My name is Clare Joseph and I'm the manager of the Tobago branch of the Trinidad & Tobago Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. I'm a transplant from Trinidad. I came for some R&R and never left. Tobago is much less stressful than Trinidad. Even stray dogs are better off in Tobago.
I grew up in La Romain. If you lived in South, in my time, you couldn't escape the "bush" or "country" aspect. Now you look at the Gulf View and the Bel Air but (back then), most of South was canefield and oilfield population. You were in the bush in Town. So, coming to Tobago was a natural fit for me. It was like going home.
Things happen in childhood and you don't understand where you're at, but it dictates who you become in the future. When I leave this Earth, I trust that my efforts would have made Trinidad and Tobago a better place. And I hope a lot of people think like me. We may not personally see the fruits of our labour, but our nephews and nieces and children and grandchildren-society as a whole-must benefit. It's not about you. It's about what you represent.
It may not go down well with a lot of people but I'm a firm believer that our Christian values must be reflected from Monday to Saturday, not just Sunday morning. I came out of a rich Catholic tradition, and I'm not ashamed of it.
I went to a small community college in Wilmington, North Carolina, in the States, and then lived there, returning home in 1995. North Carolinians are not Caribbean people but they're akin to our Trinbagonian thing. I guess the Middle Passage movement, they just dropped us off in different parts of the world! It's not a race thing, it's a cultural thing. You can't run from your history.
I've just turned 50 and I can tell you the whole laidback culture of Tobago works for the 50-plus people. My blood pressure, since I've been in Tobago, is beautiful. You relate better to people, because you're not fighting up to be part of Trinidad's Little Miami, the wanting to be so Westernised. The job is really hands-on, which you can see from the way we dress: there're no stilettos, no pumps, nothing going on.
The vets at TTSPCA, Tobago, are not into euthanasia. We're not that naive to say we're gonna keep every dog alive, but we always try to keep every animal alive as long as possible. I am the manager of the facility but I couldn't do it without my competent team: Denyse Solomon; Keyshon Paulson and Leston Cato. They fill all the gaps.
This is the only job I know where people come in 365 days a year. Because the animals need care every day. You cannot compensate monetarily, or in any way, for someone giving up every day of their life. When I first came to Tobago, I heard people talking about spaying your animal being sacrilegious, from a Biblical perspective. You taking away the nature of the animal God put on the Earth. Three years later, that problem, though it's not gone away, is greatly diminished.
The best part of the job is that it is low stress, and you see results at the end of the working day. The bad part is dealing with people. You need to suppress their ignorance by explaining to them what you do.
When we look at options for careers, it must not always be from a standpoint of big monetary rewards. This would not be one of the choices. But your reward, re your wellbeing and societal input, is so much more than your monetary reward. Find an NGO struggling to keep head-above-water and give back. Once you've found that niche, don't give up. Forge forward.
A Trinbagonian, a Trini, a 'Bago, however you want to phrase it, is someone who sees the challenges, faces up to them, and refuses to budge. Knowing that, at the end of the day, they would overcome it. Trinidad and Tobago means home and DNA to me. And family. And culture. It means, "we". We're back to make a difference and we nah leaving.
• Read a longer version of this feature at www.BCRaw.com
