Ah Pastor, Ah Pope and Ah Doctor

Whenever Lie-Za wants to drop ah story pon me she would pretend she talking to she-self. Ah hear her mumbling how she wonder how dem other fellars down in T’n’T feel now; how twelve years ago, when Melch Pope graduated wid his lickle Diploma in Theology, he tell his colleagues he coming Sin Vincent to wuk, dey all shook dey head in sadness and tell him how dat is ah backward step he meking, dis place too small foh ah young man like he. Ah gave her ah stern look and asked her way she coming wid now.{{more}}

She smiled and continued: “ Ar boy, Pope is yuh friend but like he keeping yuh in de dark dis time, like he ain’t want yuh write him up wid dis one. How come he ain’t tell yuh dis Sunday morning de “big-man” himself, Professor Brandt from Jacksonville Theological Seminary in Florida, coming to Brand Pope wid ah instrument to practice here, yuh ain’t know Pope is ah Doctor, he get his Doc-trait and de wife doing she Bachelor.”

Only Lie-Za alone could get dat kind ah info in ah Church, but ah refuse to gossip wid her because Pope is me friend and dey say yuh could chose yuh friends but not yuh relatives. Ah did chose Pope to baptize me instead ah me cousin Noel Clarke. Dat Pastor Clarke did always promising to mek me swallow two mouth-full ah water any time he dip me. No love loss between us though, member, blood thicker dan water.

Seriously though, ah glad foh Melch Pope, when yuh look and listen to him, be it ah christening, ah wedding, ah funeral or regular service, yuh can feel ah spiritual energy coming from de man. He’s dynamic and very progressive. Years ago when we were struggling wid de Nine Mornings to give it de Christian Stamp, ah lot ah Pastors had reservations and asked ah lot ah questions.

Ah remember when we invited Pope to do Devotions and have his young people participate in de cultural aspect ah de Festivity, his immediate response was: “Yes man dat is up my street”! And ah remember too, de time he complained to me he had ah problem, his church (building) was too small, room only foh 350 members. He had to hold back-to-back services on Sunday morning. Next thing ah notice his territory enlarged, he put on an addition, making de building twice de size, some Jabez he is. Now I’m hearing his credentials gone from Diploma in Theology to Bachelors, to Masters and finally Doc-trait. Where did he find de time to do all ah dis in twelve years wid three children and ah wife to care fah? Ah suppose it’s all in de wuk of de Lord and of course ah loving and supportive wife. We give God de Glory and de Honour ! Dis man Pope always confuses me, He’s de only Pentecostal Pastor who is ah Pope. Now ah got to figure out how to address him after Sunday, is it Pastor Pope de Doctor, Doctor Pope de Pastor, or simply our Pastor, Doctor Pope

DE WUKERS BUDGET

De budget dis year got some meat in dey foh wukers, mainly public servants. Salary increase wid back pay and bone-us; de minimum taxable income goes up from $15,000 to $ 17, 000 and Business will get ah tax reduction of two and ah half percent. People in de Soft Drinks as well as de Hard drinks and cigarettes get ah 5 % punch in de guts to help de Wellness Rev-all-yuh-shun, by de time dat reaches de consumer it will increase to 25%. Ah few more food items will be zero rated, still not enough items. So far de level of presentation from de PM, Arm-In and Thompson were very good. Lie-Za was impressed wid de improvement of Bug-In, she says his Grammar gone up by at least two and ah half percent.

As usual Truth was on Trial as Polly-ticks took de witness stand wid de Guv-ah-mint side taking dey chest mek drum and do Opposition shouting “ah deficit budget”! Ah will always remember Ken Boy-yeh’s comments some years ago, “Same ole car-key pants”, is like yuh hear one Budget yuh hear all.

AH WIN AGAIN

Whenever ah discover anything good ah does feel obliged to “big it up”. Last week ah went to ah lickle thank you “drink-up” foh Pennola “Tanny” Ross at Fair View Guest House at New Montrose. Ah remember de original spot quite well, how de near-bars were relieved when de owners demolished an abandoned ole dwelling house on de site. But no sooner it bruk-down ah lovely structure appeared, interestingly something bout de character of de building misled us into saying it was an extension ah de Reddock’s New Montrose Hotel. So ah was pleasantly surprised to meet de owners, ah one-dah-full couple, Kim and Walter Ashley from de USA. Walter’s roots is in de Virgin Island but Kim is Vincy to de bone, de grand-daughter of ole man Gordon Richards from Union Island and Millicent Neverson from Shatto. It’s ah small (six room) facility but if ah tell yuh de ambience inside like ah miniature of one ah dem big hotels wid nuff stars. We were invited foh drinks only, but our good hosts took de occasion to introduce us to ah small sample ah dey fine cooking, simple Caribbean stuff, quite good actually.

We got to be eternally kind to those Vincies who left d’s shores in search ah greener grass and return to invest and help build dis country; names like Creche and Ruby Woods, Eustace Quammie, Allan Smith come to mind. So foh Kim and Walter who ain’t born hey but are second generation West Indian, to have chosen to come out here on Kim’s grandmother family plot, to test de possibilities on mainland SVG and hopefully invest heavily later wid ah branch on Union Island is commendable. Thank you Bro and Sis Ashley.

And if ah tell yuh way happen to me again, dey had ah door prize, number eleven won and guess who had dat number? “Ah win again”! Last week ah won ah Ham, dis week ah win de Wine to wash down de Ham, ah fine local bran, Murphy’s Paw Paw wine.

Be part ah de Wellness Rev-all-yuh-shun dis year Nine Mornings, get up early tomorrow and go foh ah brisk walk. And wid da, is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.