Grenada Independence 2019

Banner at Church

Thursday February 7th was Independence day for Grenada. The school celebrated the 45th year of independence from England with children in the patriotic colors of red, yellow, and green.

Getting ready for prayers

Third grade waving their letters

First and second waving flags

Ring game

We had a program consisting of songs or skits from each grade as well as singing by our choir, and the teachers. The very nice day ended with a traditional oil down meal.

Resiliency

Theme for this year
The theme this year is “Building resilience and enhancing social economic transformation.” We used the assembly on Monday and Friday to help explain the theme to the students because resilience is not yet a common word in elementary school.

Resiliency is a common word for governments on the Caribbean and Pacific island nations and other countries around the world that see their future. The ability to quickly recover from difficult situations is required when you expect to repeatedly face difficult situations.

Island nations have to become much more resilient in the face of climate change with sea level rise and more intense weather events. Some coral island nations that were never that high above sea level may not be able to adapt and sustain themselves in the next 45 years.

Most of the Caribbean islands are volcanic in nature so in 45 years some beaches, coastal roads, and tourist attractions might suffer, but the nations could survive – possibly even thrive – if they adapt and become more resilient.

All the islands are working on resiliency and disaster management because they understand that the future is now, that they don’t have a future if the people are not resilient. And of course it is not just islands – but all coastal areas around the world. Even beyond coastal areas – as I have mentioned I could see that climate change might make my part of Ghana, 500 miles from the coast, even more difficult and force people to leave their ancestral lands as the rain patterns falter.

Peace Corps is in a good spot to provide support to the developing countries that we serve. Since Marie I’ve recommended to Peace Corps that we work with our countries to adjust our program to help the families, communities, and island nations become more resilient in shelter, food, water, energy, and communication.

I think with building standards the governments are doing a good job moving toward resilient homes, schools, and buildings. Luckily we certainly have effective and affordable technology, old and new, to help our families and communities become more resilient in the essentials of food, water, energy, and communication.

We don’t have 45 years to figure it out. Some islands might not even have 10. If the countries don’t become more resilient, aren’t able to recover quickly from disasters, then repeated storms will surely beat down the people until they are forced to abandon these amazing islands.

I’m actually very hopeful that the nations and the people will respond and become more resilient. I wish Peace Corps would help.

Love always,
John

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