Posted by Lucia Roberts on February 13, 2002 at 11:29:16:
In Reply to: News From Cat Island posted by Fig Tree Team on February 13, 2002 at 08:38:02:
: Released Thursday, February 7, 2002 at 10:03 am EST by Janice Mather
: A happy tale for Cat Island children
: By JANICE MATHER
: Guardian Features Reporter
: Any writer with skill can string words together to make a pretty tale. But it takes a special, kind-hearted
: author to write a script for happiness.
: Such is the case with Vera Poitier-Chase, who, after penning historic tales in "Take Me Back To
: Guanahani" and "Pirates Paradise," has set about making sweet childhood stories for the youngsters of
: Cat Island.
: Adopting the children of Dumfries Primary School last spring, the author now makes regular trips to the
: island where she spent summers with her grandparents during her own childhood. On her Cat Island
: agenda for 2002 is a project involving a little creativity, a bit of skill, and a chance to make a little cash, as
: she helps students establish a small business in making native produce preserves and sauces, to be sold
: at nearby cruise-ship stop, Half Moon Cay.
: "I think it would be excellent for them, if they're looking for a market whereby they could make some money
: while they're still in school," says Chase, whose sea grape and mango jellies and jams are regulars at the
: National Trust's Holiday Jollification. "If they can get into this sort of business, they could sell their
: products at Half Moon Cay."
: Though there's a distinctly practical side to Chase's preserve-making and selling plan, she also aims to
: bring simple fun to the children of Dumfries, Arthur's Town, Orange Creek, and Bain Town. Last year, she
: hosted a Christmas party, raising funds from a book-signing in Nassau, and from sales made at the
: Jollification, bringing games and face-painting, music, singing, gifts, and a decorated pigeon-plum tree to
: the children of Cat Island.
: Balloons, treats, and a few afternoons spent learning to make jams may not sound like much, but for the
: children of this island and school, it might mean the world.
: "I go into the school, and I talk with the kids and see if I can get feedback from them," says Chase, who
: was met at the airport by a cluster of excited children when she last visited Cat Island, and has discovered
: budding pilots, future educators and hair stylists during her work at the small school.
: "I'd just like to help them have a better life, to have the same advantages that children in other islands
: have. I always thought that my father's home was like a forgotten island, not much happening there," says
: Chase, whose concerns for her young charges include water supplies in Cat Island. "I think they deserve
: better, as Bahamian children."