A Second Coat

First, allow me to clarify the title. I in no way wished to imply that we needed a second coat today to keep us warm. Or even a first coat. Or even a light jacket. Warm is a fairly common situation on Andros in June. Not the most common situation, but pretty common. In fact the most common situation on Andros in June is really, really hot. And yet… we are so struck by the beauty of this place and the friendliness of its people; it’s definitely worth the heat. In fact each day I have been trying to include some “off topic” images – images whose whole purpose is to show you the beauty of this place in hopes of instilling in you the love I have found for this island.

So, as you may have guessed, the aforementioned second coat was a second coat of paint applied to the church we will be attending tomorrow. While one group tackled the painting job, another was tasked with cleaning the grounds of the high school. It’s a little thing, but a sign of our appreciation for them allowing us to use the home economics classroom for meal prep, and another classroom for our meals. In the heat, the cleanup work went slowly but it was gratifying to see bits of discarded pencils and pens, pieces of glass, pop tops, and other items that could have been a problem for some child next year cleaned away.

After painting and cleaning, we moved on to another natural wonder of the island – the ocean side of a blue hole. Caves leading from this site led inland to a blue hole like the other we visited. It was beautiful and all enjoyed exploring it.

Those of us who were here in 2017 were disheartened to see some very recognizable damage from Matthew which still hasn’t been repaired. Sadly, most of those whose homes and businesses were destroyed had no insurance, and rebuilding is a slow “as we can afford to do some more” process. Some will never be rebuilt.

With a little time left before dinner, we went to a local spot where fishermen bring their catch to clean it. We saw the process of cleaning a conch and got to sample both conch salad and conch fritters. For some this was an experience they had looked forward to as part of what they wanted to experience of the culture of Andros.

While we were visiting with the fishermen a local child approached some of the teens to ask about when VBS would be coming near their settlement. Word is spreading…