By Neals J. Chitan
The dawn of Monday, January 12th 2015 brought heavy dark clouds of grief, sadness and hopelessness over the northern coastal community of Fancy in the beautiful island paradise of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The driver of a minibus destined for the capital city of Kingstown with twenty one souls on board, of which eighteen were high school students to be dropped in schools along the way, lost control, plunging the vehicle and its passengers down the extremely steep and undulating slope of the Rock Gutter area, into the wild and angry Atlantic Ocean which furiously beats onto the rocky shoreline.
By 10.00 AM that morning social media was lighting up with comments and pictures of the tragedy as the news went viral. The pain and anguish of the crowd was incapacitating and they gathered in their hundreds to help, rescue or just sit and grieve.
The following day, sitting at my desk in Toronto, I heard the I-Witness News of SVG’s mournful interview with Mr. St. Clair Da Santos, principal of North Union Secondary School, the high school which suffered the loss of three of the five students killed and one of the two missing, and my heart sank as I listened the tragic impact on the students, teachers and administration.
Being an International Social Skill Specialist, I was arrested by the cry of pain, hopelessness and despair, while my memory vividly took me back to the powerful high impact strategies and tools I had delivered to help the Happy Hill Secondary School community rise up again after the tragic in-school homicide where a thirteen year old girl stabbed seventeen year old Alex Gabriel to death in my homeland of Grenada in 2013. And I had no choice, but to rise to action to be my brothers’ keeper.
As the week progressed, I was constantly bothered in my soul by the unavoidable dictates of human responsibility to be of assistance to the broken people of SVG, so I contacted the Consul General for SVG in Toronto, and although I did not get a response, made certain that I registered my intention to be of assistance to his people by email and voicemail.
After receiving no immediate reply from the Consul’s office, I made contact the next day with the office of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education in SVG, the Hon. Girlyn Miguel, outlining my intentions to her. As I extended my condolences to her on behalf of our Toronto-based Social Skill Agency –Motiv-8 For Change International, she replied that SVG will be appreciative for whatever social and emotional help I can offer in this time of need. That was my marching order, and I was ready to make it happen for the people of SVG.
On Thursday January 22, 201, with the financial help of Caribbean national living in the Toronto diaspora and a donation of over $10, 000.00 CAD worth of copyrighted “LOSS & GRIEF” Sessions from Motiv-8 For Change International, I boarded American Airline at Toronto Pearson International destined for SVG.
This partnership enabled me to deliver the following six day schedule to the people of SVG:
Friday, January 23, 2015, Arriving in SVG
AM-Saturday, January 24, 2015 – Spoke at the local Georgetown SDA Church, reminding them of their Christian duty to mankind. PM-Attended the Rock Gutter accident site memorial service and met with Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves
Sunday, January 25, 2015- Collaborated with Dr. Jozelle Miller-Head Psychologist and her team of counsellors to provide emotional support for the estimated 10, 000 mourners at a mass funeral of the five victims laid to rest.
Monday, January 26, 2015-Received my schedule from Ms Kathleen Jeffers –Curriculum Development Leader of Ministry of Education SVG to support the North Union Secondary School where we engaged two high impact sessions “Getting Up when life knocks you down” for students most impacted by the loss of their friends; Jamal Edwards, Jamalie Edwards, Anique Alexander and Chanstacia Stay.
AM-Tuesday, January, 27, 2015- Speaker at the Georgetown Secondary School delivering “Getting Up when life knocks you down” to students most affected by the loss of; Racquel Ashton and Simonique Ballantyne.
PM- Delivered our Professional Development Session “DISMANTLING LOSS, GRIEF & DEPRESSION” for Ms. Kathleen Jeffers and team of School Counsellors of the Ministry of Education in SVG.
PM- Keynote Speaker for launching ceremony of the VOLUNTEERS IN ACTION social development centre in Georgetown.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015- Went back to the community of Fancy to meet with all the parents of the students killed and missing along with the survivors and their families and friends. Delivered “Getting Up when life knocks you down”
Thursday, January 29, 2015- Speaker at the SVG Grammar School which lost student Glenroy Michael, with high impact session ‘Grounded or Soaring” a powerful session showing the bad habits and attitudes that keep you grounded in failure, as oppose to the good work ethics and attitude that can make you soar despite the challenges.
At 3.15 PM on Thursday, January 29, 2015, I hesitantly climbed aboard LIAT flight 523 and left my newly found buddy and project manager Pastor Kerry Kerr along with my SVG friends and colleagues behind but in my heart were the powerful words of thanks and appreciation from Station Sargeant Ballantyne of the SVG Police Force whose daughter Simonique is still missing. “Mr. Chitan, on behalf of all the parents who lost their children and the survivors of Fancy, I want to thank God for bringing you to us all the way from Canada. This session has given us real tools we can use to support each other and move on. God bless you Sir.” So I left shouting in my heart THANK GOD! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
