Immigration in the TCI

Today there was an huge check of immigration papers. A boat escaping Haiti landed on Grand Turk some time in the night. This morning at the Museum we were greeted with stories from some of the staff of being woken up at 5am by immigration officers asking to see papers. Someone else had their door broken in while they were at work.

In an ironic twist one of our staff members had an appointment at the Governor's office a few hours later to pick up her naturalization papers.

Later in the day concerned workers asked to use the computers to send emails. The hospital on Grand Turk has recently changed from Government-run administration to a Canadian company. The paperwork converting the employee Visas to the new company haven't been completed yet. I edited one email to add a bit so the Provo office would know that this was not a normal request and paying attention to it might become very important in the near future.

There was a strange contrast in providing an engaging experience for the tourists at the front of the museum and dealing with the real-life worries of the island's residence in the back. Everyone we know is here legally so the worst the day brought was a feeling of harassment. That's a blog for another day though, so let's end with a brighter note:

The last tour of the day was later in the afternoon so Tuvol was around to help out. I was in the back office dealing with other things and he came bounding back to tell me that he sold 4 coffees, 6 postcards, and a mural mug. In a week when sales off the ships have dropped, this was very good news. Earlier in the day he helped me placate a pouting child while I helped her older sister with homework. She just wanted attention and since I couldn't be two places at once Tuvol stepped in nicely and showed her the Where is Simon, Sandy? book and showed her how to facebook. She was a much happier child then, and Tuvol got to exercise his big brother tendencies, which I think he enjoys.

There will be plenty of time for that tomorrow. We are learning about the Bio Rock down at the cruise center with the Museum's Children Club. I'm looking forward to a fun day of swimming, oohing over fish, and instilling an appreciation and understanding of reef conservation.