The Cave E Magazine

Table of Content Editor • Rasheed H Palacio

Contributing Editor • Tia’ Fari Steede

Writers • T’ aFari Steede • Asha-Marei Cumberbatch • Richelle Taylor

Recap Semester Semester I RecapI • Student Entrepreneur • Providing a Sustainable Future.

• Thirsty?Juiced Batbados has you Covered!

• Let’s Stay Cyber-Aware • “No Wata”

Semester II • UWIVAL • Guild AGM • UWIFA • Guild Notices

Photographers

• Building the Economy Holistically, through Sport

• Rasheed H Palacio • Aliah-Rose Taitt • Johnovan King

• CHAPS Financial Literacy

• Meat of the Matter: Low Voter Turn out

• CHAPS Movie Night

Graphic Designer

• The Cave ‘Speak from De Art’

• Rasheed H Palacio • Bobby Smith • Christian Paul Gibson

• Fire Scare on Campus

Poets

• Library Corner

• • • • • • •

Vellie Benta Shanae Griffith ‘Mirth’ A.E Sandra Sealy Kacia Taylor Dajenelle Mullings Sarah Grosvenor

Featured Artist • Christina Murray

• Sports Science Society

Poems • Bridge • Nae • Dirty Money • Rhythm and Blues • To All the Boys I Never Loved • 3rd Religion • Failed Emancipation • Mirth • What Does it Mean?

• Barachiel

Message from The Publications Committee Chairperson Hello My Fellow Blackbirds,

Thank you for your patience and contributions to this issue of The Cave. I truly appreciated the support I had received while working on this project from the student body and other partners. Life isn’t easy nor should be expect it to be, with this said I would like to personally thank The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Guild of Students 2019-2020, our President Ms. Tatcher Loutin for her perseverance and dedication to serving the student body ,The Cave Committee for their hard work investing their time and efforts in making this publication possible, The Sidney Martin Library as well as the different contributors who submitted artwork and poetry. As we approach this coming election season let us look back on the accomplishments made over the past year and wish the new council in advance success in their endeavors in serving you the students. All the best with midterms, examinations and for a successful second semester. Thank you for your time and I do hope that you enjoy.

Regards, Rasheed H. Palacio Publications Committee Chairperson 2019,2020 Guild of Students The University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus “Together We Can Make It Happen” Any queries please email guildpcc@mycavehill.uwi.edu

Thirsty?

Juiced Barbados has you Covered!

Denisha Layne, the owner of Juiced Barbados, is majoring in Sociology with History at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus. Her educational journey has had many ups and downs, especially now as the twenty-two-year-old balances being an entrepreneur and a university student. Despite this, Denisha is ‘making her mark’ in the entrepreneurial world.

Ms. Layne says that even though she has not made an exact decision on her career path, she is thinking about venturing into the fields of education or business management. In her teenage years, Denisha wanted to become a lawyer. She believes that her path in Sociology and History is still working in her favour.

Denisha did not always want to be an entrepreneur so Juiced Barbados was not an

original part of her career plan. However, in 2017, she began making natural juices for herself, her close friends and family. She wanted to eliminate using sodas from her diet so making fruit juices was her alternative. She began researching natural juices and the more research she did, the more enthusiastic she became about including them in her daily routine.

She researched the benefits of using several fruits which fascinated her enough to begin turning these fruits into juices. After receiving positive feedback from her close family and friends she began distributing samples to her wider friend group.

This birthed her business: Juiced Barbados. Juiced Barbados started as only a natural juice business. These juices ranged from watermelon, banana, lemonade and sorrel juices, just to name a few.

However, as of this year, it has branched off into selling rotis and pizza. She caters to both vegetarians and her ‘meat lovers’. Denisha sells individual pizza slices along with whole pizzas and a variety of choice in rotis.

She says that being an entrepreneur is a difficult journey however, there are a few factors which keep her motivated. One of these factors is her self improvement. Being an entrepreneur has given her a different perspective on life. Instead of having an individualistic outlook on life, she now has to take others into consideration, mainly her customers. The positive feedback from her customers keeps her focused on keeping them happy. Additionally, she is able to form relationships through her business. She does not want to limit Juiced Barbados as a transactional business, but she wants to network and form relationships with her customers.

Outside of Juiced Barbados, Denisha has two other small businesses. She is a relatively new makeup artist and she provides English tutoring sessions. Not only this, but Denisha desires to branch off into other businesses in the near future.

When asked about how she manages school and being an entrepreneur, Denisha admittedly said that she isn’t quite sure how she manages it all. For her, there is no cliché algorithm on how to manage being an entrepreneur and a student. You take it one day at a time, and step by step. You, the entrepreneur, must make the necessary time for yourself. The choice is up to you.

Ms. Layne does find herself in difficulty as an entrepreneur. She listed a few of her problems. She wants to find ways to keep her prices affordable for her target market while keeping her budget intact. This has been one of her biggest challenges. At this time in the country’s economy, she doesn’t want customers to ‘break their pockets’ in order to buy her products. Seeing that she wants to branch off into other businesses, finding the right time to start these ventures has also proven difficult. This is not stopping her drive and her commitment to what she wishes to achieve.

Some of these challenges have forced her to re-evaluate her life goals. Her businesses can be very time consuming so she missed out on opportunities to be a ‘regular’ young adult. There are times where she wishes she can hang out with her friends, but she knows that she needs to be dedicated to her business since it is her source of income.

“I felt like I was thrown into adulting” she says. Sometimes her business schedules overlap leading to her being very overwhelmed.

Without Denisha’s godmother, Juiced Barbados would not be possible. She is eternally grateful for the support of this role model in her life. Her godmother has helped with buying equipment and resources whenever needed.

Denisha gave solid advice to those who want to be entrepreneurs. She says: “Just do it. You can think of the possible excuses not to do it but think of the many reasons why you should do it. Don’t be scared to start that chapter of your life”.

For those who want to get in contact with Denisha for her natural fruit juices, rotis and pizzas visit her Instagram page @juiced.barbados. You can also follow her personal page @ denisha.layne for her makeup artistry and for further information on her tutoring sessions. written by Asha-Marie Cumberbatch

Handling de Heat: Safety and Security online Technology

is evolving to better accommodate you; however potential cybert-hreats are striving to compromise your safety by advancing their game and therefore you have to advance your safety techniques. Ms Deborah King, Training coordinator from the Campus Information Technology services (CITs) provided some useful insight on ‘cyber-safety’ as October is marked: ‘National cyber-security Awareness month’.

King advised students and staff members alike not to downplay their cyber security measures as Cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated: “Where attackers are employing a variety of innovative tactics, that can include social engineering, malware and ransomware,” to endanger you.

CITs staff contribute a heavy share to cyber-safety at Cave Hill, by staying up to date with the latest risks, solutions and qualification. In addition to ensuring campus based “processes and controls designed to protect systems, networks, programs, devices and data from cyber-attacks are functioning effectively.”

Personal accountability matters: “Every employee and student need(s) to be aware of their role in preventing cyber threats, as cyber security is not the prime responsibility of the CITs. it is a shared load amongst the 6,000 students of the campus to ensure their cyber-safety is accounted for”.

CITs reiterates that students must exercise mindfulness and “Think before you Click” when utilizing the campus IT facilities and devices. It is strongly encouraged to desist from the following prohibited activities: illegal downloading of copyrighted material, viewing of pornographic material and venturing to links that can potentially lead to viruses and phishing attacks.

In keeping with the 2019 theme “Own IT. Secure IT. Protect IT” of Cyber Awareness month Ms. King extended these useful tips: 1.Your mobile devices are just as vulnerable as your PC or laptop, install an antivirus programme.

Install applications only from trusted sources and update your operating system as the updates occur.

2.Use strong passwords [D1rE55tP&RtS] or passphrase [TridentsaReBack19] 3.Be mindful when using the various social networking platforms like Skype, Instagram, LinkedIn or Snapchat and be attentive to what you post about your personal life; anything you post could be used against you therefore 4. Enable Privacy and customize your privacy controls when registering for any social networking site 5. Be an advocate against cyberbullying, also be aware of what you post about friends and vice versa.

6. Be on the lookout for suspicious email – phishing email, which seek to trick you into giving personal details using scare methods or persuasive tactics Written by Richelle Taylor

Meat of de Matter : Low Voter SocsciReflects cruiseCandidates Turnout The Electoral Process With Ravi Davis I am the Returning Officer. I sit on the Guild council but I’m also head of an independent office which is the Guild Electoral office; for obvious reasons you understand why that office should be separate from the others. As the returning officer I‘m responsible for planning and executing all general elections, bi-elections and anything that requires a vote. Obviously, general elections are once every academic year.

There may be, in this instance a pop-up election due to issues of recall, a vote of no confidence, petitions, issues like that. Apart from those things which aren’t necessarily planned per say, I’m responsible for taking votes internally in the Guild council. I count the votes in there and make sure majority rules and there is a good understanding of the way forward.

Once an election is due or needed, I would have to put a plan of action in place which requires a lot of work. Thankfully the Electoral office has built relationships outside of the Guild such as the National Union of Public Workers in Barbados and the Electoral Boundaries Commission. The National Union of Public Workers they provide us with much needed ballot boxes cause we don’t have enough. The Electoral and Boundaries commission they also provide us with some equipment such as electoral shields.

They also assist a great deal in general elections when we use the electronic counting mode; that was introduced some years ago to allow voting to be done electronically instead of manually.

With regard to the use of the machines, they also assist with that and they give great advice for example Mr Ian Brown of the Electoral Commission. The plan of action is to basically get everything ready for election and debate night.

It’s just a matter of getting the candidates ready and comfortable for debate night, setting up whatever venue you choose, the stage and the podium, setting up different guidelines and rules to be followed during debates. We are guided by an electoral code which we use to set the framework for how the electoral process

should run. . .and so once debate night, which is a simple night to plan...once that is over it just boils down to election day.

We have eight polling stations we have to supply with basic equipment: tables, chairs, boxes, ballot boxes, voting booths, you have to get the ballots designed and printed-we don’t want just a random piece of paper. We want it to look like a quality election. We work closely along with the office of student services who not only provides us with the master list of the matriculation system, but they also vet the candidates for us by checking the criteria for candidacy. The Guild isn’t privy to private information of each student so we have to send that through the office of Student Services and the registrar so they can be approved. The requirements are simple; once you have are matriculated and a registered student, have a GPA of 2.0 and above you are acceptable and you must not have come into disrepute with the University that would have led to you being placed on disciplinary action.

Once you are covered in those areas you can run: the registrar would obviously check all of those things. The Guild Electoral office comprises seven persons: myself, the Deputy, social media coordinator ect. and we basically supervise all of the stations and ensure that debate night runs smoothly, things don’t go over time, the amount of questions agreed on are the same amount that are asked, rules are enforced ect.

I was telling you before that it was a bit of a tricky election because it wasn’t planned and came about because of a motion of no confidence. When the position came about, it needed to be filled by a certain time. I wouldn’t say this last election was rushed, but it crept up on the electoral office and we had a limited time to prepare.There are a limited number of days in the semester, we couldn’t go over into next week because next week is the official silent/ reading week. So it had to be last week, it was

the very last week we had. The planning in itself was difficult because of the short space of time, not to mention that Monday and Tuesday of this week were the island-wide power outage.

We still had the debate on Tuesday because postponing or rescheduling an election is very tricky; everything goes through the office of the registrar. Once he approves it for instance, he cancels classes at six to facilitate the events.

Once he would have canceled classes Tuesday at six its very hard to go back and say we need a different day, it pushes back a lot of things.

Also on election day he approves the main polling stations, Leslie Robinson building ect., so there’s a lot that goes into consideration when you think about postponing an election. When you do that it probably adds more fuel to the fire that you don’t really need at that time. So we pushed through it and because of Monday and Tuesday we didn’t really get any ballots until wednesday morning because the place that was printing the ballots was closed both Monday and Tuesday. The voters list was late, couldn’t get that printed as well….. a number of places were closed. It wasn’t easy but we pushed through and got a decent ending.

I would agree that part of the reason for the low voter turnout was due to the complications of Monday and Tuesday and perhaps as many persons who would have been at school on a normal wednesday couldn’t; some probably still didn’t have power or water ect. I am also of the opinion that voter turnout reflects a lot on the candidates. The job of the Returning Officer is really to plan, facilitate and execute the election, make sure all procedures are followed.

It is the job of the candidates to make sure people vote for them. In their time of campaigning and trying to get voters; popularity comes into play, if you did well on debate night, all of these factors are crucial,. For bi-elections at Cave Hill it’s generally not a high voter-turnout either in comparison to general elections. The last bi-elections however, if my memory serves me correctly there were about 385 votes...so there was an increase in this election. Although there is still a generally low voter turnout. Part of our duty is to send out physical and electronic posters, so there is no reason why people shouldn’t have known about the elections. Some people just aren’t interested. I’ve been at polling booths where persons would pass and tell you flat-out they just don’t care.

There are a plethora of reasons why people don’t come out and vote.

I got a greater appreciation for the importance of voting because I understand now what the guild can and should do for the students, in terms of lobbying for whatever needs the students may have and taking issues the places where it matters, admin, the bursar’s office, the principal’s office itself. I think once people get a greater understanding and appreciation for what the guild does do then they may be more keen on showing their interest, voting and otherwise.

You have to take into consideration that the number of national students far out-number the non-national students. I don’t have any statistics to show this, but from my own experience the majority of non-nationals generally seem to take more interest in the day-to-day running of guild activities. There are also a large number of national students who are very interested who do participate in these elections and matters of the guild; because of the large number of nationals however I’m not sure it would be fair to say it is a majority of non-national students who are more interested and participate. When you balance it out it may very well be the same number on both sides. Members of the Barbados Student Association; I find they are very involved in matters of the guild. When you take into consideration part-time students: a mother of two with a 9-5 job as well, it seems realistic to think she may be less inclined to participate in issues while on the other hand a young girl fresh into University with the support of mummy and daddy may have more time on her hands, haha. So, no it would not be fair to say non-national students are more active in voting and matters of the Guild when you consider that national students far out-weigh those who aren’t Barbadian.

Did you go out to the debates and vote during Barbados’ mini-apocalypse? written by T’afari Steede

The Cave featured artist: Christina Murray Christina Murray is a 20 year old Barbadian artist/poet who is currently attending the University of the West Indies majoring in psychology and minoring in management . She has been creating different works to express herself in different ways. Her artwork consists of hand drawn paintings, drawings and tattoo designs that express the taboos of the female body .” - In

the way it gives me a peace of mind when needed. I usually do it when life feels a bit cluttered or “ too much”. So like another way to express myself without using words like I usually do with poetry” Christina says. Her work can be seen throughout this issue of The Cave as we wanted to highlight the creativity of the students at Cave Hill Campus not only through literary works but through the arts as well.

To contact Christina for any query’s about purchasing her artwork email christinaamurray625@gmail.com

Sports Science Society October 14th 2019 was the day UWI witnessed a historic event in front of over 100 persons at the popular Usain Bolt complex. This event was the launch of a first of its kind society named the Sports Science Society!

The Sports Science Society is a student based organization on campus which caters to the students within the Faculty of Sport. The society seeks to develop sports in a holistic manner and provide opportunities for students to actively participate in sport related activities in Barbados and by extension the Caribbean. At the launch which was attended by Barbados’s Minister of Sport, culture and the creative economy amongst other high level officials the President and first ever Faculty of Sport Representative on the Guild of Students Taahir Bulbulia delivered a passionate address. He outlined the plans for the Society and how they will develop sports not only on campus by throughout the region.

“The goal of the Society is to enhance the student experience while at Cave Hill. We will plan and organize sporting activities all in the aim of developing sports in a holistic manner.”

The sports science society will also go into various communities throughout Barbados promoting the benefits of sport development.

Bulbulia stated

“Sports is a multi billion dollar industry world wide and unfortunately the Caribbean has not bought onto the idea of Sport development and the role it can play in a nations success... Sport development deals with every aspect of life! From the health benefits, to the economic benefits to the social upliftment it brings to a people. “ Bulbulia lamented. Taahir Bulbulia a 20 year old 3rd year sports science student sees a future in sports administration and politics. The society has also launched its internship initiative which will provide opportunities for students to put the theoretical aspect of their course to practice through various ways.“Students will be able to engage in internships in various coaching, managing and sports science internships which will prove to be important in their personal development Taahir stated. So far many students have gone on internships with various sporting organizations and in January the Society secured a 5 year MOU with a sports club in Trinidad and Tobago (Cunnupia Football club).

Written by Taahir Bulbulia

Feeding Program

Artwork

Art by Christina Murray titled: Flowers

Poem

THE FIRST EVER SPORTS SCIENCE SOCIETY WEEK

THE RETURN OF

UWIFA 24th February-27th February 2020

Registration Fees $150 PER TEAM 12-15 Member Squad

Contact Taahir Bulbulia 234-7756 Jevander Richards 251-9848

Register by February 16th Must be a UWI student

Stirring up de pot with Student Entrepreneurship

Tyquan Neblett Youtuber, Criminology/Psychology student.

November 1, 2019 ________________________________________

“I am 20 years old, I am currently a student of the West Indies and I am studying Criminology, Psychology and sociology and I make Youtube videos. I am a creative. I make comedy videos.

The reason I started this was because I always liked making people laugh and making people feel comfortable around me. I high-key wanted to be a child-hood actor for a long-time. I wanted to be in ‘Drake and Josh.”

It’s a little after five and we’re sitting on the stained white benches close to Med-Sci. Tyquan agreed to be dragged away from his friends and the activities coming to a close on the guild lawn (the UN presentation), just so he could tell The Cave what it is like managing a creative business along with being a student at UWI:

“I definitely always wanted to start something but I never had the avenue when I was younger to do any type of acting, any type of creative work- until I got older and I realized a lot of people are just making a living off of content, well internet-content... and then I started watching a lot of youtubers. I don’t like being controlled, I just wanted to do what I wanted to do with my creative passion. I just wanted to be myself.”

“So you didn’t have a business plan in mind when you started?

It was simply from enjoying what you do?”

“I did not have a business plan, it just started with me in front of a camera, and my friends watching my videos. It then took a life of its own, you know? I was like: ‘it would be cool if this worked out for me but I just started with the idea that I like to make videos’. I like to act, I like to be creative. I can do all of this on Youtube. It only started becoming like a business thing when I saw it progress, and I started to become a bit more popular and people wanted me to do ads and do promotions and stuff like that, that’s when it became like a business thing.”

“Is it difficult managing your degree as well as your creative business?” “(laughs) It definitely is! Definitely definitely is, you know. There are times that, after you spend like, a whole day at school you are exhausted and you don’t feel like doing anything...but the biggest thing I would say in content-creating is consistency. If you’re not consistent you don’t grow. So although you’re tired and you don’t want to do anything, although you spent the whole day at the computer doing work, you still have to push forward and do it.”

“Were you inspired by other local content creators? International or a mixture of both?”

“It was a mixture of both, I would say, because I’m from the Caribbean so of course

“When did you realize youtube was something you wanted to do on a consistent basis? When did it become more than a hobby?”

“I would say I always had an idea of doing it like, consistently but I only really started taking it seriously when...well, I used to videos like once a year, like I would only do videos once a year. Then after that I was like Yo, ‘you can actually make something of this’ you taught yourself how to do all of these things...and you’re just going to let it go to waste? At least make money from it...be consis“So promoting Bajan culture in your videos is a conscious thing you do? Why do you think that is tent with it. At the end of the day if I can go out and have people be like ‘hey, you do videos, you important?” know’ that means I’m getting somewhere. I realized the more videos I produced consistently the

“Yeah definitely; because at the end of the more seriously I was taken as a creator and the day there are a lot of creators and I’ll admit that sometimes comedy itself may become saturated more I was able to be a better creative to be honwhen you’re just seeing the same type of content est. I would also say my mother influenced me, all the time, but Bajan content is something that she always said ‘look, if you gon’ do this, I totally fine with you wasting your time on this just make is not explored fully as yet. You got a lot of peosure you can make money from it.” ple that are killing it...Lord Zenn, Seth X Bovell yeah, they are genuinely funny and doing a great “That’s a very Caribbean-parent thing to say.”

“Yeah, so she was okay with me doing it, she just job, but at the end of the day it’s just a lot more that has to be explored, you know? It’s still a new wanted to make sure I was serious about it, and it wasn’t something I was going to throw away.” thing...but those people for sure I would say are “Should fans be scared you will stop making vidmy inspiration. Especially Chris, amazing guy….

I’ve worked with him before. People who are able eos? Are you gonna continue to balance your degree-path with video-making?” to take Bajan comedy and make it relatable and

“Yeah, what I do is a means to an end, basiunderstood by everyone else ...I think that is the biggest thing now. We have to find a way to like, cally. I will always continue to make videos consistently but at the end of the day I still wanna put relate to people who aren’t from Barbados.” *cue the awkward moment when a truck decides food on the table, I still wanna be an independent black man, you know. . .and make sure I can supto snail by* port myself. Until Youtube can do that for me I

“With regard to film, are you self-trained?” will try to split my attention between my degree “Yeah, I taught myself how to do everything to and Youtube. I can see myself doing youtube fullbe honest. The only real teaching I had was this time….if there is one thing I can see myself doing one film course, but I literally can’t remember anything from it. It was like this film camp at the and enjoying until I retire, it is Youtube.” “ I get you but it is still pretty hard to make money UN. Not saying that it was something bad, I just as a creative when people don’t see it as a lucracouldn’t remember anything. Only like small tive business.” things I remember, like doing sound and things “Yeahh. I am monetized now, on Youtube, like that. I learned everything else myself by though.” watching youtube-how to colour-grade, every“Ohh really? That’s cool” thing.”

“Yeah, so watch my ads.”

“What’s colour-grade if you don’t mind me asking?” “ Haha, it’s basically when, you know like how if you were to record like a comedy, then you record like a horror movie, the horror-movie would You can find Tyquan’s videos @TyquanNeblett on be like darker and sinister? That is colour-grading... when you change the saturation and colours instagram or Youtube.

Interview by T’afari Steede and everything of the film.”

Caribbean content would interest me more, I came to Barbados when I was like not even a year, six months.

I was born in New York but I consider myself mostly bajan cause I’ve spent most of my life here. I’ve only spent like, six months in New York and then I left. I don’t really consider myself American I am mostly Bajan and that content is what interests me, you know. “

Law week and Gala

From a simmer to an Explosion: Bioling Point Fire Scare on campus I’m sitting on a bench on the guild lawn waiting for my ride. The time is 9PM and campus is business as usual. A white student is jogging across the cricket field in suspiciously short shorts despite the brisk night air. The shuttle is making its rounds and I am glancing at my phone and the traffic up ahead in hopes of seeing my ride home when fire alarms go off.

My friends and I ignore it at first, assuming it’s just another drill of the few we have experienced on campus. As students from the Sherlock Hall merge on the playing field, and others from surrounding areas we soon realize something bigger is occurring. This is confirmed by the emergence of a fire truck. Curious and , I hope no one is hurt as I approach a student to ask her what was going on. She seems hesitant to tell me anything but reveals that a stove was giving trouble making a ticking noise and it exploded while a student was using it , thankfully no one was hurt.

The very next day (september 25th) revealed that the previous night’s incident was only a candle to the flame of issues on certain campus halls. It was difficult to discern further information regarding the details of the stove incident however after a visit to Sherlock Halls I was surprised to note the number of structural issues in need of repair and adjustment. This ranged from water-tank storage (water outages are frequent) to lack of proper bathrooms and washing facilities and leaking roofs. Some students were forced to sleep in the lounge area due to a lack of proper ventilation/ air conditioning in their rooms. This visit allowed me to be more sympathetic to their strike the very same day.

For students who live on Halls, UWI Cave Hill is their temporary home. It is crucial that they have comfortable facilities to reside in. Students living in bad conditions are at a disadvantage academically as they may find it difficult to focus on their degrees when so many challenges are present. My ride finally came a half an hour later, and I, a Barbadian student was able to go home and forget about the fire scare, but for those who actually live on campus it had quite a different effect.

Poem

Artwork

Art by Christina Murray

Poetry

Boiling Point: ‘No WATA’

As the water crisis in Barbados becomes difficult for many residents, those who live on halls at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, are feeling the dire effects of it as well. The electricity and water outages of November 18th and 19th have led students to their boiling point on the matter, resulting in protests outside of the Frank Worrel Hall on November 19th. Prior to the above however students on campus experienced water outages for an entire week. This issue is a harsh experience for most students due to the fact that they are not in their home country and they rely on the campus for stability and security.

The only campus residency with a generator is Keith Hunte Halls and the water tanks on Sherlock and Frank Worrel had no stored water.

A third year Sports Science student, who is living on campus vividly recalled what he along with other students, experienced during the water outage. He endured 2-3 days of no water on the Frank Worrell Hall. That may seem like a short space of time, however, to the students who have left their home country to live in a foreign place, it can seem like months. For him it seems quite unfair that the standard of living expected with the payment of amenities is not being received.

What dampened his spirits more on the situation, is the neglect felt by him and the other students from the Cave Hill campus. Despite this, the President of the Guild of Students, Thatcher Loutin, ensured us that she fulfilled her duties. In less than an hour on the first day of the outage, Ms. Loutin began distributing bottles of water to the affected students. She also found a way to bring a water truck from the Barbados Water Authority (BWA), for more water to be distributed to the students. He recalls how students surrounded the truck with buckets in high hopes of carrying enough water back to their dorms. Besides the fact that only the BWA assisted, he was still very pleased with the fact that a few Barbadian residents offered their help. Those who lived on campus reached out to friends who are locals for some assistance which they provided.

Students were completely outraged at the situation. One can imagine that collecting water from a water truck, which is being divided amongst many students, will not last long. As a result, they were not able to take showers, cook, or even use the bathroom properly due to the fact that

there was no water to flush the toilets. Some are even more outraged because the University has not reached out to them in order to put a procedure in place in the event that there is another water outage on campus. It was reported that prior and after the water outage, students who lived on campus were experiencing water problems. In the Frank Worrell Hall, the water pressure was very low and the water coming from the pipes was not clean. When asked about it, one student had this to say: “Up here…de water was coming out slightly clear but it wasn’t coming out dirty…like de water coming out clear from de pipe but as yah catch it in a cup yah see it look dirty.” He then proceeded to say that this was not the case for those who lived on Sherlock Hall. The water coming from their pipes looked exactly like mud from the time the pipe was turned on.

Surprisingly, those who live on the Keith Hunte Hall did not have the same story to tell. A firstyear student explained how he didn’t have any water outage and he doesn’t know of anyone living on that hall who experienced it. For other students living elsewhere on campus, the water outage became so overbearing that a few students, who were able to afford it, moved off of the University’s campus into hotels.

Even though it was one of the roughest weeks the students encountered, a source said that he was still able to adjust. Hailing from the island of Antigua where drought occurs for most of the year, he learned to be resourceful when it comes to storing water. He advises himself along with other students who live on campus, to always be prepared. He keeps water stored in bottles under the sink. This consists of either water bottles or bottles that were once holding some other substance.

He also mentioned that one of his friends, who also lives on campus, introduced him to using a water filter. This for him has been a blessing since the water coming from the pipes is not sanitary enough to consume. He sees it as a great investment. Water is the most important factor of life especially on these very hot days. We hope that the water-crisis improves for students as they continue to reside on campus.

Written by Asha-Marei Cumberbatch

Community Engagement @ SML Submitted by Maria Cherrie, User Engagement Librarian

As part of the Sidney Martin Library’s efforts to improve its library programming offerings and its student engagement thrust, The Quality Assurance Unit prepared and administered the Side Hustle: A Research Game survey based on guidelines provided by the library’s management. During the period 15th - 22nd April, 2019, students’ feedback was sought about three new services, namely, Makerspaces, The Gallery and a Library@TheHalls service. Our team valued the feedback of the three hundred and fifteen (315) survey respondents and the team discussed ways in which we would incorporate your feedback. In Semester II (2019/2020) a Library@TheHalls service was piloted in collaboration with The Office of Student Services and The Halls Manager. This community engagement initiative was geared at offering information literacy sessions to the undergraduate and graduate students in community spaces at the three (3) Halls of Residence, at the UWI, Cave Hill Campus. A designated librarian offered ‘drop in’ consultations for three (3) hours at each hall for a tree week period. This initiative was influenced by the Librarians on Halls of Residence Programme at the Mona Campus.

Christina Murray Energy