Left a gallery of pictures I framed for the hospital. BelowAmelia our oldest grandchild. Right the path from grocery store.



















The path from the grocery store. It's 356 paces between home and Super J's















Kite serfing at the Reef below. Right is Katie's Character Counts pillars at Augier Primary
















Johnny and Eliza in Balenbouche sugar mill. above. Below left Katie's garden. Right is political motorcade.

“Christmas time a comin’ and we know were going home”

And so approaches our second and last Christmas under the hot St. Lucian sun. The rainy season is drawing to a prolonged close as we are still having showers every day. Overall, the bright sunny skies and the gentle blowing of the trade winds make it known that it is Christmas time... The St. Lucian signs of the season include a huge yachting event a parade of lanterns on December 13, National Day; blooming red poinsettias and sorrel and white “snow on the mountain flowers and the sounds of bamboo bursting at night. Young and old join in the tradition of filling bamboo with kerosene and then igniting it or exploding it!!
And so approaches our second and last Christmas under the hot St. Lucian sun. The rainy season is drawing to a prolonged close as we are still having showers every day. Overall, the bright sunny skies and the gentle blowing of the trade winds make it known that it is Christmas time... The St. Lucian signs of the season include a huge yachting event a parade of lanterns on December 13, National Day; blooming red poinsettias and sorrel and white “snow on the mountain flowers and the sounds of bamboo bursting at night. Young and old join in the tradition of filling bamboo with kerosene and then igniting it or exploding it!!

The yachts dock in the north of the island at Rodney Bay. They are part of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers that starts in the Canary Islands and ends up here for special events and celebrations. ARC is a big tourist, income generating event for St. Lucia.

As mentioned previously, politics have overshadowed Christmas this year. As Peace Corps volunteers we were told to “lay low”, stay off the streets on Election Day, avoid political rallies and avoid wearing the colors of either party-red for the incumbents or yellow for the opposition. The rallies and motorcades and celebrations (whether losers or winners) reached a feverish pitch. Definitely St. Lucian’s are not apathetic about their right to vote and voice their opinions.

Our election hideaway was at Balenbouche Estate, one of our favorite sites in Saint Lucia. Balenbouche is a 200 year old plantation, once a sugar factory. The 25 foot high water wheel was shipped from England in 1780. Originally the plantation produced cotton when owned by the French occupation in the 1700’s. The name “balen” means whale and is the name of the river that flows into the sea. Whales are said to have swum across the mouth of this river.. The estate house is maintained as it was when built to farm sugar, cotton, coffee, cocoa, nutmeg and bananas. Since built it has passed through many hands, both English and French. Currently the land is owned by a German who lives in /St. Croix. The owner’s daughter-in-law and her 2 daughters run and manage the historic site as a guest house and working farm. The remaining 75 acres of the estate have huge mango, avocado and star fruit trees. The landscape still shows signs of holes or tunnels made by the Arawak Indians, the first inhabitants of the island. A photograph in the house tells a mystical story of a “broken” ship lost at sea that mysteriously returned to the mouth of the river where it had begun its journey. Balenbouche is a “spiritual” place and Uta, the hostess and our friend, is an agriculturist, architect, artist, designer and cook enhances the environment of tranquility, hospitality and harmony One of our visitors said they felt they were on a movie set when we dined at Balenbouche.

Peace Corps Service: the measure of success for a volunteer is sustainability or the ability of a nation or individual to carry on with development once a volunteer has departed. Evidence of sustainability is often on a small scale or unexpected reports. When I have fretted that some schools did not pursue Character counts, my neighbor, a teacher ask\s me for the quotes I shared with her. Apparently she uses a quote a week for her students and also to remind her of the importance of being an educator. A principal calls John one morning at 7:30 am to solve her “bee” problem using the expertise of the young boy “beekeepers’. John has also been become a “master” picture framer for St. Jude’s hospital, individuals and is now restoring paintings. His framing skills have been passed on to two students who have the talent and now the experience to carry on. John’s computer skills have been shared with all schools in our district in developing electronic record keeping instead of tracking attendance with pencil on individual pages. Peace Corps has even benefited from John’s electronic forms. Two principals have learned how to set up websites for their schools after receiving instructions from John, John’s handiwork will be seen and remembered in many forms on this island from picture frames to screen doors, to checker and chess boards, puzzles, canes and Character Pillars.

There continues to be situations that are discouraging. To mention a few: teachers with 36 young children in their classrooms and no aides; insufficient tables, desks and chairs in classrooms; promises of things to happen that never do; lack of action on the part of the ministries. One example: Augier primary school has received working computers, won a TV set, received book , resource and monetary donations from Roanoke County Schools and have a new Peace Corps volunteer to specifically assist in the Resource Room teaching computer skills. . The ministry, after 2 years of requests; has not put in air conditioning or even a fan to keep the computers cool enough to run! It is mostly a matter of inertia as well as lack of revenue.

Escalating violence has reached St. Lucia just as in more developed countries. My personal opinion about the election triumph of the Opposition party has a lot to do with lack of trust in the police force. In October 3 non-uniformed policemen with no roadblocks tried to stop a public van (like the ones we read every day) . When the van driver rightfully didn’t stop the police opened fire on 14 innocent passengers killing one and injuring 2 others. Following the shooting the police tried to press charges against the driver. That procedure ended when the van drivers threatened to strike. . Since then the policemen have been dismissed and one charged with manslaughter. It still makes us uneasy to think that officers of the law would shoot at a van full of innocent passengers. One public statement for dealing with violence was made by the former Minister of Legal Affairs and currently the Minister of Labor. He has called for public flogging as the solution to deal with violence in St. Lucia.

The unrestrained traffic of animals continues to be a traffic nuisance as well as other unpleasantries. Our neighborhood cow happened to be tied next to our house one day. Luckily, I went to take down the drying laundry while it was still light as a BIG COWPIE was laid right under my clothesline. Sights like dogs urinating in church will probably not be seen once we return to the US.

We are entering a new phase of our cultural adjustment to St. Lucia as our time is running out. We begin thinking of the things we shall miss- the funny sights like the man wearing goggles to drive his truck without a windshield, a boy on a bike pulling a horse, a pick-up truck with at least 10 feet of hay topped off by two Rasta men! The walkway to the store where there are planks that has been serving as a bridge is rotting and sinking. As I step through and around the mud I also have to avoid the cow pies, horse and goat manure and the garbage thrown all along the pathway I realize I will not miss it all that much, but I will have nothing to complain about when I forget something in the US and have to get back in my car and drive back to the store. I think John & I will both remain grateful for all we do have as Americans and will complain less when we remember how difficult most anything is for most people in the world. It is with great anticipation we both look forward to leaving a country where nothing works to one where almost everything works.

Count Your Blessings and for us, all of you number among our Blessings!!!

The yachts dock in the north of the island at Rodney Bay. They are part of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers that starts in the Canary Islands and ends up here for special events and celebrations. ARC is a big tourist, income generating event for St. Lucia.

As mentioned previously, politics have overshadowed Christmas this year. As Peace Corps volunteers we were told to “lay low”, stay off the streets on Election Day, avoid political rallies and avoid wearing the colors of either party-red for the incumbents or yellow for the opposition. The rallies and motorcades and celebrations (whether losers or winners) reached a feverish pitch. Definitely St. Lucian’s are not apathetic about their right to vote and voice their opinions.


Our election hideaway was at Balenbouche Estate, one of our favorite sites in Saint Lucia. Balenbouche is a 200 year old plantation, once a sugar factory. The 25 foot high water wheel was shipped from England in 1780. Originally the plantation produced cotton when owned by the French occupation in the 1700’s. The name “balen” means whale and is the name of the river that flows into the sea. Whales are said to have swum across the mouth of this river.. The estate house is maintained as it was when built to farm sugar, cotton, coffee, cocoa, nutmeg and bananas. Since built it has passed through many hands, both English and French. Currently the land is owned by a German who lives in /St. Croix. The owner’s daughter-in-law and her 2 daughters run and manage the historic site as a guest house and working farm. The remaining 75 acres of the estate have huge mango, avocado and star fruit trees. The landscape still shows signs of holes or tunnels made by the Arawak Indians, the first inhabitants of the island. A photograph in the house tells a mystical story of a “broken” ship lost at sea that mysteriously returned to the mouth of the river where it had begun its journey. Balenbouche is a “spiritual” place and Uta, the hostess and our friend, is an agriculturist, architect, artist, designer and cook enhances the environment of tranquility, hospitality and harmony One of our visitors said they felt they were on a movie set when we dined at Balenbouche.

Peace Corps Service: the measure of success for a volunteer is sustainability or the ability of a nation or individual to carry on with development once a volunteer has departed. Evidence of sustainability is often on a small scale or unexpected reports. When I have fretted that some schools did not pursue Character counts, my neighbor, a teacher ask\s me for the quotes I shared with her. Apparently she uses a quote a week for her students and also to remind her of the importance of being an educator. A principal calls John one morning at 7:30 am to solve her “bee” problem using the expertise of the young boy “beekeepers’. John has also been become a “master” picture framer for St. Jude’s hospital, individuals and is now restoring paintings. His framing skills have been passed on to two students who have the talent and now the experience to carry on. John’s computer skills have been shared with all schools in our district in developing electronic record keeping instead of tracking attendance with pencil on individual pages. Peace Corps has even benefited from John’s electronic forms. Two principals have learned how to set up websites for their schools after receiving instructions from John, John’s handiwork will be seen and remembered in many forms on this island from picture frames to screen doors, to checker and chess boards, puzzles, canes and Character Pillars.

There continues to be situations that are discouraging. To mention a few: teachers with 36 young children in their classrooms and no aides; insufficient tables, desks and chairs in classrooms; promises of things to happen that never do; lack of action on the part of the ministries. One example: Augier primary school has received working computers, won a TV set, received book , resource and monetary donations from Roanoke County Schools and have a new Peace Corps volunteer to specifically assist in the Resource Room teaching computer skills. . The ministry, after 2 years of requests; has not put in air conditioning or even a fan to keep the computers cool enough to run! It is mostly a matter of inertia as well as lack of revenue.

Escalating violence has reached St. Lucia just as in more developed countries. My personal opinion about the election triumph of the Opposition party has a lot to do with lack of trust in the police force. In October 3 non-uniformed policemen with no roadblocks tried to stop a public van (like the ones we read every day) . When the van driver rightfully didn’t stop the police opened fire on 14 innocent passengers killing one and injuring 2 others. Following the shooting the police tried to press charges against the driver. That procedure ended when the van drivers threatened to strike. . Since then the policemen have been dismissed and one charged with manslaughter. It still makes us uneasy to think that officers of the law would shoot at a van full of innocent passengers. One public statement for dealing with violence was made by the former Minister of Legal Affairs and currently the Minister of Labor. He has called for public flogging as the solution to deal with violence in St. Lucia.

The unrestrained traffic of animals continues to be a traffic nuisance as well as other unpleasantries. Our neighborhood cow happened to be tied next to our house one day. Luckily, I went to take down the drying laundry while it was still light as a BIG COWPIE was laid right under my clothesline. Sights like dogs urinating in church will probably not be seen once we return to the US.

We are entering a new phase of our cultural adjustment to St. Lucia as our time is running out. We begin thinking of the things we shall miss- the funny sights like the man wearing goggles to drive his truck without a windshield, a boy on a bike pulling a horse, a pick-up truck with at least 10 feet of hay topped off by two Rasta men! The walkway to the store where there are planks that has been serving as a bridge is rotting and sinking. As I step through and around the mud I also have to avoid the cow pies, horse and goat manure and the garbage thrown all along the pathway I realize I will not miss it all that much, but I will have nothing to complain about when I forget something in the US and have to get back in my car and drive back to the store. I think John & I will both remain grateful for all we do have as Americans and will complain less when we remember how difficult most anything is for most people in the world. It is with great anticipation we both look forward to leaving a country where nothing works to one where almost everything works.

Count Your Blessings and for us, all of you number among our Blessings!!!