SVG — beauty in the eyes of a returnee

By *Dillon Burgin

In this article, I will take a moment to celebrate and salute some of the beautiful things that I have seen upon returning to the beautiful “Home of the Blessed” after almost 30 years abroad. 

Among the things I want to highlight are the following:

1. Immigration and Customs

On the day of my arrival, upon entering the airport, I felt so welcomed. This feeling didn’t come from a particular thing. Perhaps it was just a sense of knowing that I was coming home after a long time abroad. Nevertheless, I am highlighting the role that immigration and customs officers played in my welcome. When I went to the immigration officer, he simply said to me, “Welcome home” as he took my Vincentian passport. 

This was such a departure from what obtained many years ago, when ,upon going before an immigration officer after returning from abroad, a national would be asked, “How long are you staying?”. 

The whole immigration experience was smooth — even for my family who came ahead of me, although they were not all born Vincentians. I was really pleased and impressed.

After leaving the immigration section, I entered customs. There I was checked by a young officer who was quite pleasant, professional and courteous. 

I said to myself, “I am already happy to be home.” So, I commend the immigration and customs departments for that initial experience which made the welcome home feel so genuine and authentic.

2. The police force

I am happy to see the police in their presentation and public display.  Having recently returned from Central America where I described the police attire as often shabby, I could not help but observe how sharp, fit and beautiful our police officers look on the streets. Their shoes still look as shiny and clean as they were when I was just a lad. 

I look at the conduct of the policemen in uniform on the streets and you can sense that they wear the uniform with a lot of pride and dignity. Then there is the courtesy they display on the streets. When you greet them, or when you ask for instruction, they are rather helpful.  They show that they have been trained to exercise basic hospitality that makes people feel welcome and safe, rather than threatened and intimidated.  Good job, Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force.

3. The vegetable market

I am quite happy to see that there are three locations where one can buy vegetables. This is a good initiative because it allows the streets to be clearer for pedestrians, and one does not have to struggle to find one’s way on the sidewalk or beside the supermarkets as before.

From my inquiry,  there still needs to be conversations about how best to accommodate sellers who are happy to be seated in one spot and entrepreneurs who want to be mobile around the city. And I can see that the mobile vendors provide a good service for people who are on the love and may not desire to walk the extra distance to the market. Also, it may be that the charges for having a stall in the market have to be more carefully tailored so that it doesn’t become a burden on the profits of those who are buying to resell or those who have travelled far from their farms to bring their produce to market.

4. maintenance of buildings 

Many new and even opulent homes and other buildings beautifully decorate the SVG landscape. The way homes are maintained, the way they are constructed and designed; and the way many of them are beautified is commendable.

Whether they are large commercial buildings, spacious homes or smaller dwelling places, one can sense the pride that owners take in their properties.

The landscape of the country is nicely decorated by these many houses, buildings, and houses that were converted for commercial purposes. These stand so beautifully in the mountains and hills of our beautiful country. Even in the city area where they stand beside each other on a more flat terrain, they still complement each other beautifully and give a sense of progress and national pride.

5. The minivans 

I observed that the minivans are for the most part well maintained. I am very pleased with that. Nevertheless, I am having my “vexhaled” moment about this. There needs to be dissatisfaction and a sense of great displeasure about the sexually suggestive images that many vans have painted on them. What is the purpose of that? How does that help anybody who is travelling in those vans?

I want to commend the skilfulness and zeal and enthusiasm of the drivers and the conductors in soliciting passengers and in getting people to where they’re going safely. However, in many cases, one wonders why certain hooligans are allowed to drive these vans. And how are they allowed to remain as public transportation drivers? 

The music is another story by itself. Why are public transportation allowed to play music so loud? Why are they allowed to play some of this smut that travellers are subject to? This is a vexing experience and it is clearly anti-tourism — since that is one of the things that the country is focusing on. 

I have observed in other countries including nearby Grenada and St. Lucia, that the vans there are licensed for 15 passengers; whereas ours are licensed for 18 passengers. This is something that needs to be addressed because the ride is uncomfortable, unsafe and unhealthy. If these vans are allowed to carry fewer passengers, there will be less rush on the road and fewer accidents. 

Is there an active and responsible minibus association or union? Are there plainclothes officers who travel on these vans to monitor, to report, to give tickets for violations of the accepted decibel and inappropriate music?

There is a need for even distribution of the available minivans in the nation since there is not a government-run public transport service.

In my experience, I live on the road that is served by vans going to Mespo and Richland Park. Most of the time, these vans are full by the time they get to Fairbaine Pasture or Fountain. Something like this can easily be solved by some government agency being set up to issue routes to minivans. The way this would work is that the minivan owners have to apply for a route and even if they live in the area where they are applying for, they may not necessarily be granted a route in that area. They could be assigned to a different area where a need exists – based on the population versus the number of minivans, etc. 

This can solve the problem of public transportation without the government investing in its own bus system and bus service — although this needs to be done. And it needs to be done quickly since it is one of the markers of progress and order in any nation that wants to have order and discipline in how people function and those they move about.

In this article, I am simply highlighting the fact that SVG has many good things and systems of which it should be proud. All in all, we have a really beautiful country. Our level of safety and comfort is to be celebrated. Nevertheless, one of the major things that has to be fixed is the public transportation system and the roadways. The roadways need significant improvements. Many drains should be covered so that they become sidewalks. This will increase pedestrian safety and give more road surfaces for vehicles to travel on.

I also want to conclude by noting that I have observed an eerie unmentionable silence that sits over the nation in spite of the many signs of progress. There exists a sense of fear of speaking negatively, critiquing or criticising anything that is not working well or any person who needs to be held to higher accountability. This has to change. It needs to be addressed. Nevertheless, unless people become upset enough — or should we say “vex” enough about it — that pent-up concern and that eerie silence cannot be released. We must become vexed enough to Exhale.

*Dillon Burgin is an apostle, author, playwright, talk show host and entrepreneur.