A tiny island in the Eastern Caribbean rises from the sea with its long dormant volcano figuring prominently in its center. Some ten thousand souls of African descent inhabit this once unspoiled land of sun and sea. These children of the Diaspora have survived the Middle Passage and three centuries of harsh slavery as they worked the cane fields and cared for the master's every need. They have survived more than a hundred additional years of colonial rule during which they were free only to be poor. They have survived earthquakes and hurricanes and man-made disasters, the most important of which was the sinking of the ferry boat, the MV Christena. This is the story of a survivor, a story unique in its detail and universal in its demonstration of the resilience of the human spirit. This is the story of Oswald Tyson.