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Around Trinidad and Tobago
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Blanchisseuse must not be forgotten - Pt 1
Mr. Owen Charles - Photo: Christine
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Staff Article
Interview Recorded: March 01, 2005
Posted: March 07, 2005
Mr. Owen Charles is a seventy-two year old elder who was born and raised in Blanchisseuse. He is now the chairman of the North Coast Regional General County Council. The areas within his purview are Maracas Bay, Las Cuevas, La Fillet and Brasso Seco. Mr. Charles voices his concerns about the possible destruction of the history, and the promising future of elders and of young people from within the various communities of the North Coast.
This is his story:
What I will say about Blanchisseuse is that we are more enlightened in the ways we have electricity, twenty-five years now, pipe-borne water supply, an' you have telephones about ten years now.
I still love some of de back days. Here, people respect one another, everybody see about one another. That was what we had. You could call any child to go with ah message for you an' he had to go. He can't say he not going, because if he didn't go, when he go home he get some punishment for telling us no. People would serve one another, help one another. When somebody sick everybody goes and attend, yuh have a death in de family, and everybody goes. That was some of de good old days in Blanchisseuse about forty years ago. Then, you had a Primary School. We always had a primary school, you had a police station, you had a revenue office where you pay yuh taxes, which you have no more. Now you have to pay to go Arima to pay yuh taxes, you had an Agriculture department, they use to call it Forest Ranger in those days and they had quarters but dat is no more. They had Works Department and they had office quarters where the officers use to stay at Blanchisseuse, you have dat no more. You had a tracking officers quarters for when the officers come up. In those days you had no cars, you come on a horse. If yuh forget time, yuh had to stay overnight. They have quarters that is also falling apart, we had a Health Center for over fifty years now. So dat was de older days and those are the things you have no more. You had no roads. You have roads about thirty years now so yuh could pass through de North Coast, because you had roads coming from Maraval since in the times when the Americans were here. They opened the road to Maracas Bay and then the Trinidad government opened the part from Maracas Bay to Las Cuevas. And about thirty years ago between the way of the road between Las Cuevas and La Fillet, you also had the Arima Blanchisseuse road that goes back to Arima. Before, all de older heads use to travel through Arima. And before you had transport, people used to walk from Arima and walk from Blanchisseuse to go a place yuh call Morne La Croix dey call 'Fifteen Mile'. But Morne La Croix is the name, and there you get Mamaral Road and from Mamaral Road going through you come out Lopinot and from Lopinot you pass to go through to Tunapuna. All dat distance yuh walking, yuh had to walk. That was in de days before yuh had transport in Blanchisseuse.
You also had in the earlier days, a boat they called Trinidad and Tobago. You had a big light house and lower down, the boat used to come in the habour, right by the police station where the fishing center is now, but that break up. Sir Solomon Hochoy, who was the first governor general in Trinidad, worked at that harbor. I think he started to work with de port services in Blanchisseuse right there, and right there his father had property right next door so he grew up there. They had a depot and a grocery so you could load. In those days you had plenty copra and cocoa and this used to go down by the boat where they would pick it up. Your foodstuff also used to come up by the boat. The strange thing with that is when dat boat comes from Port of Spain, it stops at Blanchisseuse, it passes Blanchisseuse and go right to Tobago. On its return now, it takes your produce and everything and carries it to Port of Spain. If when the boat was passing and the sea was very rough, because the North Coast is very rough, that meant the goods going Tobago because yuh can't come in, so they had to offload the big boat and load the small boats in order to come in. People sometimes used the boat as transport as well, because in those days you had people from different communities living all along the North Coast, so the boat would drop of the people with their produce and goods. There are some places where the communities have die out. Mount Pree going up the coast, you have nobody there, you have Paria Bay which was a lively place. The only time you see people there is when they go and hunt or hike. Then you have Tacarim, then you go to Lowmac, then to Teereeveer, then to Cashreepar and then head to Matelot. All these places ah speaking about, you have no body living again, only Matelot you will get people there. So, that was the old Blanchisseuse.
So far you hardly have crime in Blanchisseuse and on the North Coast. You could leave yuh door open and still go out anywhere, yuh have no burglar proofing and you go out, so you have no fear of anybody. Now and then you would get a little incident. You have nothing to worry about like rape and robbery with gun, not by the members of the local community. So yah set free. When yuh want to have a peaceful rest yuh could come to Blanchisseuse and leave yuh door open and nobody to trouble yuh, yuh could walk the streets anytime, any how, nobody would trouble yuh or ask yuh for anything.
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View Blanchisseuse Photo Album at:
www.trinisoca.com/gallery/blanchisseuse
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