SMCS Students Work Through March Break

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Every year, a group of St. Mike students sacrifice their March break and take part in a Basilian Mission in St. Lucia. This year 13 grade twelve students signed up to this trip. The facilitator is Mr. Peter McCann, who is also the founder of this mission which began in 2000. This year is Mr. McCann fifth mission to St. Lucia. The Chaplain, Fr. Daniel Chui, CSB was accompanied with the group and spent a week long there.

We were welcome by Richard and Judy Caton. We spent the first day afternoon at the beach.

Unlike last year, the task for this year was mainly clearing the land in order to build wooden houses for the poor. Another minor project was to paint a house for a single mother and her eight children. Every day, we began with Eucharist, breakfast, and morning prayer. We had time in the late afternoon to go to the beach. All the beaches in St. Lucia are opened to the public. However, private houses and big hotels occupy huge properties including the beach area so make the public access to beaches difficult.

There were two talks given to the group during our visit; by Fr. Clair Watrin, CSB and Mr. Richard Caton. The talks were un-related St. Lucia and its people. They were focus on how to make good choices as followers of Christ, and the area of sexual ethics.

We were staying at the residence of the Basilian Fathers of St. Lucia. The residence is a three-story building and a stone throw from the St. Benedict Church. Fr. Watrin is the pastor of the parish in the last 14 years. The parishioners are mostly poor people. However, they attend mass regularly and wear their best dresses. They also sing beautifully at masses. Most St. Lucian men do not attend church. It was interesting to see some men rather wait outside the church for their spouses and drive them home afterward.

The educational system, I was told, is frustrating. Family has to pay for their children's uniform and textbooks plus many incidental fees. One example can illustrate the ridiculous fees when we were there. St. Lucia and Jamaica are hosting The Word Cup Cricket this year. I was told that school was cancelled and students were forced to attend the game and paid their own ticket. We heard many stories like this.

Despite all the negative facts, St. Lucia is a very pretty island with beautiful people. There are more than 168,000 inhabitants living in roughly 616 square km (3.5 size of Washington D.C.). Most students had a positive experience and want to return to St. Lucia soon.