WAIT Initiation Trip
Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago, West Indies
March 5th-24th, 2007

Week Three: Trinidad – Save the Nation

Written by Gregg Jones, former leader of WAIT team in Bridgeport, CT, now living in Baltimore, MD

If I were asked to sum up my experience to Trinidad in one word, I would have to say “grateful”. The trip helped me see myself in relationship to the mission of rebuilding the culture of a nation, to save a nation. Upon arriving, my daughter Esther and I were greeted at the airport by two young adults and Sterling and Marcia Belgrove, directors of the sponsoring organization, the ROSE (Realization of Selfless Expression) Foundation. The Belgrove’s have developed their youth service organization to serve the entire nation, which is about the size of the city of Anchorage. 

The members of the WAIT team included Lan Tsubata, Cathlene Bell, Triton Marks, Mike Ferrete and newest member Esther Jones.  Our host couple is well-respected at the highest levels of the government.  Their foundation is well-respected and trusted throughout the country, from the suites to the streets. After being exposed to the WAIT program at a recent conference they immediately recognized the value of WAIT for their nation. Realizing the team would be training in the nearby island of Grenada, the Belgrove’s jumped on the opportunity to have the team come to Trinidad, and set up a schedule with one week's notice.

We soon realized that our hosts are not running a fly-by-night operation.  The first days after arriving, I found myself speaking about WAIT on national TV and radio.  The WAIT members are real champions. They did not miss a beat as they performed and spoke on live radio and TV.  They are developing many valuable skills to build a new culture.  By the end of the week the nation had heard about WAIT, we had found a school to adopt WAIT as a youth program, we had trained 8 different youth organization leaders and had performed and met key civic and social service directors on the national level. The soil of Trinidad has been tilled and seeds have sown.  WAIT USA will return later this summer to nurture the new seedlings. 

I am grateful to have met the Belgrove couple.  They have a real and sincere desire to save their nation. They were truly thinking how to save their nation. I am grateful that I could gain perspective once again on the value of the WAIT team message and culture in terms of saving the nation, especially in the context of a small nation outside of America.  I am grateful that I could see the value of America as a leading nation, and myself as an elder son, reaching out and caring for others.  I am grateful that my daughter could join the WAIT team on this trip and see the value of what she can do has to offer to others, and how we do have tools to serve others even on a national level.  I am grateful that I could come back to America with a renewed determination to save our nation.

Of course, we all face many challenges to keep our heart and faith to the desire to save America.  I am the first to admit that I can see my first passion and enthusiasm sometimes wavers.  There are many concerns that can limit my mind and passion to bend towards other concerns.  The needs of my family are often overwhelming.  I realize that although I need to continue developing my financial foundation, my skills, my care and concern for my wife and children;  most of all need to keep my faith and vision to where I am called to go – I need to keep strategizing, keep moving with the right mind, right heart and right action.

Finally I am grateful to WAIT. WAIT is a path that is being used to save the nation.  WAIT helps young people develop character and skills by standing for values connected to true identity. WAIT helps develop a purposeful “others-centered” family culture by bringing parents and youth together to serve and address social needs. WAIT is a springboard to save the nation by establishing an active, supportive, protective community to save oneself and to build true families, thereby fulfilling our mission to stop HIV/AIDS!