Facebook is the watering hole of our island, Saba. Public announcements of town hall meetings, notices of planned power outages, personal invitations, classifieds, lost and found, hurricane updates, obituaries – you can find all these and more on Facebook. If you hear the ambulance and the medi-vac helicopter, chances are you can find out who has fallen ill through Facebook.
Yes, it’s a small island and social media makes it even smaller.
One case of lost and found about a month ago particularly struck my eye and I want to share that here as an example of the beauty of small island life. Besides omitting the names of the people involved and maybe some grammar editing, I’d like to emphasize that I have not in any way changed, added, or omitted any messages in this thread. I also haven’t changed the names of businesses. Please read along and have your belief in human nature restored.
The first message is from “New Member” to the Saba Classifieds Facebook group:
Good Morning Saba…. I am new on this island and I am really liking it thus far. I was rather absent minded on Monday the 9th of April and left a gift bag from Kakona with jewelry in it at Big Rock supermarket at about 4:30pm. But yesterday when I went to retrieve it, no one could locate it. I am asking if anyone has seen it or mistakenly taken it to return it to Big Rock or the Sea Saba office.
Assistance from this very friendly community would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
Then various people start responding:
#1: Did you speak to the police? It could have been turned in.
#2: Ask Big Rock to look on the cameras.
#3: Monday I was at Saba Snack and there was a Kakona gift bag standing there with what appeared to be some empty jewelry boxes. Ask the ladies behind the counter. I gave it to them.
–> New Member: Thank you, miss… I asked them today and they said they are not sure what happened to it. But I will ask again tomorrow. I really appreciate all the help.
New Member: Good day, thanks for the advice I will do that…
New Member: At Zanzibar… I was told that a Dutch lady asked if it was garbage and then they don’t know if she threw it away or took it with her… Still hoping to find it.
–> #3: That was me at Saba Snack. Because everything seemed empty I asked if they thought it was something to throw away. They said they didn’t know. When I left, the bag was on the counter on the left side.
#4: What did it all look like? Maybe edit your post with a description just in case.
#1: The police substation in Windwardside may also have cameras.
#5: Also Big Rock
New Member: Thank you so much everyone for the help. I will keep you guys updated on what happens.
#6: There’s not much the police can do here though… Big Rock camera is the best solution.
New Member: Hey guys, the contents were brought to the Sea Saba office today. I want to thank everyone sincerely for the recommendations and replies… You have all made me feel quite secure and settled here in Saba. I appreciate you all greatly.
–> #4: Huzzah!
– – –
There were quite a few people who shared the post and a lot were following the thread as a lot of people “loved” the last message from “New Member.”
And this is precisely why I love island life. A simple question with a whole lot of people willing to help and a happy ending facilitated by social media.
Do you have any strange and/or heart-warming examples of lost and found on your rock?
Current Rock of Residence:
Saba
Island Girl Since:
August 2012
Originally Hails From:
The Netherlands
A traveller at heart, this landlubber has managed to stay in one spot for over five years now. That is because her heart has found a home on one of the smallest rocks in the Caribbean: Saba in the Caribbean Netherlands. Before her 30th, her travels had taken her around Europe, to Australia and New Zealand, Canada, the US, Malaysia, and Thailand. Turning 30 in a big city like Kuala Lumpur made her and her husband reevaluate what’s really important and so they meandered their way to this beautiful tropical rock.
One childhood dream of hers was to have a portal into a different world where time flows differently, so she could read an entire book, step back into Reality, and only 5 minutes have gone by. Let’s say she’s not quite found the portal, but instead a rock where time takes its own pace. The former concert goer and adamant believer in the power of books has not had one moment of regret of adding her rolling stone to this amazing rock.
Adding to the workload of teaching English language and literature at the high school that consists of about 100 students and the care for a cat and a husband, she now also has the care of twins and a baby. When they are not trying to pull the cat’s hairs or daddy’s beard, their mom tries to find the time to a) soak up the Caribbean lifestyle and b) sleep, which is supposed to come with point a), but somehow never materializes. Now also there is a new point in the line of personal development: c) write about the perks of living on a rock compared to her long ago life. This “Life BS” (life Before Saba) seems a distant past, where the words “workload” and “busy” and “commute” meant something else entirely.
Anyhow, if you’re curious about life on Saba and/or with kids in the Caribbean, be sure to check in every once in a while to her blog.
