It seems that as we speed towards Vision 2020 we take one step forward and 20 steps backward.?Once again our Carnival has been the target. First they took away the Savannah stage and now they want to take away our wee wee trucks.?
I have been playing mas for 29 years and the last ten of those have been the most convenient and enjoyable, largely because I no longer have to beg people to use their bathrooms along the route. Or worse, subject myself to one of the few portable toilets in the Savannah that you could smell before you actually find it, tucked away behind the vendors' stalls.?And then you find there's no running water, no toilet paper and no sanitation. It seems that these units are placed there on the first day of the Carnival season and left till Ash Wednesday. Other than these "facilities," I struggle to think of where else along the route toilets can be found. The public "restrooms" are no better than a hole in the ground and not fit for a cockroach to enter. You would surely catch something by just being within a one-mile range of those cesspits. The Carnival bandleaders recognised the need to provide this service for their masqueraders, the female ones in particular. With the state of crime in the country, it is no longer safe for their members to venture out of the band in search of a restroom.?
Homeowners along the route have also become more cautious about opening their homes to the public, understandably. So there was the birth of the wee wee truck. And what a welcome addition it was.?The wee wee truck in my band consists of eight or ten portable units, carefully manned (or "womanned" as the case may be) by no less that five people, who ensure that they are cleaned and sanitised throughout the day. They are well ventilated and quite cool, and there is an abundance of toilet paper and running water, soap and hand sanitisers.?The few times that there is a line to enter the truck, you can be assured that the band would not leave you behind, so you could lime and chip behind the truck while waiting your turn. How civilised!
I would like to know what sort of facilities the Port-of-Spain Corporation has in mind for the thousands of masqueraders and the public to use. I'm betting it would be a smattering of the same portable toilets sprinkled here and there, unsupervised, unsanitised and over-utilised. I am certain there will not be an adequate supply of them either.?As usual, no planning, just hasty regulations inserted without any consultation with any stakeholder. May I suggest that instead of banning the wee wee trucks strict regulations for their use be drawn up.?Make clear rules that would govern how these trucks are to be outfitted, manned and treated with over the two days. Perhaps they could be inspected prior to Carnival Monday and Tuesday to make sure they are not "so foul or in such a state or so situated as to be a nuisance or injurious to health."?
Failing this the bandleaders and designers are going to have to come up with "catch-all" costumes. And by the way, anybody knows what is the safe and proper storage temperature for a sno-cone?
Marianne Munoz
St James, PoS