Fr Martin Sirju

We have recently celebrated one national event – Emancipation  – and are now celebrating another – Independence. It is therefore an opportune time to reflect on development, especially with respect to rural areas.

My point of departure is the parable of Zacchaeus (Luke 19: 1-10). As the story goes this short man wants to see Jesus so he climbs a sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Jesus who is passing by.

Jesus invites himself to Zacchaeus’ home and we are left to wonder what transpired for the Bible does not say. But something transformative must have happened for in the end Zacchaeus declares: “Look, Sir, I am going to give half my property to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody I will pay him back four times the amount.”

The more popular interpretation is that an experience of Jesus changes a person and helps him/her to make restitution to people he/she has wronged. That leaves it on the individual level.

But when we look at other factors: Zacchaeus is a man of the system (tax collector) and therefore aligned with the Roman elite who extort the poorer classes; the amount of land returned (which may have been purchased through his share of the unjust taxes he collected), and the volume of restitution he is prepared to make – four times over, his conversion is not merely individualistic. It indicates a change that rocks the system.

Zacchaeus does not admit to cheating anybody personally. But maybe he is aware that through him the system has, and as a man of the system he offers a critique of it by giving back the cheated four times the amount. This would be good news for the depositors of Hindu Credit Union. But, alas! The world does not quite operate like this.

Another way of expressing Zacchaeus’ conversion is to say that real conversion leads to a redistribution of priorities. Not only on the personal level but the structural level too. Siparia is a case in point.

Siparia is a fairly thriving town. It has since been overshadowed by areas which developed after like Point Fortin, Penal and San Fernando. It was the first town in which a velodrome was built (so says one of the community elders).

The irony is that it was never completed. We can still see the remnants of a once laudable intention. A public swimming pool has been constructed but badly so that the shallow end is five feet deep (i.e. it is not shallow).

Many of the lights in the changing room are not working and the water supply can be irregular. The pool itself is always clean but severely underutilised. Imagine in the July-August vacation there is an insufficient number of lifeguards to man the pool.
Young people who frequent the pool have to settle for one hour open swim during school-time and two hours during the holidays. No swimming is available on weekends. There is room for tightening up the rules as teenagers can be unruly.

But how much can one lifeguard do? In a pool that size there needs to be a rotation of lifeguards to monitor safety and good behaviour. The financial package must also be attractive.

In Siparia there is a lot of poverty too. In fact the highest levels of poverty in Trinidad are in areas covered by the Siparia Regional Corporation. In parts of Siparia many people lack water, electricity and housing. And yet they survive, in relative peace.

In Siparia crime is relatively small and if it is on the increase it is due to outside elements from the north. The Siparia Health Complex is languishing in the wilderness of unfinished projects.

We are hoping that the new (temporary) St Brigid’s RC School will be ready by September. The major sports ground needs to be upgraded and the sheltered area needs a major overhaul.

For a community that produced sporting heroes, including national athletes like Dexter Francis, Dennis Hospedales, Reynold Charles, Ian Morris, Masden Saney, Marva Edwards, Carol Charles, Vera Lake, Marcia Dimsoy and many more, we deserve better.

This is especially so since many residents would have spent half a lifetime putting money into the nation’s coffers. Petrotrin and associated businesses have made their wealth on the backs of Siparia labour. The corporate debt to Siparia is still unpaid.

“Better” can start with local government reform i.e. making the corporations less dependent on central government and therefore financially fattening the corporations’ cows. But the solution is not as easy as it seems because some fear even greater corruption on the level of the corporations.

Others fear the corporations falling victim to the politics of the tribe. Either way I cannot see Siparia being further built up without more resources available to the regional corporation, as well as wider private sector investment.

The various corporations should also regard this as an opportunity to be more transparent and accountable than central government. If we cannot do at least that after 46 years of independence what can we do?

Some months ago I visited Tobago. I drove from Crown Point to several parts of the island. Whatever the Assembly is doing strikes me as impressive. Even in rural Tobago road-signs were present to begin with and easy to follow; the areas traversed were often well landscaped and community facilities (grounds, stadiums etc.) looked better than those in Trinidad, in spite of the much higher cost of living.

It would be nice if Siparia and other areas were to look as bright as parts of Tobago. This of course can’t happen unless a Zacchaean restructuring takes place in the minds of the architects of our development. It is not a question of development; it is a question of balanced development.

So far, city projects far outstrip rural projects and people have become tired of imaging anything better than what they have at present.

At a recent business retreat of the Roman Catholic clergy in Mayaro, Dr Terrence Farrell at the end of his paper gave what he believes are marks of our culture today. I think he was dead on. Included in the list was “disempowerment and resignation”.

We need to ask: is this a good place to be after 46 years of independence and with 35 billion dollars to be spent over the next eight years? I think much of this disempowerment and resignation stems from a lop-sided development.

 If all this talk about “spiritual and moral values” is to have any effect on society at large it needs to be translated into social priorities. The emphasis on early childhood education is a step in the right direction. However, much more structural redistribution of priorities is needed if people are to feel empowered.