The story of Ma William may seem somewhat strange to some readers, but many of us in the village of St. Joseph, and Dominica at large, are familiar with a “Ma William” the shopkeeper, whose business place was somewhat of a hub before the advent of television.
For many who wanted a place to spend the night, forget the troubles of the day for a while, Ma William’s shop provided that solace. Ma William was seen as a “matriarch,” sort of, in the village. She was godmother, banker, peace maker, and lender; she was popular and I daresay well loved, too.
What I have tried to do in “Ma William and Her Circle of Friends,” is tackle some of the social issues that pervaded our community and island, when I was a young man growing up in St. Joseph. The characters in the story are all fictitious, but ask anyone from St. Joseph and I guess, any part of Dominica, and maybe other Caribbean islands, to name someone (a character) whom they could identify with in the book, and I am sure there would be no shortage of names.
Many have tried to identify Ma William, but have not been able to do so, because Ma William is not just one person. She is an “iconic” person who, together with a cast of characters, relates the issues that we were faced with in Dominica during that time:
• politics, in all its forms and shapes and its deceitfulness
• religion and the arrival of evangelists to our shores
• the slow decline of the banana industry
• the dissenting voices that were heard when local students were granted scholarships to study in Cuba —Cuba, of all places, many thought
• our infatuation with obeah and sorcery – the moth flying into the house and landing on a photo frame
• Ma Simbert having dreams of people doing weird things at the front of Ma William’s shop
• activity surrounding the preparation for Ma William’s mother’s funeral
• the drunken friends and the food and drink at the event, and finally
• carnival—a staple of our cultural heritage, a time many years ago when the free slaves were able to celebrate and take the liberty to mock their masters in song and dance
So what has happened to Ma William and Bamboo and Paul and Ma Simbert and all the other characters mentioned in the book? Have they disappeared from view because of their own doing or have we pushed them into the background? Has that form of life that they were accustomed to disappeared, or have we allowed the outside influences to engulf us and make us believe that what they’ve brainwashed us with, have made us a better people?
I have tried to recreate a past and paint a picture of my community and island. I will take the liberty to do so with my pen and allow you, the reader, to view that painting and imagine what happened just a few short years ago or maybe reminisce on what you saw growing up like I did.
What do you think? Is Ma William a mere fabrication of our culture? A myth? A dream that the Author had? Is it a way of life that could be brought back or was it just another building block in Dominica’s and perhaps the Caribbean’s history? You tell me.
By Giftus R John
Author
www.giftus.wordpress.com
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