Malique led the Trip to the Volcano

                     Malique in the front right Leader of the trip Souffriere Volcano in St. VIncent 

Malique was a gift to me that helped me to put my life into prospective. I wanted to do my best to help this child build character, one of the things I did ever since Malique was a very little child, was to take him hiking. Maria: Malique's mother and I will take him hiking on the national many hiking trail; even though we had to carry him most of the way. This was so because he was too young to walk the entire trail. 

At a very early age he was given the opportunity to interact with nature, he was allowed to play in the many inland body of crystal clear waters, that flow freely from the lush green hills and mountain. These bodies seems like they are streams of magic, that gives live, and they actually gives life, to the beautiful forest that covers the beautiful mountain side as well as to sustains the life of the hundreds of animals that call that the forest home. 

It was the summer of 2015; I return to SVG from Bermuda, I had

friends who returned with me, one of the trips that were planned was a trip up St. Vincent and the Grenadines Volcano: the La Soufriere Volcano.The la Soufriere Volcano is an active volcano that had its last major volcanic eruption which began on April 5th 1979, where the volcano covered the entire island with volcanic ashes, millions of dollars of agriculture product were destroyed, and millions of dollars in property damage resulted.

Thousands of people were displaced; as there were the mass evacuation of the residence from the rural areas that were close to the volcano. For months the life of the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines were interrupted. The lava flow only affected the villages that were closes to the volcano; but the volcanic ash, disrupted the life of people as far south as  Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago; as well as, Island such as St. Lucia and Barbados also experience ash fall.

Today the volcano is still active, there is the ever present smell of burning sulfur that emanated from the volcano, very presence of smoke proceeds from the creator and the constantly burning rocks can be seen whilst you are within the creator of the valcano. It is a spectacular sight to be seen. This trip will not be completed until all of the members of the hiking party make it to the top, and with the aid of popes climb into the creator and get a close up view of the burning rocks and collect some ash from the floor of the creator.

Malique was about six years old, however he had climbed to the summit and into the creator of the La Soufriere Volcano about two previous times; Whiles at the base of the volcano, Malique, took

the lead and I allowed him to lead the party up the mountain. I was not sure that Malique remembered the correct rout up the mountain that will lead to the volcano; however, he stepped up to the plate and I was not going to deny him the opportunity to lead.  Life is about trial and error, and in my opinion the best place for him to make an error is in my presents. There I can offer him the needed corrects and allow him to continue along the trail.

The hiking arrangement was Malique in the lead, our guess followed; Garvin Philips and I bring up the rear of the party. I

always bring up the rear of any party I am leading on an expedition. I learn this on one of my earlier hikes; this gives weak hikers and stragglers the assurance that they will not and are not being left behind. It gives the people who will normally quit the will to persevere and complete the hike no matter how difficult the hike may be.  It also gives me the opportunity to render help where it is needed to those who need it most. If there is a problem in the lead, I can always make my way to the front of the pack and deal with whatever is wrong.  

The trip to the top of the Volcano was a total uphill journey; and it takes a fit, enthusiastic hiker about two and a half hour to make it to the summit of the Mountain of the Volcano; however for the average person, it may take up to four hours or more. There are several rest areas along the trail. Malique had used good judgment in choosing which of the rest area the party will use to refresh and recuperate.

At one point along the route, the party came to an unexpected stop; I made my way to the front of the pack to see what was wrong. It was then Malique said to me, Daddy, you know I don’t like frogs; there is a big frog in the middle of the trail. I looked and there was a large mountain frog laying a claim to the trail that was a part of his home. I informed Malique, this place is his home and we are intruding in his home, however; the frog is going about his business and we have to go about our business. It was then Malique made his way around the frog and continued with the hiking expedition. That was the day Malique overcame his fear of frog. We then made it to the top of the La Soufriere Volcano and into the creator. It was a wonderful adventure.