Sokah2Soca

Recently I posted an article entitled, "What Kinda Coffee is Dat"? Now as I was reviewing the note before posting it to the blog, I remembered a situation that is relevant to those who like to tease for no good reason. Yes I know I tease a lot in the WACK shoutbox but what most persons don't know is that it is done "with blessings" and most of the time done to start a discussion. However, sometimes I just can't get over some folk's ignorance and I do some solo runs - I have decided to stop this practice. Now back to the reason for this post and back to a time when I used to work in the Ministry of Works in Arima.

My first assignment was in the bridges section and that meant we were always out in the field.  Working in the Highways and Bridges section meant the work areas were not close to pipe-born water most of the time. As a result, women were hired as "Water Carriers" to provide drinking water to the workers on site. These water carriers were mature women and if you know mature West Indian women they don't tolerate much nonsense from the men who always have something to say to the women for obvious reasons. They believed they had a right to say whatever they wanted to the women and some of the guys in the gangs/workforces would sometimes tease the women for fun.  For those who don't know please take note that one should never ever tease dem Trini Red Oman (De Pyol ones).

The women were hired and rotated on a five-day basis. This woman who fetched the water and took it to the men working on the bridge was teased for the five days she worked on the site. Nothing foreman Reid said helped her cause - man those guys had fun teasing her. I felt bad for her but I was the new guy on the site and wanted to remain as neutral as possible. She was there for five days but I had to be there for the duration of the project. Well here is the deal at the end of her fifth day she declared: "Allyuh mother &#%#@&#  every bucket ah water all-yuh drink from ah spit in it. F#@k all ah all-yuh". Gosh, I remember that day like it happened yesterday. Many years have passed but that woman's face is still imprinted in my brain cells!

I do apologize because this is not the type of story that will bring a smile to your face but pause for a moment and don't get too upset thinking about how unsanitary her deed was at that time. When you think about it some people deserve what they get in life but in this situation, some innocent people also paid the price for the childish behavior of a few silly men who could not express their feelings differently. Maybe it is a lesson for all of us and one not to practice but to be aware that it is not good to hurt another person's feelings - gosh I need to take my own advice!

OMG, yuh had to be there to see the faces of the men who eventually 'cussed' the hell out of that woman.  She simply laughed and walked away with a dominant swagger that said, "I got you suckers". She was the topic of conversation at the 'water hole' (i.e. bar/rum shop) later in the evening since it was Friday and that meant it was time for Carib and Stag beers. Do you think that this experience stopped the men from teasing the water carriers who followed this insanely brave woman?  Leave a comment...