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Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights. It is the most important festival of the year based on the Hindu calendar and celebrates the triumph of Light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil. It is celebrated on the night of the new moon in the Kartik month of the Hindu calendar. Diwali is derived from the Sanskrit word dipavali which means row of lights. And one of the most delightful aspects of this festival in Guyana is driving around at night to see the beautiful lines of diyas (little clay pots with ghee and wicks) decorating the hindu homes and driveways.

For Hindus in Guyana, Diwali celebrates the return home to Ayodhya of Lord Rama and his wife Sita from 14 years of exile. The people of Ayodhya joyfully lit the way through the forests with diyas to help them find their way. Since the exile was caused by Lord Ram’s stepmother’s evil plotting to put her son on the throne, the festival celebrates good overcoming evil and bringing joy and hope back to the kingdom. The festival is also a celebration of the birth month of the Goddess of wealth, prosperity and light, Mother Latchmie. Since Diwali generally coincided with the last harvest of the year, agrarian society was concerned with a bountiful harvest to provide for their needs, and would pray to Mother Latchmie to ensure this. Many business people, see Diwali as the beginning of their financial new year, and therefore Diwali is also celebrated by many as welcoming the New Year sharing sweets. For Guyanese, this is one of our national holidays. The day begins with a thorough cleaning of the house. A rangoli is made at the entrance of the home to welcome Mother Latchmie into the home.....

Our Colin Powell

Colin Powell, has died. The retired four-star general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who served four presidents made his reputation as a man of honor distant from the political fray. He was a US war hero and the first Black secretary of state.

Colin Luther Powell was born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York, New York, on April 5, 1937. His parents were immigrants from Jamaica. He spent most of his childhood in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York City, which was then regarded as a step up from Harlem. The neighborhood included white, African American, and Puerto Rican residents. Powell has said that he never thought of himself as a "minority" while a child.

Caribbean people have always been proud of Colin Powell and many nurtured the hope that he would have run for President but he chose not to take that step and continued, in spite of divisive politics to stand out as a statesman. Powell whose family was vaccinated has died from complications from Covid-19. He was 84 and had been double vaccinated. Right-wing pundits are using Powell’s vaccination status to question the effectiveness of vaccines and rail against mandates. However he was being treated for prostate cancer, and had suffered from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that weakens your immune system. So Powell, even while vaccinated, was about as vulnerable as they come to infection.

The vaccines are not perfect— particularly at preventing infection. Breakthrough infections, and even hospitalization and deaths, among vaccinated people are real. But, for people without confounding risk factors for COVID-19, the vaccines remain effective against the most serious outcomes of the disease. That is, vaccinated people who are in good health, and do not have chronic conditions, are very, very safe from COVID-19....Cont'd on page 12

Miami Carnival delivered on it's promise and delivered a spectacular carnival that satisfied our craving for a taste of our culture. MBOC followed the required protocol of the local government and provided a platform for celebration of carnival in as safe of an environment as they could under the circumstances. There were checkers making sure that all attendees were tested within the required timeline, there was rapid testing available for those who did not show proof of negative test results.

Carnival is more than just our culture, it feeds our soul, it gives us a platform to release our stresses, our issues, our inhabitations. We applaud the planning team for providing a safe environment for that.

Carib Brewery USA officially unveiled its ‘321 Lime House’ Taproom and Innovation Hub, in Cape Canaveral, along Florida’s Space Coast. The newly rebranded and renovated 321 Lime House played host to the Central Florida Community to celebrate the release of their new video.

Carib Brewery has thrust itself into the international spotlight with the release of a new song and music video, featuring Toronto-based Trinidad and Tobago singer, songwriter and producer Kerwin Du Bois alongside Jamaican entertainer Chinsea “Shenseea” Lee, entitled “Can You Feel It”.

The music video includes a cameo by American DJ and producer Khaled “DJ Khaled” Mohamed Khaled, and was filmed and edited by award-winning United States director Gil Green.

Speaking at the launch of the video, which was held at Carib Brewery USA’s plant and “Lime House” in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Friday night, Du Bois, who co-wrote the song with Lee and co-produced the music alongside Chris “Jillionaire” Leacock of Major Lazer fame, said he was proud and happy to represent such a strong Caribbean brand. “I feel proud to be from the Caribbean at a moment like this and I hope that we can all support and stand by Carib—as we all should do with everything Caribbean,” he said.

The Lime House offers an authentic beer Taproom experience, an expansive outdoor beer patio, with the capacity to serve food provided by popular local food trucks and daily programming to satisfy the likes of visitors and locals alike. The food served will be paired with a variety of Carib Brewery’s popular beer selection, and with a diverse programming calendar, one can expect live entertainment, fun games and trivia and on special occasions, vibrant Caribbean entertainment such as limbo, steelpan music, and authentic Caribbean food, giving you an opportunity to escape and enjoy the ultimate Caribbean “local” experience.

Carib Brewery USA is responsible for an extensive portfolio of popular beer brands. A beverage portfolio that includes great tasting craft beers such as Caribe, Giant Leap, Key West, Swamp Ape and the extremely popular Hurricane Reef, to name a few. The Brewery is also the proud producer of many well-known craft beers including, the butterbeer served at the famous Universal Studios attraction, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, the great tasting Isla Nublar at the Jurassic World attraction and Duff’s Beer from the popular Television series, The Simpsons.The launch of 321 Lime House is part of the new corporate identity of Carib Brewery USA (formerly Florida Beer Company). The significance of the relationship between the diaspora and Carib Brewery emerges from the Caribbean region. Carib Brewery produces Carib…..’The Beer of the Caribbean,’ and this much-loved beer brand has earned 97 percent of the robust beer market share across the region while being distributed globally in over 30 countries.

Carib Brewery USA’s marketing director, Asa P Sealy, explained that the song and video are just part of the company’s international marketing thrust, which seeks to invigorate and inspire regional pride. Sealy said: “We wanted to use this opportunity to inject a measure of national and regional pride throughout the Diaspora and to ...Cont on page 11

“Here at the brewery, we have initiated a measure of innovation, which continues to inform and attract new consumers and interests within the beverage industry.”

Kerwin Du Bois expressed contentment with the finished product, which remained a closely-guarded secret even to him until the actual world premiere on Friday night.

Carib Brewery USA president and CEO James Webb said: “Judging from the crowd reaction here and the feedback online, I think we have achieved the first part of our objective in creating a phenomenal audio-visual product, which the region can be proud of and identify with, while also showcasing the brand’s commitment to representing the Caribbean region as a whole through our superior quality products.

“We look forward to fulfilling the rest of the mission in due course, as we launch the new ‘World of Change’ campaign and essentially invite the world to sample and experience the beauty and excellence of the Caribbean region, while also sharing the best of the region with the world at large,” Webb added.