Black Immigrant Daily News

When it comes to friendships, you are always going to be closer to some people than others. While many friends may fall into the “casual acquaintance” category, a special few sit comfortably within your inner circle of ride-or-die besties.

There are plenty of unique qualities that set a truly good friend apart, but chances are, you’ve never taken a moment to sit and think about what those traits are exactly.

So, this begs the question: How does someone make the cut, so to speak, and become one of your closest friends?

Let’s take a look at 10 of the best friendship traits you can look out for or share with someone you already know.

They’re trustworthy

Every relationship needs trust as a core quality, and friendships are no exception. Our friends should offer us caring, honest feedback, even when it might hurt. This creates a safe environment for everyone to discover themselves and grow.

They’re supportive

Supportive friends are a lifeline! Good friends offer us various kinds of support, such as emotional support when we’re feeling insecure and information support when we need to know how to handle problems or deal with ambiguities. This in turn gives us the reinforcement and encouragement we need to face life’s many demands.

They accept you as you are

You’re probably comfortable around your good friends because you can be yourself around them. A good friend is someone who will unconditionally accept you as you are, but will never be afraid to tell you the unpleasant truth of a situation or your behaviour.

They actively listen

While any friend may listen to what you have to say, a great friend actively listens and engages with you.

They show up during tough times

While it’s easy to be there for somebody during good times, it’s even more amazing to be there for them during the not-so-good periods of life. They help clean up after the party, come to your parent’s funeral, and pick you up from that doctor’s appointment you’ve been dreading. All the fun memories are easy to make, but these critical times are the true test of a friendship.

They have your best interest in mind

Sometimes, you may feel as though your good friends know you better than you know yourself. They root for you even when you aren’t feeling like your own biggest fan. Good friends will continually build you up, remind you how great you really are, and support you as you learn and grow throughout your life.

They’re loyal

You know that friend who drops everything to help you out? That’s the definition of a good friend. Loyal friends lighten our load and help shoulder the inevitable hurdles, stresses, and crises life throws at us.

They respect your differences

While it’s important to share interests, even best friends don’t have everything in common. The fact that friends aren’t exact clones of each other is what makes platonic relationships so fun and worthwhile. A good friend will understand this and respect the differences between you two.

They celebrate with you

When your bestie wins, it feels like you win, too. Not only should a good friend be supportive, but they should also be able to celebrate you and your successes in life.

They’re forgiving

In friendships (and in life) nobody’s perfect, and a good friend recognizes that. Friends recognize that people make mistakes and they also realize that people are different and even good friends don’t always agree or think the same about every issue.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Health and Wellness Minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, says the nation’s declining birth rate could have an adverse impact on the development of various sectors of the country, including its labour force and overall competitiveness.

Tufton made the declaration while speaking at Mandeville Regional Hospital’s baby-friendly accreditation ceremony in Manchester on Friday.

In expressing concern about a decline in Jamaica’s birth rate, the minister revealed that on average, each Jamaican mother is having less than two children, which he said is too low.

“The ideal number (of births per mother) should be just about two or a little over two. Now, what does that mean in its practical sense? It means that we have a population that is currently almost net neutral and on the verge of declining,” Tufton said.

“When you take net migration and the birth rate, it means that Jamaica has a population of approximately three million.

“Over time, at this rate of birth and live births and healthy births, (Jamaica) will see a decline, potentially, of its population,” he posited.

The minister pointed to statistics that indicated that last year, the country “had just over 30,000 births, with a neonatal mortality of 15 per cent.”

He said the country is “losing too many of our babies”, and noted that the benchmark standard relative to neonatal mortality should be 10 to 12 per cent.

According to him, this scenario and the low birth rate will have significant “socio-economic implications”.

“It means that it will affect our labour force, our competitiveness, and frankly speaking, it will undermine, as a society, our capacity to realise our full potential,” stated Tufton.

Meanwhile, he said the baby-friendly accreditation is part of the menu of options for reducing the neonatal mortality rate in the country, “because we are incentivising the efficient approach to infant, free and postnatal care.”

Concerning the strategies needed to increase the birth rate locally, the minister said while he was not advocating for “everybody go out there guh get pregnant,” the country’s birth rate needs to get back on track.

He said community outreach programmes would be among the efforts to increase the number of births locally.

“We need that kind of prompting in order to get back on track, so that those who choose to have children do so in a manner that is safe for themselves and safe for the child and, indeed, those who don’t (want to have children) perhaps could be encouraged to consider it if they understand the benefits of childrearing,” said Tufton.

In the future, a policy to treat sexual and reproductive health in the country is also to be looked at to bolster efforts to encourage more births locally, the minister disclosed.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Agriculture and Fisheries Minister, Pearnel Charles Jr, says he and his team are leading the charge to change the face and mindset of agriculture in Jamaica.

In addressing patrons at the first day of the annual Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show now back in Clarendon after a two-year hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, Charles Jr said the focus is to take farming to higher levels of strategy and efficiency that will inspire more youth into the profession and make it worth their while there.

The minister who cited that for more than two years the overall farming and fisheries community has been battling the combined scourge of “climate (change), COVID and criminals”, said the way out is to be smarter in planning and implementing solutions to overcome whatever challenges come.

He pointed to the resurgent Denbigh Show – the 68th edition – as proof that amid intense adversities, the farming community, including with the support and guidance of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), organisers of the show, has the capacity to overcome huge odds.

“The JAS may be old, but it certainly not cold, having rebounded with a show that is poised to be bigger and better than ever,” declared the minister.

He commended farmers and fisher folks for fighting through the challenges, and said the overall results of their efforts have been coming through, with significantly increased production and output in many areas of the sector.

Now he said the value-added chain has to be the order of the day in farming, with wastage to become the exception, rather than the norm.

Charles Jr also supported a call from his Opposition counterpart, People’s National Party (PNP) Shadow Spokesman Lothian Cousins, for more structured and substantial funding of the JAS by the Government going forward, but indicated that the longstanding farmers’ organisation also needs to dig deeper in its own efforts to foster and sustain its independence.

The minister said a new era has emerge in the local agricultural sector, with growing smart being at the heart of the focus. He said much more technology and smarter thinking are being brought on board farm operations, and said the figures are now speaking for themselves in terms of production and exportation levels across the sector.

He said as a consequence, he is fortunate to be not relying on promises to entreat young people into agriculture, but instead, the realities of how smart farming is and will continue to be a successful economic avenue for many Jamaicans.

He also cited an average 18 per cent reduction in fertiliser prices that was achieved by his team in the face of sharply increased price levels as a result of global trade and geopolitical issues. He said realising the cost reduction for the critical farm input came from smart and purposeful application and a spirit of national cooperation in dialogue with the distributors.

More details are to come on some of the new technologies that are presently being implemented in agriculture locally.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

PHILIPSBURG — Member of Parliament Raeyhon Peterson (Party for Progress, PFP) made mince meat of the accusations Minister Egbert Jurendy Doran (of Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure, VROMI) made against him a week ago during an interview with Lady Grace in the radio broadcast The Breakfast Lounge.

Minister Doran suggested that Peterson, in his function as acting head of Domain Affairs had been “instrumental” in giving a positive advice about Alegria’s request for the right of long lease to a water parcel near its Morgan Resort. Peterson said that, when he was removed from his position at Domain Affairs on October 11, 2019, the advice about Alegria’s request was still negative and that it only later turned into a positive advice.

Peterson also pointed out that the minutes of a meeting with Alegria are “a one-sided document” drawn up by Alegria and that these minutes have never been ratified by the minister of VROMI.

Chris Wever was chief of staff in the cabinet of VROMI-minister Miklos Giterson and he sent, on behalf of this minister, a letter to Alegria saying that there were no objections against granting the right of long lease.

Peterson said that during the meeting with Alegria the size of the parcel was discussed and also the pricing. While the so-called minutes from Alegria bluntly state that Peterson was “instrumental” in the discussions about the pricing, Peterson said that pricing for rights of long lease is established in a table that indicates these prices per area.

Peterson pointed out that Alegria used the minutes from this meeting in the court case they brought against the government. “They lost the case.”

When Giterson was asked to resign as a minister he was succeeded by his chief of staff Chris Wever. “Shortly thereafter, I was removed from my position as acting head of Domain Affairs. After that I have not been at the ministry. I became a politician,” Peterson said.

He recalled that op February 21, 2020, the latest advice about Alegria’s request for the right of long lease was still negative. “I left Domain Affairs on October 11, 2019, so I do not understand how my role of being instrumental came about,” Peterson said, adding that a week later, on February 28, there was suddenly a positive advice.

“Minister Doran is creating a smokescreen by suggesting to the people of St. Maarten that I was an active participant in this and that I somehow made a deal with Alegria. But I never receive any money from that company.”

When the PFP-faction discovered the existence of the positive advice, they posed questions about it to minister Doran. This resulted in a meeting on July 15, 2020.  “As a faction, we were a little hesitant when we decided to accept that meeting,” Peterson said. He admitted that he had recorded the meeting without the minister’s knowledge but explained that this is not required. Participants in a meeting are free to make recordings.

In this meeting, Doran referred to the Alegria-minutes, saying that he could use the document to discredit Peterson for one hundred percent.

Peterson wonders why the minister brought up these minutes last week. “He told me this two years ago but bringing them up now is pure deflection. If I did something wrong he should have gone to the prosecutor’s office two years ago.”

Minister Doran has claimed that the motion of no confidence the PFP-faction wants to table has nothing to do with the highly critical report from the Ombudsman about the tender for solid waste collection. Instead, the minister said, it has to do with the de situation with Alegria.”

Peterson: “We want to hold the minister accountable for his actions, but what he is doing now to me is personal.”

The MP has asked the minister for a public apology for lying about him. So far, that has not happened.

So what is next? “I could take him to court for defamation, but I think that is what he wants. He wants to twist this and make it look like I made it personal. I am not going to give him that satisfaction. I will leave it up to the people to decide what his fate should be. He is lying, but that is not something new. That is the dirty game of politics in St. Maarten.”
Peterson said he is of the opinion that the minister ought to resign. “That is the least he can do. But it is not up to me. We have a 15-seat parliament and if eight members say that he should stay, then he stays. That is the way it is. We have a democracy.”

Peterson emphasized that the motion is not about the person of the minister, but about his function. “I also want to make clear that, if our motion passes and the minister has to go, the PFP does not want to have anything to do with picking a new minister.”

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Related links:Minister Doran demands clarification, MP Peterson threatens with lawsuit

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