January 7th Blog Post by Makayla and Marc

         Introducing: THE ERIC WILLIAMS! 

    Hello friends and family! This week we were introduced to a polarizing leader in the history of this beautiful island we are calling home for the next 5 months! The infamous Eric Williams ( depending who you ask) brought a two party system and immense governmental reform in the 1950s. Arriving in Trinidad as the Commission's Deputy chairman of the Caribbean Research Council, Williams was able to lead Trinidad & Tobago to national independence with the establishment of the People's National Movement.

    As the first political party to successfully govern the country, Williams was able to enact policies such as the Education Act which led to an increased focus on the funding of schools and university institutions. In a conversation we had with our security advisor, who has spent his entire life in Trinidad & Tobago and therefore is a first hand account of the policies Eric Williams has put into place, was able to speak on his thoughts of who some consider a political hero. Ken shared how many of his generation in fact feel that Eric Williams failed to disperse the country's wealth to working class people and that despite many of his great foundational documents and achievements, he was not without fault. Of course, every individual feels differently and he did not want to speak on behalf of the entirety of Trinidad & Tobago so he encouraged us to engage in a respectful and enlightening conversations with other community members. It was even more interesting to see the difference in opinions of our other site coordinator, Candice. Her views were that Eric Williams is in fact a political hero and he is regarded highly for his many successes, even stating that those who see him as not having done enough should be more realistic to what he would have been able to accomplish as a singular man. Both Candace and Ken did in fact have similar sentiments on the importance to education that Williams prioritized. Ken highlighted one of William's most significant beliefs, "The future of our nation is in our children's schoolbags."

Today we went out to the Pirates Bay altogether. Now this was indeed a hike to get up to the halfway point as we started our trek around midday but the view from the top was just stunning. Ocean seen all around as well as Charlottesville where we were staying. It was just breathtaking. After descending from the peak to the bay, we all collectively drew out breaths as nothing could have prepared us for the beauty that was Pirates Bay. It seemed as though it came directly from a postcard. It was all truly stunning. After staying there for several hours, we all decided to head back to get ready for dinner. During dinner, we had a really in depth conversation with Ken who is our security advisor and he informed us on the intricacies of Eric Williams and the various views regarding his tenure as prime minister of Trinidad. He said that for the people of the time, views about Eric was mixed. Some saw him as the savior of Trinidad while others saw him as alright and not having done enough. There was one common agreement which was that Eric was most certainly an extraordinary smart intellectual who should be talked about more as he laid the groundwork for the modern day Trinidad and Tobago.