By Michael D. Wamble, Staff Writer

Island life

Black coffee, peeled-back portugals and oranges, with scrambled eggs served below the Caribbean sun began this caffeine-laden morning in Port-of-Spain.

The electricity of the multicultural, multiethnic city sizzled the cane-sweetened air as historian Pat Bishop spoke about “poor Christopher Columbus” lost at sea searching for gold.

Due to jagged blue waters, Bishop said, Columbus found he had but one place to turn.

“That is what happened to poor Columbus before he discovered us,” said Bishop, a long-time educator in Port-of-Spain, noting the history of Caribs and Arawaks that predated him.

So Columbus prayed and prayed to find somewhere—anywhere—to rest his weary ships, promising to name the land that slipped up on him through the aid of his divine navigator.

The result: Trinidad was born, entrusted in name to the Holy Trinity.

But the past wasn’t on Bishop’s mind, as she spoke to journalists as part of UCIP (International Catholic Union of the Press) University 2000, an international program to learn about nations in the Eastern Caribbean, on the role of religious persons and organizations in the region.

The gold Columbus sought was not to be found in Trinidad. Petroleum is a natural resource that aids the present economy.

“Since that time, no serious person came to settlement here. People usually stop here on their way to somewhere else,” said the espresso-skinned Bishop.

Three weeks away from Trinidad and Tobago’s national elections, the academic said she was “fearful.”

The reason, just as was the case in America’s peninsula state, citizens here were preparing for a politically polarizing and racially-divisive election that pitted a predominantly Afro-Caribbean party against the ruling, almost exclusively East Indian party.

Bishop said, her concern is after the rhetoric fades, she “must be able to talk to her East Indian grandchildren.”

Economist Lloyd Best, a well-traveled activist, described the dual-isle nation of 1.3 million people as the “quintessential Caribbean country.”

Both Bishop and Best believed that the concept of “globalization” was born in Trinidad, most specifically, the appropriation of the country’s resources to be gathered and sent to the King of Spain and other Catholic-interest [including French] groups.

While the British influenced the life on the island until it gained its independence in 1962, like Chicago, Trinidad has maintained a secular Catholic culture.

It’s not unusual to find an unambiguous pro-life poster in a gasoline station. The sign read: “The advocates of abortion have already been born.”

Though, unlike Illinois, there is no moratorium on capital punishment. In 1999, nine people were publicly hanged to emphasize the state’s desire to preserve law and order. Church bells rang for two days in mourning.

It’s not a surprise to discover that the leading “faith-based” organizations in the country witness Catholic social teaching.



Serve all, Catholic and non-Catholic

The desire to empower the “weak, frail, ordinary, imperfect yet hope-drained people” through the work of “weak, frail, ordinary, imperfect yet hope-filled” people sparked the birth of a new faith-based organization in a poverty-stricken area of Port-of-Spain.

Over 30 years later, having built-up the employment skills and emotional infrastructure of 50,000 once “hope-drained” people, SERVOL is used as a model replicated within different Caribbean islands, and throughout the world.

Founded by Father Gerry Pantin and Sister Ruth Montrichard, SERVOL offers countless programs including: computer training courses, early childhood and adolescence development, as well as classes in welding, woodwork, catering and computer repair skills.

Frustrated by racial riots of the early 1970s, that he wasn’t “making a difference” teaching at St. Mary’s College, Pantin took a leap of faith to begin to build an new kind of organization. The group started without the blessing of the local church and in the face of the hostility from those he sought to help.

“We teach courses in spirituality and all of our people believe strongly in God. We are not a ‘religious’ organization because people could see it as a ‘Catholic’ organization, this work we do of helping children,” said Pantin, 72.

Though there is no pressure to force participants to commit to any particular faith or religious tradition, Pantin said he definitely viewed his work to create SERVOL as “an extension of Catholic social teaching.

“We see what we are doing as a process of empowerment of individuals,” said Pantin. Both founders were critical of the country’s education system, and see the program as a second chance for young people to succeed.

“We took kids who dropped out of the education system and brought them into the world of technology,” said the former educator. The program offers participants certification for their computer skills from Oxford and Cambridge universities.

Yet SERVOL has room to grow.

Though the program has managed to “teach functional literacy along with computer literacy,” Pantin said, even a computer novice would note the absence of Apple-manufactured Macintoshs, standard equipment of architects, graphic designers and technical communication fields.

While founded by committed Catholics, SERVOL is funded entirely by grants and financial donations outside of the Catholic Church.

One of SERVOL’s major funding sources will end its relationship with the group this year. Pantin believes potential donors might decide to aid the organization because of its unique mission.

“There are lots of vocational programs all over the world. We are the only program that says before you pick up a chisel or go under the hood of a car or hold a welding torch, you must go through a three-month developmental course. It has nothing to do with technical training. It has everything to do with personal development to help remove one’s complexes and prejudices,” said Pantin.

Initially, Cecelie Gittyels, 16, saw this course as a necessary evil.

“At first I thought it was a procedure I had to pass at SERVOL, but now I understand what I have learned is a skill.”

Countless young people, like Gittyels, encourage Montrichard that the SERVOL tree will bear fruit in decades to come.

“I think we see successors every day when we see young people changed before our eyes.”

Dressed in beige short-sleeved shirts, and Hershey-brown pants, these young people are the most effective ambassadors of the faith-based systems of programs.

Keston Alexander, 18, a student in a public speaking class, described his experience at SERVOL as being part of “a big family.”

Classmate Amanda Graham, 19, said the program will allow her to pursue a career in the field of masonry.

Graham’s dream is to build a home for her family and friends.



Living water runs deep

Twenty-five years ago Rhonda Maingot and Rose Jackman heard a divine call and said “yes.” Together, the two began Living Water Community, a lay Catholic community in Trinidad.

Jackman, along with Father Jason Gordon, who entered Living Water as a lay person, have, in the words of a community member, “brought life to many who are hungry and thirsty.”

The community is centered around three households of consecrated persons, including priests and lay men and women. There are 600 members in the community.

Two decades ago the community purchased a building on Frederick Street where they operate a book and coffee shop downstairs. Upstairs, the group has branched off into a video ministry that produces eight hours of Catholic programming each Sunday.

Another of the community’s projects is a catering ministry that works banquets and wedding receptions. The ministry also caters to the needs of the poor.

As this community professes a distinctly Catholic voice in Trinidad, the local church reaches out to promote ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue throughout the island.

SERVOL and the Living Water Community are but two organizations in which persons of faith “make a difference” each day in the lives of the people of Trinidad.

For more information on Living Water Community and SERVOL in Trinidad check these Web sites: http://www.livingwatercommunity.com and http://community.wow.net/servol.

For the latest news concerning the Catholic community of Trinidad visit Catholic News, newspaper of the Archdiocese of Port-of-Spain.