The Tribune

By Dr Kenneth D Kemp

FROM the sixth to the 16th century, the Roman Catholic church was by far the most dominant religion in Great Britain. During the reformation period, King Henry VIII grew increasingly annoyed that the Catholic church refused to annul his first marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon when she proved unable to bear him a male heir. To the king’s unmuted displeasure, The Pope wouldn’t sanction his request so, despite repeated warnings to the contrary, the now furious king worked tirelessly to strip authority from The Pope. Finally successful, he officially made The Church of England the state church in 1534 and named himself as monarch, its de facto Supreme Governor. Soon enough, The Anglican faith grew and anyone practising any other religion was severely persecuted.

With no further religious impedance to his requests, King Henry VIII was married six times. But he was not the only person who advocated for the demise of the Roman Catholic Church. His support, in large part, came from Protestants (so named because of their constant protests against Catholicism throughout Europe). From there, a stricter subset of Protestants known as Puritans quickly emerged. They sought to purify the Church of England and these somewhat strict and even joyless believers believed that the faithful should wear black, work hard and study the Bible as their only form of entertainment.

Looking for a place to practice their religion freely, a group of Puritans sailed to Eleuthera in The Bahamas in the mid-1600s. Travelling with them were a group of slaves to help farm the land for sustenance, formulate trade with America and build their community. The settlement of these Puritan slaves, and the lineage of one slave in particular, is where today’s report truly begins.

Life was initially quite hard for the Puritans, and particularly their slaves, but they were free to worship without fear of retaliation. On the island, far from judgement and castigation, they were also free to experience joy and love as they chose. In time, one of the Puritans fell in love with and impregnated one of his slaves. Their child bore another and centuries later in 1930, one of their descendants, hereafter referred to as Robin, was about to give birth and expand their bloodline. Robin’s labour was difficult and as her legs trembled in agony, the sweat dripped off the peak of her brow and into her already reddened eyes.

By the end, exhausted and near breathless, she delivered twins. Both were declared stillborn by the attending midwife who somberly pronounced their fate with the compassion of someone who intimately understood the profound loss. Robin’s husband was a carpenter so he took wood from their shed and built two small coffins, crying and gently placing the still-warm bodies of his two children inside.

Miraculously, before he had a chance to cover the coffins and dig their graves, Robin’s mother told the midwife that she saw one of the twins move. The midwife was adamant that both babies were dead but, with both mother and grandmother now pleading for her to check once more, she shook and spanked the newborns but they remained unresponsive. Then, she took a pipe of tobacco and blew smoke in their face. One never moved but the other squinted. The midwife, completely shocked, removed her from the coffin and carefully placed her in her grandmother’s arms.

The surviving twin is now 93 years old with no medical problems or physical abnormalities. Over the years, she had twelve children, four now deceased. One of her sons, hereafter referred to as Peter, is my patient. A direct descendant of the Puritan adventurers, he grew up in a bare-to-the-bones household. His family had no indoor plumbing, no electricity, television, radio or phone. He and his siblings wore second-hand clothes and used ‘wompers’, a type of sandal made from tyres, to protect their feet. Through the week they went to school and church and on the weekends, they rode horses, went fishing and shot marbles for fun.

When he was six years old, Peter was knocked down by a car crossing a one-way street. The abrupt blow sent his tiny body flying and as the assailant fled the scene, his mother screamed for help. Peter laid lifeless; his motionless body now several feet away from the accident site. His mother picked him up and ran towards the clinic. Halfway there, a bystander stopped and gave them a ride. Fortunately, Peter only suffered a concussion and a broken collar bone. Six decades later, the anatomical site of his childhood trauma continues to yield discomfort with direct pressure and range of motion.

Having nearly died while young and growing up loved but sheltered, Peter was hungry to see what the world had to offer. Insatiably curious, Peter left Eleuthera at the age of 32 and has travelled extensively, living in Canada, India, Japan, Thailand and Indonesia. He studied Hebrew and various religions, first learning of the Anglican faith and the circumstances that drove his ancestors across the continent. He practised Yoga and for a while he sold silks, incense and lava molds before moving back to Eleuthera and getting involved in construction. Apart from a hernia and prostate disease, discovered while he was vacationing in Morocco, Peter has enjoyed great health.

One day earlier this year, he was particularly busy and distracted by the multiple projects in his portfolio. Driving from a construction site, he stopped at a nearby restaurant but didn’t put his transmission shift sufficiently in park. Peter exited the vehicle and took a few steps but abruptly turned when the truck moved. He quickly flung into action, afraid that it would slide downhill and kill passengers dining at a nearby eatery, vividly recalling the four women killed by a runaway truck in Nassau in the 2021 Labour Day parade. Without thought, he ran to the back of the truck and tried to push it with all his might but he lost his grip and the truck dragged his body, ultimately slamming him into a golf cart before coming to a complete stop.

The force shattered Peter’s right lower leg and the pain was instantly explosive. The area vibrated furiously and it was impossible to weight bear directly on the limb without intensifying his suffering. Bystanders helped him into a vehicle and drove him to the same clinic that assisted him when he was six years old. From there, he was airlifted to Nassau. On the way, he, the son of a woman initially declared dead at birth, thought of how fortunate he was to be alive having now survived not one but two near-fatal vehicular accidents. X-ray results were ultimately significant for multiple distal leg fractures, but the fragments were well aligned and no surgical intervention was required.

In a moment of self-reflection, Peter shares with readers that throughout his life, he’s learned the power of understanding and appreciating one’s purpose. Purpose, he continues, is the measure and preserver of life and the key to fulfillment for yourself and the community as a whole. On a daily basis, he does his absolute best to live a life that his ancestors, his parents and his five children can be proud of. He encourages others to do the same and to look after their neighbours like they once did years ago when they had no running water, telephone or electricity.

While reflecting on the events that led up to that day, he might have looked a little further and turned back the page of history to nearly 400 years ago when in 1647, a group of Puritans sought refuge in The Bahamas seeking freedom of religion. These early Puritan settlers quickly became known as The Eleutheran Adventurers. With Columbus gone and the Arawak population now decimated by slave labour and smallpox, the islands were relatively uninhabited. This new colony was to be governed by the articles and orders of 1647 wherein the first 100 settlers would form a senate responsible for selecting a governor and 12 councilors. From there, they would form a constitution enforcing a triangular set of values underneath the Bahamian sun that lighted their new home. These values encompassed freedom of religion and opinion, three hundred acres of land per settler and humane treatment of the island’s few indigenous people.

Today, these Puritan settlers would be pleased to know that their efforts were not in vain. What they would be even more pleased about is that, a far cry from the undeveloped island they landed upon, Eleuthera is thriving and Christian values still govern the people. Such values very likely persist because of the triangular tenets of life (religion, land and brotherhood) previously espoused by them centuries ago with only the light of the sun to guide their days. I suspect that Peter’s ancestors would also find great comfort in knowing that religion is freely practised in both Great Britain and The Bahamas and citizens searching for a better life even now, to this day, move between the two countries with equal measure. They’ll admire that their descendant Peter connectedly shares their love of travel and adventure and is still building the island they once called home while spreading his religious teachings and loving his neighbours, lending unyielding legitimacy to the axiom that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

This is The KDK Report.

• Nicknamed ‘The Prince of Podiatry’, Dr Kenneth D Kemp is the founder and medical director of Bahamas Foot and Ankle located in Caves Village, Western New Providence. He served as the deputy chairman for the Health Council for five years and he currently sits on the board of directors for the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in his role as co-vice-chairman