Way hut eye mek nose run

Dis week ah find me-self like dem Pastors who at times does have to Christen dey own pick-me, only difference is dat in my case is me grand pick-me, Kas-Santa up foh Christening. Yes ah remember when her father was born ah was ah teenager entering me first score; den in ah hurry Santa came and mek me ah very young grand-father. Before ah could ah Christen her, she took first blow and in her baby tie tongue, Christened me over and changed my name from de proud “Daddy” to de more dignified “Poppa”.{{more}} If ah tell yuh how we close, believe me. When she slipped-up, as we does say, and got pregnant while at Community College, I was de first to know. She’s smart, she figure ah would ah been happy to hear ah was going to be a very young great-grand-father, and she was right. But de man who played de pivotal role during dat turbulent period, was her Principal, Marcus Caine, what ah Christian man he is! Sister Pat at Marriaqua uses to accept her student mothers after they gave birth to dey babies, (dey were asked to leave and den come back) but not Marcus Caine. When Kasanta went to him, he counseled her, fathered her, prayed wid her and invited her to continue coming to classes, preferably not in school uniform. Thanks ah million, Bro Marcus.

Well, in spite of de gossip and finger pointing, Santa took her A-Levels and passed. And no doubt having had an exposure at Community College she started de Nursing program with ah slight advantage. She managed to stay at de top of de class foh de three years at Nursing School, came third in de Regional Exams and accumulated ah stack ah Trophies over de years. Ah have ah few Trophies of my own but ah bought dem all at Sprotts- never won ah Trophy, Lie-Za keeps telling me how ah so lucky to win dat big Trophy, when ah ask her way it dey, she say not “It” is ah “She”, yuh wife!

Back to de Christening. When de Nursing course ended, de graduating students were told by de Principal Nursing Officer (PNO) dat come July, de allowance that dey receive will discontinue and dat Guv-ah-mint cannot guarantee dem any further employment. Straight away Santa signed up foh entry in de Royal Navy, she passed de written test easily but didn’t bother to go for de physicals, ah feel dat de three mile run scared her. When all of her Nursing Colleagues went foh job interviews to migrate to wuk as Nurses in de USA and Bo-bathe-us, she showed no interest in leaving SVG. Ah believe she had her eyes on administration and was optimistic dat ah few of dem would get employment at home. She did indicate to me dat if nothing gives den she will migrate.

Really and truly right now, we have nurses to ship. From a total of 144 available Nursing Candidates, some 45 have already been selected foh de USA and B’dos, leaving approximately 100 widout wuk .

Exactly as Santa had calculated, de hospital selected fifty of dat 100 remaining lot to wuk here, but when she went to check de list dat was posted at de Mental Health Centre, her name was no where on it. When she broke de sad story to me, ah told her not to worry, dat any list at Mental Home suggests dat ah nut-case out dey was playing ah prank on dem. In an outrage her mother visited de PNO foh an explanation, only to be told dat she got a call from Minister Slater de very morning instructing her to include Santa’s name on de list. All dis was after we asked Dr Slater to investigate what’s going on.

Dat gesture by Min Slater wid all good intention is absurd and adds insult to injury. Just imagine ah company recruiting 50 Graduates from a list of 100 candidates, how do yuh explain dat after selecting de 50 dey need, de candidate who was de top student thru-out de course is not on dat list?

Quite frankly ah would not rule out dat my grand-daughter was ah casualty of ah sting operation, pull-it-tek-ill! Ah case way ministers and party henchmen submitted dey individual list ah friends and relatives who had party connection foh selection. No wonder when dey finish picking dat fifty, Santa’s name was no where dey.

What I know foh all reports is dat ah lot ah Politics is played out at dat Milton Cato Hospital. Is ah bunch ah ole ladies at dat Hospital, behaving like terrorists, some done do dey time and we thank dem sincerely, but dey holding on and won’t go home, won’t pass de baton, to mek room foh de younger ones, no way, dey feel threatened. Others time coming close to done and dey frustrated, dey not ready to go, dey want to be kept on indefinitely, ah repeat, dey feel threatened by de crop ah young Nurses knocking at de door. De ideal thing foh some ah dem is to do like Sister Ellis, retire and tek up some ah these positions offered in de USA and B’dos. But No! dey’s no better way to keep dem-selves wuking indefinitely dan to export all de bright graduate Nurses, no more threat! and de few who decide to stay, frustrate dem! In so doing dat will set de Hospital up to become inefficient, incompetent and inadequate, den their services will become indispensable, Hospital can’t do widout dem. Wicked set ah women dey are, when de head say kill de body say bury. But ole people say “han plat rope, rope tun back and tie up han’! Dey plan will fail.

And I tek issue wid Minister Slater and his wife ah consultant at de Hospital. When dey came here in de early 1990’s, young, fresh out ah Cuban University, every body put stigma on Cuban Doctors, his first experience was horrifying, he was shocked when de doors were slammed in dey faces by Administrators who obviously felt threatened by their sudden appearance. And now today less dan 20 years after dat incident, dey sit back and allowing stumbling blocks, sitting at desks to slam de doors in de faces of young candidates who will be de leaders of tomorrow. Right now is ah candidate wid her Masters, frustrated, waiting on someone who is refusing to hand over de baton. Very disappointed in yuh Dug-he and Sherian!

My grand-daughter was victim-mized, she deserved to mek dat list of fifty, so she didn’t get ah wuk after studying so hard, but I told her of de story of ah lickle boy who was madly in love wid his primary school classmate, she was de prettiest lickle ting he ever did see. Every night he will pray to de Lord to mek dis lickle angel love him, dat dey could grow up and get married later in life. But she would have none of him, not even look at him. He went away studied, practised his profession foh ah while and one day he returned, he remembered almost every body, except dis one lady who looked rather familiar. When he was told who she was, he went straight home, got on his knees and thanked de Lord foh not answering his prayer as ah child. My prayer foh Santa is dat one day, she too could return to dat Hospital and den hurry home, go on her knees and thank de Lord foh allowing dis jel-us lot to omit her name from dat list ah fifty. In de meantime we will lick our wounds, and dey will heal because Saliva good foh cuts. And wid dat, ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.