Newsletter for
alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St. Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 22 December 2018 No. 894
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Dear Friends,
Here is
the Christmas letter from Csaba Jakobszen, Expecting to get a few more God
willing.
As soon
as they are received I publish them.
----------------------------------------
Fri, 21 Dec, 16:05 (20 hours ago)
Hola Ladislao:
Te
deseamos a Ti y a toda tu familia unas muy Felices Pascuas y un muy próspero
Año Nuevo 2018 sobre todo con buena salud y muchos éxitos en todos los campos.
¿Cómo
y dónde estás? (si recuerdo bien me dijeron que ahora estás operando más en
Colombia)
Nosotros este año fuimos a
Alemanía en abril para asistir a la Primera Comunión de mi nieto Marcel.
Luego fuimos a Budapest en
julio para pasar un tiempo maravilloso con los hijos y nietos y mi prima y su
familia.
En agosto nos fuimos con carro
a Galicia para visitar muchusimos familiares y amigos de Mary Carmen en Galicia
y en Ponferrada.
¿Vas a
venir a España en primavera ? Si es así avísanos de antemano por favor, para
poder reunirnos como en otros años
Adjunto te enviamos una foto
de nuestro aniversario de bodas (30), una foto familiar de mi hijo Gábor y una
foto familiar cuando fuimos con mi hijo Gábor y sus hijos y mi hijo Péter con
su esposa a un parque zoológico en las afueras de Budapest este verano.
Yo sigo la prensa venezolana
por internet todos los días y estoy bastante bien informado de todo lo que pasa
allá.
Un
abrazo para tí y los tuyos y esperando tu respuesta
Mary Carmen y Csaba
------
We
wish you and your whole family a very Happy Easter and a very prosperous New
Year 2018 especially with good health and many successes in all fields.
How
and where are you? (If I remember correctly, they told me that you are now
operating more in Colombia)
We
this year went to Germany in April to attend the First Holy Communion of my
grandson Marcel.
Then
we went to Budapest in July to spend a wonderful time with the children and
grandchildren and my cousin and her family.
In
August we drove to Galicia to visit many family and friends of Mary Carmen in
Galicia and Ponferrada.
Are
you going to come to Spain in the spring? If so, please let us know in advance,
in order to meet as in other years
Attached
we sent you a photo of our wedding anniversary (30), a family photo of my son
Gábor and a family photo when we went with my son Gábor and his children and my
son Péter with his wife to a zoo outside Budapest this summer.
I
follow the Venezuelan press on the internet every day and I am quite well
informed of everything that happens there.
A hug
for you and yours and waiting for your answer
------------------------------------------------------------
GEORGE
MICKIEWICZ <amickiew@att.net>
Dec 4 at 9:50 AM
Hi Guys
Came
across this article this morning.
I have
zero knowledge of the whys and wherefores of using crypto currency.
I do
not use it nor trust it myself.
Turning
to our bankers, business people, ASAA and current supporters, Venezuelan oldboy
etc. for feedback.
Out of
ignorance, this is my primary simplistic idea:
>>>>>>A
small group of alumni (3-5) adopts a Venezuelan-brother-in-need
Once a
year each small group sends his adoptee USA$70 via CRYPTO
AASA
is currently assisting 12-15 oldboys
Benefits:
Saves
T&T$ 1000-1500 to cover the expenses for the person coming over from V to T
every 6 months to hand carry the USA $$ back to Venezuela
Eliminates
the possibility of the “carrier” being caught and hurt by the Venezuelan
National Guard…and the dollars “confiscated”
Takes
the pressure off the AASA
Provides
continuity for the future if/when no one from Venezuela is able to go over to T
Personal
connection between the 2 parties involved
Challenges:
Is it
worth the risk versus a potential loss of $70 to the alum and much less to the
team members making the contribution?
What
are any additional transactional costs incurred?
What
is needed? Accounts, etc.
Doing
something different versus the socio-economic changes that are taking place
daily in Venezuela.
All
the other stuff that can happen whenever we start doing different from
before…change
Those
that have the technical knowledge or are involved with crypto currency, please
share with us your expertise and thoughts about the viability of doing
this. If you know an expert, please also consider discussing it with a
knowledgeable person and provide your feedback and respective learning to us.
Thanks,
George
----------------------------------------------------------
Don and Maggie’s 2018 Christmas Photo-essay (without the photos)
This
year we took it easy, as I hope you did too. No cruises, no touring, no
lawyering, no teaching; just reading, writing and gardening. The
occasional “Letter to the Editor” and other activities favoured by those who have
time on their hands J The 18 bits of written evidence are here, but only
if you have time to spare: https://donmitchellcbeqc.blogspot.com
In
January, Don gave up his faithful Nokia as his main phone and relegated it to
be the “garden phone.” The Samsung that his friend Chinnix gave him for
Christmas fell out of his pocket several times and pieces kept breaking
off. He learned to keep it on his desk next to his computer, and to bring
it out only when there was an amusing sight to be photographed. He now
keeps the Nokia for important stuff like making phone calls. Chinnix
spent a lot of time teaching him how to use the darned thing.
We
continued to recover from Hurricane Irma. The early half of the year was
very dry, but starting in August it rained nearly every day. The island’s
vegetation has made a remarkable comeback, and the yard is once again blooming.
The
concrete benches on the pool patio (that Hurricane Irma tossed over the wall
onto the ground below in September of last year) have now been replaced.
The privacy wall of Mimosas has regrown with the summer and autumn rains, and
we are once again invisible from the main road.
In
January, we adopted Kathy’s dog Skye, a Belgian Malinois who hunts ground
lizards endlessly, digging up various valuable herbs and shrubs in the
process. She is the best barker we have among four alleged watchdogs who
occupy our yard.
As if
Skye was not damage enough, in April we welcomed to the yard a sort of mini-hurricane
in the form of a new puppy named Megaera, one of the furies, the goddess of
jealousy, born of the blood of Uranus when Cronos castrated him! She is
otherwise a sort of Rottweiler.
Maggie
continues to volunteer at WISE (Workshop Initiative Secondary Education) every
Monday and Thursday, and says she believes she is being useful to the
Principal, Gabby. Along with her aquarobic exercises on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays, she is trying to keep active and fit.
The
walking group of Ginny, Kathy, Viviane, Sally and Don continue to walk and to
exercise three times a week, which keeps Don in some sort of acceptable
shape. Ginny showed him how to take a selfie with his new Samsung on one
of the walks to Sile Bay:
In
June we hosted four of Professor Paul Farnsworth’s student archaeologists in
the guest shack for a second year. They were no problem at all, and I
hope they learned something useful digging about in Wallblake Estate’s main
house environs. Irma took off the roof and ripped down the old cut stone
walls of the outside kitchen building.
Stanley
Reid helped Don to make the Anguilla High School law textbooks compliant with the revised Syllabus. Stanley has taken over
the teaching course, and Don’s hope is that with a vibrant, young lecturer, the
Anguilla students will do even better than they did under his tutelage.
Jasmin Redhead helped with the new edition of the textbooks for Grenada, and the hope is that her students with these study aids will do
even better than they did in earlier years.
In
September Don’s brother Gordon visited from Trinidad and his sister Alix and
Brian visited from Canada. If we recall correctly, this was the first
time in over a decade that all four Mitchells were together in one island at
the same time.
In
November Don completed the Herculean task of pickaxing the entire back yard,
wheelbarrowing a mountain of dirt outside, and spreading four truckloads of
gravel in place of the dirt. The idea is that the wild Mimosas will have
nowhere to root the myriad of seeds that splatter down into the yard at the
slightest breeze. A monthly dose of Gramoxone spray will doubtless help
to keep the weeds in check.
In
December, Don finally finished his 2000 page magnum opus, “Mitchell’s
West Indian Bibliography” and sent it off. It is being published by
Emmanuel Publishers, who did his law textbooks. Hopefully, it will be on
Amazon early in the New Year. After all, it has only been 30 years in the
making. It will be the first edition on paper, but the twelfth
edition digitally (if he can find someone tore-published
digitally!).
And so
the year closes. Maggie’s brother Denis, wife Julie and son Alexander
arrive in a few days to spend time with us for Christmas. A few days
later, Don’s sister Alix and husband Brian with their Burlington, Ontario
neighbours Dan and Cheryl descend on Don’s brother Stephen’s home in Old Ta
just a couple of hundred yards away. There will hopefully be lots of
partying to usher the Old Year out!
With
best wishes for 2019 and beyond,
Don and Maggie
-------------------------------------------------------------
29-08-2017 Farias Gabriel: Facebook post from Abbot Pereira
Rev. Fr. Cuthbert van de Sande, OSB
18 August 1924 to 28
August 2017
(93 years of
age)
On 30
October 1945, the young Jan van de Sande (later to be known as Fr. Cuthbert)
made the firm decision to join the community of monks at Mount St. Benedict in
Trinidad. This was partly on the encouragement of Fr. Radboud van de
Plas. Fr. Radboud once lived as a Benedictine monk of the monastery in
Trinidad, and Jan met him at a crucial time while he was discerning a call to the
religious life. Almost two years later on 19 February 1947, along with
another young Dutchman, Peter Schreurs (later to be known as Fr. Augustine), he
landed on the shores of Trinidad and Tobago.
Jan
was born in Noordorp (province of Luid-Holland) on 18 August 1924. During
the time of Adolph Hitler and the German occupation of Holland, the Gestapo was
capturing young boys of school age to work in their factories in Germany.
Jan grew up on a farm, and would sometimes hide in the loft of the barn under
the hay to avoid being captured. There was an underground network which
informed the young men in his village when the Germans were coming. It
was very hard for Jan and his family during the war years. It was
difficult to obtain food, especially in the winter as there was no electricity
or oil. They only got a bit of a reprieve after the Germans were finally
defeated to bring the war to an end.
Jan
was a student at the Priests of the Sacred Heart Seminary in Bergen op Zoom
from 1937 until 1943, when his formation was interrupted by the Second World
War. All the students were sent to their homes. At home, Jan
received instructions from a private teacher who got milk and butter for his
services. Jan was strongly influenced by his farming family background.
He still had to receive instructions in Latin and Greek, which were
requirements for Ordination to the Priesthood. All this time, he was
trying as well to avoid being taken to Germany to work in the factories under
Hitler. The war came to an end in May and the same private teacher knew
about a course for Latin and Greek being given in the Hague, which he recommend
to Jan and which was being offered by the Jesuits, beginning in September 1945.
After
Jan began school, the Head of the Institute asked him what type of priestly
activity he was seeking. Jan replied that he wanted to go to the
Missions, but in a place where he would be able to spend a life of prayer and
community. The Head of the Institute suggested three options. One
option was to go to a place in the direction of Curacao, which immediately
appealed to Jan. After a week of prayer and reflection, Jan returned to
see the priest with his decision. The priest then told him to go to a
Village (Wassenaaar), where he could ask for an elderly missionary, who lived
there with his two sisters. The same evening, which was also the birthday
of his sister, Gre, he set off (much to her disappointment) for his meeting
with fate.
In the
Village, Jan was directed to the Priest who spoke to him in glowing terms of
his life as a monk in Trinidad at Mount St. Benedict. He had to return to
Holland after many years in Trinidad on account of his health (the glare of the
tropics was blinding him) and he always regretted not being able to return to
the Mount. He was Fr. Radboud wan de Plas and he had always hoped that
someone would take his place in that community. It was exactly at this
moment in his life that Jan decided there and then to join the monastery of
Mount St Benedict in Trinidad.
Fr
Cuthbert always considered that day at the true beginning of his monastic
vocation, and today, we can all say that after a life lived to the age of
ninety-three years, he has been faithful and has been able to persevere in the
joy of the monastic life.
------------------------------------------
EDITED by Ladislao
Kertesz, kertesz11@yahoo.com, if you would like to be in the
circular’s mailing list and receive the latest issue and contribute to the
Circular.
It is 52 USD per year.
--------------------------------------------
Photos:
18CJ0001CJAWFE, Csaba Jakobszen and wife
57CJ0003FOOTBALL, Csaba Jakobszen last football match
08CM0001CMAWFE, Carlos Maneriro and wife
65LK4108FBRGAWFE, Richard Galt marriage
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