Life of a brown angel

TOMORROW, Frederika Joseph, an Indo-Trinidadian, will be 100 years old. She was born on August 9, 1924 in D’Abadie. Her father was employed on an estate in D’Abadie. His main tool was a cutlass and his daily job was cutting coconuts; his wife assisted in removing the jelly.

Frederika recalls during an interview, “We use to live in a dirt house and den later my fadda build a brick house.”

Reflecting on her brief childhood education, she says, “My mother send meh to a school name Bethlehem School. Ma give me money and I buy tambran and I eating it in class.

“The teacher take it away from me and since den I never go to school again.”

Her parents and family later moved to Port of Spain and lived in a house on Old St Joseph Road in Laventille. Her mother was a vendor in the Port of Spain market, and when she died, was buried in the Laventille cemetery.

Frederika’s childhood recollections include seeing her grandfather in a coffin and a pundit nearby performing final rites. She remembers life in the city: “It did have mostly Africans in Port of Spain. De people dere was good. De people did like we in town. We live like one. We use to live on Piccadilly Street.”

This suggests a relatively good state of race relations between the colony’s two major ethnic groups during the 1940s and 1950s.

At the relatively young age of 18, Frederika was married to Cecil Joseph. The simple ceremony was held at Greyfriars Church of Scotland (demolished during 2014-2015) in Port of Spain. For more than a decade she and her husband remained in the city.

Recreation was simple. Frederika enjoyed travelling on the tramcar, and occasionally, would accompany her father or brothers to the Queen’s Park Savannah to see horse racing. Often on weekends she and her sisters would stroll along Pembroke Street or Frederick Street, admiring items in the showcases. During one of these outings she saw some men near Salvatori Building, sitting in a circle and smoking marijuana in a chillum (pipe).

During the 1970s, Frederika and her husband moved to Chaguanas. Both were employed at the Woodford Lodge Sugar Estate. She worked as a grasscutter and recounts her late husband’s job this way: “He use to fill buckets with water, put it on a mule cart and carry it to fields and other parts of de estate.”

Undoubtedly, a humble life has contributed to her longevity. Her friends know that her hospitality is limitless. And during the 1980s and 1990s, her kitchenware comprised enamel cups and her home was adorned with trinkets and ceramic ornaments.

Frederika was neither interested in eating in fancy restaurants nor going on exotic holidays. Her diet comprises freshly cooked food and includes a variety, such as dhal, rice, bhaji, eddoes, pumpkin, chicken, fish and cocoa tea. She knows how to cook on the chula with firewood. Her radiance is not a result of gyms, spas and beauty salons.

Her old, wooden home in Chaguanas is now an abandoned relic. She no longer cares for the few material possessions. Her senses are fading and her memories are sparse, but there is still a spark of life as she speaks with enthusiasm.

Amidst setbacks, she exudes calmness and peace. Her life reflects a gentle soul who avoids arguments. She does not possess credentials and degrees, and never sought any award or recognition.

Here is an illiterate, aged lady who has taught me some of life’s most important lessons. She treats everyone equally and embraces people from all walks of life. It is a lesson for some of us who discriminate on the basis of race, geographical location, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation.

Indeed, her humble status is a blessing, and her physical frailness hides her courage. Her bank account reflects a monthly pension, and yet she has been able to help many needy people in Chaguanas.

I have admired her profound and unquestionable faith in Christ. Frederika has adhered to the commandments and walked in the footsteps of her Saviour. Her amazing life is the embodiment of true Christianity.

In her younger days, she and her husband would sit in the last pew of the St Charles Presbyterian Church (on the Caroni Savannah Road) in Chaguanas. Their friendliness was more powerful than any sermon.

Frederika, the centenarian, is a brown angel who lived a quality life and patiently waits to join other angels in paradise.

The post Life of a brown angel appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.