Mike's Journal

DOMINICA | Saturday, 6 July 2013 | Views [726] | Comments [1] | View Smaller Image

Life in the Kalinago territory, while materially poor is embodied by life close to the land, family, and leisure time. I stumbled across this beautiful river pool right by the ocean where the younger kids were swimming and doing tricks, while the older boys talked and washed clothes in the river. Clearly, while almost all the ingredients for a happy lifestyle can be found, money for education and serious health complications are not easily accessible.

Ma Ricky’s shop served as the hub for the small rural village of Salybia. The people of the area generally subsisted on unprocessed food that came straight from the earth – ground provisions, fish, fresh fruit – but just about anything else that they needed could be found at Ma Ricky’s sparsely stocked shop. It seemed that everyone truly appreciated how much the land provided for them, although many wished they had some more cash in hand to buy material goods. The fact that land cannot be sold in the territory means that while land often remains in family hands and is used for farming, it cannot be used as collateral for loans, making progressing out of material poverty a serious challenge.

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Pronounced “VEK-tee-veh” this grass is used for the roof thatching of traditional Kalinago homes. When Coy, the half-black half-Kalinago man we stayed with, started planting it, his intention was only to use it to hold the soil together; his wife had recently been sponsored to go on a workshop abroad about soil preservation. It was not until the model village initiated by the government was built that he realized this would be one of his most valuable crops going for $2 a bundle. Here you see what may not look like much but which has a traditional and monetary significance stashed away safely behind a padlocked door.

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Hi Mlees,

We really love this photo and would like to feature it on our Facebook and Instagram pages so that other travellers can enjoy it too.

Keep up the great work!
The World Nomad team

Alicia Smith Oct 4, 2013 3:34 PM

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