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Stephanie
Browne Primary School on Union Island, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Caribbean
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Christmas
came early to Stephanie Browne Primary School! Schoolkids
(and TL) opened the boxes of storybooks donated by Hands
supporters.
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After an overnight, moonlight sail from
Dominica past the islands of Martinique, St. Lucia, and St.
Vincent and most of the Grenadines, we arrived on the southernmost
of the Grenadines, Union Island, in time to connect with the
boxes of books that were shipped courtesy of Boaters
for Books. In contrast to Dominica, Union Island is
an arid landscape surrounded by coral reefs — there's no
tropical rainforests here. Although bleary-eyed from lack of
sleep, we rallied and paid attention to the color of the water
as we eyeballed our way around reefs to enter Clifton Harbor
and drop our anchor. Clifton is a busy little
town with restaurants and a few small hotels that cater to sailing
charters.
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The
able assistance of Boaters
for Books and (left to right) Chille Alexander,
Heather Grant, and Shereeze Alexander of Erika's
Marine Services shepherded the Hands donations
from Miami to Union Island — and through Customs
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The office for the Tobago Cays Marine
Park is here, as well as an airport that serves the resorts
on Palm Island and Petit St. Vincent. After checking in at the
airport, we found our three boxes of books at Erika's
Marine Center, run by Heather Grant, the local Boaters
for Books representative. Her assistants, Chille and Shereeze
Alexander, had picked the boxes off the boat from St. Vincent
two days previously, so our timing was perfect!
The next day, with the help of a local bus
driver, we carted the books up and over the hill to Stephanie
Browne Primary School where we greeted the Principal, Mrs.
Lorette Coy-James. Before Lorette was named school principal,
she was a candidate for a Bachelor degree in Education Administration
from the University of the West Indies. As part of her senior
project, she raised funds and organized a room to create a
school library at Stephanie Browne Primary. The library is
now three years old. It's a sunny, bright room with a large
table and chairs in the center, a smaller table and chairs
and reference section around the periphery, and a full-time
librarian. Lorette had asked us for specific texts to encourage
young readers and generate
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Lorette
Coy-James, the Principal of Stephanie Browne Primary
School, with the Xerox printer/photocopier donated by
two generous Hands supporters
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excitement about reading. With the help
of book donors whose children had grown, we were able to fulfill
her request for Berenstain Bears, Thomas the Tank
Engine, Dr. Seuss, and Disney's Wonderful World
of Reading, among other popular children's books. We spent
the rest of the morning sorting books to assist the librarian
with her huge cataloging task. A few students helped us —
mostly by pulling books from the piles and taking them to the
corner to read! Two kind Hands' supporters had donated a digital
printer/photocopier to the school, and we can attest that it
was in near-constant use. Two office assistants were busy printing
and copying exams.
The following day, Harriet spent the morning
at the school working with the sixth grade class to write
thank you notes to book donors, and reading to the first grade.
The first graders filed into the library and sat rapt on blankets
on the floor while she read Maurice Sendak's Where the
Wild Things Are and Amos and Boris by William Steig.
It's hard to say who had more fun!
The next day, after sailing out of Clifton
and while anchored 10 miles to the north in the Tobago Cays
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The
Toy Story picturebook grabs the imagination of
two third-graders. A good book beats watching TV any
day!
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Marine Park, we were visited by one of
the entrepreneurs in outboard motorboats who sell t-shirts,
fresh produce, ice, and fish. As Harriet bought a loaf of banana
bread, we chatted with the seller and asked if he lived on Union
Island. He said: "My daughter told me, 'A white lady visited
the school yesterday and read to us.'" It turns out his
daughter is in the first grade and was one of the attentive
faces in the library the previous day. He shook our hands in
thanks. It's encounters like these that make our work worthwhile
and make us feel a part of the communities we visit.
If you'd like to feel a part of these island
communities and lend them a hand by making 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 to you 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 3% 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 the teachers'
wish lists and to any shipping costs. If you wish to donate
books, please see our Hands
Book Drop page for detailed 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 where it makes
a difference - to the children, teachers, and schools who
need it. —T.L.
and Harriet
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