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Not even the douens would want it
Posted: Saturday, March 16, 2002
By Donna Yawching
It's just as well that Bill Chaitan has surrendered his Canadian citizenship. After his recent comments on the Biche school, he would probably have a lot of trouble finding another job there: Canadians are very big on accountability. Here, of course, as long as the right people are in power, he can probably count on being appointed Chairman of something or other. As we all know, competence is not a prerequisite.
Chaitan has claimed that he would willingly send his children to the Biche school. I don’t know whether this man has any school-age children, but if he does, I suggest we arrange special classes, just for them, in Biche. Chaitan himself could teach some of the courses, since he would have no reason to worry about his own health either.
Obviously, it would be uneconomical to open a whole school just for Chaitan’s children (or grandchildren), so I’ll go further and suggest that all the school-aged family members of former UNC government ministers, starting with Kamla’s and Adesh’s, be sent to Biche. Basdeo Panday’s well-educated daughters could be recruited as teachers; I’m sure they won’t object to giving up their London luxury to “serve their country” in such a beautiful, healthy, rural environment.
Mr Chaitan believes, apparently, that there were simply too many cooks stirring the Biche broth, and that what was needed was a head chef—himself —to “make decisions”. It is admirable that he is staunchly standing by his decisions, even after they have been debunked by a variety of consultants; this is a chef who has “poisoned” his customers, but continues to insist that the food was delicious. The restaurant owner, meanwhile, despite having been advised well in advance that the ingredients were tainted, insisted that the meal be served up anyway, secretly believing the diners to be so stupid that they wouldn’t notice the problem until after the bill was paid.
And indeed, the Biche parents would seem to justify this assumption of Mr Panday, the “restaurant owner”. Despite all the professional reports indicating that their children could be unsafe in the Biche school, the villagers are clamouring for it to be opened. I found this to be the most amazing part of the whole scandal: the fact that parents, instead of screaming for the head of the man who would so cavalierly put their children at risk, are supporting him in his folly and are willing to offer up the lives of their offspring on the altar of political expediency.
I found it amazing until I considered three things: (1) they are undoubtedly die-hard UNC supporters; (2) children in T&T are generally held in low regard, as evidenced by the epidemic of abuse, beatings, and negligence of which we read in the newspapers ; and (3) the genuine ignorance that is endemic amongst so much of our population, both rural and urban.
The first of these propositions needs no comment: people have the right to their political affiliations, and are unlikely to change. As to the low value which we place on our children, this has long been evident: they are constantly burning, or drowning, or being punched in the stomach until dead; they get poor education in our schools, and virtually no care in our hospitals (as Colm Imbert discovered at Mt Hope); their parents (usually the fathers, but not always) abandon them without a backward glance; and after all this, we berate the ones who survive for “growing up bad”. The Biche parents’ attitude is merely part of this general syndrome of child devaluation.
It is my third point, however, which needs to be considered closely. We have in this country an incredibly ignorant population—inexcusably so. Thanks to our total lack of public education on numerous issues, vast numbers of people have little idea of basic scientific realities, particularly within the realm of health care and hygiene.
This is why we see children in poor areas playing in filthy canals (this is why we have filthy canals), while their parents draw water from equally polluted water-sources: there is little understanding of germs and disease. It is why we have toilet facilities emptying into our water courses and coastlines, mere yards away from where people are swimming or washing clothes. It is why, when the government some years ago attempted to relocate a community that was built on lead-contaminated ground, the residents protested and in some cases, I believe, actually moved back. This despite all the scientific evidence showing how seriously their children could be affected.
The same thing is happening in Biche. In Trinidad, amongst the ignorant folk, if you can’t see something, it doesn’t exist. Pollution is often invisible; poisonous gases may be odourless. When some child does die from their effects, it is described as the will of God, rather than something that could have been prevented. Similarly, a dangerous situation—like a school built on a fault-line, with volatile gas seepage and huge cracks running down the ceiling—is not considered noteworthy until an actual disaster occurs: an earthquake or an explosion that kills several hundred. Because it hasn’t happened yet, it’s assumed that it never will. Easier to be sorry, it seems, than safe.
The fact remains, however, that no matter what anyone says—Panday, Chaitan, the parents—the Biche school has been unequivocally condemned by international agencies which (a) know what they’re talking about; and (b) have no political axe to grind. Those two facts, to me, are conclusive. Local reports can always be considered suspect because of the possibility of political interference; but the international ones are above and beyond that.
What’s more, the international reports cannot be suppressed. Gone are the good old days when our politicians could quietly sweep everything under the carpet: globalism now shines its spotlight into the darkest corners. Trinbagonians should be very thankful for this new and unaccustomed access to truth. And politicians should begin to accept the unwelcome reality: they can run, but they can no longer hide.
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