Selma Flood calls her ability to restore religious statues "a total gift from God, it is quite amazing what turns out, I know it is certainly a gift."
In 1993, Flood, owner of the Chocolate House, suffered a heart attack. At the time, her doctor said there was no way she could continue. "I asked the Lord to just give me something I could do for him at home. Sister Rosa Pantin suggested why don't you do statues and called me to do one for her. I had always loved painting but was never formally trained and was fully occupied in Chocolate House." Sister Rosa recommended Flood to others, and one of her first customers, Father Llanos, arrived with a car load of statues.
Early last year, Flood got a request from Vena Carrington of the Rivas family to go out to the La Divina Chapel at Lopinot and remove the large statue of La Divina Pastora, the Divine Shepherdess, for restoration. "She was battered and in very bad condition" says Flood "the whole base had come down. It is said the Spanish Capuchin Monks brought the statue to Trinidad over 200 years ago, and as she was made of clay and not plaster of paris, you could see she is very old."
Two men could not lift the statue into Flood's vehicle "she must have been about 200 pounds. We called a man working in the hills who happened to belong to another church and he wanted to know why are we worrying with this thing, she is dead and you do not worship dead things. But he was still helping us and almost lifted it by himself. We had to get up on top of the altar to get her, but you could see from the beginning her beautiful features in spite of being battered. Parts of her hand were broken but she is spinning wool which is what the divine shepherdess is all about, with the little lamb at her feet." "I did not know what it was that was different about this statue. When I entered the room in my home where she was placed, I felt a presence" says Flood.
The actual repairs took three months, starting from the base and using cement, polyfiller, plaster of paris and a special glue which came all the way from Toronto. Then Flood painted her. It was then that she could see how beautiful and unusual she was "I had never seen one like this before."
When I myself saw the statue, I was amazed at its lifelike size.