A holy water bath

The first time I prayed in this community I eased into it quickly. I had a few things weighing heavily on my heart and found peace in my conversation with God. Lately I am wholly distracted, unable (perhaps unwilling) to listen. My conversation with God is flowing in a current of worry and I am trying to swim back to shore. Sometimes prayer can be a struggle.

Nevertheless I continue to receive blessings from God who I am learning has a real sense of humour. Today I was surprised to feel cool. It was 29 degrees.

Living Water Community centre in Port of Spain.

This morning I volunteered at Living Water Community’s food bank. The food bank is located in a smaller storage room in the basement of the community centre. There is no air conditioning in the basement and without fans it gets very hot, so five were turned on to keep us moderately forgetful of the heat.

Over 1,000 needy families receive hampers each month through this ministry. Hampers include dried goods and other basic household items. In December the food bank also distributes gift hampers. The staff spend a whole year counting, collecting and storing gifts as received. The 328 tubes of Crest toothpaste donated by two wonderful friends went towards this fund.

I spent several hours filling brown paper bags with beans and later split-peas. The others busily filled bags with cornmeal and flour. In the background Caribbean praise music played and we casually chatted about our families and summer holiday plans.

I am somewhat used to feeling hot and feeling wet (I do sweat a great deal, especially here) so when I pulled out a chair to begin my work I didn’t think much of it. When I stood up two hours later the sister in charge exclaimed “Your backside is wet!”

My "holy water bath" at the food bank.

I turned to have a look and saw that the back of my capris were entirely soaked. Unbeknownst to me the chair was wet before I sat in it… All I could do was laugh. Given this heat it would dry in no time. But my friends at the food bank were horrified. Eventually I was instructed to take off my capris and hang them on the fan to dry. The kind sister brought me to a closet where I put on a table cloth and left my capris to dry on the pivot fan. She called it “a holy water bath” and I just kept laughing and laughing.

In the afternoon I went for a walk with a housemate of mine. She has been living in the community for over 20 years. We walked around Queen’s Park Savannah, known to locals as the Savannah, a 260 acre park in the centre of Port of Spain. The parameter of the Savannah is lined by a walkway used by runners, walkers and vendors. Along the way vendors sell raw oysters (in a water filled bag or cup) and coconut.

Drinking coconut water along the Savannah.

My housemate insisted we stop at a coconut vendor so that I could drink coconut water and eat coconut jelly. The vendor cut two coconuts, one for us each, and then chopped the top off. I was offered a straw but was very glad to do as locals do and drink it right from the opening.

Afterward the vendor chopped the coconut in half and cut a spoon-like instrument from our coconuts so that we could “spoon” out the jelly. It was surprisingly filling. Delicious!

Eating coconut jelly along the Savannah.