagrants who leave garbage behind. We also saw the relation between these issues. Vendors’ business is closely connected with the aisle width. Customers complain that the aisles are not wide enough to hold the large population during the busy hours. As a result, some customers buy groceries from the illegal vendors outside instead of coming into the market, which harms the business of the legal vendors. We also find out that the difficulty of illegal vendor issues is due to the market size. If the police try to legalize the illegal vendors, there is no space within the market to accommodate them. Thus, only after the expansion of the market can we see the improvement of the illegal vendor problem. Though the report and PPT are quite long, I am glad to identify more issues within the market, observe the complexity of them and look for solutions.

{Sarah}

Yesterday was the first day I ran into a local that I knew on the street. He was really sweet and walked out of his way with me all the way from the maxi stop to drop me off at a taxi (he actually said he was doing this to show me he was a good guy haha). But it also made me realize that after 6 weeks here I really feel like I am part of the community. This morning I took a taxi from the top of my homestay street and took a maxi to go to work. And after work I will go to a local gym, walk to a maxi stop, go to downtown Arima and walk to get a taxi to go home. I hunt out local food for lunch, and am planning “limes” with local friends. Sheena and are friendly with lots of people at work, and it just sort of hit me today how much this place is beginning to feel like a second home.

There is no doubt I love Duke and Colorado, and will be excited to return to both. But I can already tell my leaving here will be bittersweet. I’m happy to go home, but I will miss our new friends here. I will miss the beach, our local hang out spots, the tropical flowers I see everywhere, and the warmth of all the locals. It will seem so final to leave because it is not an easy place to visit. Maybe we will all come back for Carnival!

{Adam}

Charlotte layed it out pretty well. We are finishing our report, and gearing up to present it to the Arima Corporation Council. The report has ballooned since we first started, and if its length is any indication (the first single spaced document I’ve ever written over 10 pages), we have done some serious work. Our suggestions for market improvements seem simple enough, and we hope that the Corporation will look at our report with serious consideration. Unfortunately, our position within the Corporation—lowly student volunteers working at a folding table in the Works Department—has not afforded us a deep look into the inner working of the Corporation’s budget. Instead, we are left with only hope that money will be available to help fix the issues that have been so long ignored within the market.

This uncertainty leaves Charlotte and I in an odd place. Although we have been careful to avoid making promises to vendors in the market, our mere presence has given them something to latch on to. Hopefully, the Corporation’s intentions to restore the Market’s vitality are evident in their actions to bring us onto the project. And hopefully their intentions will carry through to the end.

{Charlotte}

Last week, Adam and I started to write our report after we had finished all the interviews and surveys. We edited our project proposal according to the comments of our OTGC and wrote our report based on the project proposal. Our report includes the project goal, sub-goals, background information, the results of the surveys, discussions, and conclusion. After giving out the outline of the report, we started section by section. This week, we plan to edit our report and start to prepare the presentation.

Last Sunday, we went to Maracas beach the second time. Though the sudden downpours came from time to time, we still had a good time. Playing Kings with friends and walking on the beach, I enjoyed myself even more. Different from the Miami Beach with high-rises and bars right beside, the beach here gave me a more natural feeling. We are surrounded by the mountains on three sides. Coconut trees grow along the coast, which provided me with natural sheds to cool myself down. Bake and Shark is not far away from our location. I found I got pretty tanned after I saw the tan line. There are only three weeks left in our DukeEngage project. I wish I could learn more from both our work and the exciting experiences here.

{Lisa}

In the Port-of-Spain, glistening skyscrapers and brilliant feats of architecture are rising out of the sparkling sea, pulled out by the able hands of a government obsessed with development. The people of this country demand cars and Internet access and everything else the first world has gorged itself upon. This country is intent on having all the trappings of the first world, and there is no doubt in my mind that it will, one day very soon. But I wonder at what it means when appearances are valued more than reality, when you pursue ends and forget the means.

On the coasts, villages lie silently in the shadows of smokestacks that pump money into the country’s coffers. In the cities, parents beg for the safety of their children. In the fields, men wonder where they will go when the land has surrendered all it has to give. Is this what development means? Is this the price of modernization?

I refuse to believe that we must sacrifice who we are to get what we want. But my newly cynical heart tells me it is inevitable, that the allure of the modern, the luxurious corrupts. Who will halt industry, when it has provided so many jobs? Who will stop the rise of the city, when it offers so much convenience? Who will say “no,” when everyone else says “yes”?

Perhaps the practical, rational part of humanity always wins, discarding what is ethical for something shinier and more substantial.

At the California site of DukeEngage in Trinidad and Tobago, there are proposals, reports, and goals, all the trappings of the professional, the effective, the efficient. Visitors will be impressed with community-based meetings and individual presentations. But what are these papers and performances? Ends—for student empowerment, for meaningful engagement, for much-needed assistance—or means—for another summer of the same, for resources, for applause?

There is, no doubt, a checklist for developed countries like this one to be considered modern. One day, all the boxes will be checked and the country will rejoice in its arrival into the modern, the proud, the developed. And maybe that’s when we will see that the cars and the buildings were supposed to be merely the means of fulfilling the promise of a happy, fulfilled people, and instead the material suddenly became an end in itself, and success was abandoned for the appearance of success.

And there is, no doubt, a checklist for project sites like this one to be considered legitimate, acceptable, up the high standards of this ambitious program. Maybe then we’ll see if the reports and spreadsheets were merely signs of an empty promise to this community or if they are indeed harbingers of true progress.

A Trinidadian once told me that the people of this country are starving in the middle of a feast. The televisions and microwaves don’t fill that void in your heart that yearns to feed upon the intangibles, that craves the sweet tang of justice and the refreshing taste of honesty.

Maybe that practical, rational part of my brain has failed to fully develop. Maybe I believe that the principles that have founded the mission are more important than the mission itself. Maybe I am mistaken and I should have just eaten my piece of the pie.

I am leaving to go back to the United States tomorrow morning. I withdrew from the DukeEngage program last Friday. I’m starving, and we’re in the middle of a feast.

{Sheena}

Now that we know a little more about Trinidad, I thought it’d be fitting to give a little rundown of Trini culture and life from an American perspective. This post: food, and in particular, fast food.

Some of the other group members have already talked about roti and doubles so I won’t go too much into that except to say that they are delicious, cheap, and undoubtedly terrible for you.
Roti: about $2-$3 US, a little (and by little I really mean huge) handheld pocket of savory goodness that can be filled with chicken or potatoes, and sold at almost every corner in busier neighborhoods during the a.m. hours.
Doubles: 50 CENTS, two little layers of fried dough topped with curried chickpeas, and also sold almost everywhere, usually in the morning.

Moving on…the key three of Trini fast food consists of three American staples: KFC, Pizza Hut, and Subway, with Burger King coming in as a respectable fourth contender. In any downtown area, you can definitely find one, if not all, of these fast food joints, and they’re usually much busier than their local counterparts. I’m not sure what it is since they all taste like they do in America (save the seafood salad at Subway, haven’t tried that one yet), but the Trinis seem to really love it and the numbers show; apparently, the KFC in Port of Spain has the highest traffic of any KFC in the world, and Trinidad in general has the highest density of KFC restaurants. The weirdest part about this is that McDonald’s attempted to establish themselves in Trinidad and failed, a rare example of fallibility in McDonald’s normally unchallenged level of success.