Patrick Faber has his numerous baggage, but this fresh breeze blowing over our land, from the Caribbean, has me thinking only of triumphs, good times, and what I’m reminded of today is one of this gentleman’s great moments, a glorious trip to Corozal Bay with families in the Collet Division. I think there’s only one better way to spend Krismos Cheer money, and that is for ham and turkey and toys (for children) for families that aren’t having a good money flow for the big birthday celebration.

Bah, when you talk politician you just can’t stay away from the negative. It creeps in like the bad aftertaste of one of those cooking oils that really should be in the car section, for the oil change. Patrick Faber has bragged that he is a very narrow guy, so it is very likely that the trip to Corozal Bay excluded all families that don’t vote for his party. We should never give up on hope. Someday we’ll get a government that is really for the people, all the people.

Close your eyes, the ones with the lids; hmm, forget people peeping through their windows with envious eyes. There’s this Nat King Cole song that captures the longing feeling in full pain…The little boy that Santa forgot…enough, enough, open your mind’s eye and see the buses lining up, good people filing in with their picnic baskets and coolers.

Thinking on it now, that must have been a warm Krismos. Only white people go to bathe in cold weather. Really, white people don’t bathe in winter. But our cold is warm compared to where they come from, so they have the sea all to themselves in our winter.

Ah, the glorious escapade was no winter in December, it was in the month of June. I know because I just went to Google and I found a Kareem Clarke story in the Amandala that told all about it. I got all the exciting details:

Faber said, “I just got back, because I promised Darrell that I will be back [here in Belize City] in time to speak at this convention, but my friends, we were able, in the Collet constituency, to roll 22 loaded buses to Corozal Town today, and we had a wonderful family day, courtesy of Petrocaribe and our Prime Minister, Hon. Dean Barrow.”

Faber went on to elaborate on the trip, adding that “we danced to Jorge Ernest Babb and the Caribbean Roots Band, we bathe up eena di beautiful Corozal Bay sea – which was all turquoise and milky and beautiful, and we had a good – well we eat tacos and pibil and we eat barbeque, we had a feast. But most importantly, we bonded with the Collet family and we were able to share with the constituents of the north, and it would not have been possible if we did not have the kind of support from our Prime Minister and party leader, and also from the PetroCaribe funds.”

I won’t argue with folk who say that Krismos Cheer was no way to spend PetroCaribe, even in June. Yes, they should have used other funds. But I’m all for the cause.  It is just beautiful to think of folk from the inner city getting out to glory in the beauty of Belize, my, with the picnic baskets full of pibil and tacos, and coolers full of refreshment for the old and the young.

Too many Belizeans don’t get to see and enjoy Belize. That thought came to my mind as I soaked up an evening this week, with the music of old favorite, Tim Chandell, in my ear, and a glass of local rum, not too strong, no “rum pahn top a rum”, and the first southeaster of the year blowing on my face and hair. We live in a beautiful country, and too many don’t get to enjoy much of it.

I haven’t been everywhere, but I’ve seen some. February 15 is the end of the rainy season, the beginning of the dry, and that means that the rivers and creeks and lagoons will no longer be ugly brown with the runoff of silt and farm chemicals and fertilizers. For the next few months they will be clear, crystal green, and it would be open season on hikiti and gwaana, if they hadn’t landed on the list of endangered species.

There are some areas where you can walk the forest floor without a machete. All you need is a stick to clear areas where the leaves form a thick mat on the ground. You can never trust snakes. I read that story about the unfortunate young man who died last week from snake bite. I bet every country person is wondering if we don’t have antivenom for tommy goff in our hospitals. Did he take too long to go to the hospital? Was the snake a big one, and the poison load so great our doctors couldn’t save him? Do we not have a supply of antivenom in our hospitals?

One of the super destinations is the Mountain Pine Ridge. Ahem, our Prime Minister and party leader is building a super highway in that region, so we will all get to know that spectacular piece of our territory if we can make the fare. I haven’t explored that area much, but I’ve seen the Thousand Foot Falls.

I know the inner reef pretty well, but the farthest I’ve gone outside the reef is Emily, went there to fish for grouper, when they weren’t on the endangered list. Trevor Vernon has the most fantastic stories about the fishing at Turneffe. I know he isn’t playing a Bai Waight because I’ve looked into a 4 x 6 x 4 icebox that was on a fishing boat from that area. It was filled to the “gills” with barracuda.

If my great-grandmother, Margaret Gabourel, hadn’t quarreled with her father, I might have been a regular on the fabulous Halfmoon Cay/Northern Two Cay circuit. Her father owned Northern Two Cay. The way I understand it, he absolutely disapproved of Margaret’s marriage (to Absalom Hyde), and she refused to talk with him after that.

 Life is tough sometimes. Margaret’s husband died, leaving her with four children, one of them my paternal grandfather. They were dirt poor, and he and his older brother, Vallan, apprenticed out to an older half-brother, Oliver Hyde. My grampa’s two sisters, May and Lillian, went to live with nuns in a convent in Toledo.

My paternal grandfather didn’t curse the world for the poverty of his youth. He said that his struggles made him a better man. He said that if his mom had gone begging to her father, he might not have become an accomplished mechanic, machinist and boat captain.

One more story about the outer reef. My dad tells me that the tide doesn’t “rise” at Hunting Cay; he says it comes in, in a magnificent rush. I’ve checked that island out on internet pictures and I can see why. It’s a kind of a horse shoe, right behind the reef.

One more thought about trips to water destinations. It is much safer to bathe in the sea than in a lagoon or in the rivers and creeks. If you’re taking children and youth on trips, have some very, very serious adults along.

Father in trouble

If Fr. Smalls is guilty of the crime they accuse him of, I pray that the victim has forgiven him. We liked him in Camalote. He disciplined unruly little boys, he was charming with the ladies, and he was respectful to the guys. He filled our congregation with the spirit of the Lord when he led us in song at church.

Before Father Smalls came to Camalote, we had Father Kevin. I believe (heard) Father Kevin went back home (USA) because of an accusation of a sexual nature. If Father Kevin is guilty of the crime they accuse him of, I pray the victim has forgiven him. Father Kevin was well-liked too. I remember how my wonderful church sister, the late Virginia Neal, gushed when he came to our parish. I remember her telling me, “You have to come to church; you have to meet Father Kevin.”

Father Kevin dressed like one of us, and his sermons were very real, down to earth. He made it his business to get clothing and shoes for those in our parish who were in need.

I have a comment about the Catholic Church, but before I have my say I must note that I don’t have full license because I’m not a churchgoer right now. My granddaughter says I like to sing the songs, and I shouldn’t, because I don’t go to church. Hmm.

My sense is that some leaders in the church thought that priests are above the rest of us because of their training and praying; but they are just humans.

It isn’t easy for a heterosexual man to understand men who have homosexual feelings. Why shouldn’t boys be safe around an older man? A lot of wonderful guys, good priests, got tripped up because church leadership failed to see that some of them might have these tendencies. If a man has these tendencies there should be some controls so his weakness doesn’t lead him to hurt young people.

For Father Smalls, I don’t have details of what he is accused of, or if he is guilty of what he is accused of. In my worldly judgment, this is a good brother. If he sinned this way, I pray that the victim has forgiven him.