devils in trinidad

{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.