In a way, it’s as if my partner Renee and I had stumbled into staying at a mini-version of Wilmington’s Wildlife Refuge because the Whiteface Lodge wasn’t available. While we didn’t get the exquisite choice of breakfasts served by the Lodge’s talented chefs, we did get fresh eggs that we could prepare anyway we liked them from our Pineapple Cottage host Denis Belanger’s array of chickens.

The Pineapple Cottage, located in an emerging animal rescue sanctuary, offered a different experience than the world-famous Providenciales Grace Bay Beach with its near-constant sunny weather, snorkeling and other amenities attract thousands of visitors annually. The Pineapple Cottage’s allure, the core value that makes it unique, is rooted in the spirit of Junkanoo, an ongoing celebration of renewal and rebirth.

In a way, it’s like the freshly laid eggs we received mornings at the Cottage; they didn’t come with the room’s price; receiving such a gracious gift is often the result of an exchange. There are benefits of developing positive relationships, be it with the person who offers you a place to stay or between musicians and their audience; outcomes can be better than expected when our shared desires create positive experiences for all.

Junkanoo is a Bahamian celebration of the end of slavery created by those enslaved; primarily Black people imported in bondage from West Africa and the indigenous people of the Caribbean islands. Some trace the word Junkanoo to the formerly enslaved John Canoe. Kitchener Penn, the founder of the Junkanoo Museum in Turks and Caicos and leader of the We Funk Junkanoo Band, said it’s both that and a description of how the impoverished enslaved people, like Canoe, created their instruments and colorful costumes through reusing and repurposing trash, making junk new.

Slavery officially ended on Aug. 1, 1838, in the British Caribbean. Yet, it did not entirely go away as Jim Crow-like indentured labor laws immediately followed, lasting well into the 20th Century. Thus Junkanoo, as a celebration of slavery’s end, truly came into being with the abolishment of indentured labor.

“Back in the 1800s, there wasn’t much stuff for costuming or musical instruments, so whatever you could put your hand on that could help create a costume was used, junk made new,” said Kitchener Penn. “Torn strips of newspaper, brown paper, or colored tissue papers were glued together to create shirts or skirts. The coconut palms and leaves were stripped and plaited together to create hats. The goat’s skin was soaked, stretched, cleaned, and attached to the end of buckets or cans to create drums; Conch shells were turned into horns. The philosophy was to recycle, reuse, and reinvent.”

As the necessities of life are, for the most part, costly on islands as everything has to be shipped in, the spirit of recycling, repurposing one person’s trash, and giving it new life is a way of life on the islands. Denis Belanger used that same Junkanoo aesthetic to create his animal sanctuary. The walkways are made from shipping palettes, the fencing from the pruning of trees, and the lining of pools from found plastic sheeting. Whether it’s the stone for walls or the materials for the feeders — everything has been given new life.

No lives have been more transformed than the growing array of animals that live there; from wounded castoffs, they have become beloved and valued part of an interdependent community. Even more exciting, they are now becoming teachers for visiting children and their parents, with an even brighter future ahead.

Belanger grew up in Montreal. Though he tried following his father into the world of finance, his heart was never into it; his love was gardening which he came by through helping his mother, an avid gardener who also loved the arts. Belanger first came to Turks in Caicos in 1997 on vacation, then working professionally as a landscape project manager for Canadian architectural firms. Something about the island grabbed his heart. Belanger returned on vacation a couple more times and, around 2003, was hired to implement the landscaping for a large house being built on the island. After, he went home, returned, and never left.

“Designing a landscape is one thing, implementing is another as you have to think long and short term as some plants take a while settle in and flourish,” said Belanger. “The tropical plants attracted me, to be sure, the scenery is breathtaking, you don’t get tired of the ocean, but it has challenges. It’s not a lush landscape. It has terrible soil, very little rain, and very salty air. You have to be able to deal with all those things.”

As Belanger’s artistic talents and ability to meet those challenges by creating welcoming environments are held in high regard across the islands, in no small way, he has used those same abilities to create a home for animals that have been abandoned or damaged. He takes a short and long view with them, resulting in a happy community of animal life in and about his home.

“Since I was very young, I always brought animals home,” said Belanger. “With the pandemic, everyone had to stay at home for six to eight weeks. I thought it would be nice to have some chickens so I could have fresh eggs. But before that, a lady brought me two Squirrel Monkeys and asked me to take care of them for a couple of weeks. I said yes, I’d love to. I read up on how to take care of them. Two weeks turned into three, then 10, and then she stopped answering my letters.”

Since then, a pair of peacocks on long-term loan, a chicken with a damaged leg, and then more chickens from various places and breeds, non-native turtles that people have brought as pets and, after tired of them, released into the wild. In addition, couple of roosters arrived, a duck who fell in love with him, to name but a few; he number and variety expanding as has Belanger’s long-term vision.

Belanger is also a weekly columnist for the local newspaper, advising on all aspects of landscaping, gardening, and plant care. He has learned that it’s hard to get people to be more sensitive about the environment, local trees, and plants to “savor the value of a tree” when they are willing to destroy so many to build a house. Kids, though, are another matter, and they get it.

“I have the land, the space, so I want to not only expand the rescue center but have it become a learning center for kids,” said Belanger.

His vision is to increase the variety of animals to include reptiles and insects; to create a place where kids can learn about native foliage that includes poisonous trees like coral sumac and Manchineel, cause rashes. Yet, they too have an essential role in the web of island life, as do termites. Belanger’s vision is like combining the Wild Center and the Wild Life Rescue center into one on a small scale with a focus on educating kids.

“In real life, there is nothing bad,” said Belanger. “There are no weeds in nature; all plants have a purpose, as do all animals and insects. They all have a reason. Our opportunity is to listen and learn about their benefits. Yes, I want to create a learning center for kids, but more importantly, as a place they can learn how to help create a better future. Kids will apply what they learn; they are open to learning the value of nature.”

By staying at the Pineapple Cottage just off the southeastern Long Bay Beach, we landed in the middle of this marvelous birthing of the new and were serenaded by a Junkanoo band that came to welcome a neighbor on my last night. It gave me hope for the future. I’d love to see the Pineapple Cottage partner with like-minded institutions in our region, as both places have such a diversity of life to protect and visiting to inspire.