Lance Baptiste

The Ghost of Caura Lance Baptiste

In 1945, the colonial government in Trinidad and Tobago dynamited a church in Caura and displaced an entire village to build a dam. 75 years later, a son discovers the journals of his father who lived in the village. In 2021, the son, sitting at a window, writes:




Sitting at a window that looks out on the church in Lopinot, I'm beginning to understand how much I did not appreciate my father. Most people begin to truly appreciate their parents when it's too late. I imagine this is the reason I've spent months deciphering his handwriting and trying to reproduce his story as faithfully as possible. Trinidad and Tobago, I feel, deserves the truth, about men like Eusebio, Mr Roberts, my own father and grandfather-Raymond and Popo-and the British's role in destroying a prosperous village.