Black Immigrant Daily News
door Valerie Fris PARAMARIBO — “Het is tijd dat we samen met elkaar gaan bidden. Daarbij letten we niet op
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
Rédaction Web
Lundi 29 Août 2022 – 20h05
nouveau centre de vaccination bourg lamentin – Jean-Marc Etifier
Compte tenu de l’amélioration de la situation sanitaire, le cendre de vaccination dans les locaux de l’ex site de la sécurité sociale du Lamentin ferme ses portes.
Chaque semaine, on observe une baisse du nombre de personnes nouvellement vaccinées, selon le bilan hebdomadaire de l’ARS. En raison de l’amélioration de la situation sanitaire et de la baisse du nombre de personnes accueillies ces dernières semaines,le centre de vaccination contre la Covid-19 géré par le Service Territorial d’Incendie et de Secours avec la collaboration active de la ville du Lamentin et de l’Association de Protection Civile de la Martinique dans les locaux de l’ex site de la sécurité sociale fermera ses portes le 30 août 2022.
La vaccination reste assurée par les infirmières et les médecins traitants.
Comment aider les personnes en …
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
Three Heads of Government met virtually on 26 August 2022 to pursue ways by which international law could be utilized to secure compensation for damage caused to small island states by Climate Change.
The Heads of Government of Antigua and Barbuda, Tuvalu and Palau gathered under the umbrella organization, ‘The Commission of Small Islands States on Climate Change and international law’, which was established last November prior to the opening of the COP-26 meeting in Glasgow.
Reaffirming their determination to pursue climate justice for their countries and other small island states, which are amongst the greatest victims of Climate Change, the Co-Chairs of the Commission conferred with a group of 14 international lawyers who are highly experienced in matters related to loss and damage, sea-level rise, marine environment, and human rights.
The distinguished group of lawyers (see list in Media Advisory below) reported to the leaders on their research activities and a plan of action that is being developed.
The leaders, Prime Minister Gaston Browne (Antigua and Barbuda), Prime Minister Kausea Natano (Tuvalu) and President Surangel Whipps Jr. (Palau), welcomed the report of the expert group of lawyers and approved their recommendations.
The Commission also expressed full support for the separate, parallel initiative of Vanuatu to request an Advisory Opinion on climate change from the International Court of Justice.
Noting that other small island states have indicated interest in joining the Commission, the leaders encouraged all affected states to join their effort to address the urgent and fundamental injustice in which they bear a disproportionate and overwhelming burden resulting from climate change.
The leaders also decided to establish three working groups, comprising members of the groups of expert international lawyers and representatives of member governments, to advance the objectives of the Commission.
CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
Michael Duncan – THA
Teacher, musician and actor Michael Anthony Duncan received a grand send-off on Friday, befitting his contribution to Tobago’s cultural and entertainment landscape.
During his funeral service at the St Patrick’s Anglican Church, Mt Pleasant, family and friends paid glowing tribute to the man who pioneered several musical groups in Tobago and was a mentor and friend to many budding performers.
Duncan, 71, died on August 10, after a brief illness.
He taught at several primary schools across Tobago, including Montgomery Government, Bon Accord Post Primary Centre, Hope Anglican and Buccoo Government.
Duncan was also at the forefront of groups such as the Minstrels, Cocrico Singers, Youthquake and the Pleasure Pirates
Delivering the eulogy, an emotional Aisha Duncan-Quashie described her father as the “shortest giant I know.”
She said he was a gift from God, who not only lived by his convictions and principles but tried to make everyone feel special.
Duncan-Quashie told mourners her father was raised in Mt Pleasant by his grandmother, a strict disciplinarian who moulded him in the Anglican church. This led to his involvement in the church’s youth movement.
She said Duncan’s love for music took off when “Mama’ got him his first guitar as a gift for passing the Common Entrance examination (now Secondary Entrance Assessment).
Duncan-Quashie also recalled her father, who played Rawle Walker in the 1984 local television soap opera Turn of the Tide, was a stickler for detail and hated mediocrity.
His charges, she said, were often taken to task for mispronouncing words in the national anthem and other nation-building songs.
She added he believed in the power of love and in people achieving their fullest potential.
Noted educator and former independent senator Dr Eastlyn Mc Kenzie taught Duncan in Sunday school classes at the church.
Describing him as her son, Mc Kenzie said they became extremely close during the filming of Turn of the Tide, where he was known for his punctuality at rehearsals.
She said they remained close up until his passing.
“Mike will always be a son to me. I will always love him,” she said.
Duncan’s grandchildren also did a short piece expressing their love for “Pappy.”
In his sermon, Archdeacon Philip Isaac recalled Duncan, whom he had known since childhood, had pioneered liturgical dance, drama and music in the Anglican church in the late 1970’s.
“It became part of the repertoire of the church,” he said.
Saying that Duncan had used his talents to uplift his fellow men, Isaac asked the congregation, “How do you spend your 24 (hours)?”
He said while many people may have envied Duncan, “We are all gifted with talents for God’s ordained purposes.”
Isaac added, “Let us ask God to show us our talents and to give us the courage to use them.”
He said Duncan may have helped people more under his stewardship than he has as a minister of religion.
Former THA assemblyman Cynthia Alfred also gave a tribute.
During the service, the members of the original Signal Hill Alumni Choir performed two songs, which were arranged by Duncan several years ago.
Duncan, who leaves to mourn his wife, Cheryl, four children and seven grandchildren, was laid to rest at the churchyard cemetery.
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne. File photo/Jeff Mayers
A memorandum of understanding was signed between this country and Jamaica on Monday which it is hoped will improve trade between the two nations and resolve trade issues faster.
In a media release on Monday, the Trade Ministry said Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne and Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith signed the MoU establishing a trade complaints mechanism that will create an avenue “for the expeditious resolution of trade complaints.”
At a media conference on Monday at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s, the prime ministers of both countries said the MoU will strengthen ties between the nations, with Dr Rowley saying in the last six years trade relations between the two went from a two to an eight on a scale of zero to ten.
In 2016 Rowley was called to Jamaica by Prime Minister Holness amidst planned boycott of Trinidad and Tobago goods. Rowley said on Monday the issue was a result of bureaucratic obstacles fuelled by those he refused to name. Since then, he said, trade between the two countries had strengthened and would continue to do so.
Apart from trade, the two said the bilateral talks involved exchange in culture and sports and discussions on addressing crime. Holness said when they compared notes he realised that the two nations, which both gained independence from Britain in 1962, had a lot of commonalities.
As part of a deepening of relations, Holness said Jamaica would be inviting schools from TT to participate in its sporting competitions and exploring ways Jamaica can benefit from TT’s costume design talents. He said that was part of the vision for Caricom that past leaders like Dr Eric Williams envisioned.
“The Caricom Single Market Economy (CSME) is only going to materialise when you not only have free movement of goods, but also free movement of labour and free movement of capital. That allows for a more efficient allocation of resources and for the expansion of trade opportunities and it brings life and meaning to this business of regional integration.”
To combat any further obstacles, Holness said both countries will be legislating ways to allow free flow of business and labour. He added that there is no reason for companies registered in one country not to be recognised in another with the CSME.
In June the Caribbean Community Skilled Nationals (Amendment) Bill, 2022 was passed in the Senate.
Rowley said the agreement is about creating “the largest possible market for suppliers,” adding that Caricom is stronger together “on every issue, and in every respect.”
Chiming in, Holness said the posture and voice of Caricom is changing, for the better, adding that coming out of the Summit of the Americas it is evident now that there is a need for Caricom to secure its food, labour and financial supplies.
The media release said TT and Jamaica trade over $1 billion worth of products annually and each has significant investments in the other.
The trade complaints mechanism’s primary objective is to provide predictable and transparent procedures and channels of communication for resolving complaints allowing exporters a fixed point of contact for their complaints, which will be resolved within 48 days from receipt.
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
PNM Tobago leader Ancil Dennis –
PNM Tobago Council political leader Ancil Dennis has labelled THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine as callous in his treatment of local contractors.
Dennis was speaking with Newsday on the $390 million owed to contractors by the assembly.
Augustine has blamed the previous PNM administration’s pre-election spending for the assembly’s debts. On July 22, he said that contractors would begin to individually meet with an independent team to discuss the way forward to receive their money.
Dennis said: “This Chief Secretary promised to make payments to these contractors several months ago, and he made a firm commitment to them at a face-to-face meeting. He has now reneged on that commitment, citing ‘due diligence,’ as if he suddenly realised this, notwithstanding his initiation of an audit more than seven months ago.”
He said Augustine’s was being insensitive has betrayed his responsibility as a Tobago leader. He argued that Augustine showed his true colours when he raged that he did not care about the Tobago contractors and their bank-related challenges.
“This mishmash of excuses and bombast is quite unfortunate and only serves to further damage indigenous Tobago businesses, while further destabilising the Tobago economy. It is ironic, even frightening, that while the Chief Secretary galleries and misleads, the PDP decision makers are quietly giving contracts in the dead of night, as he likes to call it, to their friends from Trinidad.”
He said the previous PNM administration engaged in a program of infrastructural works over a two-year period. This, he said, was aimed at achieving two very important objectives, among others: to quickly and effectively resolve long-standing infrastructural issues and make other critical interventions to protect both public and private infrastructure, as well as to stimulate the construction sector and provide employment opportunities and economic stimulation during the pandemic period which had rendered many unemployed.
“A number of Tobago communities benefited by having flooding and other infrastructural issues resolved. The design-build-finance (DBF) procurement model was used, to allow the THA to get the work done without the need for upfront financing, but with a commitment to periodic payments over a reasonable period.
“This arrangement was honoured by the previous administration but if the Chief Secretary is convinced that THA administrators, engineers, quantity surveyors, internal auditors, and other public servants are either corrupt or incompetent to the extent that an external audit of these programs is required, then he is entitled to allay his concerns.”
He added: “However, his posture and the developments and conduct within his own administration suggest that this is more about political victimisation and arrogance than any genuine concern about corruption. The present reality is that while the audit drags on with callously unfulfilled promises of part payment, we are witnessing the destruction of Tobago businesses and, by extension, Tobagonians.”
Newsday understands that three contractors have met with the independent team “but no one has been paid.”
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
Chief Secretary Farley Augustine – THA Info Dept
The Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) is distributing book grants to those in need.
Chief Secretary and PDP deputy leader Farley Augustine announced this on Sunday in a Facebook live.
Augustine said he has asked all his assemblymen to join him in the venture to distribute $700 grants to help vulnerable students get ready for the new school term on September 5.
He said: “We have been able to pull together from among us a tiny sum that we can assist a few of you within our respective electoral districts. I made it mandatory for my members – for us to all put our hands in our pockets and contribute.” He said the grants will help buy books, uniforms, cloth, shoes, bookbags, or what the needs might be.”
The initiative, he said, was due to begin on Monday.
“Our political organisation, we are doing this. Along with the list, you would get a list of the agencies/stores/ haberdasheries that would be working along with us, partnering with us. And you are to just take this card to the respective outlets.”
He said this is something that he would usually do within his electoral district.
“I think it is important to give back. In fact, to whom much is given, much is expected.
“These cards are only $700. It is all that we can afford to give per person because we are trying to stretch what we have collected to share among several people.”
He said he has reached out to several Tobagonians for assistance as well.
“I want to say thanks to those that have contributed, because outside of the party…we have had other members, other supporters and well-wishers pitching in to give us some. We believe in the concept of one-one cocoa does full basket.”
He said more emphasis must be placed on education.
“We have to be about engendering a culture of learning and research and reading and critical thinking. I hope that as we go into this new school year, this new academic year starting in September, that parents, you would help us push that line of support for our young people – they need it.
“Covid19 has done a significant number on them, covid19 has really robbed our children of having a lot, they just don’t have a lot of what they need. They have almost two years of limited socialisation, children need socialisation to learn – some of our children learn by playing; some are kinesthetics; some need to learn by using their hands, and so the lockdown virtual mode did not help some of our children as was evident by the examination results from SEA.”
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
– Advertisement –
Police are investigating a fire at a building in Vieux Fort occupied by several businesses, including a bar, a tailor shop and a photography laboratory.
The businesses were closed at the time of the fire on Sunday.
The Saint Lucia Fire Service (SLFS) said someone saw smoke and summoned emergency responders around 7:14 am.
Emergency crews rushed to the scene along the Vieux Fort-Laborie Highway with three fire trucks and three ambulances.
– Advertisement –
But despite their efforts, the fire caused extensive damage to the bottom section of the two-storey building which housed businesses including the tailor shop, a barber salon and the photography laboratory.
– Advertisement –
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
Readers are asked to note that Op-eds do not necessarily reflect the opinions or beliefs of Loop Cayman.
by ‘Caymaican’
The Cayman Islands’ 2021 Census Report shows that Jamaica ranks second as the place of birth for Cayman residents. However, this does not translate into Jamaicans taking second place for the top jobs in Cayman. Instead, Jamaican born workers mostly work as housekeepers, cleaners, caretakers, gardeners, police and construction workers, where they earn the middle-to-lower end of the salary scale in Cayman. In contrast, workers representing smaller percentages of the population (the UK, USA and Canada) in terms of birth, appear to command Cayman’s highest salaries. I believe there are several reasons for these disparities, some of which I mention below.
Cayman’s economic needs
First, as Cayman developed rapidly (with more buildings, homes and businesses) Cayman was forced to find people from overseas to fill posts for construction and other areas where tradesmen were required. This happened because Cayman did not establish large enough of an institution to equip and train a sufficient number of Caymanians to take these jobs as they became available.
In addition, there was a period of time in Cayman that professions like tradesmen, electricians and others in the construction industry were not deemed to be “prestigious enough” for my fellow Caymanians to pursue as careers. Instead, my fellow Caymanians were attracted to jobs in banks and other places in the financial services industry. A matter of preference, as it were.
The result of these permutations and combinations is that a smaller number of Caymanian-born workers were represented in trades industries over the years when compared to Jamaican-born workers (the 2021 Census also confirms that construction is the largest employer of Non-Caymanians and is the fifth largest place of employment for Caymanians, confirming that the long-held trend of the number of Non-Caymanians versus Caymanians in the construction industry is continuing).
Proximity
Literally being located next door also influenced Cayman as a choice for Jamaicans.
Advantages of being include:
Ability to return home quickly in case of family emergenciesAllows parents working in Cayman to conveniently see their children in Cayman during the summer holidays when school is outShort flight
Hiring practices
These benefits also translated well for Cayman businesses too because they could obtain workers on short notice when sufficient labourers were not available in Cayman to complete new or ongoing projects.
My suspicion is that, over time, because of the convenience and proximity, human resources managers developed a “preference” for Jamaican workers, especially in construction and housekeeping.
At the same time, however, for the financial services industry to thrive, human resources managers in that sector recruited many of their managers, directors and partners from the UK, USA and Canada. The median salary for these positions, as shown below, is about 6k per month (note that partners can make millions of dollars per year at law firms and accounting firms, not just 6k per month).
Salary of managers according to 2021 Cayman Census
The median salary, however, for construction and trades (where many Jamaican-born workers are employed) is 3k or less per month, with housekeepers in the region of 1k per month (often, this situation does not change even when Jamaican-born workers obtain Caymanian citizenship). This is highlighted in the preceding table and the table below.
Salaries in construction based on the 2021 Cayman Census Report
Importance of differences
The significance of the differences between positions held by Jamaican-born workers (representing a large percentage of residents on the basis of birth) and the UK, USA and Canada (representing a smaller percentage of residents on the basis of birth) is that, given the salaries, Jamaican-born workers are likely to have a harder time surviving the high cost of living in Cayman and may also live near or at the poverty level.
Anomaly could have been avoided
This anomaly, in my view, may have been avoided over the years if human resource planners considered Jamaican scholars for positions in the financial services industry at the same time that they assessed Cayman’s needs in trades industries.
For example, looking at Rhodes Scholarships alone, these have been awarded to Jamaicans from the 1950s to date, for literary and scholastic attainments, according to data published by the University of The West Indies. Jamaica also boasts good university education standards, with some Caymanians even obtaining their education in Jamaica in the past. Jamaica could have therefore been seen as a reliable source of educated candidates for top jobs, not just construction and housekeeping.
Opportunity to change things
Ignoring what could have been, the Cayman government and businesses have an opportunity now to correct the existing mismatch. The will to do this, however, may depend on the attitude towards more diversity at the top.
NewsAmericasNow.com
Black Immigrant Daily News
A talented musician, who knew from early on that his passion and career lay in the field of music, is fine-tuning his skills to give back to his country.
18-year-old Jarret Jean Jacques recently graduated from the Choate Rosemary Hall Boarding School – one of the most prestigious boarding schools in the USA – with its highest music award, the Hicks Lawrence Prize for music excellence.
He told The Sun his love for music developed at the age of five when he was taught music at home because he was too young to attend music school.
“My two older sisters, Stacey and Stephanie, started me off with piano,” he said. “Then when I was six, I started trumpet, which is my main instrument. Between the ages of six and ten things just spiraled forward because I realize that I had a passion for music and I pretty much just added one instrument after the other.”
To date, Jarret plays nine instruments: trumpet, trombone, French horn, euphonium, piano, guitar, clarinet, flute, and saxophone.
Accomplishing so much at a young age, Jarret says high expectations of him are the norm, and he uses this to drive his success.
“I realize, as I continue to grow, people are going to have expectations of me which means I have to keep working harder to better myself so that I can reach my full potential and continue to impress those around me,” Jean Jacques said.
While at Choate, he was part of the many different classical music ensembles, which further deepened his love for performing and learning the orchestra instruments.
“I traveled with the school’s ensemble to Washington D.C where we performed at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts,” he said. “That was the first real experience of what I wanted my career to be. It was just surreal for me.”
For Jarret, it’s now to the Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester – his dream school – to pursue a bachelor’s degree in music education.
“I heard about Eastman during my first summer at Choate. I applied and was accepted into their classical studies summer programme. I continued doing lessons with the professor – throughout my last year at Choate, who happens to be the professor I will have for the next four years,” he said.
Upon completion of his bachelor’s degree, Jarret would like to pursue a master’s degree in the same field. However, his overall vision and purpose are to share his love for music through teaching.
“Being able to perform and tour with my own ensemble is also something I could think about,” Jean Jacques said. ” But at the end of the day what I want to be able to do is teach and most likely come back to Dominica and set up a school where I can help people learn music. That is my main goal.”
Having spent a lot of time in Dominica’s music education system, Jarret is well poised to give advice on how he would like to see the artform treated in the country.
“The popularity aspect of it is the biggest issue, where people see music as this side hobby,” he said. “I believe arts and music, should have as much importance as the other main subjects like math, language, etc.”
Reaching this level of skill and knowledge, people may wonder if this musician ever feels he will burn out or lose interest in the field, he confidently assured The Sun this is not the case.
“I know this is my career. For so long music has been this escape and joyous thing and now I am turning it into a job and I have the fear that it will start to feel like a job or strenuous work, but I actually just haven’t found that,” he said.
Jarret is forever grateful to God for his talent and his family and friends for their unwavering support along his musical journey.
NewsAmericasNow.com
