Postcard for World Peace

This is an interesting project, and a postcard from the Grenadines can be seen at:

http://postcardworldpeace.blogspot.com/2009/05/660-grenadines.html

Copy the URL and paste it in your browser

Eating in San Juan Airport

By now we've eaten at (or at least looked at in disdain) all the fast food places within walking distance of the American Airlines desk. The best we've found is Subway. The lettuce and tomato is fresh and generously applied and the dressing is parsimonious on request. (McDonald's hamburger floats on a sea of mayo.) They have hispanic-flavored selections, but they have the standard cold-cuts for anglos. I would call it the best of choices that leave something to be desired.

But air travel isn't what it was a generation ago, when you dressed up for it.

Orange Hill

I also like this picture of the Great House at Orange Hill.

Coop Craft Shop

I was just looking at a new piece of software that is a free picture aggregator and ran across this picture of the Co-op Craft Shop that is just up frpm the gap at French's Corner.

It is a good place to shop because the craftsmen get more of the proceeds than the regular stores.

Possibly Blank

Tomorrow we are flying (one-stop) to San Juan PR, via LIAT, where we will stay in the airport hotel overnight and go to Boston via American Airlines the next day.

Not exciting, but hopefully tolerable.

I'm bringing along a novel about a meeting of Caribbean leaders talking about regionalism and federation. A satirical novel written some years ago. I read it before, but not recently.

I'm still learning how to use blogo. Above is a picture from the archaeological site in Argyle which involves a "longhouse" the only one found so far. Somewhere I remember reading that the Caribs did bury their dead in their houses--I guess to keep the ghosts from wandering.

Skull & Bones

Another of those things about Yale that I didn't know when I worked there:





FIRST BLACK MAN ADMITTED INTO SKULL & BONES
(SECRET SOCIETY)

Roy L. Austin (born 1939) was United States Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago October 2001 to January 2009. Born in Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, he moved to the United States to study and later became a U.S. citizen. He attended Yale University and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in sociology. While there he befriended future President George W. Bush and both were inducted to the secret society Skull and Bones. He earned an Master of Arts and Ph.D in sociology from the University of Washington.

Austin was Associate Professor of Sociology, Justice, and African
American Studies at Pennsylvania State University and served as
director of the Crime, Law, and Justice Program and the Africana
Research Center. Bush appointed Austin to the post of Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago. He was sworn in October 19,2001

BACK STORY:

Skull & Bones is the most powerful secret society in the world. We all know that members have included 3 U.S. presidents, 2 Chief Justices, over 20 U.S. Senators, Congressmen, Cabinet Officers, Justices and State Officials and 4 members have the following powerful surnames: Goodyear (Tires), Heinz (Catsup) Ford (Automobiles) and Dodge (Automobiles).

Becoming an Ex-Pat in SVG

Moving to St. Vincent and the Grenadines

by Dan on May 20, 2009

One of the tinier and less frequented of the Caribbean nations, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is one of the most charming and genuine destinations in the Lesser Antilles chain of islands. The country is divided into two islands, as the name implies, and they lie only a few hundred miles off the northern coast of South America. The climate is very pleasant, with beautiful temperatures common all year round—not to mention the precious beaches and the clear blue water.

The great thing about Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is that it has all the charm of a quaint place, unlike many other island nations of the Caribbean that have been stripped of their identity and culture by excessive and unrepentant development projects and so forth. Though the amount of tourism and foreign emigres headed to the country is lower than that of some of the other islands in the Caribbean, this has absolutely nothing to do with the natural beauty or cultural attractiveness of the nation. Quite to the contrary: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines have one of the most illustrious and respectable histories in the region, with a mixed British and French colonial past (with independence only coming in 1979).

There is every reason that an expat would choose to move to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. First of all, with a very affordable cost of living, people relocating from the US will find that their savings stretch quite well on the islands. Fortunately, the shopping options are quite good in the country, unlike many of its neighbors, with the incoming shipments of goods being very constant and reliable. The official language on the island is English, which further makes the integration process manageable and pleasant for native speakers of this language.

One reason that many expats choose to move to the country is because of the relatively favorable tax system, which is considerably more manageable than that in place at home for lots of expats. Explore a list of factors to keep in mind when moving to the country.

Furthermore, check out a slightly more business-oriented perspective on the country. Land ownership in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is fairly easy‚especially when compared to the regimes in place in neighboring nations‚and all that needs to be done is to obtain a license from the government, which usually takes between 10 and 14 weeks‚time. Check out some current real estate listings. This site has plenty of quality properties that expats will find attractive. Lastly, consider getting in touch with the countrys officials to make the relocation process as easy as possible; remember, the sooner you verify the procedures, the easier the process will be!

http://www.moveabroadnow.com/america/moving-to-st-vincent-and-the-grenadines/

You can also Google this topic for other hints.

Mattanja Joy Bradley

I mentioned earlier that Mattanja Joy Bradley, an international singer and musician based in Holland, will be visiting St. Vincent in April and May of 2009. She can be seen and heard on You Tube if you Google her name. In addition to her work as a cabaret singer she has performed with the bands Bradley's Circus and Karma Bonita.

Here she is in our living room.



She has been performing in Bequia on the weekends and opened one session of the St. Lucia jazz festival.

Let's hope she returns.

Letter from a Historian

I hope my research can be of use to someone, somehow there on St. Vincent. I really found the story of Chatoyer, Moreau de Jonnes, Eliama, Pakiri and the whole adventure of the Second Carib War to be fascinating. There are connections between them that would be interesting to discover.

According to Moreau de Jonnes, Fleur du Bois and her sister were granddaughters of the "great chief's" mother. Making them likely Chatoyer's daughters or perhaps Duvalle's, who may have been Chatoyer's brother. From the translation of Moreau de Jonnes, it seems that Fleur du Bois may have had a crush on Moreau de Jonnes, as she risks her life to save his in the cave escape, after the second French attempt to capture Kingstown fails and the French and Caribs are in retreat. The grandmother, mother of the great chief, was also a boyer, (shaman or socceress) according to Moreau de Jonnes. She and her granddaughters had captured the British officer/spy, Capt. Dawson, after he escaped from the captured sloop that Moreau de Jonnes was sent to St. Vincent on to warn the Caribs of Dawson's plan to destroy them. The grandmother was about to possibly execute Dawson by roasting him next to a fire, when Moreau de Jonnes stumbles on them in a cave, after joining in the search for the escaped British officer/spy. Moreau de Jonnes is able to get her drunk, and charm her granddaughters, especially, Fleur de Bois, into allowing Dawson to escape and avoid an awful end, though he likely dies in a booby trapped trail anyway.

Apparently, if this grandmother was a boyer and the mother of Chatoyer, she probably provided him with the supposed magical protection that he believed would prevent any British bullets from killing him during the battle on Dorsetshire Hill, where he was slain in the British counter attack, probably by Major Leith. Anyway these possible family connections to Chatoyer would be interesting to investigate, if possible, by someone on St. Vincent, to see if some additional personalities could be added to the lore about St. Vincent's national hero. Moreau de Jonnes seems to be the only one I know of that mentions them and their relationships, and then only in passing, and vaguely. Makes for an interesting story, anyway.

The Garifuna lady who is the head of the Garifuna Heritage Foundation, Mrs.Zoila Ellis-Browne, and wife of the Education Minister, grew up in Belize and may have heard stories growing up about Chatoyer and his family. It would be interesting to see if she knows anything about the connections between Moreau de Jonnes' stories and Garifuna tradition, especially the connection with Fleur de Bois, her grandma, Chatoyer, and Duvalle. I interviewed Mrs. Ellis-Brown at the government office for my thesis research.

I have read more about Moreau de Jonnes and the British translation of part of his memoirs, if fact I bought the book. [Note: After buying one of those myself it took another 8 years to find a copy with the SVG material--you can find it at http://1795.karleklund.net--ke] It has nothing on St. Vincent in it, but Moreau de Jonnes early life reads like an adventure novel. The British translator left out the section on St. Vincent, sadly. Good that we now have a recent translation. I had an Italian translator, who knew French and English, in Rome, read back in English the copies of the French version of the 100 pages or so about St. Vincent and I took notes, when I was researching my thesis. Now the British researcher, I think Hulme, who wrote about St. Vincent, who I have e-mailed a couple of times, has out his translation. Cool and I have it on my computer, thanks to your link.

Anyway, enjoy your visit to the US. We are going in June to California for a new grandchild on the way in July.

Thank you for helping me get the books to St. Vincent and thank Dr. Adams for his help with my history thesis. If he has written another book on St. Vincent I would like to purchase it, if possible. He was working on it when I was last there, probably back in 2004. I would appreciate any comments on errors in my thesis or addtional information that has been discovered there. It would be cool to find the locations mentioned in Moreau de Jonnes, if they exist. The cave where he and Fleur De Bois escaped the slave soldiers, the cave where he and his men and their equipment were housed near Pakiri's village, some battle sites mentioned might still have artifacts left over from battles and some old campsites and posts might be interesting to visit to look for artifacts. Perhaps some future Vincentian historical archaeologist could have a topic to work on for their future graduate thesis.

Jim Sweeney
Rota, Spain

Mustique Fiction

Never Assume

Jamie Freveletti is here today. She’s the author of Running from the Devil, a thriller about
chemist Emma Caldridge, who survives a plane crash in the Amazon—and that’s the least of her
worries. After the crash, Emma has to deal with hostage-taking guerillas, secret government
agents, and extraction teams.
Jamie and I met at Bouchercon in Madison, Wisconsin, my first b’con. I’ll always remember it—
for a variety of reasons, including that fact that Jamie graciously risked her car’s upholstery when
she offered to drive me and several other less sober people to one of the off-site events. Ah,
memories. But we don’t want to get sidetracked. Check out Jamie’s take on vacationing in the
West Indies, then pick up a copy of her book.
****************************************************************
I love the title “Good Girls Kill.” What’s not to like about homicidal good girls? It’s a play on
character assumptions that I think we all make. A good girl would not kill–of course not. As a
writer it’s fun to mess with conventional character development. This messing has a basis in
reality, because real people often end up surprising us.
I once traveled to a remote island called Mustique. Located in a strip of islands called St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, it’s an enclave of the rich and famous. The bulk of the island’s inhabitants
are from England, because the original developer was a true English eccentric, known for
throwing his money away on wild parties and crazy schemes. The current residents are refined,
rather reserved people. Or so I thought.
After I settled in, I drove around the island in the car assigned to my rented villa. The carefully
tended island had an exclusive air that made me wary. There was none of the easy breezy island
life found in Caribbean locales. Driving was a challenge, because large tortoises the size of
guinea pigs live on the island and risk sudden death as they ramble onto the road. I turned a
corner to find a small area dominated by a huge sculpture of two tortoises in an extremely
compromising position. By that I mean one tortoise sculpture was perched on the other’s back. I
was flabbergasted. I drove home wondering how such a stiff upper lip type of island came to own
such a statue.
Every Tuesday night Mustique residents attend a cocktail party at one of the only two hotels on
the island. I joined the crowd, feeling a bit awkward, as I was a renter and therefore new to the
crowd of locals. I got a drink and sat on the open air porch next to an English man lounging
against the railing. He introduced himself as “Sir” something or other and we proceeded to have
that kind of safe, stilted small talk you have with someone you’ve just met and have nothing in
common with. Sir Safe was stiff, dull, and stuck to inane, conventional subjects. I don’t know if it
was the wine I’d consumed or the need to liven up what was looking to be a very long night, but I
blurted out, “So what’s with the statue of the humping tortoises?”
Sir Safe got a serious look on his face, put his whiskey down on the cocktail table, and said, “Can
you believe it? It was donated by an owner. Let me tell you, many days were spent deciding what
to do with the thing. The entire community was in an uproar. Who in the world donates a
humping tortoise statue to an island such as this?”
“So why did you accept it? Couldn’t you have melted it down, or something?” I said.
Sir Safe leaned into me and whispered, “He’s an English billionaire, new to the island, and the
other owners didn’t wish to offend.”
“And you?”
He got a grin on his face. “I laugh every time I pass it.”
So much for my assumptions about Sir Safe. In fact, many of my assumptions about the island
owners were wrong. They possessed a sly sense of humor and friendliness that, while different
from an American approach, was authentic. Whenever my characters fall into routine behavior I
remember Sir Safe, the residents of Mustique, and their very funny statue.

........................
Thanks for stopping in, Jamie!

Review: Caribbean Sense Of Life

Consider the complex conditions under which a Northern family is obliged to live. Think of the labour expended upon that unceasing duel with the elements--the extra clothing and footwear and mufflers and mantles, the carpets, the rugs, the abundant and costly food required to keep the body in sound working condition, the plumbing, the gas, the woodwork, the paintings and repaintings, the tons of fuel, the lighting in winter, the contrivances against frost and rain, the neverending repairs to houses, the daily polishings and dustings and scrubbings and those thousand other impediments to the life of the spirit! Half of them are nonexistent in these latitudes; half the vitality expended on them could be directed to other ends. ...

"Living in our lands, men would have liesure to cultivate nobler aspects of their nature. They would be accessible to purer aspirations, worthier delights. They would enjoy the happiness of sages. What other happiness deserves the name? In the [..Tropics...] lies the hope of humanity."
Norman Douglas, SOUTH WIND, Dodd,Mead, NY, 1918;
...............................
Douglas’ description of the ordinary homelife of the Anglo-American middle class may no longer be accurate, what servants did in 1918 is now done electrically; but his description of the burdens of the North come crashing down when the electricity fails. In the tropics still, the failure of electricity is an inconvenience, not a disaster.
And he is certainly right that the tropics give opportunity to express “the nobler aspects” of our natures. I Rhonda King has collected examples, visual and textual, in “”Caribbean Sense of Life” .






"...this publication advances the ongoing process of education and reflection by moving the discussions from the ivory towers to the coffee tables, kitchen tables and bar counters of ordinary folk. "

I. Rhonda King
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
.................................

Interspersed among the snippets of wisdom are photographs by Fanny Terrer, which are reminiscent of Edward Weston’s technique, but are caribbean in nature.





“It was the first time I had seen indigenous people from the New World. I was as much struck by their appearance as was Christopher Columbus. The first thing I noticed was their serious demeanour, dignified and proud. There was in this respect some likeness to the Spaniards. It was easy to recognise a people never disgraced by slavery, who clearly regarded themselves as anyone’s equal. Their looks were assured, and in them could be read the indomitable courage which had stood the test of more than three centuries."

"…In Europe these individuals would have belonged to a superior class, whereas here this was the common type.”

Alexandre Moreau de Jonnès, Historian,
French Caribbean, (1778-1870)
.....................................
The challenge of the Caribbean is that it was colonial. The aboriginal population were largely driven out, the last being the Garifuna that de Jonnes described; and before the market for tropical products collapsed, the idea of the european planters was to make some money and go home.
.....................................
The history of the islands can never be satisfactorily told, because history is built around achievement and creation; nothing was created in the West Indies. There were only plantations, prosperity, decline, neglect, the size of the islands called for nothing else.”

V. S. Naipaul, Writer, Nobel Laureate in Literature,
Trinidad and Tobago
.....................................
The caribbean culture is thus primarily black--derived from africans who were raped from their villages, mixed higgledy-piggledy on the transports, and forced to find friends and familly among strangers.
......................................

“I’m just a red nigger who loves the sea

I had a sound colonial education

I have Dutch, nigger and English in me

And either I’m nobody, or I’m nation”"

Derek Walcott,
Nobel Laureate in Literature,
Saint Lucia
.......................................

“Caribbean Society was perhaps the first global experiment in human history.”
George Lamming, Writer,
Barbados
......................................

The philosophers and politicians of the various islands have been trying to figure out how to be Caribbean for a long time: as Dr., the Honourable. Ralph E. Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines says in his essay “Our Caribbean Civilization”:
......................................

I am most pleased to have been asked by CARICOM’s Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Edwin Carrington, to deliver the inaugural lecture in the Distinguished Lecture Series to mark the thirtieth anniversary of the founding of CARICOM. I take the Secretary-General’s invitation as a tribute to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, which has been in the vanguard of regionalism since the 1930’s, under a long line of committed regionalists: George Augustus Mc Intosh, Ebenezer Theodore Joshua, Robert Milton Cato and James Fitz-Allen Mitchell. I also take this invitation to address you as a personal honour, a recognition of my many years of unwavering toil in, and for, the regional vineyard.
........................................

But the unique quality is still a matter of history.
........................................

“The distinguishing characteristic of our Caribbean civilisation: If all other societies had slavery, the slavery in ancient Greece or ancient Rome, on ancient Babylon, or modern America was of a minority. The Caribbean is the only place in the history of the world, where the overwhelming majority of the population were slaves or indentured labourers.

Freedom in the Caribbean automatically posed the question of mass rule. That is why we are the world’s most rebellious people. I did not say the world’s most revolutionary people.”
Leonard Tim Hector,Political Activist,
Antigua





A Vision for the Twenty-first Century

We envision the day when all Caribbean people within the Caribbean and throughout the Diaspora will be fully conscious of the uniqueness and the potency of the Caribbean Sense of Life.

Awareness will facilitate the charting of a new path thus creating an integrated approach to regional development.


The Caribbean is the new frontier for creating and hosting the ultimate mode of being – an eco-friendly consciousness pursuing the natural balance between being and doing.

It is the locale for facilitating a meaningful and fully integrated lifestyle.




And with those words Rhonda King articulates the significance of her book: it illustrates how the Caribbean past and present point to the future. A copy belongs on every coffee table. And for those who can’t afford a coffee table, a paperback version will be coming out in the near future.

Orchid (recent)

Going Green - from a Peace Corps blogger

Steph Does The Peace Corps - Eastern Caribbean

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Going Green
Apparently the world has finally begun to go green. As my best friend put it, "Crazy Obama is really getting shit done! Going green is freakin' everywhere, every company." Thanks Court. I wasn't sure what was happening back in the U.S. since my absence (not true, actually I'm obsessed with checking CNN.com headlines) but still, that's good news to hear. I decided that I needed to do my part to help the world go green, so I organized a beach clean up in my village. I'm not sure why, but the kids in my community LOVE beach clean ups. I made announcements in all of the classes at the primary school where I work and you should have seen these kids. Their eyes lit up like I had just told them they were getting free ice cream or something. But no, they were excited to pick up wet garbage. Good stuff. All of the art classes I taught last week centered around the earth and not-littering in preparation for the big day. These kids are some of the biggest offenders of littering that I have ever witnessed. In hindsight, a "schoolyard clean up" wouldn't have been a bad idea. The idea that the litter was killing the fish in the sea though really seemed to get through to them though. Fish is the staple of almost every one's diet here so it was easy for them to make the connection. After school on Earth Day, Wednesday April 22nd, we hit the beach armed with trash bags. So many children showed up, close to 50, that we were able to clean most of the beach in an hour! After the clean up chaos ensued as the kids started taking their clothes off and jumping in the clean sea. They worked hard, they deserved. Happy Earth Day.

http://stephpcec.blogspot.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

SVG TODAY

Mustique

Mustique - Romantic Island of the Grenadines

Mustique is one of the islands in the St. Vincent and The Grenadines chain in the southeastern portion of the Caribbean. The entire island is owned by the Mustique Company, who rent or lease its 89 private villas, of which 57 are available for weekly rentals. There are also 2 privately owned hotels. Because of its luxury and isolation, Mustique has attracted a number of celebrities, including the late Princess Margaret, Bill Gates, Mick Jagger and David Bowie.

The island, 3 miles long and 1,5 miles wide at its widest point, is hilly, with a large plain in the north and is essentially composed of seven valleys each with a white sand beach and wooded hills that rise to a height of 495 feet. The island covers 1,400 acres (5.7 km) and it has a coral reef. The population of about 500 live in the villages of Lovell, Britannia Bay and Dover.

The history of the island of Mustique goes back to the fifteenth century when Spanish sailors first sighted a group of islands naming them ‘Los Pajoros’ or ‘the birds’ as they resembled a flock of tiny birds in flight. In the seventeenth century the islands were renamed The Grenadines by pirates who used the sheltered bays to hide their ships and treasure. The Grenadines were later utilised by European planters to grow sugar. During the 1700s, Mustique was heavily defended by the British against the possibility of French invaders and remains of three forts can still be seen.

The sugar-based economy of the Grenadines prospered until the sugar beet usurped West Indian cane as the major source of sugar. A rapid decay of life in Mustique began and the seven sugar plantations were overgrown by encroaching jungle. The only survivor was the sugar mill at Endeavour and its “Cotton House”.

Mustique was eventually purchased in 1958 by Lord Glenconner under whose guidance the island began to thrive once again. His private estate began to flourish and in 1964 the new village of Lovell was created. Four years later the land supported a 250-acre plantation of Sea Island cotton. Groves of coconut palms were cultivated and limes, oranges, grapefruit, tangerines and vegetables were being exported. The wild livestock was brought under control and a fishing industry, largely worked by men from Bequia, expanded. Mustique was virtually self-supporting.

The island remained relatively quiet although its reputation as an idyllic getaway was growing. HRH The Princess Margaret had accepted Lord Glenconner’s generous gift of a ten-acre plot of land as a wedding present in 1960 on which she built a magnificent residence, ‘Les Jolies Eaux.’ There followed a steady flow of visitors, many rich and famous and Mustique soon became famous as a Caribbean hideaway.

In 1968, The Mustique Company was formed and a new era began. They entered into a development agreement with the St. Vincent government which covered plans to encourage tourism and the building of no more than 140 private homes. This transformed Mustique from a family estate into a community of people dedicated to maintaining and enhancing their shares of the land for generations to come.

In 1969 the airport was opened, the first new villas were built and the old Cotton House opened as an inn. Improvements continued, including new roads, reliable electricity and communications, a desalination plant, a medical clinic and air transport services. An educational trust provides local children with schooling and a medical trust provides all islanders with medical insurance.

The best way to see the island for the energetic is on foot; however there are a few taxis available in Lovell Village and at the airport. Most visitors get around on one of the rental Mules, which is a heavy duty golf cart. There are also a few low-powered motorbikes available for rent.

With a harbour front focal point, the fishing village of Britannia Bay is the commercial heart of the island. There is a grocery store and a general store. The Sweetie Pie Bakery –French run– is a good place to stock up on baguettes, croissants and pain au chocolate. Basil’s Bar & Restaurant furnishes the night life. A visit to their Wednesday night barbecue buffet is a must, as is staying for the “jump up”! The annual Mustique Blues Festival, is held at the bar.

Macaroni Bay is one of the most popular beaches on the island’s East Coast. There is a covered picnic area here and the swimming is delightful. On the West and North Coasts there are four beaches. Endeavour Bay has good swimming and snorkeling conditions. Gelliceaux Bay is one of the ten marine conservation areas in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. These areas are important marine habitats set aside for special management. The snorkeling here is sublime. L’Ansecoy Bay is a wide beach located at the north end of the island. Offshore lies the jutting hulk of the French liner Antilles, which went aground in 1971. If you follow the southward road out of the village of Britannia Bay and then the shoreline path, you will happen upon Lagoon Bay, a perfect beach with perfect swimming conditions.

Britannia Bay - Although rather roily, Britannia Bay is the only suitable anchorage in Mustique. The water is sparkling clear and is wonderful for snorkeling and swimming. Take care entering by boat as the Montezuma Shoal (just west of the bay) is quite hazardous. There is a red and black beacon on the reef, stay at least 1/4 of a mile away.

Michael Russell - EzineArticles Expert Author

Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Travel

http://fitnessinfos.net/archives/2009/05/07/mustique-romantic-island-of-the-grenadines/

Early Education

St. Vincent And The Grenadines, University Of New Orleans Discuss Early Childhood Education Partners

May 8, 2009

CaribWorldNews, NEW ORLEANS, LA, Fri. May 8, 2009: Discussion of an early childhood partnership between the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the University of New Orleans has begun.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ambassador to the United States, La Celia A. Prince, recently met with University of New Orleans Chancellor Timothy Ryan and officials of UNO’s College of Education and Human Development to discuss development of a partnership with St. Vincent and the Grenadines to support Early Childhood Education.

On May 1, 2009, Ambassador Prince also visited Medard Nelson-UNO Charter School, where she observed a pre-kindergarten classroom. `This site visit has allowed me to see elements that we may incorporate into our Early Childhood Education system, making it more interactive; making it one that allows for the individual child to develop their natural propensities, rather than having everybody fit a particular model. These are things I can share with our principals back at home for their further consideration into the implementation of their own policies,` said Ambassador Prince.

`It really heartened me to be able to see a class of about 15 children as they engaged in role playing as a police officer, as a theater performer; while somebody else can sit in a corner and read quietly,` said Ambassador Prince following her visit with Nelson’s pre-kindergarten class. Ambassador Prince observed that this potential partnership with the University of New Orleans can greatly assist in St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ thrust towards implementation of universal access to early childhood education, as well as enhance her country’s capacity-building needs.

This shared vision of a possible collaborative partnership in Early Childhood Education is the result of dialogue between Dean James Meza, Jr. and ambassadors of Haiti, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. The first in a series of ongoing meetings took place last October during the World Cultural Economic Forum 2008 in New Orleans, hosted by the Office of the Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Mitch Landrieu.

The proposed educational collaborative espouses mutual goals of providing high quality education, promoting healthy families and communities, and protecting the best interests of children. The participants in these programs will become reflective practitioners prepared to design, implement and sustain high quality preschool programs that emulate the following core values: teachers facilitate the development of the whole child; all children can and do learn in diverse ways; teachers support and collaborate with families of young children and effective learning activities for preschoolers are multidisciplinary in nature and reflective of the cultural and community context in which the children live.

Ambassador Prince, who first served at her Embassy as the Deputy Chief of Mission was elevated by her Government to the post of Ambassador in April of last year. She presented her credentials to the United States Government in May 2008. She is the youngest foreign Ambassador, serving as her country’s chief envoy to the United States and the Organisation of American States.

The University of New Orleans (UNO), the urban research University of the State of Louisiana, provides essential support for the educational, economic, cultural and social well-being of the culturally rich and diverse New Orleans metropolitan area. It opened its doors in 1958 as part of the Louisiana State University System `to bring public-supported higher education to Louisiana’s largest urban community.` Today, UNO offers 43 undergraduate degree programs, 37 masters, and 11 doctoral programs. The 340-acre main campus sits on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain, offering easy access to all parts of the metro area.



…

Written by admin · Filed Under Caribbean News

svgtoday.com

A new email newsletter has opened at svgtoday.com. We will refer to interesting stories here, but vincies, especially in the diaspora, will probably want to check it daily.

Business

The Caribbean Gets GO-ing!
Axis Media Group
07/05/2009
Region : All

Scottish and Caribbean business support agencies form international partnership of expertise.

In a groundbreaking new project, business experts from Scotland and the Caribbean are teaming up to support and advise the burgeoning business community in St Vincent the Grenadines (SVG).

One of Scotlandʼs largest business support organisations, the GO Group, is taking over 25 years experience to SVG in order to help the business experts at the islandʼs Centre of Enterprise Development (CED) to build on their knowledge and become accredited business advisors.

A recent change in EU policy has meant that the Caribbean no longer receives preferential treatment for the distribution of bananas, which had previously dominated the economy of the small island nation. The SVG Government is now taking steps to diversify the economy and encourage entrepreneurship, meaning that business support is vitally important to the islandʼs future.

Lesley Meechan is the director of Learning and Development at the GO Group. She has been working with the staff at the CED for several months to help them achieve an accreditation from the Institute of Leadership and Management. She said:

“The CED is a non-profit organisation that was established by the Government of SVG to help the islandʼs business community grow and flourish. The staff at the centre are fantastic at their jobs. They know the local economy inside-out and are already making an extremely positive impact in SVG. They have been a pleasure to work with.”

“This will be the first time that an ILM Level 5 Business Support award has been granted outside the UK. It will give the staff at the CED the framework to raise the standards of business advice and continue to provide budding entrepreneurs in SVG and across the rest of the Caribbean with expert advice for years to come.”

Contact: Jo Hamitlon
Phone: 0141 889 6868
Email: Jo@axismediagroup.co.uk
Website: http://www.thegogroup.co.uk

Gone For A While

This Wax Apple tree is one of the best yieldin on the island because its roots get the "grey water" from the kitchen sink




These are milk coconuts, but don't stand under the tree




This is one of several banana and plantain trees that we have in the lower garden.



I caught this orchid before it bloomed.



I think this is an orchid.



I'm pretty sures t

By the end of May we'll be up in the States, so I figured I'd upload some pictures that will giveyou a hint of what St. Vincent looks right now. We'll be back in the fall and I may up load some older pictures in the meantime.