westend celebrates silver jubilee

Praise for its youth empowerment initiatives ... greater glory of communities in mosaic.

By William Doyle-Marshall
It was a night of praise and congratulations for Westend Sports and Cultural Club as it celebrated its Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary) with its annual fundraising gala last Saturday night.
   Ayanna Bolden  and Faith Sky Cuffy were winners of the club’s 2012 awards. Aisha DeCouteau was awarded a scholarship and Cherese King and Jared Bolden, two ninth graders received special awards for their outstanding performances in high school. The celebrations was viewed as a symbol of honour for their stellar achievements.
   Motivational speaker Jonathan Hood, a past award winner, is now a member of the Hamilton Tiger Cats. He encouraged the awardees to be proud of their achievement because the selection committee recognizes there are kings and queens within them.
   Fairness Commissioner Jean Augustine, who could not attend, sent a congratulatory message.  She noted that the organization’s dedication for the advancement of  “our  at risk youth is laudable and worthy of praise”.
   Mayor Hazel McCallion acknowledged that Westend was established to provide activities for youth in the community while promoting Caribbean culture. “The annual Scholarship Awards Dinner Dance recognizes the importance of education in providing important tool in the empowerment of young people,” she added.
   Bob Delaney MPP also brought congratulatory greetings from Premier Dalton McGuinty and he stressed that the club’s valuable work with youth through scholarships builds good students and good characters.
   Keynote speaker Michael Lashley, former Consul-General for Trinidad and Tobago extended to the organization thunderous congratulations on its 26 years of selfless community work, scholarships and bursaries now totaling 86, educational, cultural, youth empowerment projects all for the greater glory of the West Indian and the other communities that make up the Canadian mosaic.
   Lashley announced his intention to launch his personal crusade for financial growth within the community. In his new capacity as a business consultant, the former diplomat is now free to undertake a venture he has always cherished. “I dare you to join me now to empower yourself and youth to break out from financial dependence to financial freedom,” the keynote speaker urged.
  By investing  three hours a week, he advised individuals in the community could create a source of revenue and leave their community in a, better condition than how they found it. This calls for a process  of re-education and it also demands that they cease being employees. The retired career diplomat advised that the Internet and personal telecommunication techniques can be used to enhance  skills.
  In addition, Lashley presented what he described as an energetic call to arms for the empowerment of  “our youth through business and finance, music and Caribbean cuisine.”
    Members of the Caricom Consular corps who attended the celebration included Jamaica’s Consul-General  Seth George Ramocan, Antigua’s Janil Greenaway, Dr. Vidhya Tota-Maharaj, Trinidad & Tobago and Karen Stephenson, Tourism sales representative for Grenada.
 “Of all of our assets, Caribbean cuisine is one of those that we have neglected the most as an asset for consolidating our cultural identity, building self-reliance and self-sufficiency; instilling team work in our family lives and for publicizing the significant contributions that we have made to the rest of the world,” Lashley observed.
   He told the gathering of celebrants that in his personal, family and professional life, as a foreign student in France and a diplomat in Switzerland, Venezuela and Canada, he made it his extremely pleasant duty to enjoy and to share with classmates, friends and foreign colleagues the delicious joys of the region’s  distinctly multicultural cuisine.
   Until quite recently, he stressed, he continues to do his part in reversing the North American trend towards buying meals. His family also saves a lot of money by relying mainly on top quality, tasty, home cooked food, Lashley disclosed. “I can therefore insist that socially , culturally and financially, it is in our interest to ensure that our young people draw deeply on our unique Caribbean cuisine for all of these diverse benefits and joys,” he continued.

    On the matter of music and particularly music for youth empowerment, Lashley proudly observed “there is no need to advance any argument to support this ideal in our community. All generations are basking in the lusty pleasures of the steelpan, Chutney, Soca, Calypso music. We are dancing to those and other rhythms. Aided and abetted by such local stalwarts as Richard Luces, DJ Badlad, Pan Fantasy Steel Orchestra, Macomere Fifi and our own lovable Parang promoter the venerable Joan Alexander.”
   In support of his “ingrained view” of the value of music for cultural identity, self-confidence and personal empowerment, the keynote speaker quoted from his Super Star David Michael Rudder’s definition of Calypso Music: “It is a living vibration, rooted deep within my Caribbean belly”. He also took time to highlight the other Rudder reference related to the power of calypso literature – “lyrics to make a politician cringe, to make a woman belly turn into jelly”
   Following the awards presentation segment, patrons partied into the morning with tasteful and nostalgic calypso music provided by Badlad Music (Ian Gould and Carl Harvey) and DJ Desmond from Trinidad’s Wack Radio.
October 15, 2012

Caribbean Tourism Organization values Diaspora

Diasporic Tourists valuable to Region’s Tourist Industry

By William Doyle-Marshall
The Diasporic community is now being acknowledged as a major contributor in the Caribbean tourism industry. “Forward Home: the Power of the Caribbean Diaspora” , a 50-minute film, produced for the Caribbean Tourism Organization, captures this reality in living colour.
   Trinidadian scholar Dr. Keith Nurse, producer of the film and lead researcher in a two year study funded by the International Development Research Center, brought his findings to Caricom community leaders here Wednesday as part of the 2012 Caribbean Week programme of the CTO.
   Professor Nurse and Hugh Riley, Secretary-General of the CTO recalled negative response to the initial proposal to get involved with the project. “When we started to talk about the Caribbean Diaspora people didn’t really get it,”Riley remarked. They questioned why the CTO was even concerned about the Caribbean Diaspora.

   The objections were based around a “foolish idea” at the time that Caribbean people were always going to go back to the Caribbean. There was also the view that Caribbean people assimilate into their new countries. As a result some objectors felt Caribbean nationals did not require special attention to be paid to them.
   Dr. Nurse’s study took two years, involved nine researchers and covered four Caribbean countries and diasporic tourism. Researchers looked at four global cities – Guyana and Toronto; Jamaica and London; the Dominican Republic and New York City; Surinam and the major cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague). The scholar and his team of researchers also  interacted with people and collected data as they looked at the movement of tourists and travelers as well as the flow of investment.
   The study proved that in Guyana and Surinam Diasporic tourist accounts for 70% of visitors to those territories, Without Diasporic tourist, Dr. Nurse observed there would be no tourism to speak of.
   In the case of Jamaica and the Dominican Republic – mature destinations with large tourism plants – and tourists in excess of a million visitors Diasporic traffic was a significant factor. Close to 30% of the traffic comes from Diaspora traffic.
   The CTO Chief spokesman emphasized reasons why the regional tourist body would and must talk to Caribbean people in the Diaspora.  “People are starting to understand the CTO would want to talk to Caribbean people. We are not some nondescript group which just blend into a society. We maintain a strong identity and we are proud of that. Our children who are second or third generation Caribbeans also identify very strongly with the Caribbean. Caribbean people don’t only want to go back to the country of their birth or to the country of their parents’ birth,”Riley explained.

  CTO officials are intrigued that Caribbean nationals in the Diaspora want to visit countries only 100 miles away from the country of our birth because they never had a chance to go there before migrating to Canada or where they now make their new home.
   “It is important for the CTO to help people to understand all of those aspects of why Caribbean people need to be talked to about coming to the Caribbean, the secretary general added. People from outside the Caribbean don’t really realize the Caribbean people love Caribbean vacations and they don’t understand that even though they have some similarities, the differences are amazing, Riley observed.
   At a press conference Riley talked about plans to improve service on behalf of the organization’s 32 members. Media practitioners also heard that CTO is in the process of rewarding members of the Diaspora for returning to the region and bringing along their family members and friends.