The St Kitts Sugar Train
In late June we went with our friends from Ade’s Place for a tour of St Kitts on the Sugar Train. This is a narrow-gauge railway that originally circled the island. It was built in the early 1900’s to collect sugar cane from around the island to be processed at a sugar mill in Basseterre, the capital.
The sugar train reduced the cost of sugar production, enabling the island to produce sugar much later than other Caribbean islands. However the sugar industry finally shut down in 2005, ending 350 years of sugar production.
The train cars were converted to tourist cars, and now this is the number one tourist activity on the island, catering mainly to cruise ship passengers. The normal price is $140 per person for the 3 hour trip. However, the train company runs deeply discounted trips for local schools and charitable organizations such as Ade’s place. Yay!
The total distance of the loop is 31 miles, but not all of the track is maintained, so the train travels 18 miles around the eastern (Atlantic side) and northern part of St Kitts, and a bus finishes the 13 miles back to the start in Basseterre.
The eastern side of St Kitts gets more rain and is less developed than the western side. The views were great, the narration hard to hear, and the free-flowing rum punch contributed to a more festive experience for some.
Food Delivery (Hope Wheelers)
We occasionally help out with a local charity that prepares and delivers food for shut-ins. We pick up freshly prepared meals from the community kitchen and deliver to 17 different locations in Basseterre.
St Kitts Storms
Who knows what lies ahead for the current tropical storm/hurricane season. So far we had a near miss from Hurricane Beryl. We had some days of wind and rain, and some low lying roads along the waterfront of Basseterre were covered with sand from the increased waves. No real damage here, but our neighbors to the south (Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines) and to the west (Jamaica) were hit pretty hard. Fingers crossed and some heartfelt prayers for the rest of the season. It’s been predicted to be a busier than average season throughout the Caribbean.
Operation School Bell
We are starting to help with another big yearly event. Operation School Bell takes place just before the start of school every year. The government identifies families in need with school-aged children. Operation School Bell provides backpacks full of grade-appropriate school supplies, plus a care package for the families. Last year 1700 backpacks plus the care packages (not sure how many) were distributed. This year they are estimating 2000 backpacks to be packed and given out.
In August, a U.S. Air Force Reserve crew will fly a training flight to St. Kitts, bringing all the supplies in. Here’s a link to an article about the flight in 2020.
After arrival at the St Kitts airport, the supplies will be trucked to a staging location (this year, a building on the grounds of the Catholic Church in Basseterre). Volunteers will unpackage the supplies, sort, and fill the backpacks and sort by grade level. Then families will come to pick up the backpacks.
We are helping with the preparations now, and our local congregation will be involved more when we get to the stage where we are preparing the backpacks. We will have about 19 days from when the supplies arrive, until distribution starts, so it will be a busy time!
And Other Stuff
Visits with the young missionaries, lots of loaves of bread baked, distributed to members of our branch and friends, many dinners prepared (each week we invite friends over to get to know them better).
We’ve also been asked to do some one on one visits with local church members who would like to work on their marriage relationships. We focus on communication skills and conflict resolution.
And we continue to spend time with our friends from Ade’s Place on Tuesdays doing crafts, working out the kinks on using tablets and educational games. On Thursdays we are with them at the beach teaching swiming and playing (not real) cricket. At least a couple of times a week, just the two of us spend time bobbing in the Caribbean and taking walks on the golf course. What a place to be for 6 months!
We are loving our time here and the friends we have made. See our previous posts about St Kitts to see other things in our routine.
Next Up
A brief change of pace as we spend about 10 days in the U.S for the birth of a grandchild, some visits with family and some dental work (ugh),
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