We spent a day on St. Kitts about a year ago as one of the ports of call on a cruise ship. Little did we know that we would be back to spend 6 months as missionaries for our church.
Take a look on a map to see where we are. A spec of land, among a string of islands that make up the Lesser Antilles, or as the Colonial English called it, the West Indies
St Kitts & Nevis
The total population of St. Kitts and Nevis is just over 50,000, with the majority living on St. Kitts. This is the smallest country in the Americas, both by area and population.
St Kitts is just 65 square miles. It takes about an hour to drive around the whole thing. It would take a lot less time, but for needing navigate narrow roads, some twists and turns with cars often parked in the road. And “around” is the only major direction. This island is an oval with a thin peninsula hanging down towards Nevis. The center of the oval is mountainous rainforest.
We caught a glimpse of the peak (extinct volcano) while landing here, but have yet to see it since, due to continuous clouds shrouding the peak.
The other part of this country is the island of Nevis (KNEE-vis). We haven’t been there yet. There is a 2 mile wide channel between St. Kitts and Nevis, and a ferry boat runs regularly between the Basseterre on St. Kitts and Charlestown on Nevis. Nevis is a bit smaller than St. Kitts (36 square miles). It is a nearly circular island with a 3200 ft (mostly) extinct volcano in the middle, so the 11,000 residents live around the edge.
Interesting note: There are wild African Vervet monkeys on both islands. They were introduced 300 years ago and are just part of the native wildlife now. We see one every once in awhile.
What are We Doing Here?
Our focus is on service and education, to church members as well as all Kittitians and Nevitians (what the people of St. Kitts and Nevis call themselves). We have been on the island for four weeks now. So far we are getting to know the islands, the local members of our church and some of the local charitable organizations.
We have done some work with three local charities so far, doing delivery of meals for those in need in Basseterre, and the second ( Chipeen) does a variety of volunteer work, the first project we helped with was sorting and then delivering donated groceries to those in need around the island.
This week we started helping at Ade’s Place, a group day-home for about 20 adult Kittitians with disabilities, including many with Downs. Next week we start some weekly volunteering there, starting with Susie teaching sewing skills (bringing a sewing machine was a good idea), and I’m going to figure out how to set up some Chromebooks as a teaching station.
Ade’s Place also has a weekly outing to the beach right by our condo (Frigate Bay Beach South, on the Caribbean side, a 6 minute walk from home), so how could we pass that up? We were with them this morning and had a great time together. No photos of the group, out of respect of privacy.
The prettiest beach on the island is Cockleshell Beach. It is a long, curving bay with white sand beaches, on the southernmost tip of the peninsula, facing the island of Nevis.
St. Kitts Agriculture Open Day
We went to an Agricultural Fair, with about 120 booths selling food, artwork, plants, as well as agricultural products. It was a lot of fun to see the islanders enjoying the festive environment. There are other events coming in the next few months that we are looking forward to attending.
Life on St. Kitts
Life is pretty nice. We have a lot of familiar choices in the grocery stores, with prices sometimes being similar to the US, but mostly around 2x. Considering we are on a tiny island in the Caribbean, the selection is impressive, the pricing is understandable.
Our condo is quite nice and fully equipped, we have use of a Toyota RAV4 that we share a bit with the young missionaries. The church congregation here is strong and the people are great. Yes, it is hot and humid but what a place to be for 6 months….
The people are really friendly and since the population is isolated and small, many people know each other. We look forward to the next few months we get to spend here.
Next up: More posts to come as we get more involved in our work!
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