This past week as the Chinese community celebrated the 200th anniversary of their arrival in Trinidad, the rest of the national community got the opportunity to recognise the unique contribution of this group of people to the Trinidad and Tobago society. The anniversary calls us as a people of God to acknowledge, with gratitude, the Lord’s mysterious hand constantly at work among us.

Two hundred years is a long time. In 1806, the British Parliament passed the law prohibiting the slave trade to its new colonies, including Trinidad and Tobago; international communication was not yet a reality and globalisation—not yet called  that —was only a concept that lay in the heart of a few.

Archbishop Edward Gilbert in his homily, last Sunday, at a Mass honouring the contributions of the Chinese community to the national life and to the Church in Trinidad and Tobago, warned about the negative impact of globalisation which would seek to eliminate the differences that give each ethnic group its identity and deprive its members of a sense of belonging.

It is this distinctiveness that paradoxically has added to the life and strength of the nation. As each group in our multi-ethnic society becomes strong in itself, the nation as a whole stands to benefit.

When any group is robbed of its ability to draw upon its heritage, or its contribution is cheapened, national life suffers. The nation’s strength and unity therefore spring from a mutual respect among all its peoples. 

Arrival and persistence

The Chinese community in Trinidad and Tobago has been more than an amiable presence. Its members have contributed significantly to the development of the nation, through the arts and in a wide range of professions, way beyond their miniscule representation in the national population.

Members of the Chinese community can be identified in almost every walk of life. Their life in the society today suggest persistence, struggle and an indomitable spirit.

As the nation marks this bicentennial anniversary, it is important to consider God’s view of this arrival and persistence. The arrival that we celebrate was only possible because of a journey and struggle - and a trust that this experiment of leaving a homeland a world away and sailing to an unknown land would turn out well in the end.

Jesus invites the rich young man in Mark’s Gospel to enter into a similar kind of experimental life. “Go and sell everything you own,” he tells the man, “and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me” (10: 21).

Without doubt, the Chinese folk who journeyed to these shores 200 years ago have lived this struggle and have done so deeply. They are well deserving of all the tributes that have been paid in the week of celebration.

The Archdiocese of Port of Spain in a special way has benefited from this self-giving by the Chinese community in the large number of priests, both diocesan and religious, and religious sisters who have contributed to the life of the local Church.

But it must also be true that in this act of self-giving, Christ - who promises repayment “a hundred times over”, has also graciously blessed the Chinese people here in Trinidad and Tobago.

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