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Pinney's
Beach on the island of Nevis, St. Kitts & Nevis, Leeward
Islands, Caribbean
Back in the Caribbean at last! Our last
dispatch was in September after we had completed a summer of
boat systems upgrades to Hands Across the Sea,
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Special
Education Coordinator Andrea Bussue, left, accepts the
teaching materials from Hands Across the Sea during
the official handover ceremony at the Special Education
School
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our Dolphin 460 catamaran, in New England.
We participated in the U.S. Sailboat Show in Annapolis, Maryland,
in October with Dolphin Catamarans
and The
Multihull Company, and then we sailed south down Chesapeake
Bay to Hampton, Virginia for the start of the Caribbean 1500
Cruising Rally. Hands Across the Sea was one of 50 boats
that sailed in company to the island of Tortola in the British
Virgin Islands. The start was delayed five days to let a storm
system pass by, and the result was an uneventful but windy seven-day
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Nevis
Special Education students perform during the 2008 Christmas
Program
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passage. We were the first doublehanded
boat and fourth boat in the fleet to cross the finish line.
The last three days were nearly closehauled in 20-25 knots of
wind, with some 30-knot squalls and boisterous seas. We arrived
November 14th in the lee of Virgin
Gorda about an hour after sunset on a full moon night. After
a swim, a shower, and a meal, we relaxed on the trampoline in
the moonlight, thankful for a safe journey.
We are excited to be back in warm Caribbean
waters for the winter, and also to visit the schools we "adopted"
last season in our Caribbean
Literacy and School Support (CLASS) program.
This week we visited the Special Education School on
the island of Nevis just before they closed for the school
holidays. The TV, DVD player, rolling cart, LeapPad items,
and learning resources contributed by Hands donors were prominently
displayed in the courtyard for the benefit of the local TV
station as they filmed a formal "handing over ceremony"
led by the Special Education Coordinator, Andrea Bussue and
attended by the teachers and students. We are grateful to
all the Hands donors who made this gift possible, and it was
wonderful to see the outcome of Hands donors' efforts. Later
in the week, we met with the teachers to create a list of
resources that the Keith Middle School (New Bedford, MA) 8th
graders can make in their art and sewing classes for the Special
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The
Nevis Special Special Education School has a front-row
seat under cloud-topped Mt. Nevis, the island's dramatic
(but dormant) volcano
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Education students as part of a community
service project this winter. We also attended a delightful
Christmas program -- the students sang, danced, drummed, and
recited poems before Santa arrived with a gift for each child.
While special education students tend to be placed in mainstream
classrooms in the U.S., it's clear that here on Nevis, these
children were thriving being together in one school to develop
skills to the best of their abilities.
After the Christmas holidays we'll sail to
Union Island in St.
Vincent and the Grenadines, and to Roseau, on the island nation
of Dominica, to visit
the two other schools we adopted and see how they are using
the donated resources. We hope to stay a while in Dominica
and find additional schools to help. The Commonwealth of Dominica
is the most struggling of the economies we have encountered
in the Windward and Leeward Islands, and we believe there's
a lot more we can do there. Many of these islands are dealing
with high unemployment and increasing crime rates, and supporting
education is one way to improve the prospects of future generations.
The teachers we met are dedicated and devoted to their schools
-- and they need more teaching resources than their governments
currently provide.
We so appreciate everyone
who has supported Hands Across the Sea, Inc., in 2008
with cash donations, donations of books and learning resources
for the special education children, and support for the Hands
crew in the form of moorings, borrowed cars, rides to the
supermarket, and mail-drop sites. We wish everyone a joyful
and safe holiday season and a 2009 filled with friendship
and love.
If you'd like to help schools and make a
tax-deductible contribution to Hands Across the Sea, Inc.,
we'd be thrilled. We are an IRS-registered, 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization and we will furnish a receipt for your tax return.
Your donation can be any amount, either via credit card on
the Donate page of our website
(using the secure PayPal service, which deducts a 1.9% to
2.9% charge off the final amount we receive), or by mailing
a check to our Florida mail-forwarding
address. One hundred percent of your donation goes
to teachers' wish lists and shipping costs. If you want to
donate books, please contact
us for instructions. The Hands crew is unsalaried
-- we donate all of our time and we pay for all of our living
and boat upkeep/upgrade expenses out of our own pocket. Your
entire gift goes to the children, teachers, and schools who
need it most. —T.L.
and Harriet
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