Black Immigrant Daily News

BASSETERRE, ST. KITTS, October 8, 2022 (MMS-SKN) — The Republic of China (Taiwan) which was the first country to establish diplomatic relations with the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis in 1983, a few days after the latter attained its independence, will be celebrating the 111th anniversary of its independence on Monday, October 10 (Double Ten Day).

In commemoration of this milestone, the Embassy in St. Kitts and Nevis, led by Resident Ambassador to the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, His Excellency Michael Lin, organised and held the Taiwan National Day Health Walk on Saturday October 8 which attracted among others, Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Hon Dr Terrance Drew, and Premier of Nevis, the Hon Mark Brantley.

“Thank you for joining us today to celebrate our 111th National Day of the Republic of China,” said Ambassador Lin at the Frigate Bay lawns where participants assembled at the end of the health walk. “One hundred eleven years ago, our forefathers sacrificed their lives and their families to establish the Republic of China.”

In attendance were national leaders of four political parties, the Hon Dr Terrance Drew of the St. Kitts Nevis Labour Party, the Hon Mark Brantley of the Concerned Citizens Movement, Dr the Hon Timothy Harris of the Peoples Labour Party, and the Hon Shawn Richards of the People’s Action Movement. In reference to the different party colours, Ambassador Lin in welcoming them noted: “We are united in same colour to celebrate our national day.”

“In St. Kitts and Nevis we established our diplomatic relationship in 1983, exactly to the day tomorrow (October 9), in 1983,” recalled Ambassador Lin. “(Prime Minister) Dr Kennedy Simmonds signed a joint agreement with my Premier at that time (Hon Sun Yun-suan) to establish the official relations between our two countries. This year we celebrate the 39th anniversary of your independence, as well as our relations.”

Ambassador, His Excellency Michael Lin, promised that next year when the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis celebrates its 40th Independence Anniversary, it will be a very big event for St. Kitts and Nevis, as well as for Taiwan.

“My prayer for next year is to invite our Honour Guard to come back to visit St. Kitts and Nevis again for your Independence Parade – that is my prayer,” said Ambassador Lin. “Also next year we will have a reception, either at the St. Kitts Marriott Resort or the Royal St. Kitts Hotel. If you do not like to walk too often, next year we will have a reception.”

The Taiwan National Day Health Walk, which was coordinated by Mr Damien I-Ching Liu, Third Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in St. Kitts and Nevis, took the participants from the Independence Square, on to Pond Road, Frigate Bay Road, Southwell Highway, and the Gulf View Drive before branching off to the Frigate Bay lawns.

Enthusiastic walk participants had assembled at the Independence Square as early as 6:00 a.m. and among the first to arrive were Ambassador Lin, and Prime Minister Dr Drew. Also coming early was the Premier of Nevis, the Hon Mark Brantley, who jokingly told fellow walk participants that he had walked from Nevis.

Others who took part in the health walk included Federal Minister of Tourism et al, Hon Marsha Henderson, Federal Minister of Environment, Climate Action, and Constituency Empowerment, Senator the Hon Dr Joyelle Clarke, Nevis Deputy Premier the Hon Alexis Jeffers, Permanent Secretaries Dr Delores Stapleton-Harris (Health), Ms Sharon Rattan (Environment et al), and Ms Naeemah Hazelle (Office of the Prime Minister), and Special Adviser to the Premier of Nevis, Ms Latoya Jones.

Also joining them was a mascot depicting Prince Nezha (a protection deity in Chinese folk religion) who walked all the way to the Frigate Bay lawns where he stole the show and became the centre of attraction as walk participants posed for pictures with him.

A healthy breakfast was served to all the walk participants, and buses were later provided to ferry them to Basseterre city centre where most would have left their vehicles.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Joseph and Tara Montague have the distinction of being the first husband and wife real estate team in Jamaica and have won several awards while learning the real estate business from the ground up.

Married for five years and with two small children, the Montagues have managed to not only carve out a place for their brand in the industry but have been doing so while also holding down their regular 9-5 jobs.

The couple met over 10 years ago while on a night out with friends and struck up a friendship. But, it was not until they decided to acquire a property and had a “not all good but not all bad” experience, that they realized they were being groomed by life to venture into the business themselves.

“It was a mixed experience. There were some times when we felt like we weren’t being advocated for. But, in retrospect, we recognize that it all worked out for our good,” Tare shared with Loop News.

While noting that many elements of their home-buying experience could have been handled differently, the Montagues said they realized that they could, in turn, help others to accomplish their dream “in better ways than we experienced.”

The couple bought and renovated a fixer-upper which, they said, gave them even greater insights into how to execute such developments and also ignited their inner talents.

“But the fact that we had our full-time jobs, we thought it better do it as a team because real estate is a demanding industry,” Joseph said.

Young Joseph and Tara Montague (Contributed photo)

Tara, a registered nurse and medical representative for an international pharmaceutical company, brings the “nurturing side to the business to walk our clients through the process,” Joseph told Loop News while he adds his skills in marketing and business management, having acquired two degrees in the area.

Tara’s passion for home also design complements Joseph’s technical and business management skills, the couple said.

“For example, because I am a late-night person, I will be up late sending emails. She is an early morning person so she will get up in the morning and catch emails that came in when I was off so it almost feels like we are on the job 24 hours,” Joseph noted.

“With this team approach, our clients benefit tremendously because her strengths coupled with mine, they get the full package,” he said.

Contributed photos of the Montagues holding the keys to a home

According to the Montagues, the key to balancing working together and growing as a couple is multi-pronged.

“Because it crosses both professional and personal where you are literally working with your partner, we try to be there for each other as best as possible. We are a team in real estate but we are also a team in life,” Tara said.

The trick, she said, is keeping the lines of communication open and being able to identify when your partner needs a break.

“It gets stressful. We are fully employed otherwise and here we are trying to build our family business. But we both can identify when either of us needs a break or when we need to ease the pressure off the other person,” Tara said.

She continued: “Honestly, sometimes all it takes is a little conversation where, for example, Joseph will let me know all of what’s going on with him and we try to assist each other,” Tara shared.

Planning around the family’s schedule and involving the children also makes it easier to manage their multiple roles and projects, they said.

“If we have to go out of town, we turn it into a family trip. We get the business out of the way early then try to go to the beach or just spend time with each other because at the end of the day we can’t sacrifice our family life and our family time,” Tara said.

Already, their four-year-old son knows what an investment property is.

“It is said you don’t give your child what you didn’t get, you teach them what you didn’t know and we are big on that,” Tara said.

In the two years since they launched their real estate careers, the Montagues have won the Instagram Top Agent award, Top Producer, Top Marketers and Top Team awards within their brokerage house, Gourzong Reality.

They plan on opening their real estate brokerage firm eventually. But for now, they are learning and growing.

On the matter of growing together financially, the Montagues suggest being aligned in purpose and vision.

“Be aligned in terms of where you want to go. Know your partner and make sure it is somebody you can trust and rely on. Someone who is not going to be spending frivolously,” Joseph said.

“As a couple, be selfless. Be willing to invest some money because both parties will not have the same amount to contribute all the time to make the dream happen,” he added.

For Tara, growing a brand and business as a couple also means respecting each other, recognizing each other’s strengths and leveraging them to support the elements of the business and each other.

By Tameka Gordon

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Nottingham Forest moved off the bottom of the English Premier League Football Table with a hard fought 1-1 draw against Aston Villa at the City Ground in Nottingham yesterday.

The result ends a sequence of five consecutive defeats for Nottingham Forest, who moved up to 19th in the table, a point above Leicester City, and four points behind Aston Villa who remain 16th.

Roared on by a vociferous City Ground crowd, Emmanuel Dennis gave Nottingham Forest the perfect start, capitalizing on some poor marking to head in Morgan Gibbs-White’s free kick which drifted across the front of a static Aston Villa defence.

However, Ashley Young levelled seven minutes later with a superb effort from 25 yards that flew into the bottom left corner.

It was Young’s first goal for Aston Villa since 2011, when he was in his first spell at the Club, and it was the only notable moment of attacking inspiration from the two teams that otherwise struggled creatively in the final third.

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