The Rada Bank

There is a report of two men stealing money from a Rada community chest in 1874.  An article appeared 2 years later in the Trinidad Chronicle when one of the convicted men, Cocombre, escaped from a prison work gang.  According to the Trinidad Chronicle, the Radas contributed small payments to the community chest to fund sickness and burials. After the robbery the community still didn’t trust a savings account in the public treasury but started to bury the chest and changed the location frequently.  This illustrates that it was more than rituals, but a real caring community.