Back in the 1950s, Ugly Willy and Patrick Kaka used to throw sh.t for Sparrow Winston and others. Sparrow lived in that in that big grey house at the corner of Cork Street and Queen Mary Street- it used to be the Jean Rhys house. Sparrow was a Dominican – one of those upper-class ones.

Ugly Willy used to throw sh.t too, but the story I know is about Patrick Kaka.

In those days the town board used to supply large, round, heavy galvanised pans with handles. Pan Kaka! I remember now!

So Patrick usually had to go to the upper-class people’s houses, lift this pan onto his head and walk from Cork Street to the river bank, dispose of the contents, wash the pan and return it.

One day, he lifted the pan and hoisted it onto his head. Immediately, the bottom of the pan caved in and poor Patrick was washed from head to toe with the mess.

And that is the tale of how Patrick Kaka got his name.

There were quite a few characters in Roseau in those days :

Females: Hillsborough and Monica Wum

Atta: he used to make grills from metal. He would buy the wire and make grills for coal pots. People used to use that to rechauffé food and roast Karang fish.

There was Brown White Louse. His surname was Brown. He was a light-skinned man who used to dress in a sailor suit.

My husband knew all these people as he grew up in Roseau. He and other schoolboys used to trouble them for fun.

GD born 1934

Age 90

October 2024