Dear Friends;
I had a long conversation with Sandra on Sunday. Thursday was the funeral for Auntie Margaret who died after a very brief stay in hospital. Sandra said that the 7th Day Adventists held a lovely service for her and that the family was doing well.
Everyone else in the village is well but things are financially hard for most folks. The local resort, Ti Kaye, has low occupancy right now which means that there is less work for several of the women in the village. The new management has also decided to change the work hours so that the women have to stay later, arriving back in the village around 8 pm. This is a hardship for some.
On October 1, the Value Added Tax(VAT) came into effect. There is great concern that this 15% premium will impact the tourist industry as prices will reflect the increases on goods and services effected by the new tax. St. Lucia is already a very expensive destination. However, once again this year, St. Lucia was voted top honeymoon destination in the Caribbean and several resorts are planning to expand.
In mid November a team of 5 is going to spend 10 days on the island working in Ciceron Combined School. We are planning to follow up the work done by the team in July. We will focus our attention on the Kindergarten and Grade 1 classes. Our team will work with the students and teachers to implement The Learning Carpet donated in July along with following up on the use of Handwriting Without Tears. We will also be introducing the Grade 1 classes to the learning bins that we started in Canaries last November.
Of course, we will visit with the teachers and students at Canaries Infant School and Primary Schools, the Canaries Pre-School, and we will make an initial visit to the Lady Gordon School. This school was originally for deaf students but now also facilitates special needs pupils. We had the opportunity to work with 2 of their staff members in July at our workshops and they were very enthusiastic and eager to use the new techniques they were learning with their students.
The seats are already blocked off for the March Break team from the youth group at Chartwell Baptist Church. For the 3rd year, 10 high school students and 4 leaders will provide programs in local schools and operate Camp Sylvester for 3 days. This initiative has become an important part of our programming and one that has special impact with our youth in St. Lucia and the youth that participate.
Last year a small team went down prior to the youth team to prep more beds and do some work in the community. We would like to continue this tradition and possibly include a teaching week as well. If you, or anyone you know, might be interested in volunteering for 1-2 weeks during the last week of February and the first week of March please let me know. The costs will be the airfare plus $ 250.00 per week and includes food and transportation in St. Lucia.
2013 marks our 10th year of reaching out to the students, teachers, children, women and seniors in our part of rural St. Lucia. None of this could happen without the support of donors and the passion and commitment of our volunteers. Thank you to all for helping to make a dream a reality. Together we can make 2013 - "the best year yet"!
Blessings to all
Auntie Shel
