by Walter Edey
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.
Building out poverty is part of the Barbados experience. It is an experiential model that changing attitudes is shredding and shedding.
To borrow in order to acquire a five-bedroom bungalow – or truck is fashionable, but to live within means – growing step by step from a chattel house or a Morris minor car is not hip. The imported lifestyle – and not the homegrown idea, is considered a better way. Thankfully, those gems of poverty may be ignored, but they never die.
Partying at home is part of the new norm.
It may have a new name but is still the oldfashioned Dutch party – contributing resources and skills to satisfy a common interest. The cost of organizing the party was small. The host was paid – leftover drinks and food. Some took the idea further. They turned the Dutch party idea into a business – a Sunday evening get-together at a social center.
Bat–and–ball in the gap was also organized cooperation. Recycled wood, twine, nails, and cloth made the bat and ball. Skills and effort came from among participants. No one rented management resources. Leadership emerged and was honoured.
On a large scale, the village was another example of structured teamwork. It rewarded children eager to learn, but whose families had little money or books.
Teachers opened their homes and gave free private lessons. Children in crowded homes lived part-time with aunts and uncles. The neighbour fed any child that stopped by.
It is a mistake to perceive and govern Barbados with the same model that is needed to manage an ocean. It is a rivulet.
The population of Barbados is fewer than the staff of Amazon (767,000) or IBM (300,000). Its land mass is smaller than some plantations in Australia. Everything is next door. That reality should set the framework and boundaries of a developmental model.
Just outside the city of Bridgetown, there is a beautiful quadrangle of buildings and playing fields called Harrison College, Queens Park, and St Michael’s school– as well as others. This collection of physical resources is superior by far to the Harbour Road buildings, where the UWI started in 1963. The Barbados Government is cash strapped, the UWI is in debt; the future of students are at risk; the buildings and spaces are underutilized and duplication of effort and resources are present. It is a perfect storm of opportunity. It has all the ingredients of the Bridgetown Campus of THE BUSSA JUNIOR COLLEGE.
An idea that when implemented will make Speightstown, Oistins, and Six Roads jealous.
New ideas will rebel and seek freedom.
Imagine the legacies that will be left if the courage to reduce duplication; if the maximization of effort and cooperation becomes a way of life; if a government that accepts trying to do everything is failed condition; if the Barbadian society sees each other as beads of a coral stone pearl. That is a vision of a more beautiful Barbados. Excessive borrowing is a debt trap. It is a set of chains that only the future can unlock. Governments must find ways to sustain current spending, protect standards of living, and avoid solvency or defaulting on liabilities or expenditure. In normal times monetary policy adjustments are sufficient. But times are not normal.
Living on what one has, is not a crime, it is smart.
Walter Edey is a retired math and science educator.
