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Born August 1945 in the little hamlet of Matelot on the north coast
of Trinidad,Dominic Salvary's twenty odd years as an employee of
the Ministry of Health has not diminished his yen for the country
life,nor in any way altered his seafaring instincts or rural identity.
This remains the only explanation why this son of 'Stormy Weather',as
his deceased father was nicknamed on account of his daring exploits
at sea,has frequently over the years journeyed the seventy five
miles of rustic countryside separating Port-of-Spain, the capital,
from rural paradise,his home in Matelot. Dominic's bondage to his
roots also explains his activist involvement in
environmental and social causes designed to promote a better quality
of life for the entire twin island community but especially those
villages scattered across the north and north-east coasts of Trinidad.
His leadership has graced many a protest culminating at Whitehall,P-O-S,
the seat of government.Issues across the spectrum ranging from health
to bad roads to the slaughter of helpless, docile turtles have been
addressed. These days Dominic prefers to build upon the platform
of his protesting past by shaping the history of community development
he has forged since the
early '70's into an effective instrument for constructive social
change via community-based eco-tourism.
His family and village connections,his affinity with the north coast,his
love of nature,his abundant skills in hiking,boating and diving,and
above all, his tremendous love for people,friends or strangers,all
but guarantees Dominic success in this recently embraced people-centered
venture with longtime friend
colleague and co-host,Opio.
"You should have remained in teaching."This plaintive
desire uttered years ago by Opio's elderly mother is rivalled
in pathos only by the equally well-intentioned comment by flattering
friends-"you would have made a good priest!"
Today,Opio,a veteran of community development,former probation
officer, former teacher,ex student-priest at St.John Vianney's
Seminary,considers himself both priest and teacher, happy in the
thought that his career has formalized neither.
The references to aborted vocations in teaching and the cloth
however summarize and lament what relatives and friends identify
in Opio as a bewitchment with seemingly impossible causes.He has
had little time for mundane exercises like eight-to-four employment
and getting married!
Born in May, 1945,Opio is truly a child of the late sixties and
raging seventies in revolutionary Trinidad and Tobago.
Like so many of his contemporaries,he readily adopted the New
World mission of the day that pursued peace,brotherhood and equity
within the elusive vision of social justice.
Like Dominic,Opio was born and bred near the seacoast.Unlike Dominic's,his
upbringing was urban,in a littie town,now a city,called San-Fernando.Paying
homage to an earlier promise of academic prowess with a few short
stints of formal study,Opio attended to courses in philosphy at
the aforementioned
seminary and did studies in Social Work at the University of the
West Indies, Jamaica.He was also a onetime student at Selly Oak
Colleges,Birmingham,UK. Preferring practice to theory,however,he
has spent the last three decades as a community development activist
principally on the north and north-east coast of Trinidad.
Such wide-ranging experience in a people centered discipline has
enriched Opio with friends, acquaintances and contacts in diverse
fields such as complementary medicine,organic,herbal and floral
agriculture,arts and crafts. Whether resulting from the mutual
bond of salt sea breezes in our
environment, or a more profound concern with the processes of
people's development,Dominic and Opio have been thrown together
firstly into an activist alliance and friendship spanning the
decades,and now presently into a business partnership employing
community-based tourism as a tool
of development.
Salvation of the two hundred million yr. old marine turtle is
the latest cause!
Contact:
Dominic Salvary L/p 50 Esperanza Drive,
Champ Fleurs,
Trinidad and Tobago,
West Indies. |
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Telephone: 868-645-3025
e-mail:tacaribe@tstt.net.tt |
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