Pepperpot e paper 2 26 2017

What a difference a dedicated teacher makes ► Page

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See inside:

Victory Valley

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Bridges and Roads in our Co-Operative Republic ► Page

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Albouystown women on the move XXVII ► Page

Selfless Special Needs teachers making a difference in the lives of visually impaired students in Linden

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Boosting river safety

PYARG, MARAD collaborate to enhance river safety in Baracara, Canje Creek RESIDENTS of the Canje Creek community of Baracara will soon be able to access the services of the boat donated by President David Granger, under his 5B’s initiative programme after a collaborative effort by the Presidents Youth Award Republic of Guyana (PYARG)(MS) programme and the Maritime Administration of Guyana (MARAD).

This collaboration saw a team of officials comprising of Executive Officer of the PYARG(MS) Mr. Allister Collins, Director of River Safety Captain John Flores and MARAD’s Public Relations Officer Ms. Akosua Mc Pherson, visiting the Baracara Primary School where they met the Senior Mrs. in the absence of headmistress Ms. Jackie Sampson who was in New Amsterdam on official business and presented a number of kid’s lifejackets for the pupils use.

Director of River Safety at MARAD Capt. John Flores in presenting the lifejackets to the school’s senior mistress indicated that this donation was a collaborated activity between the PYARG(MS) and MARAD in promoting river safety to the pupils of the school.

At the Baracara Health Centre, a concerned group gathered to voice their questions on the subject matter of acquiring river navigation license, since this is a requirement of the law and the system of obtaining such a document was never shown to them.

In the wake of the donation of the boat, which main purpose is to provide transportation for the pupils of the Baracara primary School, the Regional Administration through the Deputy Regional Executive Officer, Mr. Claude Henry, had instructed the boat be only operated by a licensed operator which saw the vessel grounded for close to twenty months.

On a recent visit to the community by newly appointed Minister of Social Cohesion Dr. George Norton, the matter was raised and a promise was made to have it raised at cabinet meeting. So far no word or communication on the matter has reaches the residence of Baracara.

The PYARG (MS), which is the largest youth network in Guyana, after seeking to launch

Residents of Baracara at the community meeting

in the aid of developing the sport in the community.

He noted that the game is a very competitive game and fosters technical and tactical skills with teamwork achievement, noting that efforts will be made to have training session organized by the association which the community falls under While concluding the visit, Executive Officer of PYARG(MS), Mr. Allister Collins, took the opportunity to launch the Presidents Youth Award Republic of Guyana (MS) programme to the residents of Baracara.

In his detailed presentation he spoke of the programme being a non-formal education one which caters for youths between the ages of 14 – 26 yrs., and of the three categories in bronze, silver and gold with four qualifying section in Skill, Physical Recreation, Community Service and Exploration or Expedition Journey.

He outlined the period and areas of service to qualify and he mentioned that participants compete against no one other than themselves. The participants are placed in groups which are normally referred to as units with an assigned trained leader who coordinates activities in accordance to the award manual.

Questions were asked as to whether this program sought to bring developmental relief to the community the residents. In response to another very Chairman of PYARG, Community Development important question regardChairman of Baracara, Marshall Thompson, (left) greets Executive Officer of PYARG (MS) ing religion in the award Mr. Allister Collins program-since the community of Baracara is a predominantly Seventh Day Adventist religious community-they were assured that such activities of the award in its non- formal education programme was referred to weekend activities.

This was quickly answered by the award leader who told the gathering that the programme has made provision for the religion of Christianity regarding Seventh Day Adventist and such activities will be tailored to accommodate them.

He concluded that he will return in a matter of weeks to commence the operational activity of the award programme in Baracara. Community Development Chairman of Baracara community, Mr. Marshall Thompson, thanked the team for their timely visit and pledged his community support in the activities and process for the operation and licensing of residents to operate their private boat and have the donated boat brought into operation and the agencies would be informed on the readiness to commence this process.

PYARG officials donated lifejackets to students and teachers of the Baracara Primary School

their activities in their program to the residents of Baracara, was informed of the situation and promptly informed MARAD of the position. MARAD responded and visited the community.

On arrival MARAD found, like other river in communities, there was no licensed operator and proceeded on a brief safety education campaign to which Capt. Flores explained to residents the basic requirements.

The residents present questioned the MARAD official for clarity on the process and expressed their gratitude for the intervention of both agencies in giving their community support.

Capt. Flores who is also the President of the Guyana Volleyball Federation made a presentation of volleyballs to the Senior Mistress of the Baracara Primary School and the community

Victory Valley Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

By Vanessa Braithwaite

SITUATED in the heart of Wismar, Linden, nestled neatly between several communities on the western shore of the mining town is the little community of Victory Valley. Formerly called Valley of Tears in the early years of Linden’s existence, Victory Valley is the home to the myriads of creeks, springs and streams crisscrossing the hilly landscape which birthed the idea of the original name Valley of Tears. As a result of the negativities derived Young Victory Valley resident from the name Valley Candacy Adams aspires to be of Tears which seemed a cosmetologist practicing her hair braiding skill at her home to describe a place of lamentations and depression, the Indigenous residents of the community changed the name to Victory Valley which puts forth a more positive outlook.

The establishment of Victory Valley came as many of the other communities in Wismar which initially accommodated modest dwelling places for men who sought employment at the then bauxite company Demba. Since Linden was a company managed town, the only residents allowed on the eastern shore known as Mackenzie were employees of DEMBA so those gaining employment would later migrate over to Mackenzie, but the A young boy unfortunate ones would remain in rolling a used Wismar. Since their hope of gaining tire in Victory meaningful employment was not Valley materialised, poverty was rampant

on the Wismar shore and more so in Victory Valley.

Shacks, pit toilets, dilapidated buildings and infrastructures were common sights of Victory Valley. As time progressed and the men started making families, their only hope was pork knocking in the interior. Many of them journeyed to the “gold bush” in search of work leav- The Victory Valley ing their families Community Centre behind for months.

Many of these were successful and things started looking up for the once impoverished community. Pit latrines became flush toilets and shacks became houses.

There was now running water and electricity and the sandy access track became a paved road. Some of the women decided to open up small businesses to bring in income while their spouses were in the interior and so money was circulating more in Victory Valley. The children were now accessing education so their futures were more secured. Crime was at an all-time low and the small community became closely knitted with every one looking out for each other. Mrytlyn Scotland who lived in the community for 6 decades reminisced on those good old days.

“Long ago it was better because ya getting hundreds in ya hand and ya coulda still make it do, but this time ya getting the thousands and because of cost of living, it harder, parents can’t send children to school, can’t

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find things to put in the kit and all of that,” she related A TURN FOR THE WORST After a while, the men were not gaining employment in the interior back dams as several large scale dredge owners and companies began claiming the land they previously worked on. With most of them working in the back dams most of their lives, without acquiring a skill or academic qualifications, they quickly became unemployed. Unconstructive social activities became rampant and on every corner were limers and gamblers and drugs became popular. “The young men use to go in the gold field and when they come out they help their families but now they can’t go because people own the land and no jobs in out here so they end up liming and gambling and smoking,” Mrs Scotland mentioned.

There was an upsurge in crime and the police were often seen conducting raids in the Valley which created a bad image. In fact, the Valley was now labelled as ‘LinTurn to page VII ►►►

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

In 2001 Appellant who Court Case Files appealed without leave had to pay $70,000 to Respondent IN 2001 Responent Nandanie Sukwah filed an originating summons against the Appellant Gahindra Narine where she sought certain orders. The matter was determined In the Respondent's favour.

The Appellant filed an appeal without seeking leave of any court.

The Respondent filed a motion to strike out the appeal.

The issue on appeal was whether the Appellant should have sought leave of the Court to file the Notice of Appeal.

That Court of Appeal constituted by Chancellor Cecil Kennard with Justices of Appeal Singh and Chang Held : Obtaining leave of the Full Court or the Court of Appeal was a condition precedent to lodging of an appeal to the Court of Appeal.

The application for leave must be made within14 days of the date of the decision against which leave to appeal was being sought.

Notice of Appeal struck out.

S. Fraser for the Appellant.

O. Valz, S.C. for the Respondent.

By consent Costs to Respondent fixed in the sum of $70, 000.

Chancellor Kennard who delivered the Judgment of the Guyana Court of Appeal said “Two Motions are before us.

One was filed by Nandanie Sukwah who is seeking an Order that the appeal filed by Gahindra Narine be struck out as being filed in breach of Section 6 (4) of the Court of Appeal Act , Chapter 3 :01 and 0 2 r.2 of the Court of Appeal Rules.

The other motion that has been filed is by Gahindra Narine who is seeking to have the Motion filed by Nandanie Sukwah struck out.

Alternatively, he is seeking an extension of time in which to lodge an appeal from a decision of the Full Court which was delivered on 13th December , 1999, it is to be noted that this latter Motion was filed quite recently , that is to say, on the 6th of February, 2001, while that filed by Nandanie Sukwah was filed on the 27th October, 2000.

The genesis of these Motions is that of an Originating Summons #2918/93 which had been filed by Nandanie Sukwah against Gahindra Narine on the 5th August , 1993 in which she had been seeking certain orders. The matter was determined in favour of Nandanie Sukwah by Prem Persaud J. as he then was , on the 4th of October, 1995.

Gahindra Narine subsequently filed an appeal to the Full Court from the decision of Persaud J. That matter was determined by the Full Court on the 13th December, 1999.

No leave to appeal to Court

By George Barclay of Appeal was granted by the Full Court on that day or any other date.

On the 23 rd of March, 2000 Gahindra Narine filed an appeal against the decision of the Full Court.

It is to be noted that there was a related matter action #2877/93 that was filed by Gahindra Narine and an Order was made by consent of the parties on then 28th of February, 2000.

Germane to the determination of these two Motions is whether it was necessary for Gahindra Narine to obtain leave of either the Full Court or the Court of Appeal before he could have lodged an appeal against the decision of the Full Court . If leave was necessary, then the Notice of Appeal filed by Gahindra Narine would have been improperly filed as it is clear that no leave had been obtained either from the Full Court or this Court before same was filed.

If no leave was necessary, then the Notice of Appeal filed would not have been filed within the prescribed time ,that is to say within six (6) weeks of the decision of the Full Court .

In relation to this latter aspect Mr. Fraser had submitted that time had began to run from the 28th of February, 2000 when the order was made in action #2877/93 and, therefore he urged upon us to find that the Notice of Appeal had been filed within the prescribed time. Alternatively, he is seeking an extension of time to appeal the decision of the Full Court.

It is worthy of note that I should mention that if leave is necessary before the decision of the Full Court can be appealed, then the Motin filed by Gahindra Narine would be of no help to him as he is not seeking an extension of time to apply for such leave . What he is seeking is an Order extending the time within which an appeal can be brought against the decision of the Full Court.

Mr. Valz had urged upon us to find that leave is necessary before there can properly be an appeal from the decision of the Full Court to this Court. Mr. Fraser on the other hand had argued strongly that no leave is necessary.”

The final ruling in the judgment of Chancellor Kennard read – “ It would, therefore follow, that as Gahindra Narine had not obtained leave of either the Full Court or the Court of Appeal before the Notice of Appeal had been filed on the 23rd March , 2000 then there is no proper appeal before this Court.

The obvious course for us to take therefore ,is to strike out that notice of appeal . The consequence of this is that there is now no appeal pending before this Court from the decision of the Full Court by Gahindra Narine. Aditionally, the Motion that had been filed by Gahindra Narine would be dismissed as it is totally misconceived .

By consent Costs to Respondent fixed in the sum of $70, 000.”

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

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By Subraj Singh

Jeff Nichols’ Loving IT is Oscar Sunday again; that time of year when cinephiles all over the world come together to watch, then complain about, the awards show that is supposed to celebrate the best in film.

The Academy Awards has faced a lot of criticism over the years, with its relevance being the main bone of contention. Do the Oscars still matter? My response to this is, since when does rewarding art NOT matter? Is it not still important to have forums where work that would have escaped under the radar, and gone unseen by viewers (Australia’s Foreign Film nominee, Tanna, for example), are given a pedestal and placed in the limelight so people can know of their existence? When did celebrating art become irrelevant? Why is it not okay to be seduced by the power of movies and to allow ourselves to dream and fantasize on Oscar night? These are just some of the reasons why the Academy Awards, in my opinion, still matters.

And yet, and yet, there are times when I do agree with everyone else who says that the Oscars has lost all relevance.

Sometimes it has to do with the nominations(or lack of) in the acting categories, sometimes it’s about the Academy failing to reward the more deserving film, sometimes it’s about the Academy failing to even acknowledge the more deserving films (The Handmaiden did not get a single nomination, for example). This year, one of my favourite films, Loving, directed by Jeff Nichols, gained only a single Oscar nomination and though it deserved so much more, by giving a Best Actress nomination to Ruth Negga (with one of the most competitive lineups in years to choose from), the Academy still managed to highlight a fast-rising talent and, eventually, still managed to bring [some] attention to the film by giving Negga a nomination – perhaps both the best and worst things about the Academy Awards highlighted in this single nomination.

Loving has all the makings of a Best Picture winner. It is set in, Virginia, America, in the 1950s, when interracial marriages are still prohibited in the county. Despite this, however, and despite knowing that they could go to jail, despite the implied misgivings of some of the people close to them, Richard Loving, a white man, and

(Focus Features, 2016)

Mildred, a black woman decide to get married. What follows is the chain of events, including their arrest, their exile from their friends and family, the birth of their children, and the way their case makes it all the way to the Supreme Court, that leads to the case being used to challenge the prohibition of interracial marriage.

Content-wise, the film is a textured look at America, about life and love in the 50s, managing somehow to show both how far the country has come and how far it still needs to go. The Lovings, based on real people, are no grand heroes. They are not warriors and activists and politicians.

They are quiet people, simply wanting to be together, to raise their children close to their loved ones, and to live their lives in peace. It is the simplicity of the lead characters and their needs that makes the story such a compelling one. It is a reminder that movies offer us a slice of life, in this case, real life, that makes us think and makes us feel and, ultimately, is supposed to make us want to do something, whether it’s simply becoming better people or leading a fullfledged revolution. Watching the story of the Lovings unfold before you, filled with tenderness and love, in another time filled with such familiarity, you can’t help not wanting to do both.

Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving gives one of his best performances ever. Edgerton’s portrayal of Richard is that of a

quiet man, determined despite not saying a lot and more determined than anything else to ensure that his wife and family are safe. There is something warm about the character, in a way that reminds you of someone you know and yet, you can’t really have known Richard Loving. But perhaps, this speaks to Edgerton’s ability to enact the part in such a way that a familiarity is created with each audience member, using mostly only facial expressions and body language. Alternatively, it is equally possible that the character’s position when it came to his family was something that was brought to the front of the character through the performance and this feeling of wanting to protect and love our loved ones is something that we can all relate to and this is what makes us feel like we know Richard. He reminds us of ourselves and of each other.

Ruth Negga is just as good as Edgerton. Watching her perform the role of a 1950s housewife in the American South and watching her nail the accent, it is easy to forget that she is an Ethiopian-born, Irish-accented actress. Yet, Negga captures a sort of fortitude that Mildred has, something that is different from Richard’s subtle strength because it is Mildred who seems more willing to believe in the effect their case can have not only in Virginia, but in conjunction with the Civil Rights movement. As you watch her, you get the feeling that she definitely knows that the

V situation is much bigger than she and her husband and you feel compelled to thank her for not slowing it down, but for speeding up the process. It is quite easy to play a character who screams and shouts and vents all the internal turmoil and disquiet in the soul by being loud and talkative. It is much more difficult to do what Negga has done – representing conflict, emotions, confusion and chaos without once having to raise her voice. She more than deserves her Oscar nomination.

So while the film may not have garnered a Best Picture nomination, or a Best Director nomination (it takes real skill to tell this story so subtly without making it more than it needs to be), or nominations for Best Screenplay or Best Cinematography, we are once again faced with the debate regarding whether the Academy does indeed recognize the best. Negga did land a nomination, and while we vent and get angry with the Oscars for not nominating Loving for more, we must simultaneously thank them for this nomination. It is a strange thing indeed that this one nomination manages to highlight both the bad side and the good side of the Academy Awards, and perhaps it is a reminder of the twisting, complicated nature of the issue of the Oscars. So, by all means, let the conversation and debate continue. There is still much to hear and much to discuss.

Happy Oscar Sunday to all.

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Managing gum disease THE PRIMARY objective of treating periodontal (gum) disease is to remove plaque from teeth and to keep it free from returning once removed. This is known in dentistry as prophylaxis but called simply “cleaning” by patients. However, because plaque re-forms within 24 hours, only personal hygiene can keep it from re-establishing itself bearing in mind the effective control of plaque is the “secret” to oral health. Because some people are more susceptible than others, not everyone

may be required to practice prevention with the same diligence.

Anyone with recognized periodontal disease, even in the early stages, is well advised not only to brush but also to floss the teeth thoroughly at least once daily, preferably twice a day. By the same token, excessive brushing and flossing can be harmful.

A woman with an immaculately clean mouth complained to me that her teeth were sensitive to cold water and brushing, even to breathing through her mouth. When she reported that she brushed five or six times a day, she was advised to brush no more than twice a day and to avoid scrubbing the necks of the teeth in a straight back and fourth stroke. Within a few weeks the sensitivity to cold and brushing disappeared.

Her problem resulted from her needlessly wearing down her enamel and dentin with the abrasives in toothpaste.

Similarly, there was a young man who never had a cavity. His gums were healthy, but tissue between the teeth was “punched out”.

He had been advised to use dental floss. Figuring if a little floss was good, a lot was better, he tied knots in the string and pulled them through the teeth, destroying the interdental papilla, the triangular shaped gum tissue that normally fills the space between the teeth. On cessation of this destructive flossing, the gum tissue gradually grew back to its normal shape.

Professional treatment for diagnosed periodontal disease is generally divided into nonsurgical and surgical phases. Antibiotics and antimicrobial chemicals are used for acute infections and for supportive therapy. Mechanical protective devices such as plastic occlusal guards relieve problems caused by compulsive grinding.

Orthodontic realignment of teeth corrects severe and traumatic occlusion. Prosthetic appliances-fixed and removable bridges and splints-may be necessary to restore and stabilize teeth.

And, of course, there is no substitute for personal effort.

There are two major mo-

tivations for a person to practice good oral hygiene. They are to have sparkling clean teeth and wholesome breath, just like the chewing gum twins of the TV ads. Preventing periodontal disease, which requires an understanding and perhaps fear of its cause, is seldom foremost in the avid tooth brusher’s mind.

Primary prevention of periodontal disease requires good personal home care with particular emphasis on diligent daily tooth brushing and flossing. Once the disease has occurred, the same methods, supplemented by professional treatment and special devices and rinses, prevent further extension of the disease.

While gingivitis is reversible gum disease which Over the years various brushing and flossing methods have advocated: this shape, that shape, soft bristles, hard bristles, waxed floss, unwaxed floss, and so on. Whenever we find such inconsistency among authorities, we can reasonably conclude that there is no one best way, but rather a number of modalities that work well.

As long as one brushes without abrading, puncturing, or otherwise irritating the gums, one technique is probably as good as another, provided plaque is effectively removed.

Being a dentist for over twenty years has taught me that the best way to prevent and maintain oral health is to obey the Rule of Thoroughness. This Rule states that the total time spent cleaning the mouth during every 24 hours must be equal to the amount of natural teeth in minutes. For example, if a person has 20 teeth he/she should spend at least 20 minutes everyday brushing, flossing, etc.

One should not scrub the teeth with a straight backand forth stroke because of the danger of wearing grooves along the necks of the teeth, the area at the gum line where the crown joins the root. Brushing from the gums to the tips of the teeth or with a circular motion removes most plaque without damaging the surfaces of teeth. However, plaque also forms beneath the gingival cuff. If the bristles are placed at a 45- degree angle at the neck of the tooth so that the tips slip under the cuff and the brush is then jiggled back and forth, newly formed plaque can be removed from this covered area.

The average person takes less than a minute to brush his or her teeth and fails to remove two-thirds of plaque.

While emphasizing the importance of tooth and gum care in oral health, one should not ignore the tongue. A healthy tongue is smooth and pink Excessive smoking and coffee consumption can cause strains and irritate top surface. Mouth breathing, particularly during sleep, dries out the mouth, preventing adequate lubrication by saliva. A dry mouth may leave the tongue with an unpleasant white coating of dead surface tissue cells that are normally washed away by saliva.

As some people age, their tongues become fissured and the taste buds and other papillae on the top of the tongue grow longer, giving the appearance of the hairy surface. To eliminate stains and mouth odors emanating from the tongue, it should be cleaned daily with a soft nylon toothbrush.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017 ◄◄◄ From page III

den’s getto’. Social ills such as teenage pregnancy, domestic violence and school drop outs were dominant and according to one resident the Valley soon became a ‘condemned community.’ When the Guyana Chronicle visited the community on Tuesday, the roads were in a deplorable state, in fact the taxi driver was even hesitant about driving pass a certain point stressing that the road will damage the car. “Car in want come in the road and me knee bothering me and car in want drop me in so I does say like we is condemn,” 71 year old Scotland said. While she spoke of the social ills of the community, she said that it is being exaggerated. “Valley has so many different route, you could meet Blueberry Hill, you could meet Wisroc, you could meet in the Scheme so anybody do their story they running in the Valley to make the escape and then when they get ketch ya hear is the Valley, yes you would get one and two bad things like any other place, drugs does do like any other place,” she said.

GIVEN LIMITED ATTENTION According to the residents the officials are just promising to look into the terrible state of the community’s infrastructure but those promises are not being materialised and they believe that is it because of the stigma attached to the community. “To my mind nothing is not doing, nothing in the line of development, job creation, nothing

to say well after school where these young people can go,” another resident Lulu Bynoe concluded. In addition to the deplorable roads, there are no street lights and in the nights it is extremely dark to walk in even as cars refuse to drop the residents in.

Bynoe related that the Community Development Council is not functioning as it should for the betterment of the community as there are personality clashes among members which is affecting the development of the community. Currently the lone Community Centre is not being utilized by the community as it should as some members are usurping powers over its management. “They have some people operating like that Centre belongs to them like is their father or mother build it. We are a part of the CDC group and we trying to raise funds and get the youths involved and we trying but they get a next set of people on the one side behaving real ignorant and just causing problems,” Bynoe said.

The Community Development Council Secretary, Yvonne Duncan, explained to this publication that CDC is not functioning as it should and fund raising activities are being hindered. She also spoke of the limited recreational facilities for the youths who are left with nothing much to do but idle. She believes that if the residents work together and there is more support from the authorities, Victory Valley will become a place of more victories than sad stories.

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Guyana in

Expanding livelihoods in North Rupununi LAST WEEK, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Country Office in Guyana and the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) organized a week-long charrette to plan for the expansion of livelihoods that are set to use the upcoming North Rupununi Wetlands (NRW) conservation status to brand and market local products.

The charrette which was conducted in the North Rupununi during the third week of February, brought together a dedicated team which comprised 40 local and international experts who visited and worked with representatives of the 20 NRDDB communities (including Toshaos) of North Rupununi Wetlands. It concluded with a debriefing exercise

at Karanammbu, North Rupununi.

The Cherrette, as outlined by Ms. Annalise Bayney of the Protected Areas Commission, is a very intense period of planning, bringing together targeted sectors of the community in one place, to tackle a ‘burning issue’ or questions. There is brainstorming with the local communities, using all the expertise that’s available to them, with the aim of coming up with viable solutions for that specific problem or situation. Targeted sectors included: miners, operators, citizen-partners, among others.

Such an approach, the WWF considers critical, if people are to live in harmony with their resources and support the creation and maintenance of an effectively conserved area

Exhibits on display at the Rupununi Wetlaands Sustainable Livelihoods forum at the Guyana Marriot Hotel on Tuesday

on their traditional lands.

Additionally, this move would grant economic development for the area and its inhabitants, based on the principle of using natural resources in a sustainable way, the WWF Guianas Country Office in Guyana says.

CONSERVATION AREAS As a signatory to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CDB), Guyana has committed to meet a target of conserving 17% of its land area by 2020. And already, Guyana’s National Protected Area System (NPAS) and the Wai Wai’s Konashen Community Owned Conservation Area currently protect 8.3% of Guyana’s Territory.

While this is so, one of Guyana’s Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Climate Agreement (PCA) is a conditional commitment by His Excellency President David Granger, to expand the NPAS by 2 Million hectares if the necessary support is provided. This expansion, a release from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Guianas, says, would meet Guyana’s commitment to both the UNCBD and the Paris Agreement.

Over the last two decades, twenty communities and 7,000 people constituting the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB) have been repeatedly advocating for a conservation area to protect the North Rupununi Wetlands. Taking note of President Granger’s commitment, they are hopeful that their long-anticipated desire can now be realized.

Additionally, it has come as a breath of fresh air that the WWF has embarked on providing technical support to the NRDDB, with the aim of facilitating discussions among those communities, about the delineation and management of a protected area in the North Rupununi.

Such a move, the WWF said, would begin to meet Guyana’s Commitment and establish a new model for conserving indigenous and state lands in the wetlands of the North Rupununi, in which the communities and the Protected Areas Commission (PAC) would collaborate closely and share responsibility.

NORTH RUPUNUNI WETLANDS North Rupununi Wetlands (NRW) are a unique and highly diverse ecosystem that includes seasonally flooded forests, wetlands and savannahs that are extremely important for the biodiversity and ecosystem services that they provide to local communities and the nation. Of interest, the Rupununi River and its tributaries store enormous quantities of water in the rainy season and incredibly, slowly releases it into the Essequibo, limiting the severity of flooding events in coastal Essequibo communities.

A GREEN ECONOMY The cherrette’s interventions, the WWF observed, are directly in line with Guyana’s Vision of a green economy, and can serve to further the nation’s development along this pathway, it said.

It focused on conservation, compatible livelihoods that people in the North Rupununi are already engaged in, in order to identify strategic interventions that foster enterprise growth. The goal is to increase jobs through improved business viability and profitability and deliver economic benefits that are enhanced by the North Rupununi Wetlands conservation status.

The WWF noted that there is already a growing nature-based tourism industry in the area, with tourist lodges at the villages of Surama, Rewa, Yupukari, Apoteri and Karanambu Ranch and Rockview Lodge that would benefit all from the creation of a protected area.

“Tourism activities that rely on healthy wetlands include birding, wild-life viewing, catch and release sport fishing, and adventure river trips, and are already an important contributor to the local economy,” the release outlined. Other conversation-compatible activities in the region include: cultivation and agro-processing of cassava a. cashew-nuts and peanuts; free range cattle ranching and timber and non-timber forest products (medicinal remedies, cosmetics, craft and home furnishing.

Debriefing forum The week’s charrette concluded with a symposium, hosted by the WWF, under the theme: “Sustainable Livelihoods within a Green Economy.” Held at the Guyana Marriott Hotel last Friday, it served to introduce the charrette team and enlightened stakeholders about the 20 NRDDB communities, sharing with them, plans for fostering their enterprise development, while giving them an alternative to mining, the wildlife trade or wage employment in Lethem or Brazil.

Keynote speaker was Vice President and Minister of Indigenous People’s Affairs, Hon. Sydney Allicock, MP. Other speakers included: Mr. Chuck Hutchinson, WWF Guianas; Eco-Tourism Guru, Mr. Jan Wigsten of Nomadic Journeys, Sweden; Ms. Lesley de Souza PhD; from the Field of Museum, Chicago; Paulette Allicock and representatives of local institutions, Macushi Research Unit, Surama, Region 9 and Michael Williams, Vice Chair of the NRDDB. WWF-Guianas is part of one of the world’s leading conservation organizations with a mission to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Children's success in life depends on parents' guidance and help MANY parents from time to time have spoken with the members of the Committee of the Guyana Consumers Association expressing their worry at the future of their young children. Their complaints concern such matters as the poor showing of their children at school, the lack of interest of their children in religion and ethics, their unconcern about money and the economic aspects of life and their lack of ambition to qualify in or even choose a profession.

All these matters could be successfully dealt with by parents showing and exercising greater parental control and guidance over their children, by specifically encouraging them to be associated with their mandirs (temples), masjids and churches and also taking measures to economically socialize them.

In this article we shall mention a number of actions parents could take to avoid their children turning out to be delinquents or flaneurs: Parents must take a deeper interest in the lives of their children and show love and understanding of them so that children could communicate freely with them.

They should not leave it all to teachers or peers. In their school studies children should be encouraged, helped and praised and acknowledgement should be given anytime they do well. If they do badly, they should not be criticized but help and encouragement should be proffered to them. Parents should never forget that children are highly sensitive and suffer in silence and an insult or hurtful word would oftentimes live with them for the rest of their lives.

In their school work, parents must see to it that their children read and study their text-books and complete their assignments on time. Wide reading is a necessity for any educational advancement and the younger the child starts the greater will be his chances of success. Greater use should be made of the public library facilities and if there is a school library, the child should be encouraged to use it.

There are books written for young people and these should be first read. Such would be, for example, Grimm's and Anderson's and other fairy tales, Greek and Indian mythologies or the Potter books. Later they would be introduced to the classics. In this effort, TV addiction should be discouraged and in particular computer games; the TV educational programes should however be introduced.

Mathematics tend to be the weak subject with a large percentage of children. This is so not because of any innate ineptitude of the child but simply because the subject was not properly taught and the child was not given the necessary foundation. Arithmetic is the best foundation and most parents could assist their children in this. Such assistance could be ensuring children learn the tables, the four rules and doing some problems.

In the last generation, children in the villages and the city, with the encouragement of their parents and teachers, always aspired to some profession they would like to enter whether it would be a trade such as mechanics, carpentry, tailoring or even less popular ones like taxidermy or even air-traffic control officers. Others would think of Law, Medicine or Engineering. Those who came from business backgrounds inevitably went into business.

The overwhelming majority of the professional classes, even the "learned professions" came from very humble backgrounds. Albouystown, for example, produced a fair share of the lawyers, doctors and engineers. Parents and teachers must again play this constructive role of helping children to choose professions and this would certainly eliminate the aimlessness which affects so large a proportion of the adolescent population.

Religion was a great stabilizing force in the Society. In the villages established by African freedmen and Indian indentured servants, religion bound the community together and gave a great deal of moral strength and fortitude to them. There was very little crime and people were able to achieve what they had set out to do overcoming whatever adversities may afflict them.

The belief in God provided a guiding force and resulted in much mental and spiritual strength. In the last 20 or 30 years people have moved away from religion and as such have subtracted a valuable segment from their lives. Parents should take their children, or at least insist that they attend their mandirs (temples), masjids and churches.

They should insist that their children participate in the religious ceremonies asking the pandits, moulvis and pastors to explain the rational bases of such ceremonies. They should be encouraged to have reverence for all religions for by so doing their reverence for their own would be firmer. If parents bring up their children to be Godfaring, they would be giving them a gift for their future success and happiness.

Knowledge of money and the earning and accumulating of it is one of the most useful skills to have in successfully navigating through life. If children are socialized in this skill from the earliest ages, parents would be bequeathing an invaluable gift to their children. Parents should involve their children in all domestic chores since such skills, once learnt, would always be useful in life and would also save money. Many a student studying abroad, for example, thank their parents that they were taught those survival skills.

Children should be taught to use various goods such as clothes and equipment to their full life-span since if they do this, they would in effect be earning. If one has a cursory look at the rubbish dumps of Georgetown, one would see quantities of usable shoes, clothes,

electrical equipment and even books thrown away. In past generations, this was never the case. This culture of using purchases to their full life-span must be resuscitated since it would be a money earner and eventually improve the standard of living.

Children should be taught to save: Give them a small tin or bottle and have them deposit in it a few cents from their allowance every day. At the end of the year they would be surprised how much money they have when they open the tin. This would be the first step in saving.

Take them shopping and let them look for the best price and quality for any item to

IX be purchased. If this is done with some frequency, they would learn the value of money.

And lastly, if a child wishes to buy a particular high-priced item, parents should resist the temptation of buying it but tell him or her that there is not enough money, but it could be bought if money is saved to buy it.

Let the child begin to save, probably increasing his allowance for him/her to be able to raise the money quicker and after a period the item could be bought. The child would have learnt two lessons - one has to live within one's means and savings are made by sacrificing the gratification of to-day for the greater benefit in the future.

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Bridges and Roads in our Co-Operative Republic

By Francis Quamina Farrier

FOR folks of my age group, many are wondering where have all those forty seven years of Guyana as a Republic gone!

We cried with joy when British Guiana got independence fifty years ago and our beautiful country became independent Guyana. We recalled the humour over the debates for the new spelling of the name; "Guiana" which became "Guyana".

Four years later, Guyana was changed officially to "The Co-Operative Republic of Guyana". The Co-operative movement was to be the major sector for the development of our country.

Then the authorities told us that we will part company with our former colonial masters, the British. We no longer have a "Queen of Guyana". Guyana will remain a member of the British Commonwealth group of Nations, with Queen Elizabeth as

head. Guyana appointed a Governor General in the person of Sir David Rose, who replaced Queen Elizabeth as the head of Guyana. And as we celebrate Guyana's forty seventh Republic Anniversary in this year 2017, there is another "David" at the helm, in the person of President David Granger.

Guyanese of my generation, dreamed

many dreams. Dreams of what direction we envisioned our country would take.

The roads we will traverse and the bridges we would build with other countries in the world; especially countries of the NonAligned Group of Nations. Guyana is the Turn to page XIX ►►►

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

WORLD WILDLIFE DAY 2017 FOUR years ago the United Nations designated March 03, as World Wildlife Day. This year’s observance focuses on the role of future leaders in Wildlife Management and Conservation under the theme “Listen to Young voices.” World Wildlife Day 2017, encourages youths to be active agents

of change, addressing the many threats facing wildlife such as: 1. Illegal trade; 2. Habitat destruction; 3. Pollution; 4. Consumerism; and 5. Over-exploitation.

BENEFITS OF WILDLIFE 1. Wildlife is critical to medicine, science and agriculture 2. Wildlife forms an important part of Tourism for many

countries including Guyana.

3. Wildlife is vital to natural processes such as, ecological and biological cycles essential for life and is dependent on interaction between plants, animals, microorganisms and abiotic factors.

4. Wildlife is important to life – our food, clothing, air and experiences definitely wouldn’t be same without wildlife.

WHAT CAN OUR YOUTHS DO?

Wildlife has numerous benefits, however there are many threats which can hinder our youths from reaping future benefits. Below are some things you can do to safeguard wildlife, on World Wildlife Day and everyday.

1. Just Do one thing today to make a difference and help wildlife conservation.

2. Set a goal - Live your daily life with the smallest negative impact on the environment, wildlife and their habitats.

3. Mobilise – Form or join an environmental club in your school or community and work with businesses or organization within your area to protect the environment.

4. Visit – Visit areas that educate you and seek to conserve the environment such as, national parks and ecotourism sites.

5. Consume responsibly- Do not purchase wild meat or eggs from illegal traders and NEVER purchase endangered species or their products. Educate yourself on the status of various species.

6. Volunteer – One of the best way to learn about wildlife is to volunteer at an institution that deals with wildlife.

7. Stay informed – Know what’s happening with the plants and animals on the planet and those in your area.

8. Speak up – share your knowledge, passion and questions about wildlife conservation with your friends, family and community – either in person or online.

6. Reach out– If you witness an illegal activity which can affect wildlife and the environment, inform the authorities. Do your part to educate the defaulters! Do not sit in silence and allow your fu-

ture to be jeopardized.

In Guyana, the Wildlife Management Authority is responsible for Regulating Wildlife Trade and the Environmental Protection Agency for Wildlife Man-

South Rupununi as well as the youths on Shell Beach Protected Area, all play an active role in the protection of wildlife. Through simple acts for environmental protection wildlife can also be

agement and Conservation.

The Wildlife Management and conservation Regulations was Gazetted in 2013, but was amended in 2016, to better address the issues facing wildlife. In Guyana many of the conservation organisations such as Protected Areas Commission, World Wildlife Fund, Conservation International, Iwokrama Centre for Rainforest Conservation involve youths in Wildlife Management and Conservation. In addition, the Guyana Forestry Commission and the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission all have a role to play in this process. The Wildlife Clubs of North and

cared for.

Join the World Wildlife Day Art Exhibition and Interactive Forum at Castellani House on March 03, 2017 form 09:00h – 15:00h. Come learn more about wildlife in Guyana and how you can be involved. This event is FREE! Sources http://wildlifeday.org/ content/get_involved http://nre.gov.gy/category/guyana-wildlife-management-authority/ C/O EIT Division, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at: eit.epaguyana@ gmail.com

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

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Linden to Lethem road

Chamber says project can help jumpstart Linden’s economy

By Vanessa Baithwaite Linden Chamber of Commerce President, Kevin Deyoung, is of the opinion that the imminent commencement of the construction of the first phase of the Linden to Lethem road will significantly benefit Linden’s economy which he posits is currently at a standstill. Deyoung said that businesses are suffering in Linden because of many factors and he is optimistic that things will turn around once the road is constructed. The change he said will come about from the very construction as many Lindeners are expected to be in the employ of the contractor.

Linden being dubbed the gateway to the interior will now be dubbed the gateway to Brazil and in extension South America, which will open up avenues for development in a plethora of sectors including the tourism, agricultural, business, manufacturing and construction sector. “We see this road as a rebranding of Linden because the road opens Brazil and the rest of South America,” Deyoung said.

He revealed that many Caribbean companies have expressed interest in establishing business relations with Brazil but it is difficult and expensive in accessing the largest country in South America. With the construction of the road, these companies can access Brazil through Linden which will be cheaper and more so with the availability of a transhipment port located in Mackenzie and Region 10 having access to all three of the main rivers.

“This is not only for Linden or Guyana but for the rest of the Caribbean because it is very expensive to go around getting to Brazil, gaining easy access to that economy will be a boost to any nation at this time, mostly Linden that is expected to be the turning point for Linden’s problems.”

Though the road will not answer all of Linden’s economic problems, it will alleviate several of these which will be advantageous to the retailers and small scale manufacturers.

Deyoung expressed concern for the challenges being faced currently by the business owners who have raised it with the LCC out of frustration. “Just recently I was speaking to a shop owner and she explained that she does not even know how to stock her shop because she is afraid that her stocks will not sell.” Speaking to the Guyana Chronicle was pharmacy operator Elmo Austin who described business in Linden as frustrating and slow. “Some days I go home not a cent, it is very very hard,” he said. Shonnette Seaforth a variety stall operator expressed similar frustration over the slowness in business since funds isn’t circulating within the town.

Deyoung believes that one of the deterring factor is the isolation as it relates to stake holders who are not working in unison for Linden’s progression. The RDC, MTC, NGO’s, Linden Enterprise Network, banking institutions and large companies he believes need to collabo-

A section of the Linden-Lethem road

ing of Linden’s economy. In addition to this there are widespread calls for job creation within the town as employment rate is only 70%. With investment at a standstill and lack of government employment, several young people, though qualified are turning to security firms for employment. If this is not the case many are seen pulling beverage coolers selling water and juice in the main market arena.

President of the Linden Chamber of Commerce Kevin Deyonge

rate more for the betterment of Linden. “When that road is completed there is a lot that is expected to come to Linden and we feel that we need to prepare for what is to come.” In addition to the road, Deyoung believes that the other two main areas that can contribute to Linden’s economic turnaround are tourism and agriculture. “Linden is blessed with blue water lakes, there are people from all around Guyana who have never seen this sort of thing.

For Agriculture, there is land available, in West Watooka there is soil that produces one of the best cassavas I have ever eaten, if we are able to produce more in Linden rather than to import we would have more money circulating within Linden,” he contended.

Linden has been categorised as a prospective World Tourism Destination by a representative of the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The announcement was made at a recently held World Tourism Summit in Chonqing, China that was attended by Mayor of Linden, Carwyn Holland and Regional Chairman Renis Morian. In an interview with the Guyana Chronicle, Mayor Holland said that he was amused to see Linden’s rich scenic beauty and natural picturesque landscape and majestic sandy hills being featured in the presence of international leaders.

Currently it is estimated that 70% of the food that is consumed in Linden, is brought into Linden and this has been a major concern for small scale farmers who have to compete with vendors selling produce from as far as Essequibo to retail vendors who support them because the price may be a little less. One West Watooka farmer Christopher John told the Guyana Chronicle that many of the sellers would purchase wholesale from the farmers coming out of the region rather than their own. “We here farming strictly organic and they buy fertilized stuff from people from outside rather than supporting their own,” John stressed. In addition to this, there were calls for support to be given to small scale agro processors and manufacturers as this would aid in the circulation of money and the strengthen-

Many young boys have also joined the Linden- Georgetown car route just to earn a dollar. With over 60 cars in addition to both mini buses and big buses plying the route, some of them may be fortunate to pull one trip which brings in $8000. Out of that $8000, they are expected to pay the owner of the car $5000 daily in addition to gasoline which cost minimum $3000 per trip.

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Hello Everyone, I hope this week has treated you well.

I received an email requesting that I speak about Bi-polar disorder. I was quick to respond to this as I have seen first- hand the struggles that an individual with Bi-polar disorder goes through. It is especially difficult in Guyana as treatment, particularly mental health specialists, are not available in all health centres. What makes it even more difficult is the individual’s lack of social support due to a lack of understanding of this disorder. This is what I would most like to remedy today. To have everyone understand exactly what it is and how to deal with it.

So first, we have to know exactly what it is.

Bi-polar disorder is a type of mental illness that causes unusual changes in a person’s mood and behaviour. It causes them to be full of energy or have a complete lack of energy with little notice. It mostly consists of manic and depressive episodes which are characterised by extremely happy/up moods and extremely unhappy/down moods respectively. Bi-polar disorder can occur at any age but often diagnosed in teenage years.

It is typically a co-occurring condition which means it is usually paired with other conditions such as anxiety disorders, ADHD, substance abuse or eating disorders.

It makes individuals more susceptible to physical issues such as headaches, diabetes, heart disease etc. This makes it difficult for these individuals to obtain and maintain jobs, healthy relationships and even to carry out regular day to day activities.

WHAT ARE THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF BI-POLAR DISORDER? It is quite difficult to diagnose bi-polar disorder because the symptoms are similar to other illnesses such as schizophrenia, psychosis or depression. The changes in mood/emotion are an obvious tell but there are more aspects that can be considered.

There will be general changes as well as changes based on the type of episode experienced that day. General signs would be severe changes in sleeping and eating patterns. There may be a lack of judgement and heavier drug use to deal with the emotional and behavioural changes.

If the individual is experiencing a manic

episode, they will have an unusual amount of energy and talk incessantly. They will seem overly happy and confident. This eventually causes trouble sleeping and anger and irritation if their moods are matched by those around them.

If the experience is a depressive episode, the symptoms will be almost the opposite.

The individual will seem very down, may sleep for most of the day, not talk at all and may seem emotionless. They may isolate themselves, have no interest in any activity, not eat, feel worthless and may even consider suicide.

It is possible that the individual feels both of these at the same time, called mixed

considered less severe than the previously mentioned diagnosis.

Other Types means that you have bi-polar symptoms that have been brought on or made worse by other mental illnesses such as substance abuse.

episode. This can potentially bring on psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations (hearing voices etc.) However, this is rare.

All episodes will of course affect the individual’s relationships, judgement, productivity and efficiency. How often episodes happen depends on the individual, their diagnosis and stress level.

There are four types of bi-polar disorder which are Bi-Polar 1, Bi- Polar 11, Cyclothymia and ‘other types’.

Bi-polar 1 occurs when an individual has experienced an episode of mania which has lasted over a week. They may or may not have experienced a depressive episode.

Bi-polar 11 occurs when you have experienced both manic and depressive episodes.

Cyclothymia occurs when you are experiencing both episodes rarely and is

Other factors known to increase the possibility of bi-polar disorder include heavy stress or trauma such as a death of a loved one, severe neglect or any kind of abuse.

Treatment There is no cure for bi-polar disorder- it is a lifelong illness that needs to be treated with medication and psychotherapy. However, people with bi-polar disorder should not feel hopeless. With proper counselling and medication, the individual can lead a normal, productive and happy life. This means that if you feel that you or a friend/ family member may be suffering from bi-polar disorder, please go to your nearest health centre to discuss your concerns as soon as possible.

As usual, treatment is most effective with all information so I suggest to start

HOW DO WE DEVELOP BI-POLAR DISORDER? Research suggests that there is no single cause for bi-polar disorder.

We know that brain structure/functioning and genetics are huge factors when it comes to any mental illness. Children with a parent or sibling with bi-polar disorder are much more likely to develop it themselves.

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journaling and take it to your doctor. This means writing down your daily moods, when and why it changes, sleep patterns etc. Knowing this will keep you a few steps ahead.

Of course treatment requires medication and counselling but there are personal steps that can be taken along the way to better manage this disorder.

Most importantly, know yourself. Know your moods, triggers and warning signs.

What is likely to cause what episode and how do you know it’s about to happen? Being aware means being properly prepared.

As always, look after your physical health.

Exercise, eat and sleep well. Do so at the same time every day- stick to a routine.

Find calming activities to do daily or weekly to manage potential stress. Use your support circle. Let your family and friends know when you are experiencing an episode and allow them to help any way they can. If you are a friend/family member of someone with bi-polar disorder, keep in mind how they feel after an episode which is unhappy and ashamed and unable to cope- that is, if they even remember their episode.

Also, research shows that people are more likely to seek help during a depressive episode so it might be better to approach them then.

Why get treatment?

Bi-polar disorder left untreated will more often than not lead to additional mental health issues such as depression, anxiety and substance use. It may also cause financial and legal issues, strained relationships and suicidal thoughts. So, again, please go to your nearest health centre today Thanking you for reading. Please keep sending any topics you’d like to talk about to caitlinvieira@gmail.com Or come in to see me at: Georgetown Public Hospital: Psychiatric Department: Monday- Friday – 8am- 12pm Woodlands Hospital: Outpatient Department Drug and Alcohol group meetings Mondays 4:15 Good mental health group meetingsWednesdays 4:15 Suicide Prevention Helpline numbers: 223-0001, 223-0009, 623-4444, 600-7896 Say Yes to Life and No to Drugs! Always

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

How to look at a work of art

WE’VE all been there at some begin to consider their individual and point. Standing in front of somecollective meanings. What is the artone’s artwork, completely bewilist trying to say with all these things? dered as to what exactly we’re supWhat is the narrative? Could the work posed to “see,” particularly with be considered personal, political, non-representational works. Fear social or just abstract? Was the work of embarrassment prevents us from meant to have a deeper meaning or asking the obvious. Chances are was it simply meant to be appreciated that if you’ve passed through the for what it was? Does the title of the education system in Guyana then work provide any context? Could you no one has ever taught you how to think of anything similar that was look at a work of art. Some would done or attempted before by another argue that the idea of teaching artist? If yes, picture this other work. someone how to look at something Consider the two and whether or not is ridiculous. But is it? they were successful in their individPersonally, I believe there is valual attempts. Note their differences ue in being taught basic observation and similarities. What kind of mood techniques, not just for viewing art does the work evoke? If the work is but viewing in general. As visual beby an artist whose works you have ings we tend to take a lot of what we seen before, has the subject or style of see and how we see it for granted. We the work changed in any significant spend most of our lives perfecting way since your last viewing? These our relationship with words but just a are all questions that have the potenfraction of that time is spent truly antial to change the way you engage alyzing the images we see. So how do with art in general. we bridge the gap between the ways 4. Connect. This step is tricky bewe are educated with words as well cause you won’t always connect with as with images? Of course, viewing the art you’re viewing, and that’s art is a subjective exercise but there okay. But you won’t know if it’s are general guides that have the poyour “cup of tea” unless you try to tential to bolster our appreciation for understand what the artist is hoping art by activating the under-utilized to communicate with their work. If areas of our brain. you find yourself frequenting exhiHow nice it would be to not sail bitions then it means you are, at the past someone’s art after just a few very least, curious enough to want to seconds simply because we don’t know more about the works on disThrowback: Patrons viewing an Aubrey Williams painting in the “Circa 1970: The Crossroads” exhibition which opened in February of 2016 at the National Gallery of Art, Castellani House “get” it. If I had to pinpoint a single play. Follow through on that curiosity cause I would say our reluctance by giving the work a fair chance. At respond to untitled abstract art? Hopefully, artwork on display. Ask yourself questions to spend any significant amount of time the following tips would be able improve to get the ball rolling. What do you see? Is this point you would’ve identified all the looking at something is directly linked your art viewing experiences. it two-dimensional or three-dimensional? elements in the work and considered the artto our shortened attention span since the 1. Slow down. I find it extremely dif- What is the scale? What materials did the ist’s intention. Now ask yourself if you feel introduction of technology, particularly ficult to focus on viewing a work of art on artist use? What about the artist’s use of any connection with the work. Regardless if social media. Whether we realize it or not, opening nights. It’s always noisy and there colour and mark making techniques? What you do or don’t, try to figure why you feel we are actively training ourselves to con- are too many distractions that prevent me is the subject of the work? How did the the way you do about the work in question. sume visual material in record-breaking from really taking in the work. My train of artist utilize shapes and forms? What type Even if you don’t like the work, there is time, scrolling past posts every three to thought is always interrupted by persons of composition did the artist use? How is still value in questioning your response four seconds, occasionally stopping only introducing themselves or friends catching the work connected to the works on either to it. You can learn quite a lot about your to comment or click “like” before moving up. While I try to attend as many openings side of it, or the work opposite it? There are own preferences and the many factors that on. Most of us are guilty. In fact, you would as my schedule would allow, I also try to many more questions that could follow but shape them by digging beyond the surface. be hard-pressed to find someone who isn’t. revisit them when it’s much quieter and the idea of this exercise is to make a mental Likewise, if you’re a huge fan of the work How important is the title of the work I can hear myself think. If this dilemma inventory of everything you can identify it shouldn’t be enough to just say, “I like it to your viewing experience? I once had a sounds familiar then I would encourage in the artist’s work and to pay attention to because I like it.” Train your brain out of college lecturer tell the class that the title you to do the same. You would be surprised how it is displayed in the exhibition. In any the lazy habits it would’ve developed over should be the last thing we looked at, that how differently you respond to the works. curated exhibition works are deliberately the years. Learn to question everything, we should instead take time to consider However, if you have the discipline to slow positioned to have “conversations” with the things you agree with as well as the every detail of the work before letting the your brain down in the midst of the noise each other and if you’re in too much of a things you don’t. There are no prescriptive title shape our interpretation of it. Then on opening nights then you will have no hurry then you could miss out on quite a lot! outcomes or answers but I’m willing to of course there are times when the work problem enjoying the works on display!

3. Consider. Now that you’ve made guarantee that if you follow these guides, is untitled. What then? How should we 2. Pay attention. Take time to assess the note of all the elements in the work you can you will never look at art the same again.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

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Women on the Move!

Some of the members of ‘Women on the Move’ receive Women’s Empowerment certificates in Business Planning and Saving from VYC. In this Delano Williams photograph the Albouystown graduates pose with members of the VYC and Cuso International

Albouystown women on the move

By Shauna Jemmott

“THEY ARE hungry, they’re thirsty for something and they just don’t need to be in Albouystown stagnated; they need to move on.”

With this simple observation, Albouystown resident Kim Morgan, unselfish in her bid for development, gathered a group of single parent women and formed ‘Women on the Move’ - an organization aggressively working to lift the standards of living of the Georgetown community through empowerment and skills training.

Nine of the 35 members of the organization recently graduated with Business Empowerment certificates from international organizations CUSO International and Volunteer Youth Corps (VYC) at the mosque in Albouystown, and each of them now has a business plan to take them to their next level.

Kim Morgan , chairman of ‘Women on the Move’ told the Pepperpot Magazine she was inspired to bring the women together while as a volunteer with the Civil Defense Commission managing a shelter in Albouystown during a flood in July 2015. She spoke to the women and understood that they needed help and a spirited effort for motivation.

“The status of the women is very low in the community, so you just don’t need to have them being at home when they can help themselves. So I decided to have some classes with them. Kinda having them bringing out everything locked down in their minds all the while. If we have any issue we would call the Ministry of Social Protection whose representative will come in and see how much counseling or public assistance is needed,” she explained.

She said the majority of Albouystown women were single parents and dropped out of school as a result of teenage pregnancy or poverty.

“So you can understand the plight of the women in the ‘forgotten community.’ The children are coming home with homework and mommy don’t know anything because

of her status. You just can’t focus on the children of the community, you have mommy there so you have to take her out from the home so that she can be independent,” she explained.

The group meets every Monday afternoon for discussions and skills training, and

Chairman of the Albouystown group, Kim Morgan

to plan activities. Classes in cake decorating, leather craft, fashion designing, first aid, curtain-making, drapery, floral arrangements, and information technology are being held and the women are now going through the processes to make attractive their business plans and secure loans.

Organisations such as Red Cross, Community Development Committee (CDC), Disaster Risk Management and the Ministry of Social Protection have been very supportive of their efforts and some had even joined

and distributed free spectacles to children in Albouystown.

“I myself I used to do SBAs home typing but due to the flood my system is down. And then running in the program with the women now, I’m like the mother of the women, so I’m starting back my business too which is ‘4Ts’ which is typing, SBAs, stationary corner,” Morgan told the Sunday Chronicle.

Registration of the group is soon to be done at the Small Business Bureau and they are hoping to be recipients of a $300,000 small business grant.

And even as five of the women received small grants from the Ministry of Social Protection to start businesses, she said, “We’re just praying that at least three women can get grants from there (Small Business Bureau).”

Women on the Move has brought hope and confidence in family life in Albouystown with the single parent women who once did nothing, becoming empowered and independent and making a difference in the lives of their children.

“These young women would have been at home doing nothing, so it kinda change them telling them they don’t just want to be at home sitting on the corner or on the steps looking out. We need to do something for ourselves and nobody is coming to say ‘we can help you,’ she noted.

With the help too of ‘A’ Division Commander Clifton Hicken, the women said they could not have asked for a more supportive commander as he would supply certain needs of the group, and has allowed them access to a computer to do their documentation. The group is aiming to establish the first Day Care Center in Albouystown.

“We’re not registered as yet but we still have a brand. Without the help of the councilors of the community we’re doing it as women, trying to make the women in the area feel better because they are hungry.”

Treasurer of the group Donna Plass said the group’s goal was to push for the development of the women.

“As we mobilize them and they come forward and they say what they would like to do, Ms. Kim will get into the areas and get it to them.”

Another member, Lorraine Nurse, said she teaches the rest of the women craft even while benefiting from skills training and other empowerment programs. She now owns a stall on Regent Street where she retails her products.

“I took the program because I need to get certain things straightened out and understand the business,” she said.

Volunteer Youth Corp (VYC) executive Goldie Scott said the international organization was working beyond training and had also established linkages to micro-financing institutions after the women would have submitted their individual business proposals.

“Our goal is to link them to micro-financing institutions such as Small Business Bureau and we have basically reviewed the business plans and improve on them. We want to take those business plans to IPED or Small Business Bureau so they can access financing.”

She said that though it might not be a large sum of cash it could go a long way as an investment. VYC was working on quickly getting the businesses started and the Small Business Bureau will host training and advisory meetings in areas of financial management and small business management, among other areas.

“They must be able to not only have linkage, but access, so complete that business plan and we can go on to any other interest that both groups can have on our side and their side,” Scott said.

Scott explained that VYC intervened in the community with an interest in the development of children and youth through access to quality social and economic support.

“But where we have weaved women in is because of our need to improve the quality of families. We are working with children and youth, when they go back home the economic condition is still the same, so you really haven’t made the sort of change that you wanna see. That is why the last five years they have diversified their focus to include women,” she said.

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Protecting coconut palms from pests and diseases INTEGRATED pest management (IPM) is a holistic approach to crop protection based on the integration of multiple strategies, namely, cultural, physical, mechanical, biological and chemical. IPM programmes are often devised to keep the pest populations to a level that is lower than the economical threshold levels.

Modern IPM incorporates agro-ecosystem analysis, ecological engineering, pesticide application techniques, plant-health at different stages, pest and defender population dynamics, soil conditions, climatic factors and utilisation of farmers’ past experience.

Farmers are encouraged to make decisions based on their collective observations and to share their knowledge with each other.

The reliance of pesticides in farming is a major cause of widespread ecological imbalance resulting in pesticide residue contamination, insect resistance and pest resurgence. There is rising public concern about potential adverse effects of pesticides on human health, environment and biodiversity. These effects can be minimized through the development, dissemination and promotion of sustainable bio intensive approaches. This approach will enable farmers to take informed decisions and will also result in use of chemical pesticides only as a last resort and in a safe and judicious manner.

Resistance to pesticides occurs when there is a heritable change in the sensitivity of a pest population that is reflected in the repeated failure of a product to achieve the expected level of control when used according to the label recommendation for that

– Integrated Pest Management

pest species. The causes and rate at which pesticide resistance develops depend on several factors, including how rapidly the pest reproduces, the pest’s level of resistance, the migration and host range of the pest, the pest’s persistence and specificity, and the rate, timing and number of applications of pesticide made.

For instance, insect pests that survive in large populations and breed quickly are at greater advantage of developing resistance especially when insecticides are misused or over-used. The following IPM strategies are recommended to avoid pesticide resistance: 1. Monitoring: Pest population development in the field should be monitored to determine if and when control measures are warranted.

Also, one should monitor and consider the number of natural enemies when making control decisions. After treatment, continue monitoring to assess pest populations. Pesticides should be used only as a last resort when all other non-chemical management options are exhausted. Apply bio-pesticides or chemical insecticides judiciously when the pests are in most vulnerable life stage.

One should adhere to application rates and intervals as per label directions.

2. Pesticide selection: Pesticides should be selected with care and considerations should be made on the impact on future pest populations and the environment. For example, one should avoid broad-spectrum insecti-

cides when a specific insecticide will work.

Preference should be given to green labelled insecticides.

3. Pesticide application: While applying pesticides, extreme care should be taken in their application in terms of dose, volume, timing, coverage and application techniques as per label directions.

4. Pesticide rotation: One should avoid the repeated use of the same pesticide, pesticides in the same chemical class, or pesticides in different classes with same mode of action and rotate/alternate pesticide classes and modes of action.

5. Maintenance of conservation areas: Care should be taken to preserve susceptible individuals within the target population by leaving unsprayed areas within treated fields.

These susceptible individuals may outcompete and interbreed with resistant individuals, diluting the resistant genes and therefore the impact of resistance.

SURVEILLANCE As an IPM requirement, surveillance or plantation scouting on pest occurrence and other observations at the plantation should commence soon after plant establishment and be done on a weekly basis. Decisions should be taken based on analysis of the field situation, viz., soil conditions, weather, disease type and severity, pest levels, damage severity and number of natural enemies.

Farmers are encouraged to keep a record of their observations and data collected.

Keeping records of what happened helps in making an analysis and drawing conclusions.

The farmer should be able to provide answers to the following questions: 1. Is there a change in the crop situation compared to the last surveillance?

2. What kind of change?

3. Is there any serious pest or disease outbreak?

4. Are there beneficial insects?

5. Is there a balance in the field between pests and defenders (beneficial insects/ predators)?

6. Were all the pest and diseases identifiable?

7. Is the crop healthy?

8. What management practices are needed at this moment?

9. When will it be done?

10. Who will do it?

11. Who is responsible for what activity?

12. What can be done to avoid the problems observed?

Proper surveillance requires skill and knowledge and the farmer has to be properly trained to undertake this exercise. For example, when scouting for diseases, the farmer must be aware of problems caused by biotic factors such as fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens, or abiotic factors such as weather, nutrient deficiencies, pesticides and soil problems. In many cases, the cause of the symptom is not obvious.

Laboratory culture and analysis will then be required for proper diagnosis of the causal agent of the disease.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017 ◄◄◄ From page X

largest country in the English speaking Caribbean and many of us dreamed dreams of absorbing some of those sisters and brothers from the small islands of the Caribbean. We even thought of welcoming some of our sisters and brothers from French-Speaking Haiti. We did not sleep to dream, but dreamed to change our country, and our region; hopefully for the better.

There is the history of the many citizens who migrated to British Guiana during the long-gone colonial days and the early independent years. My own father migrated from Grenada in the 1930s. One of my boyhood neighbours at McDoom village, Archibald Stewart, had migrated from Barbados. Hundreds also migrated from other islands including St. Lucia and settled at Mahdia. British Guiana was the new world for hundreds and hundreds of citizens of the small English speaking Caribbean islands.

No one at that time imagined that there would have been a total reversal of that migration. We never imagined that Guyanese would migrate in their hundreds and their

thousands from their much larger country, to the small English speaking islands of the Caribbean; especially to tiny Barbados, which we so often boast could fit easily into the mouth of the Essequibo river.

Older Guyanese can recall the big road project of the early 1970s; a road from Mahdia to the Rupununi. The plan by President Forbes Burnham, was to have such a massive project undertaken with a high percentage of volunteer contributions by Guyanese both at home and from abroad, as well as non-Guyanese from the Caribbean - mainly college and university students.

There were many volunteers, myself included. We rolled up our sleeves and worked on Burnham's dream project.

I can recall boarding one of the Dakota airplanes of the Guyana Airways Corporation and flying with other volunteers from Timehri to Mahdia. It was very hard physical work, but all the volunteers enjoyed their stint. Sadly, that ambitious Burnham road project ended as a failure. That was similar to the failed Jagan road project; known as the Del Conte road. That project would have

linked Parika to Makouria by road. That would have given access to the many Farmers who produce quite a lot of agriculture produce on the lower East Bank of the Essequibo. Why the PPP had never resuscitated that road project during their two recent decades in government, is anybody's guess.

No one seemed to have dreamed a dream of a "Cheddi Jagan Highway".

A very successful road project undertaken by President Forbes Burnham, was the Soesdyke to Linden highway. That is one of his great physical legacies. However, the on-going trail from Linden to Lethem has still not been up-graded to a well-paved highway, as was hoped for since independence, fifty years ago. Also longing to be done, is the paving of the road from Linden on the Upper Demerara river to Kwakwani on the Upper Berbice river. My dream, too, is to see a road linking Orealla, located on the Upper Corentyne river with Kwakwani which is located on the Upper Berbice river, via Kimbia.

As for bridges, there have been some very impressive projects. The Canje Bridge.

XIX Bravo to President Forbes Burnham. The Berbice River Bridge. Bravo to President Bharrat Jagdeo. The Demerara Harbour Bridge. Bravo to President Forbes Burnham. And the Takatu Border Bridge connecting Guyana with Brazil. Bravo to the Brazilian government. I am still hoping that very soon, there would be a bridge spanning the Essequibo river at Yupukari on the Upper Essequibo river, just south of the Iwokarama Rain Forest Project, and along the road to Lethem. Also a bridge across the Upper Berbice river at Kwakwani. We can also dream of a bridge from the East Bank of the Essequibo river linking Rivers View with Agatash, which is on the western side of the Essequibo river, just south of Bartica.

At times, like at a Republic anniversary, we the older citizens who were there at the very beginning, do not sleep to dream, but dream to change our Beautiful Guyana, even if there are those who speculate that our dreams are impossible dreams. However, if you don't have a dream, how are you going to have a dream come true?

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Dead man sitting on the beach

By Abdool A. Aziz “Shrimp from he body make tasty meals” THE SHRILL CALL ‘Just before day- break a voice filled with panic pierced the peace and tranquility. ‘Wake up, get up, leh we go! Fisherman say pumpkin, plantains, banana - all ah wash up at the beach. A cargo boat sink. Come leh we go fo some freeness!

SHIP WREAK Almost all the peasants scrambled out of their beds and scantily clad ran down the brick road into the bush dam and to the sea wall.

A RUSH

Yes, the entire beach was a market on display… fruits, vegetable and groceries, provisions all awash. Ripe for the picking…the pickers had a ‘hay’ day.

AGRI PRODUCT FREE One old man grabbed a huge bunch of plantain, unable to fetch it, He hand It out and threw the stalk away. He dragged himself home with his agri prize .

GLUTTON FOLKS It was a steady stream of curious villagers going with huge bags and empty baskets and returning full load.

Me and a friend trekked to the seaside ‘give away’ by afternoon.

My father detests seeing us following crowds especially for freeness.

EMPTY BEACH By then the beach was almost empty. Only the water-logged melons and eddoes rolled up and down with the tide. We scanned the horizon for a glimpse of the ill-fated vessel.

No luck but what was visible was massive groyne. We imagined the impact and devastation of that ship ramming into the solid concrete at full throttle.

FATE OF SHIP AND CREW We wondered about the plight of the crew. Who could survive in that turbulent ocean in the dead of night.

MAN SITTING ON A BEACH As we left the remnants to the beach-combers we went in search of golden apples. And there and then, from a distance we saw a man sitting on the beach in some

brush. We thought he had a nature call, so we left him alone. But passing back we found him still sitting. We called out to him to get up and go.

No response. The tide was coming in strong. We went up to him.

We were horrified. He had no eyes and blisters were all over his almost naked body and a lot of dead shrimps were stuck on his skin.

Scared to death we ran.

CREW MEMBER I told my dad. At first he didn’t believe me. I told him it could be a crew member from the sloop. He reported the matter to the police but when the cops arrived on the scene, the receding tide had taken the body away. The cops were angry with us.

They felt we had told a lie.

COMING IN FROM THE DEAD But a fisherman confirmed our disclosure. He had a basket full of shrimp which he had taken off the

floating corpse. The tide did bring back the body to knee- deep water.

The villagers bought every one of the scavengers. They were eager to put something in their pumpkin curry.

If they only knew where the shrimp came from. That wicked fisherman divulged his distasteful deceit years later.

PICKING UP THE CORPSE Well the police loaded the drowned man on a dray cart still in a sitting position.

Apparently he jumped overboard in a crouching position and had a heart attack. He drowned in that position THE SHIP CAPTAIN Later we learned his name was Kitchener, the captain of the MV Sea-Horse, the ill-fated sloop. How sad.

I still remember the ‘man sitting on the beach’ - D E A D! 60 years ago.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

XXI

The day the Queen was caught hurling tennis shoes at Prince Philip THIS WAS, perhaps, the most extraordinary piece of Royal film ever shot. The Queen was not merely cross: She was hurling shoes, threats, and sporting equipment, and venting the sort of regal fury that, in another age, would have cost someone their head. The object of this tirade was the Duke of Edinburgh, who, in the circumstances, made the sensible decision to run away.

Little wonder this scene has never seen the light of day. Few people even know about this bizarre Royal ‘bust-up’.

For that, the Queen can thank both an obliging Australian camera crew and one of the most gloriously curmudgeonly characters to serve in the Royal Household in her entire 64-year reign.

But Commander Richard Colville, DSC, Press Secretary to both George VI and the Queen, certainly earned his keep that day on March 6, 1954.

By then, the Queen was halfway through an eight-week tour of Australia, which, in turn, was just part of a six-month post-Coronation round-the-world voyage -- the greatest Royal tour in modern history.

Inevitably, on a journey of this scale,

there were tensions along the way, and they surfaced as the young Royal couple enjoyed a weekend’s break in a chalet on the shores of the O’Shannassy Reservoir in Victoria.

On that particular Sunday afternoon, the Queen was due to be filmed looking at some kangaroos and koalas for a feature film titled, ‘The Queen in Australia’.

Senior cameraman Loch Townsend had already arrived with his deputy, Frank Bagnall and a sound recordist. The afternoon light was fading.

“Christ! When are they bloody well coming?” muttered Townsend, at which point the door of the chalet flew open.

Bagnall instinctively turned on his camera, but what happened next was not in the script.

Out dashed Prince Philip, with a pair of tennis shoes and a tennis racquet flying after him.

Next came the Queen herself, shouting at the Prince to stop running and ordering him back.

And still the camera kept on turning. Eventually, as Townsend later recalled, the Queen “dragged” her husband back into the chalet and slammed the door.

At this point, angrier than a wounded buffalo, Commander Colville suddenly charged

into view.

Here was a man who thought it such a grave affront to Royal privacy to film the Queen being driven through the gates of Balmoral Castle, that he had banned the BBC from doing so.

Loch Townsend was a brave filmmaker who had been in action during World War II, but he was not about to enter mortal combat with the man British journalists knew as ‘The Abominable No Man’ -- or, simply ‘Sunshine’.

Without hesitation, Townsend exposed the film and then handed it to Colville, saying: “Commander, I have a present for you; you might like to give it to Her Majesty.”

Colville disappeared, and a member of staff emerged with beer and sandwiches for the crew. It wasn’t long before the Queen herself reappeared -- calm, serene, and extremely grateful.

“I’m sorry for that little interlude,” she told Townsend, “but, as you know, it happens in every marriage. Now, what would you like me to do?”

We shall never know the real background to the row, but it not only illustrates the dynamic between the monarchy and the media at the start of the reign; it also shows that the Queen and the Duke really are like any other couple.

As the late Lord Charteris once pointed out, Prince Philip is the only person on Earth who can tell the Queen to ‘shut up’, and vice versa.

And it is one of the reasons why this long, strong and very happy marriage has sailed through its diamond anniversary and is heading for platinum.

“There are some people who don’t need many friends,” says a close friend of the family. “And those two, they’re just a real love story -- taking tea together every day; talking about everything. He might take out a letter and read it to her, or crack a joke.

They just adore each other.” (Extracted from ‘Our Queen’, by distinguished Royal author and Mail writer, Robert Hardman)

XXII

‘Boat gone a fall can't tun back’ Dear Uncle Henry, I read your advice on social matters. I am pregnant but scared to disclose this to my parents. What to do?

Pregnant teen Hi mother to be, ‘Boat gang ah fall can’t tun back!’ This

is your case. A baby on the way. Care and protect the embryo. No abortion!

Now seek out mom when she is alone in a good mood. Bring her a rose or a chocolate or take her out for dinner. Get her happy. And then. Tell her you have some happy new for her. Tell her out rightly.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

‘Mom, I’m so sorry but I am pregnant’. Prepare for a show down. Let mom rant and rage, curse or fight you or get up and walk off.

It’s okay. Perhaps she does the opposite- Show interest, show joy. A grand on its way. Tell her who the father is and together bring the expectant dad into the home. You need all the support you can muster. And together begin to prepare to greet your ‘ bundle of joy’. Spit it out- no matter the response. Prepare for a show-down. The earlier you do it-the better. Don’t wait for mom to see that tummy

bulge. Don’t hide it. The baby deserves the right to be born. Don’t feel sorry. Be positive and be proud. You will become a mother-sacred role Healthy pregnancy.

Uncle Henry

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

XXIII

Wedding Destination conference April

By Shirley Thomas

RENOWNED Destination Wedding Specialist, Joy Agness of “Wedding and Event Planning South Miami, will be holding a two-day Destination Wedding Conference in Guyana on April 1 and 2, 2017.

The venue is the Princess Ramada Hotel, Providence, East Bank Demerara and the conference which is being held under the theme: “The Love and Sunshine of Guyana” is open to persons engaged in the production and sale of any activity that goes into making up the ideal wedding package.

Persons registering before March 15

will be required to pay a fee of US$100 and after that date US$150. Registration could be done on line, accessing joyagnesevents. com. For those registering at the venue on the opening day, registration starts at 8:30 hrs. Classes start at 9:30 hrs and conclude around 16:00 hrs.

At the end of the opening day’s sessions

there will be cocktails from 17:00 hrs to around 19:00 hrs.

Meanwhile, there’s a big incentive for two lucky participants attending the conference. Participants are asked to submit business cards and at the end of the second day, Turn to page XXIV ►►►

XXIV ◄◄◄ From page XXIII

two names will be drawn. The two lucky persons will each win a trip to the United States of America to shadow the managing director and one of her support staff to do either a wedding event or a related activity.

Passionate about the prospects of educating her fellow Guyanese in an area – interesting but hitherto untapped locally - Ms. Agness was nevertheless at pains to point out that the forum is a ‘Wedding Destination Conference’ and not a “Wedding Expo.”

“It is a Wedding Destination, and is actually teaching entrepreneurs and people already in the wedding event arena how to market themselves,” she told the Sunday Chronicle.

On a point of clarification, she went on: “In this industry, what you’re selling is your ideas and yourself as a representative of your company, and therefore you need to be quite knowledgeable about what you’re doing so I am here really very passionately trying to educate my fellow Guyanese in the Guyana [wedding] industry.”

Agnes who is managing director of “Joyagness Wedding and Event Planning” has her own business in the United States, and is also a professor at Miamidade and Broward Colleges where she teaches wed-

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

ding and event planning and English.

Pointing to various features of preparation for a wedding she cited: Dress-making; hairdressing; cake-making; catering; interior decoration, making flowers, among others. She reasoned: “It is one thing to bake a cake, it’s another thing to be a dressmaker, but then how you market yourself in the industry is what counts.

The first thing people will ask you – Are you certified? So this is a good chance for people who want to take their business to the next level to be able to do so. Get certified so you can become more comfortable with what you are doing, beMs Joy Agness, Destination Wedding Specialist cause you are not only satisfying your neighbourhood as hoteliers, small boutiques, food vendors, or satisfying your passion, but now you water distributors, ice-makers and more, are having customers on a larger scale,” adding that they all make up the industry.

Agnes said.

She referred to it as ‘basic education’ And just who can participate in the for one to learn the ins-and-outs , ups-andconference? The answer is persons with downs and know-hows of how to do this. any of the above-mentioned skills, as well “So there’s no limit to any one person who

can attend this conference and that’s what makes it so unique, because there is no limited time for learning, and here is no limited time on how fast you can propel yourself,” Agness declared.

Agness said it was her ambition to push Guyana as a “Destination Wedding Site” because, according to her: “We’ve a lot to offer culturally. We don’t have white sand and blue water, but what we have is eco-tourism which is good and that’s a plus for Guyana, because everybody after a while gets a little tired of doing the same thing over and over.”

Ms. Joy Agness wishes to express gratitude to her sponsors: Rahaman – Rent a Tent; Suriname Airways: Fly Jamaica Airways; The Princess Ramada and Joy Agness Events.

A Guyanese by birth, she’s a retired nurse and has been in the business of wedding and event planning for the last 26 years during which time she has travelled extensively in the execution of such business.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

XXV

Major boost for Buxton/Friendship ‘Grantees’

By Shauna Jemmott BUXTONIAN Farmers have said that through challenges and setbacks over the past 10 years, they have discovered permanent blessings and are taking rightful ownership of their community for a development for which they cannot depend on anyone else to help them accomplish.

Chairman of the ‘Buxton Friendship Grantees’ Leroy Hamer said although the co-operative society, which has ownership of over 2,000 acres of land in the area, has celebrated 108 years of existence on Tuesday February 22, citizens of Buxton/ Friendship have only discovered the secret of their wealth in 2009, 100 years after it was handed down.

never would have existed in the literature of the Buxton/Friendship twin community.

He said the grant was approved in 1909 but only entered the registry on February 22, 2009.

“The children of the ancestors are called the ‘Grantees’. I will say that something was hidden from us because we didn’t know until the destruction passed in 2008.

When we go and uplift the grant, the grant was a hundred years lay down there. And based on the Land Registry Act it direct us what to do, which we did,” Hamer said.

At the beginning of the area where the grant controls, there is now a label of ownership at a gate giving entrance into the backlands on Brusche Dam, Friendship.

Now Buxtonians must be made aware Field Manager of the Grantees, Ronald Roberts, tending to his callaloo beds on the farm

tem within the farm lands and creating opportunities for easy flooding.

In 2008 also during a crime spree, the PPP/Civic government had an invasion destroying acres of farms in an effort to “flush out criminals”. This operation affected severely the livelihood of the people

in the backdam area as almost every home there depended on the farms for a living.

“Based on the Land Registry Act the document state that any land that you cannot prove ownership by document belongs Turn to page XXIX ►►►

Grantees Chairman Leroy Hamer on his sorrel farm

Hamer in 2009 received in hand a legal document from the Land Registry allotting the land binding the two communities, making only the generations of their ancestry the real owners of Buxton/Friendship.

“The grant states “absolute forever” which means that nobody can take that from you. And that is over two thousand and something acres of land,” Hamer told the Guyana Chronicle in an interview.

Had Buxtonians known earlier of their legal rights to the lands, the community would have been much more developed and many struggles and negative tales

of what belong to them and regulations regarding its control and operations.

The society has begun planning programs for the area and several farmers have occupied sections of lands for farming, with some farms for years being beautifully developed.

“Even the people in Buxton will say ‘Who is the Grantees’,” he said.

Individuals who would have written books about the community made mention about the grant but never a word of the Grantees.

“That is like you hide the people there.

After I go at Lands and Surveys and I pick up the document that is how I know about the Grantees. The plan that attached to the grant never state well Harry own here, Tom own here or whoever.”

Hamer said in times past individuals and even governments had invaded the community and destroyed crops belonging to them, even Healthy sorrel fruit from the Grantees farm (Photos by Samuel Maughn) redesigning the drainage sys-

Farmers of the Grantees on a well arranged Cabbage bed

A farmer leaving after a good day’s work

XXVI

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Mashramani 2017 promotes greater unity, Green State MASHRAMANI is a significant milestone in our country’s history, and a time of heightened national pride. Commonly referred to as ‘Mash’, the term ‘Mashramani’ refers to the festival that celebrates Guyana becoming a Republic on February 23, 1970. The word is derived from an Amerindian language which translates to "the celebration after hard work". The festival surrounding Mashramani has its roots in McKenzie, Linden when members of the Jaycees International Chapter- which held re- President David Granger, First Lady Sandra Granger, Prime sponsibility for promoting Minister Moses Nagamooto and Mrs. Sita Nagamootoo the development of Lin- stand at attention as they sing the National Anthem at the den at the time - began 47th Republic Anniversary Flag Raising Ceremony planning a carnival to a Flag Raising Ceremony at midnight and a Republic started the task of celebrate Guyana’s Indefloat parade the following day. shaping a society that was pendence in 1966.

This year, observed under the theme culturally plural by promotAs Guyana geared toward Republican status, the coordinators in 1969, consulted “Celebration with dignity, liberty and great- ing the unhindered celebraseveral persons for a name for the Carnival. er unity”, Mashramani continues to play tion of the Christian, Islamic But it was local resident Mr. Allan Fiedtk- its part in the cultural preservation of Guy- and the Hindu festivals. The ou, who explained a type of festival- Mash- ana’s patrimony. President David Granger, Republic aspired to ensure ramani- that was observed by the Amerin- during his address to the nation for the 47th that we would live together dians after hard labour. The name was later Republic Anniversary said that Guyana’s in harmony free from racial adopted by the organisers. Mashramani was establishment as a Cooperative Republic and religious conflict,” the then made into a national event, and was intensified the people’s efforts to unite into President said.

Minister within the Minisbrought to Georgetown after consultations a plural nation under the inspirational motto with the Jaycees. Today, Mashramani is – ‘One people, One nation, One destiny’. try of Education with respona colourful celebration that involves a “The Republic guaranteed greater cultural sibility for the Department rich mix of culture and festivities. From freedom, encouraged diverse beliefs, re- Culture, Youth and Sport, Calypso competitions, Masquerade bands spected differences of creed, culture, race Nicolette Henry said that and steel pan, Mashramani has become the or religion and entrenched constitutional based on attendance at this largest festival in Guyana, culminating with protection to proscribe discrimination. The year’s activities, the spirit

of Mashramani is very much alive. “We are particularly pleased that people have found the time and the interest to engage and we’ve been able to see the level of participation and enthusiasm we’d had for Mashramani 2017,” she said. The Minister said that Mashramani celebrations are observed countrywide, and that the Ministry works closely with regional officials to ensure that persons in every region fully enjoy the festivities that are hosted there.

The Golden Arrowhead flies high as fireworks ring in Guyana's 47th Republic Anniversary Flag Raising Ceremony

Dancers perform a cultural piece at the 47th Republic Anniversary Flag Raising Ceremony

Ministers of Government travelled to the various regions to observe the celebrations with the residents. Minister of Social Cohesion, Dr. George Norton, who attended the Flag Raising Ceremony in Bartica, Cuyuni-Mazaruni (Region Seven) said that the country has much to celebrate and it is

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017 A section of the crowd during the 47th Republic Anniversary Flag Raising Ceremony

to become involved from a very tender age to appreciate the art form and then they can develop and become part and parcel of it and they can also train the younger ones,” he said.

While social cohesion may be imbedded in the theme, however, it is the Green State that is getting much attention from the bands.

The Ministry of Education’s own band, which was launched on Tuesday, bore the theme “Guyana an Emerging Green

Minister within the Ministry of Education, Nicolette Henry poses with members of the Ministry's costume Band which depicted the theme “Guyana an Emerging Green State”

because of the hard work of our ancestors who worked to make Guyana a Cooperative Republic.

He encouraged the people of Bartica to let go of their grievances and to unite as a people, not only for the Republic Anniversary but all year round. “We must not forget that we are one people, living in one nation and working towards one destiny.

As we celebrate our Republic anniversary, let it be a celebration which is free from any forms of violence and crime,” Minister Norton said.

On February 23, thousands took to the streets despite inclement weather to observe the annual Mashramani Float Parade. This year, the revellers traversed a new route, moving from Bank of Guyana, along Avenue of the Republic and up Brickdam, culminating at the D’Urban Park. The route, which was first observed for the country’s 50th Anniversary last year has caused concerns to be raised by the public, but Minister Henry said that this is a decision that will continue to be looked at by government.

“I know persons would have expressed concerns about the route. I want to point out that we continue to look at it and we will continue to engage and we will look until we come up with something that most people are comfortable with at his point in time, there’s pretty much a dichotomy of opinions, I’ve received very positive feedback and negative,” Minister Henry said.

“People are ambivalent to it but we will move forward with it and we would certainly want to continue to engage until we eventually get to a point that we ourselves are comfortable and we can concentrate on bigger and real issues.”

More than just focusing on the Parade, the Department of Culture, Youth and Sport is also proud of the execution of several other activities throughout the season.

Event Coordinator for the Mash Committee, Mr. Lennox Canterbury, said that planning for this year’s festivities began last October. With conveners overseeing all

the activities occurring around the country, this ensured the smooth execution of those that have passed, including a Chutney Competition, Calypso Competition, Indian Dance Competition, Literary Street fair and many others.

Among these, however, he said that it was the Steel Pan and Calypso Competitions that have seen record numbers this year and that these two events continue to grow in popularity. But more importantly, he said that Mashramani continues to engage the young people and this in turn helps to let them have a deeper appreciation for their culture. “We have to make sure that the culture stays alive. We have to put mechanisms in place to allow young people The Ministry of the Presidency's Mash Band depicted the theme “Renewable Energy to achieve a Green Economy”

The Children's Mashramani Competition encourages young people to develop a deeper appreciation for their culture

XXVII State”. The Float incorporates Green energy and biodiversity aspects that all promote Guyana’s emergence as a Green State.

Designer of the Ministry’s float and Coordinator of the Burrowes School of Art, Ms. Volda Ramsammy said that the symbols of the float tie in closely with President Granger’s focus on a Green economy.

The Ministry of the Presidency also joined the parade this year with their float depicting “Renewable Energy to achieve a Green Economy”. With the Ministry’s building currently under construction, and its inability to be adorned with flag colours like other government buildings, the initiative was taken by Minister of State, Joseph Harmon, to join the float parade in order to take part in the Mashramani celebrations.

Earlier in the month the Ministry of Natural Resources also launched their band which focused on the importance of the country’s natural resources to the green economy as well as the sustainable management of the extractive industries.

Mashramani also allows the participation of the youth, and gives major focus to youth related activities. The Children’s Mashramani Competition held annually gives testimony to that where children from all regions compete in the areas of Dance, Dramatic Poetry, Calypso, Choir Presentation, Costume, Steel pan, Physical Display and Masquerade.

The Children’s Mashramani Competition is managed by the Unit of Allied Arts within the Ministry of Education and aims at promoting the Expressive Arts. It also encourages children to showcase their talents while developing pride in their national identity. This year’s competition also took the tone of promoting a green economy. As such, schools were encouraged to showcase messages that encouraged and recognised the process of transitioning to a green economy.

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Every life has a story THIS WEEK I will be sharing a personal story, views from Ralph Marston who is called the daily motivator. Over time I have been motivated by his words and I know you will too.

Your thoughts don’t have to be limited by your situation.

Neither do your expectations, your attitude, your enthusiasm and your efforts.

As real and as burdensome as the difficulty may be, you can make it irrelevant in your mind. From that powerful inner perspective, you’ll find ways to transcend the difficulty in the outer world. Claim the full power of thought, of vision, of imagination, that is available to you. Let that power push you into positive, effective action. You are not your defeats, you are not your victories. You are the person who can make a new choice in every new moment. You are not your challenges, you are not your skills.

You are the person who can craft a rich and meaningful life out of it all. Carry always a positive, unshakable vision within you.

Feel the beauty of that vision as it leads you to make good things happen no matter what.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Sometimes it is difficult to keep that vision alive in challenging times. No matter what, we need to keep our eyes on the PRIZE. Let me share a story with you. When I saw the poster online with Motivating the Masses with Lisa Nichols, I called my cousin Clemencio who is a big fan of hers. I said “Clem I will be going to Atlanta with Lisa Nichols for four days". I wrote to the email address on the website requesting to barter some of my designs for the registration fee. I visualized myself in that conference at the Marriott but had no idea how I was going to do it. I had to find a way to get there no matter what. I calculated the registration fee, hotel, air fare, food, etc and it was costing a few thousand US dollars but I knew it would be worth it. Financially, at that point, I could not afford it but urgently I needed the registration fee to secure my space at the conference. I NEEDED TO BE THERE, I NEED TO BE THERE, GOD YOU KNOW I NEED TO BE THERE AND WILL BE THERE, YOUR WILLING. Every morning I told myself it is POSSIBLE but on some

days I was more optimistic than some but I knew saying maybe you can’t make it was not an option.

They were offering a special if two persons registered together but none of my friends or colleagues who are interested in personal development were free to attend. I was bent on exploring all angles. That day I finally got registered I thanked God extra but it was not just a registration but VIP Registration that will allow me to have more access to Lisa.

I was so sure I had enough miles for a return ticket but learnt that I only had enough for a one-way so I booked that. My daughter Mariska said "Mom you can't travel on a one-way ticket because you are not a resident of the USA". I looked at the ticket and said with my God everything is possible and I knew that ticket was getting me into Miami. I had a plan on how to get my return ticket and pay the other part of my trip. Two down, one to go…which was my hotel. I had friends and relatives in Atlanta but far from the Marriott and it would have been convenient to stay at the same venue where the event was but the rooms available were $600 a night. Let me tell you how God is awesome!

One night I decided to join the closed group for persons who registered for the event and Angie Lomax's status was looking for someone to share a room. Guess where the room was? The Marriott of course. "Inbox me if you are interested." I messaged her in seconds, lol and we had it organized in a few minutes.

I was invited for the third consecutive year to the Chapman Partnership Gala which is one of the high level events on the Miami Social Calendar. I had one of those WOW moments the year before when the MC asked the persons who wrote a cheque for a million or more(not Guyana Dollars) to stand and was astonished by the number of people who stood up including baseball player, Alex Rodriguez. My friend Bill was kind to allow be to bring a guest to a 1000 US a plate dinner so I decided to invite my friend Carla Bristol who was hosting an event for me at her Gallery.

Life is challenging but can be funny sometimes. As I inhaled the splendid ambiance created at the Marriott Marque I reflected on the cost of my one ticket and the cost of this dinner and smiled to myself. My bank account probably reflected the lowest available balance in that room but I was among the most confident in that room. I created such a presence that a few persons came and asked who I was.

After the fabulous event around midnight we drove from Miami to St Petersburg. It was the week before the Atlanta event which worked out for Conversations and Clothing with Sonia Noel in St Petersburg at Gallerie 909 which was a success. The trip on the Greyhound bus to Atlanta was pleasant but took over 10 hours but I was closer to the Marriott to attend a life-changing event.

Every life has a story. What was your biggest take away from this column today?

Send us your comments to beyondtherunwayway1@gmail. com and visit our FB Page BEYOND THE RUNWAY as continue this beautiful journey call Life BEYOND THE RUNWAY DR. SONIA E. NOEL D.H.L Fashion Designer Global Ambassador Unite4:good John Maxwell Certified Speaker CEO of Guyana Fashion Week Founder of Sonia Noel Foundation for Sustainable Development Founder of Women's Association for Sustainable Development Tel: +592-684-8129 / +592-226-6554 Email: soniaenoel@gmail.com

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017 ◄◄◄ From page XXV

to the state. And the same Act says that you must do a declaration of ownership. So when the government did come and grade the land we didn’t have nothing, so that is when we go and uplift the grant and do a declaration “Buxton Friendship Grantees” Coop Society,” Hamer explained to the Pepperpot Magazine.

The grant was uplifted in June 2008 and from that day Buxton/Friendship residents secured the right to defend and develop their claim. With some citizens still crying out for help Hamer said help is already there as the real Buxtonians begin to take charge. He said without much support from the Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) they are moving on.

But with inspiration from the President’s Initiative for a green economy, planters are planting on a large scale again.

“We follow the act based on what it state and that is how everything worked. I would say that we make a lot of progress from that time to now. The authorities, NDC members, are supposed to visit the farmers… they don’t come there. NARI visit us and take information.”

He personally had the largest farm at the time of the last destruction but he started anew with a thriving farm. As long as there is land Hamer said, there will be his farm.

“I had the biggest farm at the time when it was grade down and that farm was three years… and the other farm started in 2008.

I have bearing coconut trees that I put back,

I have bearing mango trees that I put back, I have bearing cherry trees that I put back, I have bearing soursop trees that I put back.”

“We are also on that (President’s) initiative where we plant close to 500 trees already in the same area,” Hamer stated and added that while no other president has ever recognized the Coop Society, they are grateful that President David Granger, has acknowledged the organization even in writing.

“We must offer congratulations to him for giving us recognition because the other Presidents before they never recognize us.

The only body mention about Grantees in writing was Mr. Granger … I feel that we now gat a President because that is the duty of a President to recognize the people. And

XXIX if you know that something is in writing and you is the person that supposed to ensure that the people get it and you fail, that mean that you fail,” Hamer said.

He said he has planted on the new farm, over 70 Buxton Spice trees, of which 30 are currently of bearing age.

“I didn’t lose much Buxton Spice in that operation, what I lose I lose plenty katahar, soursop and cherry.”

Field Manager of the Grantees Ronald Roberts said the group has major plans.

The Grantees group said their only setback for massive production is that of not having enough market for their produce. They said as long as they have market they will produce on a major scale.

folklore FOLLOW ME

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

By Neil Primus

By Neil Primus

XAVIER heard of his recent inheritance with glee. His very distant aunt had left her home for him. They had a distant relationship because he kept his distance. Even

when he heard she was ailing he refused to visit. She eventually died and the house was left to him.

Xavier was a wild young man. He gambled, drank and slept around; all around. He knew most of the women in Shadow Ville in the biblical sense: married and single. He

took scant care of anything, thus cycle, then motor cycle were swiftly destroyed. But he was one of the lucky few.

He was born into a rich family and did not want for anything. He was also not afraid of anything. It was in this frame of mind that he travelled deep into the countryside to visit his newly acquired house.

The journey was long, stressful and uncomfortable. The roads were littered with potholes and obstacles put there to warn drivers to avoid the many craters. In the scorching heat the old mini bus lurched and pitched making its way towards the distant village. The bus was overloaded fitting 20 where only 15 should be. Xavier prayed for the journey to end. When it did it was after eight at night. He knew there was a caretaker at the house and he would be able to sleep there for a few nights while he checked the place out. He was not ready for what he found in the far-away village.

When he alighted from the bus, cramped and tired, he looked around the village and felt pity for youths living there. There was little in features. The only thing he noticed was electrical lines. Telephones had not yet arrived. He began to make enquiries.

The people were almost hostile to him. Everyone he approached refuse to say a word to him. When they eventually spoke they warned him to leave the village and leave the house. Angry at their ridiculous attitude he forged ahead. He was eventually shown to the largest house in the community.

There was only one problem it was old, very old. But that did not faze the lad.

He walked up the imposing driveway, up the concrete steps and knocked at the large ancient door. The sound seemed to reverberate through the house. The door swung open with a loud, annoying squeak. A very tall man had answered the door. He was close to seven feet tall with long gangling limbs and a wrinkled, ugly face.

The giant looked curiously down at the lad and Xavier hastily informed him that he was the new owner of the house.

The man bowed elegantly and beckoned him to enter. The door shut with a creak and bang behind him as he entered.

“Follow me please”.

The voice was low but clear. The man walked ahead along a narrow dark passage-way. It was difficult to see much so the lad gave up trying. He would do all the looking tomorrow. The man approached a door and it was immediately obvious to Xavier that the fellow was much too tall to enter the space. That was when things swiftly became bizarre. With casual grace, the tall figure removed his head, opened the door and entered.

“Follow me Sir. Sir!...... Sir?” By now he was speaking to an empty hallway. The curious villager did not even see the lad leave. All they experienced was a sudden burst of fierce wind that whipped up in their quiet little village. That strange dust plume was seen heading for the city at cheetah pace.

Harold’s astonished parents could not understand the lad’s sudden hatred for the property left by his aunt.

And he never told them.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

US Citizen Renewing Passport Told To Turn In Green Card

DALLAS (CBS11) – Tony Airitam is and always has been a U.S. citizen.

“Born in Brooklyn, New York , in a hospital. It’s all documented,” he said.

When he renewed his passport this year, though, it arrived with a letter.

“Please return your invalid permanent resident card,” it read. “Your timely submission of these documents will provide USCIS with the information necessary to update its systems to reflect your current citizenship status.”

Airitam first had to figure out what a permanent resident card was.

“Once I did, I was not only surprised but very concerned,” he said.

More commonly known as a “green card,” it’s not a document Airitam has ever had or ever needed.

“Because I was born here in the United States,” he explained.

Both his original and newly issued passport list his birthplace as New York.

So, he called the number provided in the letter.

“They were confused in terms of how that happened, but they didn’t have any answers for me,” he said.

Airitam said he was told to visit his nearest U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office.

The next available appointment he discovered is in March.

Even then, a department spokesperson told CBS11 there’s nothing it can do.

Since Airitam never immigrated to America, the office wouldn’t have any record of him.

“I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and that’s why I went ahead and made that appointment,” he said.

Increased scrutiny of international travelers has him nervous.

“I think it should raise concerns with anyone who has a discrepancy with their passport,” he said.

He was hoping to celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary with a trip abroad this summer.

Now he’s having second thoughts.

“I would not leave the country without this being resolved,” he said.

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

What a difference a dedicated teacher makes

Selfless Special Needs teachers making a difference in the lives of visually impaired students in Linden

By Vanessa Braithwaite DALAI LAMA XIV said: “It is under the greatest ad-

versity that there exists the greatest potential for doing good, both for oneself and others.” Indeed this can be said of every teacher who is called moulders of the nation,

but for a teacher who dedicates his/her entire life to the development of someone who is differently-abled, there is no better way to put it. It takes strength, patience, love and stamina to be the eyes for those who cannot see and to teach them to survive in a world where the differently abled are often discriminated.

At the visually impaired unit in Linden, there are four teachers who have not only made this their jobs, to basically teach but has dedicated their entire lives to the nurturing, mentoring, counselling, comforting, and the list can go on, to the 30 students that are presently in their care and the scores who have moved on but still cling to them for support and love.

Teacher Shellon Swaving heads the unit and has selflessly served in the capacity of a special needs teacher for the past nine years though she spent 21years prior in regular teaching.

She is assisted by teacher Jenelle Williams who joined her in 2013.

Teaching at the unit is also assistant teacher Teshawn

Rodney and music and blind cricket teacher Amin Britton who are also both visually impaired. The team collaboratively mans the unit located at the Wismar Hill Primary School but is required to visit every nursery, primary and secondary school in Linden to attend to the visually impaired students who attend. This task which can be physically and mentally fatiguing does not deter the teachers from making their trips every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Teacher Shellon and Jenelle both received special needs training at various organizations but expresses the challenge of having to teach students at all the levels though they may only have received training for the primary level. “It becomes even more difficult to prepare the students when they are to sit the Caribbean Secondary Education Council (CSEC) and because all of the children are academically inclined, the teachers put their best foot forward in collaborating with the subject teachers at the secondary schools to give the child at least that opportunity to get a passing grade. One way to conquer this according to Swaving is early intervention and this allows them to monitor the children from babies after gaining cognisance that they are visually challenged. “We try as soon as possible to get hold of them so when they come into the system we would be better able to monitor them if not it would be more difficult,” Swaving explained.

TESTIMONIES The teachers boasted of students who wrote the Grade Six Assessment Examination being awarded places at St. Roses High and Mackenzie High and while the others may not have achieved such high ranking schools, to the teachers they have Turn to page XXXIII ►►►

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mastered excellent comprehensive skills.

In addition to the academic performances, the children are also taught life skills though the facilities in this regard are not available and emphasis is placed on extracurricular activities. “We teach them a little music, we have the blind cricket we have Paralympic sports that they compete in and are successful and win medals, we are always out and in front trying to get things for them. We had children who travelled abroad to play the blind cricket and we feel good about that.”

It hurts to see that when the children go off to secondary school, they start to experience several challenges. The children are now thrown into a normal environment and they are often victims of neglect, discrimination and bullying which take a toll on their self-esteem. “These children they have self-esteem problems so we are asking for a counsellor, it is a real problem, as the children get older, it gets worse.”

The teachers related that the children at times request not to be visited by the special needs teachers because they do not want to be identified as someone who is visually impaired.

This results in many children dropping out of school so as to avoid these challenges.

RECOMMENDATIONS The teachers highlighted several recommendations to make the lives of the children and accessing them easier.

Transportation was placed to the forefront and while they expressed appreciation to the Regional Executive Officer Ms Marcia Paddy and the Department of Education in Linden for their support in this regard, there is still more to be done and the teachers find it difficult to attend these schools three days a week.

They are also calling for an entire building that should be located in proximity to a nursery, primary and secondary school so the children will be integrated into the school but supported by the special need teachers. They are also calling for CSEC to be accessible to the students in Linden as those desirous of sitting the exams have to travel to Georgetown daily to attend classes.

There is need also for a closer link between the education department and the medical department so that the children’s medical needs would be met more effectively. The teachers call for the schools and sporting facilities to be more disability friendly as the children’s movement are limited because of this.

Despite these various challenges, the teachers are determined to continue being of selfless service to the students so that they can fulfill their dreams. Teacher Shellon was motivated to become a special needs teacher when her sister went blind after doing a surgery. Seeing the struggles of her sister, she was inclined to eliminate similar struggles from others.

“I just don’t want anybody to come out of school and that is the end of their life. I want to know that the children, when they get into society they must be able to adapt and have capable life skills and not to depend on any one,” Shellon said. Similar sentiments were expressed by teacher Jenelle Williams who says that she is enjoying it but sometimes feels frustrated at the continuous rhetoric that are not being materialised. “When you are asking for funds and support you are not getting it so I become very frustrated because you are not stagnant we want to teach them life skills and we don’t even have a kitchen.”

Amin who teaches music and the blind cricket says that he feels good knowing that he is bringing change to their lives socially. Teshawn who was a past student of the unit assists with teaching brail and JAWS (visually impaired computer software) said that he was motivated to return to the unit to give his services. “I went through a lot with a disability growing up so I wanted to help children just like myself,” he said. The teachers are calling for more teachers to come on board as there is a staffing shortage at the unit but reiterate that they have to cultivate love and patience since being a special needs teacher is a 24 hr job.

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Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

MOSC in final stages in developing 5-year strategic plan

By Clifford Stanley THE MINISTRY of Social Cohesion (MOSC) is in the final stages of development of its strategic plan for the period 2017 to 2021.

Coordinator Ms. Sharon Patterson recently disclosed that countrywide consultations on social cohesion have been completed, a validation workshop on the output of these consultations is to be held next month and the implementation plan for the next five years which spells out the social cohesion agenda and which will receive the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will follow shortly thereafter.

In an invited comment, Ms Patterson said that the Ministry saw social cohesion as a process of nurturing individual and community relationships in building a unified Guyana.

She stressed:” It is not a political philosophy. It is a developmental philosophy. It is a philosophy to foster social development. The vision of social cohesion in Guyana is for a unified Guyana where diversities are embraced where conflicts are resolved and networks and collaboration with stake holders are strengthened and equity is promoted and decision making processes lead to equal opportunities and benefits for all persons.”

“Social cohesion engenders a sense of trust; a sense of belonging a sense of participation and legitimacy and a feeling of belongingness respect and inclusion among citizens.”

Patterson disclosed that the MOSC is currently training community leaders countrywide so that they can understand what their roles are in the whole process of fostering social cohesion.

“The objective is to increase their sensitivity about behaviors that contribute to building better relations We feel that persons have a greater commitment to contribute towards nurturing individual and community relations when they have this deeper level of awareness.”

She added: “We want these people to have an understanding as to what social cohesion is, so that they can disseminate that kind of information in their respective communities.”

On finishing training, trainees are expected to initiate “some little process” that will bring people together when they go back to their community.

Patterson said: “It may be a little environmental project. It might be project where people come to the Ministry and get brochures and flyers and so on and then go out for a social cohesion walk in their community so that the rest of the community have a greater understanding of what social cohesion is.”

The 2017-2021 plan is expected to develop positive outcomes in the areas of ethnic and political relations, social equality, economic equality, community safety and security and political participation and governance in Guyana.

The Implementation of the Strategic Plan which will begin shortly after the validation workshop in March, will detail which partners/stakeholders will be tasked with which aspects of the agenda, she said, since the plan will not be the business of the Ministry alone.

Patterson said that Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) Community Development Councils (CDCs) Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), religious and cultural organizations and other stakeholders including the international community will all have a role to play in the unrolling of the plan.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

Former Police Chief Sentenced To 40 Years …for sexual relationship with 14-year-old

ELLIS COUNTY (KRLD) – An Ellis County court sentenced former Maypearl Police Chief Kevin Coffey to 40 years in prison on Tuesday.

A jury found Coffey guilty on two charges related to his sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

Coffey was found guilty on a count of sexual contact of a minor and another count of sexual assault of a minor.

The 51-year-old received a 20-year sentence for each count, and the judge in the case ordered that the sentences run consecutively.

Investigators first started looking into the allegations in 2015.

According to the Ellis County District Attorney’s office, evidence in the case established that Coffey would be alone in his office with the child, and touch her sexually while in uniform. Evidence also found that he had online video chats with the teen over a seven month period.

In at least one situation the former police chief, allegedly grabbed the girl’s hair and kissed her, before inappropriately touching her.

The jury in the case also heard from other potential victims, dating back over 17 years.

During questioning by Assistant District Attorney Ricky Sipes, Coffey was asked if he was a “pervert,” in which he responded, “Well, yeah, I guess that I am.”

Bright up Region 5 winners to be known Tuesday THE MASHRAMANI Committee of Region 5 (Mahaica/ Berbice) will judge its Bright Up Region 5 competition which will provide prizes to owners of the best decorated buildings and their environs in the Region as part of Mash Celebrations this year.

Coordinator of the Public Relations and Marketing Sub-Committee Sandie Ross said that registration for participation in the Competition closed on February 22nd.

The competitors will be judged on February 28th and the winners announced shortly after.

Ross said that there had been a lot of interest by Mash celebrants in the competition and one of the beneficial results would undoubtedly be colorful and gaily decorated buildings within the Region which stretches east from the right bank of the Mahaica River to Ithaca village on the left bank of the Berbice River.

There were four categories of competitors for Bright Up Region 5. Firstly schools inclusive of the Technical Institute at Mahaicony, secondly the Offices and Compounds of Neighborhood Democratic Councils (NDCs) thirdly Government Offices and compounds and fourthly Non Government Offices and compounds - a category which caters for competitors from the commercial sector, cooperatives, religious and cultural entities and private residences and yards. .The contestants were to be judged in relation to the visual impact of their decorations; the creativity displayed, their creative use of the national colors and the relevance of the decorations to the theme of Mash celebrations for 2017: “Celebrating with dignity liberty and greater unity.”

Meanwhile Coordinator of the overall Mash Committee for the Region Carol Smith-Joseph said that the arrangements for the two other major Mashramani observances in Region 5 had proceeding as planned.

A massive Mash Day Jump up at Rosignol Stelling Road Rosignol West Bank Berbice was part of the programme of celebrations.

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Beyond phones and 5G, mobile world seeks to reinvent itself

Seeking to escape a cycle of falling prices and tight regulation, big telecom operators from Vimpelcom (VIP.O) to Telefonica (TEF.MC) are set to reinvent themselves as internet players to escape the industry's straight-jacket of low growth.

Next week's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona will feature phone companies in various stages of acceptance that the industry's predictable, decades-old business model based on selling data packages by the millions is running out of steam.

Beneath the facade of shiny new phones and dusty debates over network technical implementations, Europe's largest annual technology fair will see top phone companies parading far-reaching business makeovers.

Spain's Telefonica (TEF.MC) is set to introduce a broad plan it calls the "4th Platform" to help both consumer and business customers keep greater control over their data rather than giving it away to web giants Google, Facebook and Amazon.

Russian and emerging markets operator Vimpelcom (VIP.O) is tearing up many parts of the telecom rule book to remake itself as a tech player in the fast-growing world of messaging apps.

U.S. telecom giant AT&T (T.N) has inked a series of huge deals to diversify by acquiring Direct TV for $67 billion and is awaiting approval to buy Time Warner for another $110 billion.

"Regulatory and pricing pressure on telecom operators forces them to look to adjacent areas for new sources of revenue and margins," said attorney Tom Levine, head of Allen & Overy's global telecoms practice.

"There isn't a consensus on how to do this."

It's also an open question whether the industry is structurally capable of big change. Telcos have dreamed for decades of breaking free of the shackles of consumer regulation and branching out into Internet services in their local markets, only to be consistently beaten by newer, global upstarts.

RUSSIAN LABORATORY These dramatic changes come as telcos brace to offer new networks ready to handle not just spiralling data use on phones but in cars, in factories and offices and even crop fields.

The new generation of 5G networks will provide them new business options but also spells mounting competition from computer, internet and industrial players with digital plans of their own.

Russia has emerged as the world's most advanced laboratory for telecom companies seeking to reinvent themselves as Internet players, as classic telecom business pressures, Western economic sanctions and government rules that reduce Silicon Valley giants to small local players create space to combine forces.

Vimpelcom, Russia's No.3 operator, has undertaken a topto-bottom overhaul of its business while gearing up for deeper Turn to page XXXIX â–şâ–şâ–ş

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Internet partnerships with the likes of streaming music and online taxi services. The company also focuses on emerging markets from Bangladesh to Algeria and is the world's sixth largest operator in terms of number of mobile customers served.

Megafon, the No.2 network provider, has acquired control of sister company Mail.ru, a major Russian Internet player - the Russian equivalent of Verizon buying Facebook - and plans to offer a new mobile version of social media site VKontakte.

Top Russian telecoms player MTS (MTSS.MM) is so far sitting on the sidelines, but its executives have signaled they too believe their long-run future lies in Internet services.

Meanwhile, Telefonica sees its "4th Platform" strategy as a way to stoke faster growth and compete aggressively with globally dominant internet players while being a logical evolution of existing businesses, a senior company source said.

The strategy builds on its long-standing investments in communications services, its broad geographic reach across Europe and Latin America and efforts to offer advanced money-making services on top of basic communication connections, but does not require making huge new investments, the source said.

"Now is the turn of the fourth platform: the data. That is Telefonica's (new) equity story," the source said of its bid to boost margins by, for example, enabling customers to analyze mountains of data to make their own businesses run smarter.

Other phone companies are taking more modest steps.

Norway's Telenor (TEL.OL), another emerging markets operator, has pushed into data analytics, while Vodafone (VOD.L) is making inroads in new industrial internet and connected car applications, through its 2014 acquisition of Cobra Automotive.

DO THEY HAVE THE DNA? Still, many telecom operators take a dim view of some of the aggressive moves being made by these peers, especially when it comes to business models based on commercializing customer data.

Deutsche Telekom (DTEGn.DE), Europe's largest telecom operator by revenue, sees this as no-go territory in privacy-conscious Germany. Instead, it is focused on making strides into new connected industrial arenas and cloud computing.

Telekom's main growth story is likely to remain the United States where it revolutionized the mobile industry by offering unlimited data plans and international roaming packages. Using aggressive marketing, T-Mobile has gained at the expense of rivals, making it nearly as big Telekom's core German business.

France's Vivendi (VIV.PA), which embarked on a grand misadventure last decade to combine telecom and media assets, offers a cautionary tale for investors betting on these new reinvention stories.

For telecom operators used to predictable cash flows and firm regulatory boundaries, the main issue may be cultural: Most just don't have the stomach for such drastic transformation.

"Working out how to bring in that entrepreneurial DNA, without disappointing users' expectations of reliability, and recognizing the financial expectations of institutional shareholders, is not easy," Levine said of healthy dividend payouts which remain the industry's main draw to investors.

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English 2017-02-26

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Too long a sacrifice Can make a stone of the heart. W.B. YEATS (1865-1939), Easter, 1916 STUDY SUCCESS Dear Students, Let’s hope that there has been a turnaround in both your self confidence and reading ability. If you have been working hard, you should now be feeling much joy responding more safely to aspects of reading contents. Keep perseverance as your watchword. Also keep those study groups humming with lots of reading and discussion. Be wise.

Love you GRAMMAR A..Grammatically correct structures Grammatically correct structures are enhancers to writing.

Some of your study partners might want to use the argument that some structures, though grammatically correct, do not make sense, but that too is good observation.

Let us not go down that road today. You have something to say. You know how to say it and you do want to say it for all who read to understand. Say it well for the examination.

B..Tense sequence and other tense use Pay attention to the following structures for all they are worth particularly to your writing enhancement.

1. Suit the tense of dependent clauses and of verbal phrases to the time expressed by the verb in the main clause. a) We sold the mansion that we had built (not built). b) I planned to go (not have gone) to the Mashramani float parade. (At the time of planning, the Mashramani float parade had not taken place.) c) Having hurried (not hurrying) home, I prepared the report. (The hurrying preceded the preparing.)

2. When indirect discourse follows a past tense, use the auxiliaries could, should, would, and might, not can, shall, will, and may.

Kenneth disclosed that he would (not will) donate clothing.

3. Express in present tense the verb in a noun clause that states a generally accepted truth or a fact that is true for all time.

I forgot that sound travels (not travelled) slower than light.

4. Keep in the same tense any verbs that are parallel in use.

The thief slipped past the first guard and made (not make)

a dash for the side door.

THE PASSAGE One person of import said words to this effect: Whatever thought you wish to verbalise there can be one noun only by which to express it, one verb only by which to give it life, and one adjective only by which it can be described. Do you agree with that statement?

The statement expresses clear thinking, and writers of any genre should be able to choose that particular word to fit that particular situation that is to be built up. You too should be able to find that noun, find that verb, and find that adjective. Let each student work toward his desired outcome.

Here is a composition. Is the topic properly expressed by the noun choices? Have the verbs and adjectives given life to the topic? Discuss with study partners.

The road to Prescott winds past a deserted house that peers out sadly from a clump of tamaracks. Long ago, it was constructed of adobe blocks laid flat and held with heavy clay. Today a skeleton-like chimney reaches above the roof and clutches to the sky.

The adobe has crumbled in gaping patches, and chunks of red lie scattered in the grass. The window frames hang listlessly from the body of the house. Their panes have long since shattered and disappeared. A few bent shingles still curve over the roof boards. The desolation of the house is broken only by birds nesting in the eves.

The passer-by gives the house a quick look and wonders: What lives were once sheltered here? What circumstances enticed the occupants from this wooded spot by a winding road?

POETRY Comprehension Read the following poem carefully. Then answer the questions on the basis of what is written.

My little son, who looked from thoughtful eyes And moved and spoke in quite grown-up wise, Having my law the seventh time disobey’d, I struck him, and dismissed With hard words and unkiss’d, His mother, who was patient, being dead.

Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder sleep, I visited his bed.

But found him slumbering deep.

With darken’d eyelids, and their lashes yet

Amazing Facts

From his late sobbing wet.

And I, with moan.

Killing away his tears, left others of my own; For, on a table drawn beside his head, He had put, within his reach, A box of counters and a red-wined stone, A piece of glass abraded by the beach And six or seven shells, A bottle of bluebells, And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art, To comfort his sad heart.

What to Do Respond to each question.

1. Identify, from the text, two kinds of relationship of the father with the son.

2. Justify the father’s action toward his son in one of them.

3. What real or imagined fear had the father for his son’s wellbeing? Describe.

4. Where does the son pointedly show that he was indeed ‘quite grown-up and wise’?

5. How would you now interpret the child’s part in the encounter with his father?

6. In this incident there is a striking feature. Describe it.

SKILLS of STUDY Using Others as Helpers In your study, it is wise to welcome help from other students, friends, parents and any available and useful helper(s) on full-time or part-time basis. Students actively trying to pass the same examination make well bonded study partners.

Basically, however small the group, whatever help is needed must be clearly declared for all partners to note.

There are other helpful ethics to help the group realise maximum usefulness of working periods. ► Work on each other’s strength. ► Support each other by listening attentively and contributing your bit. ► Admit what you have benefited from others in the group. ► Co-operate in every way possible. ► Do not hog the period. ► Use some meetings for practising relaxation techniques, visualisation; etc.

Chronicle Pepperpot February 26, 2017

LI

Entertainment

Oscars so divided: Hollywood still struggles with race On their way to this year's Oscars, Dev Patel searched for his Indian roots, Denzel Washington wrestled with racism as an angry African-American patriarch and Octavia Spencer became a top black female mathematician.

With seven nominations for actors and actresses of color, the Oscars this year have been touted as an improvement on diversity after two years of #OscarsSoWhite criticism.

Yet critics say the real test will be when the movie industry, like television, casts more actors of color in roles that are not defined by their race.

"It can get burdensome possibly to actors (of color) to play characters where the main storyline is about race, as opposed to just being a person going through a divorce or something similar," said Victoria Thomas, casting director of best picture Oscar nominee "Hidden Figures."

"That's the next hurdle to get over," she added.

To be sure, some of this year's crop of Oscar hopefuls have found success in color-blind roles.

Washington was Oscar-nominated for playing an alcoholic airline pilot in 2012's "Flight;" "Moonlight" supporting actress Naomie Harris was cast as Miss Moneypenny in James Bond movies "Skyfall" and "Spectre;" and "Fences" star Viola Davis won an Emmy for playing a hard-bitten criminal lawyer in the TV series "How to Get Away with Murder."

Yet in the 89-year history of the Oscars, nearly all black actors who have won Academy Awards have done so for playing black characters.

This year's lineup is no exception, although films like "Moonlight," "Fences" and "Hidden Figures" tell black stories outside the themes of slavery and civil rights that in the past most attracted awards attention.

Washington and Davis star in the screen adaptation of African-American playwright August Wilson's "Fences." In independent film hit "Moonlight," supporting actor Oscar front-runner Mahershala Ali plays a Miami drug dealer and Harris plays the drug-addicted mother of a black boy.

Ruth Negga plays a black woman who marries a white man in defiance of 1950s U.S. segregation laws in "Loving," Spencer

plays NASA mathematician Dorothy Vaughan in "Hidden Figures" and Patel plays an Australian-Indian man in "Lion."

"Moonlight," the coming-of-age story about a black boy struggling with his sexuality, is a character that "would never have been seen in the past, and certainly not nominated for Oscars," said Darnell Hunt, author of a University of California Los Angeles annual report on Hollywood and diversity.

"Sometimes, we (the black community) want our narratives and our experiences to be told, and that's what we get in 'Moonlight' and 'Fences,'" Hunt said.

"Of course, the ideal would be to get both at the same time, such as a 'La La Land' with a black actor as a lead."

Oscar best picture favorite "La La Land" features a largely white cast even though it is set in multiracial Los Angeles and is the story of a struggling actress (Emma Stone) and a jazz pianist (Ryan Gosling).

The other best picture contenders - "Arrival," "Hacksaw Ridge," "Manchester by the Sea" and "Hell or High Water" - also have majority white casts. "Lion" features an Indian, Australian and American cast.

Minority lead roles in Hollywood film peaked at 16.7 percent in 2013 and dropped to 13.6 percent in 2015, according to Hunt's latest study.

British actor Patel, born to Indian parents, has played characters that were not initially defined as Indian, but says that after he was cast, "the topic comes up of race."

The actor broke out as the lead of 2008's Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" and played a tech-savvy reporter in HBO's "The Newsroom." In "Lion," he plays Saroo Brierley in the true story of a boy separated from his family in India and adopted by an Australian couple.

"The effort that I had to go through to physically transform, the voice, all of that gets pushed aside and it's packaged as just an Indian dude," Patel said. "That, sometimes, is a shame."

Ironically, animated fluffy animals are the stars of the most diverse story in the running for an Oscar on Sunday.

Disney's "Zootopia," nominated for best animated feature, follows the first female bunny cop in a sprawling metropolis and has

been praised for subtly tackling gender and racial divides.

Co-directors Byron Howard and Rich Moore said the film would not have worked if it were live-action because the characters would become defined by the actors portray-

ing them.

"For people of different genders, sexual preference and races, there's something really safe about a story like this by casting it with cute animals that makes it so inclusive to a wide swath of people," Moore said.

A Non Traditional Stove Top Jerk Chicken Ingredients 3lbs chicken drums Marinade 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon ground allspice) 3 eschallot 2 cloves garlic 1/4 cup vinegar 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon ginger 6 springs thyme 1 med onion 1/4 cup apple juice 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 red pepper 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon veg oil juice 1/2 lemon 1 cup chicken stock 2 tablespoon tomato paste 1 tablespoon honey * Garnish with chopped parsley Method Place all the ingredients mention for the marinade into a food processor of blender (chop finely and mix well if you don’t have access to a blender), then pour it over the washed/drained chicken pieces and allow it to marinate for at least 2 hours in the fridge.

Heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a deep sauce pan (tip – use a non stick pan for better browning), knock off most of the

marinade off the chicken pieces and brown on med-high heat. Takes about 10 minutes or so to get some colour.

Add in the honey and tomato paste and give it a good stir. This will add some lovely colour to the dish and the honey will help balance off the heat of the scotch bonnet pepper. Pour in the lemon juice and chicken stock followed by 3/4 cup of the jerk marinade the chicken was sitting in. Turn the heat up to bring it to a boil. Then reduce to a simmer, cover the pot and let it cook for 20 minutes. Now remove the lid and turn up the heat to burn off any excess liquid.

Here’s where you’ll taste it for salt (adjust accordingly) and thicken the gravy to the desired consistency.

Garnish with some chopped parsley and get ready to enjoy some of the most delicious jerk chicken NOT made the traditional way.