Pepper pot 07 24 2016

Mr and Mrs David Granger on the lawns of their State House residence. (Saajid Husani photo)

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Woman who suffered instant blindness completing UNIVERSITY DEGREE

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 Oddessa Alexis Blair

By Telesha Ramnarine ODDESSA Alexis Blair will never forget the morning of Friday, July 4, 2008, when it instantly seemed to her that her whole life was turned upside down. She woke up as normal, only to find that although her eyes were opened, she could not see anything.

From that time to now, Oddessa has been totally blind, unaware of what caused her to end up in this dilemma and more so, if she will ever be able to regain her sight.

The screams were deafening that morning and the anxiety mounted as she and her mom, Clarice, made their way to a hospital in Georgetown from their Farm, East Bank Essequibo home.

Doctors could find nothing to explain to Oddessa what was happening to her. She received no warning signs that something was wrong with her eyes and never had any complaints.

Unable to make sense of anything, Oddessa, who was just 30-years-old at the time, resorted to despair. To make matters worse, she was eight months pregnant with her second child, Mario.

“I just woke up one morning and couldn’t see. Just like that. Just woke up and looked outside and couldn’t see anything. I had no clues. I had no eye problems whatsoever; no dark eyes, no watery eyes, nothing,” Oddessa expressed in an interview with the Chronicle recently.

In the two years that followed, Oddessa cried day and night.

“My mom took me to the hospital and I kept getting referral from one hospital to the next. The last eye doctor said he suspected it was a tumor and he was sending me to do these scans. But I didn’t go through with it because it was very costly. I would have already spent a lot of money running from place to place. I don’t believe I have any tumors because those usually come with a lot of headaches and so and I wasn’t getting any.

So I knew that was a waste of time.”

Oddessa later gradually came to accept the situation she found herself in.

“I realized it’s a situation I cannot change and might as well adjust myself and deal with it in a positive way.”

Oddessa decided that she was going to stop worrying and cease her visits to the doctor.

“I decided I wasn’t going to run to any doctor anymore. This is my situation and I need to move on from there. This is it. I just have to settle and move on from here. I have to accept myself for who I am.”

But the distresses were not over for Oddessa. Just when she accepted this situation and decided to move on, she would now become a victim of domestic abuse. “All the time everything was going pretty well. But after I got blind, and after a while, like he (her reputed husband) couldn’t deal with the situation. And he started to react in a negative way. Maybe it took an effect on him and that’s his way of reacting. It reached to the stage where I had to call it quits.”

“

as a blessing in disguise.

She explains this way: “If I was sighted, I would have been working and it would’ve been work, work, and work all the time. But now, I am furthering my studies and pursuing a degree at the University of Guyana in social work. I would have never made the effort to further my studies, so I see it as a blessing.”

It was hard for Oddessa to accept that she was blind, but taking a positive view of this reality has helped her to cope.

“Back then, I had outer vision, but now, I would say I have inner vision. I can do as much as a sighted person can do, besides a few things like seeing to walk on the road and so. It was challenging to run errands and so at first but now I am accustomed to it. I can go places by myself. I travel with the bus from home to here (Guyana National Society for the Blind) and sometimes I use a taxi if I don’t know the place.”

Spending time at the Blind Society has also proved to be of help to Oddessa. She was initially seeking employment at this facility after experiencing problems with her reputed husband. She was told that they were not hiring but that she was welcome to join the CXC programme that they had ongoing.

“I came, wrote the five subjects they had to offer, and I came out with the second highest grade in 2013. I am now a third year UG student.”

Oddessa also plays blind cricket, loves social media and meeting new friends. She is also part of a culture group called “Vigac,” which travels from place to place to sing.

Commenting on her future, Oddessa expressed: “I would like to be one of the most dedicated social workers in the country. I promise to contribute to my country significantly and make a tremendous impact in the lives of persons. As they would say, man is made up of physical, social and mental health. So I would contribute to my country’s social health.”

She offered this sobering advice: “Take very good care of your eyes. If you see a blind or visually impaired person, or any person with a disability, and you can lend a helping hand, you can be kind enough to do so because you don’t know what the future holds.

I can remember when I was sighted, if someone had told me that I would’ve been blind today, I would’ve doubted them. But situations come and you don’t know what the future holds for you. So give a helping hand to whoever you can.”

Oddessa’s mom and dad, Clarine and Alex, provide invaluable support to her, along with her 19-year-old daughter, Rockell, and caring friends.

If I was sighted, I would have been working and it would’ve been work, work, and work all the time. But now, I am furthering my studies and pursuing a degree at the University of Guyana in social work.

I would have never made the effort to further my studies, so I see it as a blessing.”

A BLESSING IN DISGUISE Although she faced so many difficulties initially, she has now come to view her blindness

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

The cast of Choti Backoo

‘Choti Backoo’ for Berbice this weekend

“Choti Backoo,” billed as a rib-tickling comedy which spoofs off from the title of the popular Indian Soap “Choti Bahu” will be staged in Berbice this weekend.

The first show will be at the University of Guyana, Tain Campus next Friday and then at the Bath Settlement Community Ground on Saturday. Both shows will commence at 19:00 and gates will open at 18:00.

“Choti Backoo”, part of the “Gana Bhajana” series, is a hilarious exchange between the old and young generations that will leave the audience in stitches from laughter, the producers say. The Elder and scratchity Omkar believes going online is to hang-out or pick-up clothes, that surfing is on a “patch-up” car-tube in a trench and that Facebook is when your ‘face is in a book’ studying. This creates much amusement for his family and, of course, the audience.

In addition, his wife’s nephew who he calls Choti Backoo, the “non-completion” of chores by Choti Bahu (his daughter-in-law) and Balam the donkey are the sources of his frustration. His frustrations are compounded by the village vendor, Palo, who he despises for always bringing the “fish-market” into the home. With Balam, Backoo and Palo, there is never a dull moment in Omkar’s life and by extension, for the audience who will be in for a treat.

Written and Directed by Neaz Subhan, winner of the Best Playwright Prize in 2013 for “When Chocolate Melts”, the comedy stars Michael “Credit” Ignatius, Chris Gopaul, Romel Edmondson, Nirmala Narine, Narda Mohamed and Paul Budhna. A special appearance will be done by the Master of Ceremonies, Rajan “Katahar” Tiwarie.

The Shakti Strings orchestra will provide additional entertainment featuring a number of leading Guyanese singers.

The Shelita dance troupe will also perform a number of mesmerizing dances. The shows are supported by NTN Berbice Television station and Banks DIH Ltd. Admission is $1000.00 for adults and $500.00 for children. Children under eight will be admitted free.

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IV

Cinemas, movies, and Guyanese society (Part 5)

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By Terence Roberts he relationship of movies to real life begins as a mental, or imaginative reaction to what we see on screen.

Because what one sees can influence our physical real life, film culture, probably more than any of the other arts, has the most rapid effect on society. The effect can be positive or negative depending on film content, and the positive or negative interpretations of viewers.

But things become complicated when decisions have to be made about what is positive or negative, since these are relative terms.

For example, between the 1930s and 60s at least 40% of American films were socially concerned with corruption, greed, racial and class bigotry, the criminal mind, and conflicts arising from all these categories.

Some important Ameri-

cans in positions of power thought such topics made America look like a bad place, and some senators accused Hollywood studios of being infiltrated by communist artists. By contrast today, numerous American films seem neither of positive or negative effect, because the issue has been avoided, leaving films which have become simple demonstrations of opponents involved in never ending crimes, spectacular explosions, impossible feats, erroneous or senseless violence and appocalyptic treats to the entire human race, which any thoughtful viewer would consider mostly empty “entertainment” without actual everyday benevolence or social relevance.

Who and what appears in movies, and how they appear, can also have an effect or influence on real life via circulation in the mass media. This is why Afro-Americans objected to stereotypes of themselves

portrayed as only menials in many early American films.

Not only can such portrayals be untrue about their real individual lives, but such films can subtly establish that they SHOULD be only menials, or undesirables, to others desiring such an image and definition of them.

Secondly, raising the Afro role above the level of the stereotype would mean also doing so in real life, by establishing the hired actor as INCLUSIVE to a professional level, often offered or withheld, precisely because it could be seen as giving a “high” status in the public's or society's eyes. This process of “allowing” artists status extends to other genres, such as publication by certain magazines and publishing houses, certain art galleries, museums and theatres, where the criteria for one's acceptance or rejection, may extend beyond one's race, and include one's national origin, one's sexual orientation, or social class,

depending on who makes such decisions or judgements.

Sidney Poitier's roles led the way in rising above menial Afro characterization.

In No Way Out (1950), he is a doctor; in A Raisin In the Sun (1961), he is a white collar worker; in The Long Ships (1963), a Moorish king; in To Sir With Love (1965), a Guyanese immigrant teacher; and in In The Heat Of the Night (1967),

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

an ace homicide detective, etc.

Poitier's individual screen effect was clearly geared more to raising the social and employment status of the average Afro American in real life, rather than creat-

ing protégés in cinematic work. For this reason he is a good example who proves the social relevance of Hollywood films between the 1930s and 80s for Guyanese society. It is worth noting here that the interest of Hollywood ► Continued on page V

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

V

â–ş From page IV actors in real societies between the 1930s and 60s, is reflected in the visits to British Guiana's capital, Georgetown, of outstanding film-stars like Charlie Chaplin, John Garfield, Spencer Tracy, Tyrone Power and his wife Annabelle, Cary Grant, Danny Kaye, Lillian Gish, Myrna Loy, Rita Hayworth, Mel Ferrer, Anthony Perkins, among others.

One lesson that emerges from these films of the past (if such a lesson were projected unto films made

by Guyanese in the future) is to avoid biased, one-sided depictions of Guyanese society. For example, no one race or ethnicity would appear, nor no one neighborhood, type of house, dwelling, architecture, geographic landscape, interior design, clothes or fashion, reflecting one-sided topics of poverty, destitution, crime, etc.

The artist's viewpoint, which remains an individual voice and not a mouthpiece for grudges or backlashes, is concerned with creating a balanced truth for film viewers, and would not deny that Guyanese society has intellectuals, painters, beautiful fashionable females of all races and mixtures, film buffs, readers of the world's classic literature, beautiful streets, gardens, cafes, etc.

And by showing this, establish local social relevance, even if others (especially foreigners) consider this a false depiction because no negative stereotypes were wallowed in by Guyanese artists. One reason why classic Hollywood films were appreciated in previous Guyanese society was because even its sets of beautiful houses, rooms, yards, bedrooms etc., made those without such environments aspire to create it for themselves. From screen to reality became a benign ideal offered by numerous pertinent films with such content.

Balanced content exists in examples of films like The Asphalt Jungle (1950), where the grimy rundown big city of hustling and poverty-influ-

enced crime, vanishes near the end, to become a serene clean countryside of farmhouses, barns, grazing horses, which the mortally wounded country boy (Sterling Hayden) turned city criminal, drives back to in cold sweat from a bleeding gunshot wound when he realises it was a better life he had there.

The contrast between positive and negative is clear. In Body And Soul (1947), John Garfield, one of the most accomplished, exciting, and beloved American actors ever to hit the screen, is a boxer who, resenting his childhood and family's poverty, agrees to fix his fights for the profit and glamorous life it brings him; but he decides to secretly live up to his integrity after feeling used in the abuse of his morally upright black friend and trainer, and in defiance of corrupt fixing wins the fight he was supposed to lose for an enormous betting payoff.

In typical Garfield style, the film ends on a brilliant upbeat note when Garfield is asked how he feels about the danger of betraying those who fixed the fight, and Garfield answers: "I never felt better!"

In Limelight (1952), one of the greatest unforgettable films of the 1950s, Charlie Chaplin brilliantly shows us the positive power and value art can be, by taking care of a young actress in despair and bringing her recognition.

Contented characterizations and enticing neighborhood scenes flowed into the consciousness of Guyanese citizens between the 1930s and 70s from films like In The Good Old Summertime (1949), with its closely knit loveable neighborhood of poor yet industrious and ambitious characters.

In Young At Heart (1954), an outstanding and precious all-time Hollywood film classic, it is all its characters, the family house, and the neighborhood, which are socially exemplary. Doris Day, her two sisters, their mother and father comprise a model family. Day's bril-

liant caring unconventionality leads to the transformation of the struggling, pessimistic Jazz pianist, Frank Sinatra, into a positive and eventual successful song-writer and Jazz pianist.

In Mildred Pierce (1945), Joan Crawford's housewife character is transformed after her broken marriage into a novice working class waitress, then to a successful restaurant owner, by her cultivation of personal and social charm.

In Party Girl (1955), Robert Taylor, a selfish and corrupt crippled lawyer, stops defending syndicate mobsters with the help of a beautiful nightclub dancer (Cyd Charisse), also controlled by the crime syndicate.

In the Big Country (1958), Gregory Peck returns to the lawless Western American frontier from the developed East, bringing a rational, civilised attitude which counteracts and opposes a prolonged class feud between two self-destructive patriarchs and their followers.

By the 1960s, a new exciting progression occurred in Guyanese film society with the startling prevalence of continental European movies from two leading film-making countries, Italy and France, showing in Georgetown cinemas like Plaza, Globe, Metropole, Astor, Strand De lux, and

the sea-side Starlite drivein cinema near Ogle on the East Coast.

No one had seen films like these before, with English sub-titles of highly intelligent and perceptive dialogue, cool modern fashions, and unconventional modern interests covering the arts, technology, sexual freedom, social problems and the pursuit of professions.

Such films were identified by the presence of actors and actresses like Marcello Mastroianni, Vitorio Gassman, Michel Pi-

colli, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Alain Delon, Yves Montand, Jeanne Moreau, Catherine Deneuve, Vanessa Redgrave, Julie Christie, Romy Schneider, Elke Sommer, Bridget Bardot, Anouk Aimee, Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigeda, Monica Vitti, whose films were hotly pursued by Guyanese professionals and intellectuals, and young industrious teenagers from Georgetown High Schools and Colleges.

Though the contemporary American cinema

would lose much relevance for Guyanese society by the 1990s, the use of collective auditoriums for showing the thousands of classic films like those mentioned here, continues to possess the potential to assist Guyanese society today towards a more responsible, educated, and even tranquil and contented direction.

Obviously there are still a minority of new American films with much relevance for today's Guyanese society, a perfect example is the recent: Brooklyn (2015).

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

By Subraj Singh

Erin Morgenstern’s

The Night Circus

H

ave you ever come across anyone, let’s say in a classroom at university or in high school or even in a conference at your job or a fellow writer in a peer-review session, who has some really, really good ideas – ideas that are, in fact, much better than your own – and yet, because of that person’s inability to fully develop, present and manipulate those ideas into something palatable and necessary, those ideas ultimately crumble and end up being much less than what they could have been? If you have, then congratulations; you have felt exactly how I felt when I read The Night Circus.

The book is filled with good ideas. We don’t even have to go into the book to see everything the book has going for it. First, let us check out the snazzy concept art on the cover; take in the coolness of its title: The Night Circus.

Now let us go into the book and observe what appears to be the premise of an intriguing fantasy drama. Most of the action takes place in a mysterious and spectacular circus, which also serves as an arena for a centuries-long secret battle between two rival magicians. The rules of the game are that each magician must select and train a protégé and then, when the time is right, pit them against each other in a battle of illusions and spells until one of the protégés are dead.

Celia and Marco are the two young magicians chosen to compete in the battle at the circus and, of course, after years of training, eventually fall in love with each other, complicating the game with the rule that only a death can end the game still looming large in front of them both.

The concept of the play is absolutely brilliant as it contains all the ingredients that can help to bring a wonderful fantasy novel to life; it is one that has the potential to lend itself to great dramatic moments, characters that the reader could have rooted for, characters that the readers could have hated, ample tension could have been built up from the rules of the game at the center of the novel and, of course, on account of it being fantasy, there was the potential for many moments that can be gained from the fantasy elements of the book. Remember what including magic in their work did for J. K. Rowling and Neil Gaiman?

Sadly, however, the book falls short on almost every level and never really manages to live up to its potential. The pacing is slow and the writer drags out the battle between the magicians for years and years so the tension is loose and not as taut as it should be. The battle turns out to be one of based solely on ingenuity, as the protégés compete by seeing who could outdo each other in coming up with fantastic attractions for the circus rather than an actual duel, which is a bit of a disappointment and is not nearly as dramatic as the fight that was expected. The list goes on and on and even though the book has a brilliant concept and many great ideas, none of it ever comes together and works. Read it as a lesson on how great ideas do not always equal great writing.

(Harvill Secker, 2011)

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

VII

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

I would like to share that I have just returned from a vacation and I feel great – well rested, less stressed and anxious – and ready to start again. Since it is right in the middle of summer, I thought I’d write about the benefits of travel/ vacation on our overall wellbeing. Hopefully it will push a lot of you hard workers to take a well needed break.

I am blessed to have a long history of travelling but it was only recently that I learned the true benefits of it and how the travelling process itself can teach you about life and mental health.

An example was given to me the other day. When flying in a plane, one of the first things you are told is that if you are traveling with anyone in your care and something goes wrong (for example the oxygen mask drops from the ceiling of the plane) you are to put on your mask before anyone else’s in your care. The overall lesson there is that you cannot take care of anyone else unless you take care of yourself first. To do this, an occasional break/ holiday is needed.

So, what are the benefits of a holiday?

There is much research that explains the physical and psychological benefits of one. Holidays lower stress and anxiety levels, enhances mood, decreases the possibility of depression and also tends to increases one’s physical activity/ health. (I cannot even write the amount of miles that I walked during my trip – or the amount of shoes I wore out.) Creativity will increase as well as problem solving skills, inspiration and motivation.

We also tend to get more Sun (Vitamin D) when on holiday. This, as we know, helps to strengthen our bones and teeth while also protecting us from various types of diseases.

Travel allows you to meet new and exciting people. I met so many people on my trip who have actually taught me so much. There is education in travel. You learn about foreign cultures; you get to experience new people, food, languages, history, views/ sights, laws and so much more.

Travel helps to strengthen relationships - spending quality time with other people. It doesn’t matter if it’s a new relationship or a married couple of 40 years- you learn so much about that person.

Due to the usual increased activity, travel is beneficial to your physical health as well. It decreases the possibility of heart disease. A study that followed individuals over a period of 9 years revealed that men who took annual holidays were 30% less likely to have heart attacks and the women were less likely to develop coronary heart disease. Lower levels of blood pressure were also found in those that took annual vacations.

Travel allows for great memories. We all have stressful times where we feel overwhelmed and over worked. We also all have moments when we are extremely bored.

Thinking back to special times can improve our mental state during these times. Fi-

nally, a break will result in higher productivity when returned as well as an increase in energy.

Yes, I must acknowledge that travel may actually be quite a stressful experience for some.

There may be a fear of flying, the stresses that come with travel itself or being in an unknown country but there are precautions that one could take that would make the experience easier.

Firstly, plan ahead; be on time. Do not rush to the airport. I had that experience during my travels as I did not cater for traffic and it caused unnecessary stress! Gather the proper information before travel. When going to a foreign country, especially one with a different language, it is better to be prepared. Know where you are going and what’s near you. Find out where the nearest hospital/ health clinic is. This is especially if you have physical or mental health problems. You will feel much more relaxed if you already know where to go during an emergency.

Take a dictionary (if a foreign language is involved). There is nothing more frustrating than not being able to communicate what you need. Travel with family and friends- this makes it a lot more interesting. Take a book/ game or anything that entertains you.

I recently experienced a seven hour flight delay and it was not pretty. Put your “must needs” in the carry on as lost luggage is quite common during travel. While on vacation, be careful of overindulgence.

Too much alcohol or food can result in feelings of lethargy, dehydration, headaches etc. and will actually put a damper on your holiday. Finally, get some sleep.

We very rarely sleep on holidays as we want to see/ do as much as we can.

It is not only the holiday itself that causes happiness – we have all experienced the sheer excitement and anticipation that comes with the planning and waiting for the holiday period to arrive. This alone can boost good mental health and productivity. It’s important to create space between us and our familiar world – only then can we obtain new perspectives and solutions.

We free our imaginations when in new environments. They are filled with new sorts of stimuli. When we spend every day in the same physical environment, without even noticing it, we develop stable, particular ideas, beliefs and thought processes. These constrict us on a daily basis and again, only when in a foreign place can these be broken and new interpretations and views can surface.

I’m going to acknowledge that many in Guyana cannot afford to travel or go abroad but this does not mean that you can’t just take a break in general. It is extremely important to have balance in life. It’s great to work hard but relaxing from time to time is also beneficial and will ensure the endurance to keep working over a long period of time. I hope that you readers will decide to take a break this summer, you deserve it!

Thank you all for reading. Please continue to write in to caitlinvieira@gmail.com to let me know what you would like to talk about. OR come in to see me at Woodlands Hospital Outpatient Department: For drug/alcohol problems - Mondays 4:15pm or for general mental health issues - Wednesdays 4:15pm.

Say Yes to Life and No to Drugs! Always!

VIII

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Young Amerindian girl held against her will PURSUES DREAM OF BECOMING A NURSE - Aunt who engaged in forced labour’ before the courts

T

By Sventlana Marshall hey say you have to forgive others in order to feel inner peace but can you really forgive someone who made you into a slave? This is the battle of Jessica [not her real name], who suffered two horrific years as a house-slave.

She had been promised the “good life.” In fact, her aunt had promised to fund her tertiary education in the capital city – Georgetown,

► Continued on ‘Jessica’ as pictured

by Aubrey Odle

page IX

“

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 ► From page VIII

She used to tell me I am a good for nothing…it hurt me to hear those words… but I know my worth. So if somebody lets you down, walk over it. Don’t let that situation stop you, believe in yourself and know that there is hope.”

so she could fulfil her dream of becoming a Registered Nurse.

Her reality, however, was everything short of the “good life.”

Jessica had just completed her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations at the age of 16 when she was asked to overlook her aunt’s restaurant and bar in an Amerindian village south of Guyana.

Though she hesitated at first, but after discussing the matter with her grandmother (with whom she was living), she agreed.

Three days soon turned into one month, and before Jessica knew it, she had been working with her aunt for two months without a single day off and for little or nothing.

After many sleepless nights and days of condescending remarks, and plenty “wuk,” Jessica decided enough was enough. But just when she decided to walk away, her aunt claimed that monies were missing and threatened to call in the police in August.

“She said I took her money, I never did. Every day I would hand the money over to my grandma, sign that I did, and she would give it to the manager; I never took her money.”

With the allegation hanging over her head, Jessica was forced to work a few more months – 24 hours a day – seven days a week.

By December 2014, the situation worsened. Her grandmother had taken her home but it was not long before the police appeared at her house. “Two policemen came on a bike and say I was needed at the police station, so I went with them,” Jessica recalled.

At the police station, Jessica met her aunt and other ranks who were assigned to the Upper Takutu-Upper Esequibo region at the time. “The Corporal asked me where is the money; I said I don’t know,” Jessica insisted, noting that the police from all indication had appeared to be on the side of her aunt without giving her a listening ear.

With things in her favour, the woman told Jessica, “If you don’t want to go to jail, you have to work for me.”

The teenager pleaded with her aunt to give her an opportunity to see her parents but she refused. However, she was allowed to collect a few pieces of clothes from her granny’s residence.

In tears, she told her little brother to inform her parents that she was leaving.

Upon her return to the station, her aunt was patiently waiting. “Jump in the truck now! Now!” she screamed at Jessica.

“I was looking to see if I could get away but there was no

one there to help me,” she 18 year-old recalled. They travelled for hours before the bus came to a halt. But it wasn’t their final destination, simply a police check-point.

“My aunt took me to the police, and told them, she taking me to work with her for one year, and he was like ‘behave yourself, don’t go and behave bad.’ He didn’t even asked me anything.”

The said day, they travelled to Golden Grove on the East Bank of Demerara, Region Four where the situation quickly deteriorated. “Soon as I reach, I had to work but she didn’t care. I had to cook, wash and press. I had to press my cousin’s uniform, clean the house – top and bottom, and look after her peanut and farine business, plus rake the yard,” she recalled.

In a small room in the lower flat of the two storey house, Jessica had little choice but to sleep on a small, tin mattress.

The bed frame was broken and the room was shared between Jessica and a little Amerindian boy who would be put to the “mill” when he is not attending school.

“I can’t eat in peace…even if the house was cleaned, she would want me to clean it all over again…she would curse me, call me all kinds of names. One time, she lashed me with a pot spoon and pelt me with a bunch of keys. Sometimes, it was worse than that.”

The fun-loving aunt she had grown to know had transformed into a “beast.” Many days, Jessica thought about running away but the porters and truck drivers always kept a close eye. “She used to tell me, if I run away, the Police will catch me because she has my ID.” It was the period in her life when she felt there was no hope, and even the thought of suicide lingered in her mind.

But Jessica thought about her siblings, and her family

IX back home. “I use to think about committing suicide but mom said never to kill myself.” She used to borrow the porters’ and truck driver’s phones from time to time to call her parents.

In March, 2015 she became pregnant. She had found love “in a hopeless place.”

Jessica had seen the coming of her firstborn as a sign of hope and reason to live. So she chose life over death and vowed to be good mother to her child despite the hardship. When she learnt of Jessica’s pregnancy, her businesswoman aunt became extremely upset – so upset that she bit the teenager on her ear and dealt her a slap to the face. “Every day she would tell me how I get a dead frog in me and a stink snake in my belly.”

For a moment she thought that her work load would have reduced given her pregnancy, but instead it doubled. “When I was sick, with saline in my hand, I had to wash, cook and clean. I had to parch nuts in the hot, hot sun. I had to fetch big bags on my back and when I complain, she said Amerindian people strong.”

One year after, on December 22, 2015 Jessica’s father went to her rescue. The visit wasn’t a welcome one, but the man insisted that he was not leaving without his daughter. But the business woman kept insisting that Jessica, who had turned 17 at the time, had not paid her debt in full.

Before leaving the Amerindian Village, the woman had told Jessica in the presence of the police that she would be paid $30,000 a month but $15,000 would have been deducted monthly for the missing money. However, she never gave $15,000 at a single time, instead, she was given $5,000 sometimes and other times $3,000.

The man was least concerned about the debt her daughter had allegedly owed. For him, his daughter was being held against her will by his sister and it was not only illegal but unacceptable.

A report was made to the Grove Police Station and the Trafficking in Person (TIP) Unit was called in. A rescue operation was conducted and Jessica was removed from the Golden Grove residence. The woman was taken into custody.

The matter is currently engaging the attention of the court.

“I never thought my own blood would do me something like that. She used to treat me good since primary school. I use to watch how she use to ill-treat the other girls in the village but never thought she would do me that,” Jessica said as she looked back.

“She used to tell me I am a good for nothing…it hurt me to hear those words…but I know my worth. So if somebody lets you down, walk over it. Don’t let that situation stop you, believe in yourself and know that there is hope.”

Jessica is now registered in the nursing programme.

Game of Thrones and Guyanese Politics X

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

By Subraj Singh

What is Game of Thrones?

I

s there anyone au fait with the world of pop culture, anyone who watches television, or anyone who has access to the internet who does not know what Game of Thrones is? For the people who have somehow managed to escape, if not watching then knowing of, Game of Thrones, allow me to inform you, quite simply, that, contrary to descriptions used by other people, that Game of Thrones is more than just a television show. Game of Thrones is, in fact, a phenomenon. Usually the term “phenomenon” is overused, but considering that the show’s fan base is truly global in scope, that the show has created history through its massive ratings and by being the most nominated show at the Primetime Emmy Awards – which rewards primarily television shows. To understand why this matters, you must know that we are currently in what television scholars are describing as the second Golden Age of Television – meaning that even though Game of Thrones is on the air along with a lot of other great shows, it often comes out top, highlighting its superiority over the many good work that is currently on television. There are other ways in which the show has had an immense impact on the lives of people.

Among the more frivolous includes the rise of legions of fans all over the world, even here in Guyana and the Caribbean, who host conventions and Game of Thrones viewing parties.

Of course, the show is much more important than all that, especially for a Guyanese audience, but before we get there, the question must be answered for those who do not know:

what is Game of Thrones?

It is a television show that airs on HBO. It recently ended its sixth season. The show is based on a series of books called A Song of Ice and Fire (ASOIAF) by George R. R. Martin, and is set in a medieval-type fantasy world where several warring clans fight to gain control of the throne and become ruler of the continent of Westeros. The show has one of the largest casts on television and is packed with heroes, villains, antiheroes, and characters that are so morally ambiguous that they are equally loved and despised. The sheer scope of the show is one that cannot be accurately summed up here and, for now, it would simply have to be described as BEING epic, and also AS an epic. While politics is the main theme of the show, it also focuses extensively on morality, death, feminism, religion, the loss of innocence, and complex human relationships. Herein, in the themes and the presentation of them, lies the importance of Game of Thrones to the Guyanese audience.

Why is Game of Thrones important to us?

The importance of Game of Thrones, it must be understood, comes to us solely because of the fact that the show itself is a work of art – a combination of writing, acting, directing and other artistic elements – that, like any good painting or piece of literature, offers us a plethora of lessons, ideas, and ideologies to discover.

The first lesson, and the one being discussed in this ar-

(George R. R. Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire Image via: Indiewire) ticle, has to do with politics. This is especially important for us, the Guyanese audience, because of the fractured and fragile political landscape we have in our own country. The show offers us a way of experiencing political entities and perspectives that, although being not close to the Guyanese experience in its presentation of a war-torn medieval continent besieged by kings and queens with dragons and giants, does offer some insight into politics and the political train of thought. After all, can the motivations of politicians, wheth► Continued on page VII

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

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Game of Thrones ... ► From page VI

rannical streak running through her, and yet, she is the one poised to rule all of Westeros. In much the same way, here in Guyana the advocates of race-based voting are heavily, destructively flawed and yet will (continue to) be imbued with power if their supporters continue to adhere to the perspective of choosing their politics based on what is the same or familiar and do not become more analytical in their choice of leaders. This parallel is also reflected on Game of Thrones in the way certain royal families (such as the Lannisters) cling religiously to their own, refusing to give up power, refusing to share that power and doing everything possible to ensure that they are the only ones who accumulate power – which itself is another trait, the accumulation of wealth and power

er to serve and protect a country and its people or to usurp power from the people, not be reduced to certain, basic core tropes that can be used to express the motivations of a great majority of politicians, whether in fiction or in real life? Is fiction not always based on some aspects of real life? Can we then not contend that the political ambitions being displayed by various characters on Game of Thrones offer some idea of how the political mind, and politics, work and what role the common man has in the mechanisms of the few who use the title of “politician” to make decisions which influence the way we live? The answer to this question is in the affirmative because the parallels between the real world and the world of Westeros are too obvious to dismiss. Take, for example, from the show, the character of Daenerys Targaryean, who has risen from being oppressed and enslaved to the point where she is now a deliverer of the oppressed and enslaved and, because of this, is at the point where her legion of followers have ensured that she has become Queen of the city of Mereen. Daenerys’ followers are with her because she saved them, but it can also be assumed that many of them rally at her side because her narrative is one that they feel connected to; her life story, she herself once was in situations similar to ones she rescued many people from, is (Daenerys Targaryen something that reminds her followers that Image via: HBO) she, their queen, was once like them and this, in fact, may be one of the very reasons why they stand by her. Perhaps it is human nature to feel a in specific families, that can be found in the Guyanese politsense of security with that which is similar to, or the same as, ical arena. ourselves. This could explain the pattern of race-based voting The way in which Game of Thrones intertwines rethat has been prevalent throughout Guyanese history (with ligion with politics is also quite interesting. The show is the East Indian faction voting for the PPP and the Africans able to offer to the audience one perspective which tells voting for the PNC) and this notion in politics of staying with us how religion can be used in politics to manipulate the what is the same, what is familiar, or similar to oneself is fears of people in order to ensure that they become subdefinitely reflected in Game of Thrones in the way the former missive and bend easily to the will of the ruler/dictator. slaves, and other characters who have been oppressed and In the show there is a beautiful and powerful priestess marginalized, such as Tyrion, her chief adviser, stay close to named Melisandre. Her religion has been accepted by the side of Daenerys. However, as we in Guyana know, there one of the kings vying for the throne and she uses that are pitfalls to choosing only your own simply because they religion as a mechanism with which to both instill fear are your own. Daenerys is not a perfect ruler; she makes bad into people and to coerce them into following the king she decisions and might even be accused of having an almost tychose instead of all the other kings. Now, in Guyana, can

there really be found an example of religion being used as a political tool? Shockingly, such an example does exist.

Did Bishop Juan Edghill not once say that voting for the PPP is something that Jesus would do? If we examine the pertinence and applicability of Edghill’s contentious contention then the role of religion, its purpose in the field of Guyanese politics, becomes blatantly evident.

Another interesting political insight the show offers is through its presentation of the Baratheon brothers (all of them rulers at various points) and how the presentations of the brothers, counterparts of all of whom have been reflected in Guyanese politics at some time, is almost a guide to what the perfect ruler should NOT be. Take, for example, the eldest brother, Robert Baratheon and the way his rule was marked by excessive spending and indulging in the good things in life, which led to the kingdom almost becoming bankrupt. Of interest is also Robert’s choice of advisors and the way he was manipulated, puppet-like, by smarter politicians. The second brother is Stannis Baratheon who is a brilliant strategist and rigid ruler. His flaw being that he is often seen, despite being just and morally upright in the beginning, as too emotionless and cold, which initially distances the populace away – proving that the image of the politician and the way he/ she interacts with the common man is of the utmost importance. Then there is the third brother, Renly Baratheon who reflects the politicians in Guyanese politics who are all talk and no action. He is charming and skilled with words, but lacks vision and a desire to really be of any help to anyone other than himself. In observing these three types and applying them to local politics, the Guyanese equivalents should become apparent.

Clearly, there are lessons for the Guyanese people that can be found in Game of Thrones, which itself only means that there are lessons in art for all people. The show serves to entertain, to teach and to cause the audience to react, emotionally or mentally, to what they see onscreen. It is the job of the thinking audience, something we should all aim to be, to glean what we can from the works of art that are presented to us, apply them to our current situations, and extract from them every lesson, every piece of ideology and every bit analysis that will teach us more about the world we live in.

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Creditinfo Guyana celebrates 3rd anniversary Creditinfo Guyana, located in the heart of Georgetown, is the second regional presence of the Creditinfo Group and the first ever credit bureau in Guyana. Creditinfo Guyana entered the group in 2012 and its Chief Executive Officer is Judy Semple-Joseph. This week, we feature some of Bureau’s list of Frequently Asked Questions, so you can be informed about the work of the Burea and how this affects you.

What is a Credit Bureau?

A credit bureau is an independent organization that collects, stores, and organizes credit information about consumers and businesses.

This information is sourced and collected from lenders such as banks, credit unions and microfinance organizations, as well as providers of various alternative types of credit such as hire purchase companies, telecommunication companies, and utility companies such as Guyana Water Inc. and Guyana Power and Light Co. These disparate data are then subjected to a rigorous process of matching, cross-checking, merging and analyzing. Everything possible is done to ensure that the information is accurate and relates to the specific data subject.

This processed information is compiled and used as input to create comprehensive credit reports and other value added services provided by the Credit Bureau to its customers.

Why do we need a Credit Bureau?

Credit bureaus are important elements of the financial infrastructure that facilitate access to finance. Easier access to finance is a significant driver of economic well-being in any country, but more particularly for those countries in the developing world such as Guyana.

Today, less than 25 percent of the people living in developing countries have access to formal financial services, compared to up to 90 percent in developed markets. Financial sector development is seen to empower the productive power of businesses and bring the informal sector into the formal economy, a very necessary process.

Banks play a central role in extending financial services within an economy. A long standing problem that has plagued the lending environment in Guyana is what the industry calls Information Asymmetry, a formal term used to describe a situation where one party to a transaction has more information than the other which can give rise to a particular circumstance called Adverse Selection. In order to protect itself the response of the credit provision industry has been in the form of higher interest rates, increased costs imposed on borrowers to facilitate their particular due diligence process, and sometimes long and tedious periods of waiting for approvals or denials.

For most people, credit is an important part of their life.

There are few people who do not have some type of credit arrangement serviced by payments at regular intervals, such as a personal or business loan, a credit card, and overdraft facility.

Even those “unbanked” persons who do not possess any

of the bank products/ facilities on the list can still consider themselves credit customers of some regard, as long as they have a postpaid phone, water or electricity service in their name or an account at any hire purchase provider such as COURTS or Singers.

Credit is everywhere, and so therefore is the necessity to document its individual patterns and histories. The main task of the credit bureau is therefore to make credit easier to obtain by those who need it. It’s a win-win situation for both lender and borrower.

Who controls the way the Credit Bureau does business in Guyana?

The Credit Bureau is licensed to operate under the Credit Reporting Act of 2010, and the Credit Reporting (Amendment) Act 2016. These two pieces of legislation clearly set out the manner and means by which the credit bureau may go about its business in Guyana.

The practical aspects of enforcement falls to the Bank of Guyana in its capacity of regulator in the banking and financial industry. Among other things, the principal Act specifies which entities may share information with the bureau, and which entities are entitled to access the data in credit report form under the mandate of permissible purpose.

Every aspect of the credit bureau’s operations is closely monitored and regulated by the Bank of Guyana in line with the requirements under the Act. There are severe monetary and punitive consequences attached to even the slightest infraction of the Law. What is a Credit Report?

A credit report is simply a summary of all credit related and public information that the bureau has collected and stored on a particular data subject. This information would typically include biographic data, details on a person’s financial obligations and payment history in support of these obligations, collateral given for any credit facility and details of any guarantees that may exist.

This means that when someone applies for some form of credit, the prospective lender can check to see what kind of borrower they have been in the past, and can use this to determine how they will repay in the future. This is called RISK ASSESSMENT, simply because it essentially seeks to quantify the level of risk the lender is taking by offering credit services to the prospective borrower.

There are various types of credit reports available, including a particular report that contains a CREDIT SCORE. What is a Credit Score?

A credit score is a number that is derived from a com-

prehensive analysis of credit data available on a particular borrower. It ranges from 250 (lowest score) to 900 (highest score) and applies a summary of everything that is contained in the credit report into a single numerical indicator.

More simply, it is a particular number that indicates how good a credit risk an individual is likely to be based on how he has behaved in the past, taking into consideration factors such as current financial obligations and some other specific indicators.

It is accompanied by the Creditinfo Predictor, which is a statistical estimate of the probability that a borrower will default on a credit facility, also based on characteristics available in the vast store of information collected by the credit bureau. The information contained in a credit report is entirely factual. The credit bureau does not express any opinion about the consumer to whom the data pertains.

Why is a Credit Report needed?

When someone applies for credit, the lender is interested in finding out as much as possible about them, so that an accurate assessment can be made of their likelihood of repayment.

Borrowers are typically called upon to provide information that would prove their creditworthiness, which always involves several face to face meetings and lots of paperwork.

In many cases a lender extending credit may never have an opportunity to truly learn what type of person the borrower is, or to discover for themselves in advance if they are trustworthy, capable individuals. Often, all they have to make a judgment from is the information on the application form, and whatever additional data may be forthcoming through discreet inquiries to other financial institutions. In truth, this is far from the whole picture because an ability to pay can only accurately be assessed by looking at your credit history - which is a complete accounting of your ability to repay debt.

To do otherwise is like playing darts in bad light, with your target far away. A true hit-or-miss situation.

The various credit reporting services offered by the Bureau supports the decision process by providing all the credit information that is available - and it does so quickly (mere seconds or minutes).

How important are the Credit Report and Credit Score?

A credit score is one of the most important numbers in a person’s life. In the developed world, a credit score can have significant implications for many essentials of daily living.

Here in Guyana where we are now at the threshold of devel► Continued on page XIII

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â—„ From page XII opment in this aspect of the credit provision environment, this too will soon be the case.

The less risk a person represents based on their credit history, the more access they will have to various forms of credit at lower rates. The credit score indicates on a sliding scale how high this risk is likely to be, and the report gives the details that provide the score.

Think about it like a job interview. A boss can either hire someone with no training straight out of high school or someone who has worked for 10 years. Should the boss risk hiring an untested and inexperienced person whose abilities are unknown or give a chance to the one with experience? A number of executives would choose option #2, simply because they feel more comfortable that they know all they need to, and can judge accordingly.

Therefore, the reason why NO CREDIT HISTORY is worse than having a bad credit history is because the latter situation gives lenders something to base their decision on.

They can factor in the events that led to bad credit (if they exist) and see if there would be potential problems. Prospective borrowers will have a chance to explain their circumstances.

For example, bad credit could be linked to loss of a job, sickness or something else that saw a reduction in income. If a borrower has been working on his credit or recently saw an increase in income, the lender may be able to overlook a bad report. He may not be able to look past the fact that there is no credit history at all since he may very well conclude that there are worse things in the past as yet unrevealed. Note that a credit score is dynamic and frequently changes as new information is added to the credit file.

Now that a credit bureau is fully operational in Guyana, lenders are mandated to obtain the credit history of a person or business before considering any type of facility.

Why do Lenders use Credit Reports and Credit Scores?

Credit scores give lenders a fast objective measurement of an applicant’s credit risk. Before the advent of credit scoring and credit reporting, the credit granting process was usually slow, inconsistent and often unfairly biased.

Lenders can use these tools to speed up loan approvals to borrowers who score above a certain threshold. Borrowers with scores just at the threshold or below may be asked to submit additional information or may qualify for different terms.

Can a bank, or anyone else share my information without my permission?

YES. The Credit Reporting (Amendment) Act 2016 provides in law for all lenders to be allowed to share credit information that they may have on file for their borrowers with the Bureau. However, the confidentiality of your credit information is always protected by the requirement that you must first give permission in writing before anyone can see your credit report.

What can the Credit Bureau do for me?

Collateral support for credit applications Access to financial history allows a lender to see the entire credit profile. Factoring in hire purchase records, phone, water and electricity account records as well as bank history into a credit report gives a consumer the best chance at a good report. This may give lenders the confidence to modify their usual collateral requirements for securing credit by taking into consideration a good reputation built on the way a borrower has approached ALL other obligations.

That much needed loan may be just an application away.

Lower rates of interest Consumers can easily qualify for lower rates of interest in the long term on loans and other credit related services, as lenders can now quickly evaluate how good a borrower

Introduction of New Chairman of Creditinfo Guyana, Mr. Hakon Stefansson to Dr. Gobind Ganga, Governor of the Bank of Guyana by Judy Semple-Joseph, Chief Executive Officer is likely to be. Since the credit report and score represent a reliable indicator of risk, and interest rates at lending institutions are fixed in response to perceived risks, a borrower may qualify for a more competitive rate of interest on a credit facility.

Faster approval of credit applications Access to a credit report is facilitated quickly and easily through a web portal. This means that the interviewing officer does not have to leave their desk to see what they need to in order to arrive at fair and just assessment of someone’s credit position.

An application can now be processed a lot faster than before.

Cost savings !

Since it is no longer necessary for your potential lender to engage scarce and costly resources to verify your application data and credit history, these cost savings can be passed down to you in the form of reduced processing charges for loans, or better rates of interest.

Can anyone see my personal information?

No. The Credit Reporting Act is quite specific on this point, and even if it were not, the Credit Bureau has very strict operational guidelines and policies regarding confidentiality of data. Information is, after all, our stock in trade and we must take the trust of our data subjects very seriously.

The bottom line is: No one can walk off the street and request a credit report on anyone but themselves. Furthermore, the credit bureau does not even get to decide on the companies that participate in the Credit Bureau program.

This list has been identified in the Credit Reporting Act as a narrow specific group of entities that include only Banks, Microfinance Institutions, Insurance Companies, Hire Purchase merchants and a few more. Any addition to this exclusive club of lenders must first be approved by the Bank of Guyana. Further, you must first give permission for any of these authorized entities to view your credit report.

How and where is my information stored? Is it secure?

All data is and will always be one hundred percent safe

from unauthorized access. First of all, no paper files are created for storage, and nothing is stored locally. All credit bureau data is in digital form and is stored offshore in a Tier Three Data Storage Facility. This is the highest level of security in the region, and the second highest that can be found anywhere in the world.

The Credit Bureau has gone through a great deal of trouble and expense to be satisfied that it has fulfilled its mandate of trustworthiness and security. We operate at the highest level, which more than fulfils international and local requirements. Further, we employ a highly experienced IT team equipped with the best available technology to support our systems.

The system implements all necessary security features in order to host sensitive data using standard security for the encryption of data transmission, audit trail and IP filtering.

Is a Financial Institution allowed to access a report on someone who is not its current or potential customer?

The Credit Reporting (Amendment) Act of 2016 provides that you must first give permission in writing before any lender can access your credit report. If you choose to decline permission, they are not allowed to access our system to check on your credit. This means that, at minimum you must be applying somewhere for credit.

This is one of the principal reasons why the credit bureau logs all enquiries and why the consumer report will list all entities who have accessed reports on a particular data subject.

This means that a consumer can evaluate who has seen his report and verify for himself that there has been no unusual activity.

The law provides for severe penalties in such a case, as does the policies of the credit bureau as set forth in its agreements with its data providers.

Can my credit report or score be ruined by one item?

NO. One bad aspect of a credit history will certainly have some impact on the outlook of a report and score but when balanced against input such as can be obtained from the other contributors of data, the net effect of this wide reach may and probably will still be positive.

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

A guide to getting started online (Pt. 2) Continuing from last week’s discussion about consistency across social media platforms, I’d like to venture a bit further into why you should take time to properly curate those spaces. Keep in mind that although you may not be able to tell, your profile is always being watched! It sounds creepy, but most times this could be used to your advantage.

Yes, there are settings that allow you to control who sees your profile (in most cases), but if you’re a creative practitioner looking to get your work recognized then having a private profile does very little to help build your professional network. One of the main things to consider is the purpose of each profile. Ask yourself: “What am I trying to do/say here?”

And get used to having those conversations with yourself because they become crucial as you navigate the murky waters of social media.

In some cases, persons choose to have multiple accounts on the same platform in an effort to separate their personal life from their professional practice. This is absolutely okay if you’re disciplined enough to update all of those accounts on a regular basis. But if you’re anything like me and you have a love/hate relationship with social media, then this is not an option.

Instead, consider limiting the amount of personal content you post on your profiles. Case in point, my Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts (albeit neglected at times) are almost exclusively related to my work and process. Of all my social media accounts, I tend to post the majority of my personal content (which is actually very little) to my Instagram profile. Most times I would go back a few days later to delete them (don’t ask why, it’s a Dominique-ism). But this is a great way to keep the attention where it needs to be - on your work.

Persons shouldn’t have to work too hard to find the artwork on your page, particularly if you don’t have a website or online portfolio. I know the temptation to give in to the “me, me, me” trend is real but platforms like Snapchat are perfect (and far less permanent) for facilitating the need to post every detail of your daily routine. The curators and critics aren’t interested in what you had for lunch or your gym routine or the hundreds of selfies you may be tempted to post, so don’t disengage them by falling into the social media trap. Very often, life as a creative practitioner doesn’t afford you the same luxuries as your less creatively inclined friends and family members. The sooner you recognize this the better off you’ll be in the long run.

Establishing accounts on any social media platform is relatively easy. There are usually support groups and forums available to answer any questions you might have. And in most

cases, learning to navigate through those spaces functions as an introduction to the more complex and mind-numbing world of website development. Although you can pay a professional to spare you that torture, you can also explore the “drag and drop” options if you’re on a tight budget. If you’re considering the latter then brace yourself for a long and bumpy road.

My general attitude is “I prefer to do it myself,” and so there really wasn’t much consideration given to involving someone else in this process. Unfortunately, as with most things in my life, I had no idea what this decision really meant until I was a red-eyed, sleep deprived zombie with an even lower tolerance level for human interaction. Yes, “drag and drop” options are infinitely easier than learning to code, but it’s still very difficult for the average Joe/Jane who has never worked on the back end of those platforms. But thankfully Youtube and Google exist to make our lives a little easier.

Where would we be without them? I shudder to imagine.

Now there are a number of web-development platforms that allow users to work with templates, as opposed to building them from the ground up. These “drag and drop” templates cater to persons, like myself, who don’t know head from tail about creating codes for building websites. Platforms like Wix, Weebly, Wordpress and SquareSpace are just a few of the places interested persons could explore until they find the perfect fit for all of their web needs.

I’m not in a position to recommend the best web-development platform since I’ve only ever worked with Wordpress and Wix, and casually browsed through SquareSpace. After spending way too much time combing through thousands of comments in various forums looking for the platform best suited for visual artists, I finally found what I thought was “the one.” Although Wordpress is perhaps the most popular platform, I was surprised to read so many persons in the creative community speaking out against using it. Instead, all signs at the time pointed to Wix and so this is was the platform I chose to invest my time and money.

From all indications, Wix seems to be a lot more user friendly than Wordpress. Even with its many limitations (that are notably absent in Wordpress), going at it on your own is much easier and you have the added benefit of building and reviewing content in Preview mode before publishing it for the world to see. Wix’s support team is also very responsive and they automatically deploy updates to your site to improve security and fix any bugs so that you don’t have to. Although Wix checked off a lot of the boxes that were important to me, there was one thing that I wish I knew before I committed to

them. There is an ugly little thing that presents itself in your website URL called a hashbang. It sounds really dirty but it’s not, just extremely annoying to see.

Now again, I have no idea what’s what when it comes to the technical web building mumbo jumbo but I do know an ugly URL when I see one. When I first envisioned my finished website, I never imagined the address to my biography page would be www.dominiquehunter.org./#!biography/c1lo9. That is not attractive to anyone, let alone a visual artist preoccupied with aesthetics. I believed that the page to my biography would read www.dominiquehunter.org/biography. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper when I realized that there was absolutely no way around this as a Wix user. I spent endless days trying to figure out what I had done wrong, only to stumble across a category in Wix’s Support section that offered this explanation: “The hashbang symbols (#!) in the URL are part of the AJAX technology and deep linking mechanism and cannot be removed or altered. This mechanism is important for SEO purposes, as it ensures the visibility of your site content for search engines.”

Great, so the only way people can see my website is if it has that horrendous hashbang mixed in. Gee, thanks. In their defense, they have provided a feature for Wix users desperate to work around this saying: “You can use the 301 redirect feature to create custom URLs for the purpose of sharing your site pages. These URLs can be shared via social media or via email. Keep in mind that the customized URLs will redirect to the original URL when the page is loaded.”

I gave up the fight at that point of my journey. It wasn’t supposed to be this hard and, quite frankly, I resigned myself to “It is what it is.” So no, I can’t tell you anything about that alternative because I just wasn’t interested enough to go the extra mile. I’m learning to live with assault on my eyes.

I know for sure that this is not a problem with the Wordpress platform and I would be willing to bet that none of the other platforms have this problem either. What I would advise you to do is to be patient and spend as much time as possible exploring all platforms thoroughly before committing to any one. Take advantage of their free trials by creating some dummy sites so that you could see exactly what you would be paying for. Don’t be like me and make payments for 3 years in advance, only to realize you’re not 100% happy with what you paid for. Or you can just save your money and call the professionals.

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Be fired up, whether you are ‘Spring Chickens’ or ‘Old Fowls’ - Don’t be worried about old age

By Francis Quamina Farrier A society is judged by many things. Some of the more important ones are how it cares for its environment, how it treats its vulnerable citizens, how it treats its animals - both domestic and wild, how it treats its very young, and very importantly, how it treats its elders.

So, when at 5.52 p.m., on September 1, 2008, the VIP and powerful man Bozo John (not his real name) made the following statement in the presence of many persons, including children, it startled many who heard him. He said: "I am fed-up with the old people. They had their time. They must go one side and let the young people learn from their own mistakes."

Now, I have to repeat that Bozo John was a very influential person. In fact, Bozo John is still a very influential and important person in the political arena of Guyana.

During the more recent years, Bozo John became infamous for instant cuss-outs, something which some of his faithful followers have emulated. But for him to say that he is fed-up with the Old People is something else!

How could that be? So I went to a close colleague of Bozo John's and asked him for a comment on that very worrying statement. I have to admit that the colleague was shocked and tried to make an excuse, saying that it was probably a joke by Bozo John. But the fact of the matter is Bozo John really has no talent for making jokes. His personality seems to be void of humour. In fact, although he is a good-looking guy, Bozo John has a ► Continued on page XXII

XV Farrier dancing with 100-year-old Etelene Dates at State House

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Fun holiday activities for the kids Short Story…

The rooster that wouldn't crow (Part III)

By Artie Knapp

"S

he's a cow, Mr. Harpole! Edna is a big, beautiful cow!"

"You're joking, right?" asked Peter.

"No sir, I'm not. That's why I've been mooing. I told Edna before I was taken away that I would moo as loud as I could for her. I want her to hear me, so she knows I am thinking of her."

"Toby, the first question I have for you is: How did you fall in love with a cow? You're a rooster, for crying out loud!"

"Whoever said love was easy, Mr. Harpole?"

"Well, I'll give you that, but Toby, Mr. McHenry doesn't have any other roosters to sell. I asked him about that last night. He's one of the few farmers close by that even has chickens. Farmers in this region aren't looking to sell their roosters right now, anyway, because they're trying to breed them. If you haven't noticed, the crops aren't doing so well this year."

"I realise that, Mr. Harpole, but what's the problem with me mooing anyway? Is it really that big a deal?" asked Toby.

Last week, we ended just at the point where Toby confessed to Mr Harpole and the children that the girl he was pining over, “My Edna,” as he called her, was not a hen. Then, what on earth is she!!! You’re about to find out, if you’ll only be patient.

"When it's coming from a rooster, yes Toby, it is. Let's say word gets out around town that my rooster moos instead of crows. The local grocers would probably quit buying from me, because they think I have defective chickens."

"This just isn't fair, Mr. Harpole."

"Toby, I want you to think about everything we've discussed. Bright and early tomorrow morning when the hens start to cackle, I'll be expecting to hear several loud crows out of you." As Peter walked back towards the house, Toby collected his thoughts and pondered what he was going to do.

ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS

"Excuse me," said one of the hens to Toby. "I hope you don't mind, but I was listening to your conversation with Mr. Harpole, and I would like to offer you some friendly advice."

"Sure, fire away," said Toby. "I could use it right now."

"Well, first, you've got to understand Mr. Harpole's just trying to make an honest living to support his family," said the hen.

"What's so wrong with our place anyway? I think you would really like it here if you gave it a chance."

"Let me stop you right there. I completely understand and appreciate Mr. Harpole's situation. I really do. But what kind of life are we living for ourselves, if we just settle for whatever makes everyone else happy? This is a great farm, and everyone here has been wonderful so far.

This isn't about where I live; I'm talking about how I live; I'm talking about being with the one I care about. Please don't take this personally," said Toby.

"It's a little hard not to. Your wanting to be on a different farm is one thing, but wanting to get back to a cow! Well, now, every hen on this farm believes you feel you're too good for them."

"That is absolutely not true! been in love?"

Haven't you ever

"Yes Toby, but it wasn't with a frog, a goat, or a tiger. His name was Charlie, and he was, believe it or not, a rooster. Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean anything by that. I know this is tough, but you'll figure everything out. My name is Paula, Toby. If you ever need to talk, just come over to the coop and peck three times."

"I will, Paula. And thanks for the advice."

Will Toby take Paula up on her offer? Find out next week when the story continues.

felt by other animals. Have a look at the food web below: How many food chains make up this food web?

FOOD WEBS IN LAST week’s feature, we learned that energy is transferred from one animal to another through ‘food chains’. This week, we will be learning about ‘food webs’.

Animals have several sources of food. Therefore, food chains only show a link between one source of food for a particular animal. Food Webs are formed when we put several food chains together to show all the interactions between predator and prey.

It is important to understand the difference between predator and prey. For example, in the case of a cat hunting a rat, or a bird hunting for a grasshopper, the cat and bird are the ‘predators’, while the rat and grasshopper are the ‘prey’.

The food web allows us to have a better look at the relationships between animals and plants. Food webs are proof that all creatures in nature are in some way or the other connected to each other.

Due to this connection, changes in any link in a food web would be

‘Environmental Matters’ was written especially for children, and is brought to you courtesy of the Environmental Protection Agency, 7 Broad and Charles Street, Charlestown, GEORGETOWN.

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

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Fun holiday activities for the kids DYEING FOR SOME COLOUR

HOW ABOUT A PAPER BAG NEIGHBOURHOOD Transform recyclables into model towns of dreamed-up dwellings.

WHAT YOU’LL NEED: Large paper grocery bags Some markers and crayons Some old newspapers A pair of scissors Glue stick and//or double-sided tape Construction paper and poster board Old magazines and catalogues Toilet paper tubes 1. Start with two (2 ) flattened grocery bags for each building (if your bags have logos printed on the sides, you can create a plain surface by taping a sheet of brown paper over the house-front, or by carefully cutting apart the bag, turning it inside out, and taping it back together).

2. Decorate one of the bags by drawing in windows and doors, colouring in bricks or clapboards, and adding distinctive touches like cutout flower boxes and creeping ivy.

3. When the basic drawing and colouring are complete, stuff the second grocery bag with crumpled newspaper. Now open the decorated bag and slide it on top to create a six-sided block.

4. Cut out, fold and glue or tape in place shutters, doors, and stairs from coloured paper. Add pictures of people, pets, and other images cut out from old magazines.

5. Top off the house by cutting out a poster-board roof, and gluing or taping it in place. For a crowning touch, add a chimney fashioned out of construction paper or a toilet paper tube.

Tips: The buildings can be purely imaginative, like a fantasy dream house, or based on your actual town or neighbourhood (making it a fun project for a classroom, troop, or church group).

Rrefreshments anyone…

Watermelon Sorbet THIS scrumptious ice really captures the essence of an all-time Guyanese favourite, drawing its sweet flavour from the juice of the watermelon while leaving behind the seeds and rind.

Ingredients: 1 cup water ½ cup sugar 4 cups watermelon chunks 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice 1. Combine the water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer it gently for 5 minutes. Pour the liquid into an 8-inch square glass baking pan.

2. Puree the watermelon chunks in a blender, then strain the puree into a large bowl. Measure out 2 cups of the watermelon juice and stir it into the sugar syrup along with the lemon juice.

3. Place the pan in the freezer for 1 hour. Then stir the mixture with a wooden spoon and allow it to freeze for another 45 minutes. Repeat this process once, and then allow the mixture to freeze through (another couple of hours or so).

4. Thaw the ice slightly so that you can transfer it to a chilled blender. Pulse the machine just until the ice is slushy, periodically scraping down the sides. Spoon the sorbet into chilled bowls and serve at once. Makes 6 servings.

See you next when we’ll have more fun things for you to do over the August ‘hols’.

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Non-traditional crop sector projected to grow by 5%

I

n spite of the lucrative extractive sector, agriculture remains the main economic activity and provides employment for the majority of people in Guyana. Over 80 non-traditional crops such as bora, peppers, cabbage, pumpkin, cassava, citrus fruits, sweet potatoes, ochro and coconuts are produced locally- making Guyana a food-secure nation.

The major exports in this sector are dried coconuts, coconut water, watermelon, pineapple, limes, eddo, bora, saeme, mangoes, and wiri pepper. And, the value added commodities include pepper sauce, seasonings, achar, chips, jams, jellies, flours, dehydrated products, and coffee.

â–ş Contiuned on page XIX

IMPORTANCE OF INVESTMENTS Agriculture is done by private individuals and groups. Government creates policies and programmes and provides services to support their growth. The National Agricultural Research and Extension Insitute (NAREI) works closely with the vegetable producing communities including Mahaica, Mahaicony, Parika, Central Corentyne, Crabwood Creek, and Cane Grove.

There are different types of vegetables growers in these areas: Household gardeners (usually grow crops on a small scale for home consumption); urban vegetables growers use technology such as grow box, hydroponics, shaded cultivation to produce crops for the local market; and commercial vegetables farmers, who produce crops for the local and overseas markets.

By year-end, this sector is projected to grow by at least 5%. It has the potential to grow even further and be financially rewarding for those engaged. However, agriculture producers face a number of hurdles including low productivity, limited access to markets for their produce, lack of adequate risk management products and services and limited access to finances.

Many of these limitations could be overcome by farmers and other stakeholders treating agriculture as a business. Necessary financial injections, either from savings or financial services, while not a means to an end, are critical to fund: 1. Farm investments to boost productivity (Usage of equipment such as cassava planters and harvesters could increase cassava yield.).

2. Improve postharvest practices. For example, enhanced transport of produce such as bananas and pines could help reduce losses 3. Smooth household cash flow 4. Enable better access to markets 5. Promote better management of risks Access to finances can also play an important role in climate change adaptation and increase the resilience of groups to climate change, thus contributing to long-term food security.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES There are numerous business opportunities in the non-traditional crop sector. They include: crop farming, agro-processing, seed and seedling production, business development (research on market demands), hydroponics, organic fertilizer production, shaded agriculture, production of animal feed, exporting, soils testing, and consulting.

With no fees attached, NAREI provides technical support to investors from the land preparation stage, spacing of crops, to post-harvest. The institute is not involved in marketing but from time to time assist to link producers to processors. About 80 percent of the persons who approach the National Agricultural Research and Extension Institute (NAREI) for advice on the establishment of an agribusiness go through with their investments.

NAREI has been encouraging farmers to get involved in shaded cultivation. Of course, it will require greater investment in the initial stage than that of open field cultivation.

But, shaded cultivation is more profitable and allows year-round cultivation. The table below shows the cost of production for tomatoes under shaded cultivation on a land space of 60m²:

Corn grown at Ebini

Watermelons produced at Huntley, Region Five

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 ► From page XVIII

Total Yield = 298 kg RETURNS = TOTAL YIELD X SALE PRICE PER KG =298 X $300 = $89400 PROFIT = RETURNS – TOTAL OPERATIONAL COST = $ 89400 – 33470 =$ 55930 Profit/acre = G$3,728,666 The above clearly shows that shaded cultivation is indeed a worthwhile investment. However, farmers need to follow good farming practices as set out by NAREI to have a healthy productive farm.

Grapefruit grown at NAREI's Horticulture Station

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Stained teeth

Dr. BERTRAND R. STUART, DDS.

If your teeth are stained or discolored, chances are you have gone to some lengths to achieve a whiter, brighter smile. Perhaps you have experimented with the variety of toothpastes on the market today, purchased some of the home bleaching kits sold in drugstores and supermarkets, or, in an attempt to draw attention away from your teeth, accentuated your hairstyle or clothing.

But unfortunately, many of these efforts ultimately fall short. Today, however, there is no need to suffer from social embarrassment or psychological trauma because of stained or discolored teeth. Suitable cosmetic dental treatment can provide both predictable and positive long-term results.

There are a number of reasons that teeth stain. Foods, beverages, and medications may discolor teeth. Smoking or forgetting to brush and floss on a regular basis may also lead to staining. In other cases, discoloration may be the result of genetics or disease. Micro cracks caused by chewing ice or other hard objects can trap stains and are difficult – or more often impossible – to clean. Cut back on coffee to reduce stains. Even with frequent cleanings, stains due to drinking large amounts of coffee may rapidly return.

What stains teeth? Stained teeth can be caused by drinking cola, coffee, and tea; consuming other stain producing foods such as betel nuts, blueberries, curry, greens coloured drinks or red wine. Smoking is bad in every way. The nicotine deposits on the enamel are a very common source of discoloured teeth. These stains are called surface stains.

Stop staining your teeth by: Limiting the amount of coffee and tea in your daily diet Avoid smoking Make regular visits to your dentist for professional cleanings Brush and floss regularly and properly. Some toothpastes have compounds that can help remove minor stains for a whitening effect.

Plaque can build up on teeth can cause stains, referred to as soft deposits. This is usually the result of inadequate oral hygiene (brushing and flossing). Surface stains occur primarily between teeth and on surfaces of crooked teeth. They are typically dark brown and are caused by strong discoloring agents such as coffee, tea, and tobacco. It can usually be managed with daily oral hygiene combined with regular visits to your dentist for professional cleanings.

It may be trapped in micro cracks and require a more aggressive treatment than professional cleanings alone. Although bleaching can cause the micro cracks teeth become even whiter than or a different color than the rest of the teeth. Mouthwashes which contain chlorhexadine can contribute to staining.

Soft deposits are caused by plaque – a sticky film that builds up on teeth over time – or tartar (calculus) – a cement-like substance that forms when plaque is not removed. They are often bacterial in origin and may be the by-product of ineffective oral hygiene. It can appear as dark or whitish areas around the gum line, most often on the lower front teeth and typically disappear after thorough dental scaling and polishing. It is useful to use a plaque disclosing agent to know if you are brushing and flossing effectively.

Intrinsic stains are part of the tooth structure itself. This may be a result of genetics, disease, or the use of medications such as tetracycline. Intrinsic stains include white spots on the enamel surface and bands of brownish gray across the teeth.

It may be caused by faulty hardening of the tooth before birth or the interruption of normal enamel formation by medications or disease.

It often appears in people who were treated with the antibiotic tetracycline before the age of eight years or whose mothers took the drug while pregnant.

It can also result from the use of the antibiotic minocycline or may be caused by advanced decay or by old or defective silver fillings (brown or gray stains). Treatment for intrinsic stains include laminates, veneers and bonding.

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Renaissance of the University needs full support The University of Guyana has always been a major concern of the public and this is seen at the times of the Common Entrance and CXC Examinations when parents are in great anxiety and worry that their children may not achieve good grades. Parents would desire their children to achieve good grades so that they could adequately satisfy the entry requirements of the University of Guyana (UG).

Despite this widespread desire to attend and study at the UG, the Institution has been in a state of decline over the last several years and has suffered widespread criticism. Such criticism has been directed not only to the Institution but to the graduates who are often described by employers as not being able to write a sentence in proper English. It seemed that nothing could be done to change or improve this state of affairs and it appeared that the University was destined to remain in the doldrums of decline for the forseeable future.

There however seems to be a characteristic of Guyana that when it is thought that all is lost, there very often is an unexpected bounce back into success. And the UG over the last few months has unexpectedly embarked upon a course of Renewal.

At the beginning of the year, Professor Nigel Harris took up the post as Chancellor and Mr Nigel Gravesande was appointed Registrar.

These are able, qualified and experienced Guyanese and they started on the work of rebuilding. In February, the Transformational Taskforce which had been appointed under their leadership began serious deliberations. The Taskforce's membership consisted of several talented and able persons such as General Joe Singh. The cloud of pessimism which had enveloped the Institution began to

dissipate.

To complete this team and greatly reinforce it, Professor Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith was appointed Vice-Chancellor, in effect Principal and Chief Executive Officer of the University. Prof Griffith began his academic career as a student of UG. As a UG graduate, he entered American Academia earning its highest academic qualifications and continued his very notable and distinguished career in the strictly academic and also administrative fields.

Unlike most distinguished Guyanese who had achieved honours and recognition in the Developed World, Prof.

Griffith returned to Guyana to give back to the country of his birth.

Though Prof Griffith has taken up the office of Vice-Chancellor only just about a month ago, his leadership, creativity and energy

PAT DIAL have already began to impact on the Society and the University.

An example of this is his first meeting with the public at the launching of the "Turkeyen Talks" series which was held at Duke Lodge to address the very topical issue of Britain leaving the European Community. Prof Griffith impressively moderated the evening's proceedings where

the distinguished panel consisting of Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge, British High Commissioner Greg Quinn, CARICOM Ambassador Colin Granderson, Chief Executive Officer of Caribbean Containers and Chair of GoInvest Patricia Bacchus and economist Dr Thomas Singh, presented.

The occasion was a great success and heralded the new extramural impact the University would be offering the Society. Prof Griffith's leadership seems to have already started to inspire the staff for the University people who organized the occasion did so with enthusiasm and these included Public Relations Officer Paulette Paul, who welcomed the attendees in a gracious and personal way, Dr Paloma Mohamed who did the difficult, comprehensive backroom organization and Dr Thomas Singh, who

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CONSUMER

CONCERNS:

was an intellectual live-wire.

Prof Griffith, in the very few weeks he has been in office, has adumbrated some of the elements of the programme he has in mind to bring about the Renaissance.

He will be making full use of Information Technology in the various aspects of University activity.

This will not only bring UG into the modern academic world but would also result in greater economies and efficiency. He intends raising the standard and quality of the education offered at UG; to better the welfare of both students and staff; to improve infrastructural conditions; to encourage research and publications; to introduce a new faculty offering Petroleum Technologies; to strengthen the link between the alumni and the University since the alumni is a valuable resource; to address the financial state

of the University; and to assert the independence of the University.

Guyana and the University are lucky at this time to have such a team administering the University. It is a team informed with and committed to constructive policies and capable of executing them.

Students, staff, government, political parties, NGO's and the public at large need to give them full support to achieve the success we all desire. Such support requires some sacrifice and above all, the exorcising of the pessimism and negativity which have so deeply infected the Guyanese psyche and society resulting in failure or inability to begin any constructive activity.

The Renaissance of the University could be the catalyst for revival of the country.

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Be fired up, whether you are ‘Spring Chickens’ or ‘Old Fowls’

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 ► From page XV

very sour face. Yes, a good-looking guy with a sour face.

Anyway, since I wanted to know more from close colleagues of Bozo John regarding that statement about being fed-up with the old people, I approached another colleague of Bozo John's. His reaction was more realistic. He dropped his head in disbelief and embarrassment after hearing what I had just told him about his powerful colleague dismissing the Guyanese elders in such a cruel fashion. "Well, we're all getting there,", the powerful colleague told me, with a heavy sigh.

As I mentioned, all that transpired back in September 2008 - eight years ago - and Bozo John, like the rest of us, is growing older. His head is now void of the lovely wavy black hair which it displayed those eight years ago. The fact is, Bozo John is really growing older. And as his colleague said, "We're all getting there." But is growing old a bad thing? Well, for sure, it does bring some aches and pains which we did not have when we were younger. But as a friend of mine said, "Old age is good, but I won't recommend it." Funny, isn't that?

Certain illnesses related to old age, do come along with the passage of time. But is old age something to be feared? As long as we do not die in youth, Old Age will sooner, rather than later, envelope us, all of us. There is no escaping old age.

But in my opinion, Old Age should be embraced, since we cannot escape it; except only by an early death. There are many good things about being old, if you know where to find them and how to use them.

As many of you already know, I produced a Radio Talk Show many years ago, entitled "The Eighty Plus Club” in which I interviewed folks who were 80 years and older. Over a 15 year period, I interviewed elders in all of Guyana's ten Administrative Regions. I also interviewed elders in all the Caricom countries.

There were many fascinating encounters which I experienced, such as the day when I interviewed two elders in Trinidad. One shared the birthday of my older daughter, and the other shared the birthday of my younger daughter! Amazing! It blew my mind.

I have also interviewed Guyanese and non-Guyanese in the USA and Canada, and also from England, Australia and New Zealand. From those many and varied interviews, I can say without fear of contradiction, that people are more similar around the world than they are different. The majority of people want to be happy, to live in peace with their fellow man, to make the best contributions with the talents which they possess, to ► Contiuned on page XXIII

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Patricia Farrier with her 105-year-old mother Olive Blackmore ► From page XV attain their full potential, and to leave this world a better place for they being in it.

During the years of the "The Eighty Plus Club" I had many unique experiences. For example, I wanted to have someone who was exactly 100 years old, for the 100th edition of the programme. Yes, I did find such a person; but - yes, there was a BUT! She was a leper; she had leprosy - Hanson's Disease - and was an inmate at the Mahaica Hospital. She was there for many years.

After fighting off my prejudice, I drove to Mahaica and met the sweet lady who was going to be featured on the 100th edition of "The Eighty Plus Club." And what a SPECIAL Guest she was. The lady recited poetry as I had never every heard an elder recite poetry before, or since. Even though she was confined in a dowdy building for so many years, she was still enjoying her life, especially when she recited her poetry.

I was delighted that I had decided to go and interview that 100 year old Leper. I was so happy to feature her.

Driving back to the city from that interview at the Mahaica Hospital, I made a confession for my previous apprehension of having a “cukabae” person as the featured guest on the 100th edition of my "Eighty Plus Club." I felt somewhat ashamed of myself.

At this very time, I am talent scouting for talented persons who are 55 years and older, who can either recite, sing, dance or do story telling in a highly professional way, to put them on Stage in a Jubilee Year Show with the Elderly. It is billed for Saturday October 1, 2016, in Georgetown.

That is the "World Day of Older Persons". So on that day, the performing talents of some of Guyana's star performers of a certain age will be on display. Being elderly does not mean that your active life is over. Yes, you will want to slow down a bit, depending on your health; but giving up on life should never be an option. Some of the happiest elders are those who continue to be active physically and mentally, as they grow older.

The oldest person who I had the pleasure of interacting with for a number of years, was Matilda Lewis. When I first met her, she was in her early 90s and living at the Archer's Home on Durban Street in Georgetown. She later moved to the Salvation Army's Women's Home on upper Bent Street.

On the occasion of her 100th Birthday, a party was held for her at the Home. Some dignitaries were present, including President Samuel Hinds.

In response to all the good wishes showered on her, Matilda Lewis delivered a speech worthy of someone much younger and even more educated. As the years of her life extended from 100 to 101, to 105, and on and on, Matilda Lewis, even though losing her sight, continued to be as sharp of mind as could be. She was well up to Current Affairs; both local and International.

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Farrier with then 108-year-old Matilda Lewis

When America invaded Iraq in the Gulf War, Matilda opined, "He the President Bush, he only want the people oil."

On the local scene, she was fiercely anti-PPP of the Jagdeo era.

She would say, "Jagan was for the people, but not this man." I kept in touch with Aunt Matilda over the years; until the end came when she was 113. For a period of time, Matilda Lewis was the oldest person in South America and the Caribbean.

Another special centenarian member of my Eighty Plus Club was Ethelene Dates. She resided on Durban Street, Lodge and lived to be 102. When I first met her, she was in her mid- 90s and sightless. But when she became 100, she had an operation at the Woodlands Hospital by a doctor from South America, and her sight was restored. Just before the operation,

she and I were special guests at State House for the celebration of the 50th wedding anniversary of President Cheddi Jagan and First Lady Janet Jagan. There was a live band playing and so I danced with the then sightless Aunt Ethelene. She danced like a teenager, and we almost stole the show. Two weeks later, she had her sight restored.

Like 113 year old Matilda Lewis, Ethlene Dates was also a member of the Trinity Methodist Church at High and Durban Streets in Georgetown. The Church played a major role in the lives of these special elders.

Another story which I must share with you is about ► Contiuned on page XXIV

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Be fired up, whether ... ► From page

XXIII

the Elder who spent all her life in Guyana. Her younger sister who migrated to oilrich Trinidad when she got married many years before, returned to Guyana for the 100 birthday celebration of her older sister. When the younger sister, who was 95, was leaving to return to Trinidad after the visit, it was her 100 year old sister, who lived all her life in “hard-guava” Guyana, who was pushing the wheel-

chair in which she, at 95, was seated.

Closer to home, I have to let you know that Olive Blackmore, who is the mother of my wife Patricia, is now 105 years of age. She reached that milestone on May 23, 2016. She was visited by President David Granger during April, since the Head of State was aware of his very tight schedule during the period of the 50th anniversary Jubilee Celebrations of Guyana on May 26, 2016.

One of the privileges I

had producing the Eighty Plus Club, was interviewing East Indian Immigrants.

There were quite a few who were still alive during the late 1980s and into the mid1990s. Some were able to tell me about their memories of India and their journey to British Guiana. To the best of my knowledge, all of our East Indian Immigrants are no longer with us, and I am so pleased that I was able to garner from their own lips, and have it recorded for posterity, so

much about the Indian Immigration experience during that era. Two special East Indian Immigrants who I interviewed were ‘Uncle' Gajadar of Anna Regina, and Jangalall Maharaj of Mahaicony river.

It would be remiss of me not to let you know just how much President Desmond Hoyte enjoyed attending the birthday celebrations of centenarians. On one occasion, he took First Lady Joyce Hoyte and their dog to the celebration, which was at Hopetown on the West Coast Berbice. When I wrote President Hoyte, seeking his permission to interview his mother, Mrs Gladys Hoyte, he responded in a letter advising me that "Mrs Gladys Hoyte is

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 her own woman, and you don't need my permission to interview her."

President Hoyte was a regular listener to my "Eighty Plus Club." In another letter to me, he expressed the desire to be interviewed by me, should he attain the age of eighty. Unfortunately, that did not happen, since he passed away before reaching that age.

President Cheddi Jagan, when attending the 100th birthday of another centenarian in Georgetown, was asked by her to get a telephone. President Cheddi Jagan immediately had it arranged and the phone was installed in the home. President Cheddi Jagan told that centenarian that he would like to reach her age. Unfor-

tunately he did not.

There are lots and lots more stories I can share with you about the Elders from Guyana and from all around the World, which I garnered when I did my "Eighty Plus Club", but I'm getting a bit tired right now as I punch the key-board of my computer, even though it is so much easier than when I used to pound the keyboard of my type-writer in past times.

You see, I am no longer young; and so I have to go and take a little rest as I embrace my Golden Years.

Nonetheless, in this Jubilee Year 2016, I am all fired up!

And that's what I hope all of us would be, whether we are "Spring Chickens" or we are "Old Fowls."

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Mr & Mrs David Granger

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- The inside story of how they met, his unusual proposal, and how she felt about his decision to pursue the presidency

(This week, we complete the feature we started last Sunday on the life of President David Granger)

A

s David Granger ’s love of country was growing, so was another kind of love.

Just after his return from Britain, he met Sandra Chan-A-Sue, who lived about 200 yards away from his Oronoque Street, Queenstown home in the city.

The two are known to be judicious when discussing their personal life, and this time around, the President, chose to be just as economical with his words.

“I met her in my father’s house and we started dating and about two years later we married…and we’ve been together ever since.” That marriage took place 46 years ago.

When pressed on what First Lady Sandra Granger calls a secret of their meeting, President Granger assured that their actual meeting was no secret, but it was the question of what his first thoughts were when he first saw her that gave him pause, “That’s the secret,” Mr. Granger said, his words coated with a hearty chuckle.

And while not revealing that secret, First Lady, Mrs. Granger did give a bit more detail into the early days of their relationship. Mrs. Granger said that the first time she saw the man who would become her husband, she and his sister Eileen, who was her close friend, were playing Scrabble in the Grangers’ living room.

“He came in and asked if we wanted to go to a movie and we said yes. So, the first time we went out we went to see ‘Django’, with Eileen in tow.”

After two years of seeing each other, she revealed that Mr. Granger would then propose marriage, in a way that only he would: “He said to me ‘I think we should get married’ and that was my proposal,” she said, smiling.

From their initial meeting and dates 48 years ago, President Granger said he was he never questioned that she was the woman he would spend his life with, and their enduring bond is proof that his gut was correct.

“We were both young.

She was 19, I was 23. I was a Lieutenant at the time. I knew her family; they were a very Catholic family and she would pass my house going to church every Sunday.

“Of course I wasn’t at home most of the time because I used to live in the Army camps at different parts of the country “…we did meet when I was on leave and I came in from leave in my father’s house. And she’s a Christian and she had the same type of …social or cultural background as I had and we had similar interests. As I’ve said, we’ve been together [ 4 8 ] y e a r s ; I w o u l d n ’t question that,” he said.

Speaking on the strength of their relationship over the years, Mrs. Granger said that while their personalities differ, there are qualities shared between herself and President Granger that allow them to complement each other.

“I think he’s an easy person, a thoughtful person, not loud or aggressive. He listens; he might not agree with you but he listens and the same goes for me, so we are equal in that regard,” she

Their wedding day said.

Mrs. Granger, a graduate of both the University of Guyana and the University of Pittsburg and a career woman in her own right, worked alongside him raising their two daughters as he rose through the ranks of the GDF then became a National Security advisor, during Former President, Desmond Hoyte’s administration.

She stood resolutely at his side when he entered private enterprise as Publisher of the Guyana review. Later, he taught at the National Defence University in Wa s h i n g t o n D . C a s a

Professor of National Security Affairs.

As they settled into life as retirees with both of their children grown, one having migrated and the other raising her family here in Guyana, Mrs. Granger said she was looking forward to a period of relaxation as they enjoyed the fruits of their labour in a quiet retirement.

This was not to be.

Mrs. Granger, told herself it must be a joke, though she admitted that she knew her husband was serious when he told her he was entering politics with the aim of becoming President.

“It was way back in 2010 when he told me (he wanted to be President), and I can quote you my response: I said ‘You… cannot… be… serious.’ That was it. I could not believe it,” she said.

The President, though, credits his wife as a woman with great drive, whose support gave him a major boost in his journey towards the Presidency.

“She campaigned with me. On the night of the elections, we were actually sleeping on the floor of the campaign office and she was with me everywhere - rallies and other places we went to. So she has been a good partner and now that she is here with me in State House (and) continues to do her work,” he said.

The partnership they share has extended into and seems to coincide perfectly with his vision for Guyana.

While he does not direct the work of the First Lady’s office, President Granger said that she knows his objectives and makes a worthwhile contribution to those objectives in her own way.

“For example, right now we’re working on boats and bicycles and shoes and buses for children to get to school and she supports that programme wholeheartedly.

“So I don’t give her directions; she knows where I want Guyana to go. She has been with me into some of these places and she is conscious of the conditions under which school children and other vulnerable citizens have to survive.

“So again, being together over four and a half decades would make her aware of the relevance of my own

ideology and of course of her own views. So I am very happy. She is not a person to take the back seat, and as she likes to remind me, she is not behind me, she is beside me,” he said.

But it is the confidence in her husband as a leader that also fuels Mrs. Granger’s own passion even as she continues to get comfortable in her post as First Lady.

Speaking on her thoughts of her husband as President of the country, she said that because her husband is not an impulsive person, she knows that his decision to run was made after serious thought and consideration on the matter.

“I know he has a very deep interest in the lives of ordinary people. That was obvious while he was in the Army and it continues to be obvious today. He would not turn his eyes away from a need that existed. So I think those are the things that played in his mind with the thought that if he [ran for President] he would be able to improve the lives of the people,” she said.

The First Lady continued: “I can say I am proud of him because I know he is a principled person and he will do what he thinks is right.

It might not be popular or obvious, but he will think about it hard and do what he thinks is the right thing. I also know he will consult with people if it is a major decision, to find out whether they think he’s going along right path but in the end he will take a decision on what he feels needs to be done.” ► Contiuned

on page XXVI

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Mr & Mrs David Granger

◄ From page XXV

confident and everybody was wondering what was taking the Elections Commission so long but not us, because we were very confident about the fact that we’d be going into government. It’s just a question of the numbers,” he said.

Not one to dwell too long on electoral victory, the President has over the past year, thrown himself into the task at hand. He envisions, a prosperous, peaceful, well governed Guyana, which provides a good life for all Guyanese.

While it is too early to talk about a legacy, Mr. Granger said, when the Presidency is behind him, he would want to look back and see that he had created the “good life” he promised.

“What I’d like my legacy to be is one that people can look back and say ‘‘yes, I got a good life; I felt safe, I was employed and I was able to move around my country freely; I was able to enjoy my civil rights.’ I just want them to feel that they had a good life under Granger.” he said, adding “I don’t walk on water but I just want people to feel that this is the best country

On the campaign trail in the Rupununi (Kojo McPherson photo)

ROAD TO THE PRESIDENCY Even as the President finds himself at the helm of the nation with the strong support of his wife, he reflected on what led him to the decision to become an active player in national politics, putting it as a “calling” rather than a drive.

“I was drawn into this level of politics because I felt that at that point in time in 2010, I had a vision and I had an indication of support and I felt that the party to which I belonged, the People’s National Congress/ Reform was a platform that could be used to translate that vision into reality,” he said, adding that his interest was not based on personal reasons. Mr. Granger said that when the party leader

did not offer himself as a candidate for elections, he was approached by several persons, at which point he agreed to be a presidential candidate.

The President said he felt drawn to leadership because he had a vision for Guyana, which has evolved over the different phases of his life. Within his own party and among members of the diaspora calls increased for him to consider throwing his hat in the ring. It seemed to him from all around that the time was right.

“On the one hand, they probably saw something in me in terms of leadership and my vision and for me I felt that I had a message too, and people shared that message.

It was not something that I imposed, but it was something that people shared and understood.”

And so, impending elections, the decision by the PNC leader not to run for the candidacy, the prospect of a coalition, and his own belief that he could end the ‘The Troubles” [period of severe violence between 2000-2010] given his experience in the security sector, propelled him to seek the presidency.

“I believed I was the right man for the job.” That opinion was shared by the majority of Guyanese, who voted the coalition of APNU + AFC into power in May, 2015.

In fact, he credited every move as being strategic towards the Coalition victory in the 2015 General Elections, including his attempt in the 2011 elections, in which the PPP was returned to office with a one seat Parliamentary majority.

“I don’t consider it a loss,” he said. “I considered it as another opportunity because

in July 2011, five parties came together to form A Partnership for National Unity.

“It was the first time five parties had come together and I was selected as leader of the Partnership.

“At that time of course, I was not even leader of the PNC. I didn’t become leader of the PNC until July 2012, but in July 2011 I was elected the presidential candidate for A Partnership for National Unity so we had the challenge of going into elections in November, designing a new logo, bringing people together for the first time.

“I felt that we worked very hard and we were able to increase the number of votes we won in 2011 from the previous election in 2006.”

So instead, what President Granger and his party had at that time was

not a defeat, but a reason for optimism. By the time the Alliance for Change accepted a possibility for a Coalition in November 2014 and later signed the Cummingsburg Accord, President Granger felt that all the work achieved up to that time had made the Opposition a stronger element in national politics.

“We had gotten a lot of experience and I of course had gotten a lot of experience as Leader of the Opposition and I would say that when we went into the 2015 elections we were better prepared than ever before.

“We had experience in the opposition branch, we had been interacting with the population, the parties had come together and we were fully prepared for what occurred on May 11 (2015).

“In fact we were very

Mr and Mrs Granger are pictu

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 to live in. It’s safe from disease and from criminal violence.

It’s a place you’d want to bring your children and get a good education, to enjoy good healthcare; they won’t want to migrate… I want to see happy people.”

THE MAN BEHIND THE PRESIDENCY The man behind this vision, though, remains one that is satisfied by the simple things in life. His personal quarters at State House illustrate those things that are important to him and those that make him happy. Principle among them is his family. There are numerous shelves dedicated to murals and photographs of his family, from his parents to his grandchildren.

The care and precision with which they are displayed tell of a man who not only places much priority in his family life, but who is also infinitely proud of his family.

The President recalled his relationship with his two daughters as being very close.

Though his busy lifestyle as Commander of the GDF and

ured with their two daughters

his travels would sometimes take away from home, he said that he ensured that special time would be set aside for which he would have picnics and other types of quality time with his daughters.

And though both of his daughters married very young, President Granger said that their close relationship never faltered, and that closeness has even been extended to his bond with his grandchildren.

And apart from his Presidency, his time in the GDF and his many other accomplishments, President Granger is also a published author, having penned several books on Guyana’s history and National Defence.

When it comes to his hobbies, he says some might find me boring but his manner and excitement while explaining the art and the rules of Chess which he referred to as “a game of perfect skill” would make even someone with little interest in the game take a second look. It was the same type of enthusiasm displayed when he proudly displayed his coin collection, a hobby he has had since he was 15 years old.

Some of his eclectic music collection may surprise some; prominently displayed is Buju Banton’s “Til Shiloh” album and other popularly known music of the 50s, 60s and 70s, as well as less surprisingly, classical music.

Most of it, however, will not surprise those who have come to know the President as a man of faith.

While going through a prayer book given to him when he was a young man, President Granger admitted that when in doubt, he often turns to the Psalms of David, which he says helps him in many ways.

“A lot of the psalms are very inspirational; they sometimes describe the struggle that David is trying to overcome. They show David as human, he is depressed, he is searching for guidance and support and he turns to the Lord, and so it goes. They [the Psalms] are very inspirational to me,” he said.

As he shuffles through the prayer book, one can see thatPresident Granger too is human - a man of great substance, deep knowledge and intense sentiment; above all, he is a man who loves his country dearly.

(Contributed)

XXVII President David Granger and First Lady Sandra Granger leave their Malta hotel room for a reception by Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh, November 27, 2015

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Meet the longest animal alive (BBC Earth) Humans can be tall or short, narrow or wide, but we don't tend to talk about how long our bodies are.

That might explain why extreme length often catches our eye.

And in any discussion of long animals, there are obvious leaders: snakes, the longest animals on land.

In April 2016, construction workers building a motorway in Penang, Malaysia claimed to have discovered a reticulated python (Python reticulatus) that was 26ft 3in (8m) long.

However, that figure was reduced to 24ft 7in (7.5m) by officials. Worse still, the snake reportedly died after it was captured so we will never know what size it could have grown to.

According to Guinness World Records, the longest reticulated python in captivity is Medusa, who lives in Kansas City, US. She is 25ft (7.67m).

But there have been claims the animals can reach almost double this length. Indonesia's Fragrant Flower was famously said to measure 47ft 6in (14.5m) – until tape measures embarrassingly confirmed it to be closer to 23ft (7m).

"In my experience, most claims of maximal length and mass in snakes are over-exaggerated," says Dan Natusch of the University of Sydney, Australia, who has spent several years researching large pythons.

"Reticulated pythons are harvested in large numbers for their skins. Over the last two years we have examined approximately 8,000 retics collected for this trade, of which two were longer than 7m [23ft] – just over, from memory. Traders claim the snakes do not get much larger."

"My gut feeling is that 8m [26ft 3in] is probably maximal size for the species. That being said, it is plausible that the odd specimen might grow larger. The record of a 10m [32ft 9in] specimen from Sulawesi early last century may well have been true, but we cannot verify the accuracy of historical measurements."

Natusch lists several species that are said to exceed the reticulated python record for length. These include the Australian scrub python, African rock python and probably the best known: the green anaconda (Eunectes murinus).

Native to the rainforests of South America, the green anaconda has been a subject of fascination ever since early adventurers first told tales of this seemingly impossibly long reptile.

Its remote home and secretive habits make it an ideal candidate for fiction, since it is very difficult to find specimens for accurate factual records. In the right conditions, without human disruption and with plenty of prey, it could grow to a gargantuan size and we would be none the wiser.

"The green anaconda is probably the only species with reliable size records near 8m [26ft 3in]," says Natusch. "Records of maximal length in the other species are dated, and I personally think they're doubtful."

That is pretty long, but animals on land can only grow so large. Most of Earth's surface is ocean, and it is there that the true giants are found.

As the biggest animal ever to have lived, the blue whale (Balaenoptera musculus) seemingly obliterates any other animal's chances at the length title. Even a new-born blue whale is longer than a giant reticulated python.

The largest blue whales are found in the southern hemisphere. There, length estimates for the Antarctic sub-species regularly nudge the 98ft (30m) mark.

The longest on record was a female 110ft (33.58m) long, captured by whalers in the South Atlantic. However, sightings of the leviathans are rare following their exploitation by such hunters. Scientists are now tracking populations via their songs to understand how they are faring following the ban on whaling.

It turns out there are some marine challengers to the blue whale. Rather than nose to tail, the first must be measured bell to tentacle.

The lion's mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata), named for its red-gold colour and mass of hair-like tentacles, is one of the largest jellyfish in the world. It is found in waters

around Australia but reaches its biggest proportions in the cold waters of the northern hemisphere.

There, its bell can grow to 6.5ft (2m) in diameter and its tentacles are rumoured to reach 196ft (60m).

But it is clearly difficult to whip out a yard stick underwater and measure the translucent stinging tentacles of a moving jellyfish, so its true maximum length is unclear. You might have seen a doctored image of a jellyfish towering over a diver that regularly resurfaces on social media, further fuelling the rumour mill.

The largest specimen on record washed up at Nahant, Massachusetts, US in the 1860s. Its tentacles were measured at 120ft (36.5m) long.

In a 2015 review of marine giants, Craig McClain of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center in Durham, North Carolina, US, points out that the lion's mane jellyfish's tentacles are fragile. That means it is particularly difficult to measure and we may never know how long it can grow.

If the relative thinness of its tentacles causes people

to overlook the lion's mane jellyfish's extreme length, the same can be said of the bootlace worm (Lineus longissimus).

Living in and around rock pools along the west coast of the UK, it is a species of ribbon worm. It is dark brown in appearance, usually around 5mm thick, and produces stinky mucus when handled.

That description might make it sound pretty unremarkable, unattractive even, but when one was found on the shore at St Andrews, Fife in 1864 it got plenty of attention. It measured a whopping 180ft (55m) long and became officially the longest animal in the world.

As with all historical records, we have no way of knowing if the truth was stretched. The flexible worm could literally have been extended to satisfy record hunters.

In the scientific community, bootlace worms are said to average 16 to 32ft (5 to 10m) long but can contract their muscles to shrink their bodies when threatened. So next time you see a looping tangle of worm at the seaside, remember it could be the longest animal in the world.

Native to the rainforests of South America, the green anaconda has been a subject of fascination ever since early adventurers first told tales of this seemingly impossibly long reptile. (Credit: Franco Banfi/ naturepl.com)

A bootlace worm (Lineus longissimus) in Cornwall, UK. The flexible worm could literally have been extended to satisfy record hunters. (Credit: Nick Upton/naturepl.com)

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

African honeyguide birds aid hunters in rare, sweet partnership (Reuters) A small African bird that guides people to bees' nests hoping to share honey and wax responds to hunters' special calls in a rare example of a partnership between wild animals and humans, scientists said on Thursday.

Cooperation between the greater honeyguide bird and hunters was first written about by a Portuguese missionary in 1588, but was widely dismissed as pure hearsay. In recent years, however, researchers have found ever more evidence of the bond.

In Mozambique, hunters are far more successful in finding honey when they use a traditional call - a trill followed by a grunt that sounds like "brr-hm" - to attract honeyguides, the experts wrote in the journal Science.

Once attracted, the birds lead hunters to trees with bees, relying on the humans to subdue the insects with fire and smoke, chop open the trunk, get the honey and then leave behind some beeswax that is a delicacy for the birds.

In the 1980s, scientists documented that honeyguides seek human help by making distinctive calls and flitting from tree to tree to attract attention.

"We've found it's a two-way communication," lead author Claire Spottiswoode, an evolutionary biologist who works at

Cambridge University and the University of Cape Town, told Reuters. "Humans communicate back to honeyguides as well."

The 'brr-hm' call "signals to honeyguides that they (hunters) are eager to follow. Honeyguides use this information to choose partners," she said.

The call doubles the chances of getting led by a honeyguide to 66 percent from 33 and increased the probability of finding a bees' nest to 54 percent from 17, compared to the use of other human or animal sounds to lure birds.

Most human cooperation with animals is with domesticated or trained animals, such as dogs or falcons. The only other known partnership with wild creatures is when dolphins sometimes work with fishermen, according to the study.

Spottiswoode said 20 Yao hunters interviewed in the Niassa National Reserve in Mozambique did not know the origin of the traditional "brr-hm" call. By contrast in Kenya, hunters whistle to attract the birds.

Still, honeyguides are not entirely sweet.

Like cuckoos, they lay eggs in the nests of other birds and baby honeyguides kill their foster siblings by stabbing them with sharp hooks on their beaks. Spottiswoode called them "the Jekyll and Hyde of the bird world."

Yao honey-hunter Orlando Yassene holds a wild greater honeyguide female, temporarily captured for research, in the Niassa National Reserve, Mozambique, in this handout picture released July 21, 2016. (Claire Spottiswoode/Science/ Handout via REUTERS)

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

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Cuba’s economy

Caribbean contagion

- Venezuela’s pneumonia infects the communist island (The Economist) QUEUES at petrol stations. Sweltering offices. Unlit streets.

Conditions in Cuba’s capital remind its residents of the “special period” in the 1990s caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Today, the benefactor in trouble is Venezuela.

For the past 15 years Venezuela has been shipping oil to Cuba, which in turn sends thousands of doctors and other professionals to Venezuela.

The swap is lucrative for the communist-controlled island, which pays doctors a paltry few hundred dollars a month.

It gets more oil than it needs, and sells the surplus. That makes Cuba perhaps the only importer that prefers high oil prices. Venezuelan support is thought to be worth 12-20% of Cuba’s GDP. Recently, the arrangement has wobbled. Low prices have slashed Cuba’s profit from the resale of oil. Venezuela, whose oil-dependent economy is shrinking, is

sending less of the stuff.

Figures from PDVSA, Venezuela’s state oil company, suggest that it shipped 40% less crude oil to Cuba in the first quarter of 2016 than it did during the same period last year. Austerity, though less savage than in the 1990s, is back. Cuba’s cautious economic liberalisation may suffer.

ADVERTISEMENT On July 8th Marino Murillo, the economy minister, warned the legislature that Cuba would lower its energy consumption by 28% in the second half of this year and cut all imports by 15%. The government has ordered state institutions to reduce their energy consumption dramatically.

Television producers have been told to film outdoors to save the expense of studio lighting. Foreign businesses, some of which have not been

paid by their government customers since last November, are being asked to wait still longer, though the government is negotiating to restructure sovereign debt on which it had defaulted.

It has cut off the supply of diesel to drivers of state-owned taxis and told them to look for other work for the next few months.

“It’s entirely illogical,” says Hector, a driver. Tourism has surged since the United States loosened travel restrictions in 2014, which will partially offset the loss of Venezuelan aid. The cost

Haircuts all round in Havana (AP Photo) of fuel is minuscule compared with the fares Hector’s American passengers pay.

A week after Mr Murillo, the government’s leading economic reformer, issued his warning to the legislature he was relieved of his ministerial duties, though he remains in the Politburo.

His replacement as economy minister, Ricardo Cabrisas, is seen as a competent vet-

eran.

The crisis seems to have slowed reforms of Cuba’s socialist economy, which were never rapid. Raúl Castro, who took over as president from his brother, Fidel, in 2008, has since allowed entrepreneurs to start small businesses, cut the state workforce by 11% and opened a free-trade zone for foreign firms at the port of Mariel. But Cuba

still operates a price-distorting dual-currency system. Small businesses cannot buy from wholesalers or import products directly.

Many foreign investments in such areas as sugar and tourism, which would bring in billions of dollars, are stuck in the planning stages. Venezuela’s lurgy should sharpen Cuba’s eagerness for the remedy of reform. It seems to be dulling it.

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Form an Environmental Club and make an impact in your community

H

ave you been thinking about what you can do to help safeguard the environment? Do you have some ideas on what can be done about environmental issues affecting your neighborhood and would like to explore them with the involvement of other members of your community? Then, why not form or join an environmental club! Starting and managing environmental clubs may be challenging but can also be a very exciting and rewarding experience. Engaging in club activities will give you an opportunity not

only to identify and investigate environmental issues but can give you a voice in your community.

As a member of an environmental club you will also be part of a wider network of environmental advocates who are working to achieve world goals aimed at creating a safer and sustainable environment.

Since 2000, the EPA has been encouraging the formation of Environmental Clubs in schools and communities. In fact, the Santa Rosa Conservation Club in Region 1, was the first environmental club to become affiliated with the EPA in 2000. Over the years, more than one hundred (100) environmental

clubs have become so affiliated.

Vibrant and active environmental clubs emerge from choosing club leaders that can motivate and energize its members. As such, the qualities of persons chosen to be a club leader must be carefully considered. Potential leaders must be able to commit to the Club and its activities and to have the ability to involve all members in meaningful roles. Further, environmental clubs need to have a well thought out plan of activities which should be of interest to all members.

The EPA is ready to assist groups desirous of forming environmental clubs, particularly in developing their plan of activities. This is because the EPA considers youths and communities as very important in environmental conservation and management. Environmental Clubs provide a means to: 1. Promote environmental awareness and education, particularly among youth and community groups. â–ş Continued on page XXXIII

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

► From page XXXII ment and its importance.

3. Foster collaboration with other groups and organisations for enhancement of communities.

4. Provide hands-on experience in environmental activities.

5. Provide training to individuals and groups to enable them to make a difference.

6. Create opportunities for assistance from larger organisations and agencies that support environmental activities.

7. Provide skills in basic environmental testing and monitoring techniques.

8. Provide our country with a pool of environmental monitors and protectors.

9. Enable enjoyment of the natural environment and transform attitudes towards the environment.

Any person or group who wants to make a positive impact on society through community-based planning and action in the sphere of the environment can form an environmental club. This may include religious groups, youth groups, schools, community groups or even spirited individuals. Becoming affiliated with the EPA is a simple process and will give your club the opportunity to receive technical support.

Share your ideas and questions by sending letters to: “Our Earth, Our Environment”, C/O EIT Division, Environmental Protection Agency, Ganges Street, Sophia, GEORGETOWN, or email us at: eit.epaguyana@gmail.com or you can contact the Agency on 225-5467-9.

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Why Nelson's Dockyard is Britain's best colonial Caribbean legacy

"The Naval Dockyard bookmarks a pertinent chapter of the planet’s story" ( AP photo )

(THE TELEGRAPH) The publication of the annual list of the latest sites to be granted Unesco World Heritage status always brings with it a few jolts of surprise – and this week’s chorus line of incomparable landmarks, geological wonders and prime slices of the past is no different.

As ever, the run-down splices a few nuggets of recognisable European history (architectural idiosyncrasies designed

by Swiss-French visionary Le

"The doomed hero of the Battle of Trafalgar was based at the dockyard’s sturdy wharves between 1784 and 1787" (AP Photo) Corbusier in France, Germany and Belgium; the remains of the ancient city of Philippi in northeastern Greece) with locations which might be described as priceless, worthy or obscure – and perhaps all three together – in countries as diverse as Chad, Sudan, China, Iran, Iraq and Kyrgyzstan.

But the biggest note of the unexpected is sounded by the presence on the list of the Naval Dockyard in Antigua. Not because this British-built port is a dreary or uninspirational place – but because you might well have assumed that it had already received the Unesco rubberstamp. It is, after all, one of the best examples of Britain’s colonial expansion into the turquoise waters of the Caribbean – and the impact this had on its clustered islands.

Unesco comes to the point on this. The site’s inscription bears the necessary asterisk – a reference to the fact that “the construction of the Dockyard by the British Navy would not have been possible without the labour of generations of enslaved Africans since the end of the 18th century.”

This is absolutely true – a dark echo of the past which should not be overlooked. But for all this, the Naval Dockyard bookmarks so pertinent a chapter of the planet’s story that you wonder why it has taken until 2016 for it to collect its merit badge.

Its importance is enshrined in the name by which it is generally known – “Nelson’s Dockyard”. The doomed hero of the Battle of Trafalgar was based at the dockyard’s sturdy wharves between 1784 and 1787. Not that he much cared for it. In letters and writings, he referred to his temporary home as, variously, an “infernal hole” and “a vile spot” where he was “most woefully pinched” by mosquitoes.

“I hate the sight of it,” he moaned in 1784 – and it is fair to say that inhabitants of the region felt much the same way about

him. Nelson was there to enforce British rules on trade with the newly founded United States (ie there wasn’t meant to be any), and his harassing of merchants made him an unpopular figure.

Few would have mourned his promotion and subsequent departure.

But Nelson was only doing his job – from a place which was designed to be a bastion of British authority in a realm of fluctuating fortunes and fragile alliances. The dockyard was (largely) created in the 18th century (between 1728 and the 1790s) as a check-and-balance in the constant struggle with France in the Atlantic – a watchdog with one eye on the Gallic island of Guadeloupe, 60 miles to the south.

It was more than fit for purpose, deliberately positioned midway along Antigua’s south coast, in the narrow bay of “English Harbour” – whose sheltered waves were immune to the worst that the Caribbean hurricane season could throw at them. As they are now. Fast forward to the 21st century, and the dockyard is a hotspot for yachts and their crews – who find as safe a haven here in 2016 as the warships and transatlantic boats of yore enjoyed more than 200 years ago.

The dockyard has changed little in the interim, of course.

Abandoned by the navy in 1889, it was left to rot until 1951, when restoration began.

Now it is an oasis where you can eat and sleep in style. Not least at The Inn At English Harbour – a luxury retreat slotted into one of old colonial structures. This, certainly, provides the rest and relaxation which Nelson deemed to be so lacking. And even if the Caribbean mosquito is still alive and well, it is doubtful that anyone nowadays would refer to the dockyard as an “infernal hole”. Unesco’s tip of the hat is well judged.

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Sun Damage

I

f y o u ' re w e a r i n g makeup only for the purpose of attracting attention, attracting men, or attracting me, then honey you're soooo barking up the wrong tree!

Think of wearing makeup as fashion. The same way you dress your body, you should dress your face. Makeup isn't for the sole purpose of enhancing one's beauty. It's like wearing a custom made dress; it's meant to fit you.

Empowered women don't adjust themselves to fit into a dress, unless, of course, it's Oscar de la Renta or Vera Wang. And clothing acts as a protective barrier between your skin and the sun. So it isn't just fashion either...it's cover up, not to hide things like pimples and other imperfections, but to protect.

Your skin needs protection from environmental elements, and especially the sun's harsh UVA/ UVB rays, that causes photoaging.

Photoaging ac-

cording to online references "is premature aging of the skin caused by repeated exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UV) primarily from the sun, but also from artificial UV sources.

Photoaging is a serious problem I've noticed on many faces over the years. Some are delusional and create scepticism of whether or not they are exposed to sunlight in Guyana. Newsflash, sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is a tropical country and EVERYONE is susceptible to sun damage, whether you're Black, White, Chinese, Amerindian, Indian, Portuguese.

There are cancerous factors as well, which is why it's best to seek Sun Proof Formulas (SPF) approved or recognised by the American Cancer Society...but I'm no dermatologist. I'm just a fabulous makeup artist!

Everyday sunscreen should be applied all over the body especially to the face, since the face is most exposed, and can't be clothed. Since it's not very fashionable to walk around with a mask, it's best to wear SPF (Sun Protection Factor) of 30 or higher.

Even if you choose to take a makeup vacation, never vacate from skin care...make sure your SPF is well lathered on to skin before facing the day.

I know, I know, you might feel oily or sweaty after applying SPF, but that's just a feeling applying powder after your sunscreen and moisturiser goes a long way in preventing oiliness.

There are prod-

ucts that help beat the heat, and one of my favourites is Tinted Moisturizer, because it’s a multi-use product that offers light coverage, moisture and SPF. But the best products are the ones without SPF in them, because they tend to crack or leave a lavender coloured sheen on the face.

XXXV

Also, SPF has a shelf life and some people purchase products close to its expiration date or after.

Always check the expiration on your containers and ensure that you're using the product correctly.

On that note, creams applied to the face should be about a pea-size amount. You just need a drop or two, no more. Make sure to spread evenly across the face. And that upward circle motion our Mama told us to use doesn't work, it's not anti-gravity! It's the product's ingredients that

do all the work, not your magical mystical motion. if it were so, any formula would work, imagine applying sweat in a circular motion...EWWW! Using oil-proof product like oil mattifiers, primers, and cream-to-powder foundations help to combat greasiness, giving the skin a more dewy effect, not too shiny, or too matte....as the French say comme ci, comme ça.

Mineral powders are also the perfect match for oily skin. Just apply with your beauty blender focusing on the T-zone areas.

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Dason Anthony and his

FIVE92 dresses - How the young entrepreneur is making his ‘nervous idea’ work

“

…I didn't want my clothing business to be just another boutique, or ‘open barrel’ shop.

So, I created an easier, simplified way so that folks in Guyana, can shop through the website (592Dresses. com) and have their product delivered to them without any hassle.”

T

By Akola Thompson here aren’t many persons who can boast about making a successful business out of something they had very little experience or eye for, particularly the fashion industry. Often, such ventures can end disastrously.

Often however, lack of experience does not matter when one is driven and ambitious and sets out with a clear, realistic view of what they want to achieve and how they will do it.

A good example is Dason Anthony, owner of Guyana’s first online clothing store, FIVE92Dresses.

Despite knowing the challenges that could possibly arise, Dason, with the help of ShaSha Designs owner Keisha Edwards and his first Brand Ambassador Latisha Wilson, beat the odds stacked against him and made a successful business out of an idea he used to occasionally toy with.

He has even partnered with U.S.-based Guyanese Rudiana Bunbury in an effort to create and take advantage of the market abroad.

“I always wanted to become an entrepreneur; I just didn't know what business I wanted to invest in.

“Since the people I dwell among are mostly females, I decided to venture into the fashion industry, with Keisha Edwards being my main inspiration for fashion. I knew it would be easy to sell anything, since my passion is marketing and sales.

“But I didn't want my clothing business to be just another boutique, or ‘open barrel’ shop.

So, I created an easier, simplified way so that folks in Guyana, can shop through the website (592Dresses.com) and have their product delivered to them without any hassle.”

At the time of launching, due to several reasons, Dason’s only contracted designer was Keisha Edwards, but since then he has been able to add two more designers to the list Mwanza Glenn and Quinton Pearson - whose talent he said, “has pushed innovative fashion even more.”

“Having folks around you who are passionate to see the same results you're thriving for, and more, is what helps to create this burning drive to succeed against all the odds.”

Aside from having the only online clothing store "registered" in Guyana, 592Dresses has been able to create its own exclusive brand, through a local factory.

Customers can shop clothing from their local boutique(s) online, and have same delivered to them.

“I can safely say the response has been overwhelming. I'm still in talks with a few more boutiques throughout Guyana, to ease the burden, and simplify the way of business, effectively increasing revenue for all, while making it convenient for consumers in and out of Guyana.”

Despite the success of the business however, it has been fraught with complications. ► Continued on page XXXVII

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016

Rubena Lee-Sam models an outfit which can be purchased at 592dresses.com

► From page XXXV One of most problematic issue which arose was the inability to source quality fabric at an affordable cost. Through the help of garment factories out of Guyana, however, Dason has been able to source exactly what is needed, and will soon recommence local production.

Another hurdle he faced was more personal, but just as difficult as Dason was yet to come to terms with whether or not being an entrepreneur was what he really wanted.

“To overcome this, I prayed. God has a way of showing you what's really meant for you.”

Adding some advice for young entrepreneurs, Dason said, “Many folks, just like myself, fail to believe in themselves, to believe in their vision for their business. While prayer might have helped me, I believe young entrepreneurs should surround themselves with like-minded "business" people. Even when it doesn't seem like your plan is working, take sometime to review, create a new idea, run with it, but never quit.”

592Dresses celebrated their one-year anniversary earlier this month with a successful anniversary sale. Despite the business’s success, Dason said that he is nowhere close to achieving all that he wants to as his goal is to add at least 70% of the local boutiques in Guyana to his website and triple the amount of local designers he has by December, 2016.

In addition, Dason said he hopes to increase the clothing line's production and continue to sell wholesale and retail apparel throughout the world in larger quantities.

Brand Ambassador Latisha Wilson

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Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 (REUTERS) Scientists are opening a new front in the war on cancer with plans to develop "anti-evolution" drugs to stop tumor cells from developing resistance to treatment.

Britain's Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), one of the world's top cancer centers, said on Friday its initiative was the first to have at its heart the target of overcoming cancer evolution and drug resistance.

In the same way that bacteria evolve resistance to antibiotics, cancer cells also change to evade the medicines used to fight them, leading to "survival of the nastiest".

As a result, most cancer drugs eventually stop working, causing patients to relapse.

There are signs, however, that drugs can be devel-

A scientist prepares protein samples for analysis in a lab at the Institute of Cancer Research in Sutton oped to tackle this problem, while advances in immunotherapy may also make it possible to direct patients' immune systems to adapt in response to cancer changes.

Over the next five years, the ICR aims to discover at least one new drug targeting a novel evolutionary mechanism and a new immunotherapy.

While doctors have known about cancer drug resistance for decades, it is only now, with advances in genetics and the development of ultra-fast DNA sequencing, that scientists are unraveling the factors driving the process.

"We now have an incredibly precise understanding of the genetic basis for resistance," said ICR Chief Executive Paul Workman.

"Over the next five years we will focus all our efforts on overcoming this problem ... we need researchers around the world to embrace the challenge."

Already an experimental medicine inhibiting the protein Hsp90, which cancer cells use to protect themselves from stress, has shown encouraging results in clinical trials. ICR scientists are also working on an even more important controller of the stress response known as HSF1.

Workman said experiments on HSF1 were still at an early stage but scientists were close to selecting a drug candidate.

The end result is likely be the development of a number of combination treatments to stop cancer evolving, similar to the drug cocktails used to control HIV or tuberculosis.

In addition to understanding biology, a large part of the research effort will be driven by "big data", through the use of mathematical models to predict the path of cancer evolution from tumor samples.

Tapping into the terabytes of data thrown up by analyzing the genetic profiles of tumors is an increasing focus of cancer research worldwide. It is also a central plank of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden's "moonshot" initiative aimed at finding cures for cancer.

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After warming fast, part of Antarctica gets a chill: study

Chronicle Pepperpot July 24, 2016 (REUTERS) The Antarctic Peninsula, among the fastest warming places on Earth last century, has since cooled due to natural swings in the local climate, scientists said on Wednesday, adding that the respite from the thaw is likely to be brief.

Rapid warming until the late 1990s on the peninsula, which snakes up toward South America, triggered the breakup of ancient ice shelves, which are vast expanses of ice floating on the sea at the end of glaciers, and declines in some penguin colonies.

But a shift to colder winds and more sea ice since then have brought a chill to the region despite the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the scientists wrote in the journal Nature.

"The increase of greenhouse gases ... is being overwhelmed in this part of the Antarctic" by natural variations in the local climate, said lead author John Turner of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

"We're certainly not saying that global warming has stopped. On the contrary," he told a telephone news conference on the study. "We're highlighting the complexity of climate change."

Since about 1998, local air temperatures have fallen about 0.5 degree Celsius (0.9 Fahrenheit) a decade, roughly the rate at which they had previously been warming since about 1950.

Stabilization of the ozone hole over Antarctica, which shields the planet from ultra-violet rays and has been damaged by man-made chemicals, may partly explain the shift in winds that led to the cooling, the study said.

But the build-up of greenhouse gases, mainly from the global burning of fossil fuels, means the cooling may be just a blip in a corner of Antarctica. Temperatures were likely to start rising again and could gain by 3-4C (5.4-7.2F) by 2100, Turner said.

At a Paris summit in December, almost 200 governments agreed the strongest deal yet to rein in global warming, aiming to phase out fossil fuels by 2100. U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who does not believe in man-made warming, says he would pull out if elected.

On the Antarctic Peninsula, about 10 ice shelves, from the Jones to the Wilkins, have retreated sharply or disintegrated in recent decades.

THE DAY AFTER The splintering of the Larsen B ice shelf in 2002 inspired the opening scene of a Hollywood disaster movie about climate change, "The Day After Tomorrow", where a vast crack destroys a U.S. scientific camp.

In the real world, the worry is that far bigger ice shelves further south in Antarctica will also break up, allowing vast glaciers to slide more quickly into the sea and add to a rise in ocean levels.

Wednesday's study "begs a question as to the climate variability in other regions of Antarctica - where there is far more ice with the potential to melt and cause sea-level rise - as well as in the Arctic and other locations," Martin Siegert, an expert at Imperial College, London, wrote in a comment.

And on the Antarctic Peninsula, in 2014 scientists spotted a new crack tens of kms (miles) long on the Larsen C ice shelf.

"The future of the Larsen C is in the balance," said David Vaughan, director of science at BAS, adding it had probably not yet reached a point of no return.

Some other scientists said a rise in ocean temperatures that are gnawing away at Antarctica's icy coastline from below was more important for sea level rise than the air temperatures studied by Turner.

"The real threat is ocean warming," said Andrew Shepherd of the University of Leeds.

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How to avoid getting malaria – sleep with a chicken (Independent) Scientists have come up with a surprising way to avoid getting malaria – sleeping with a chicken next to the bed.

A study in Ethiopia found that while mosquitoes have a taste for human blood, they are repelled by the smell of chickens, according to a paper in the Malaria Journal.

Testing the blood in mosquitoes that had recently fed, researchers from Sweden and Ethiopia, found just one out of nearly 1,200 had bitten a chicken with people and cattle seeming to bear the brunt of the insects’ attentions.

Malaria is spread mainly by mosquitoes which drink the blood of an infected individual, then bite someone else.

One of the researchers, Professor Rickard Ignell, of Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, said: “We were surprised to find that malaria mosquitoes are repelled by the odours emitted by chickens.

“This study shows for the first time that malaria mosquitoes actively avoid feeding on certain animal species, and that this behaviour is regulated through odour cues.”

The researchers, including academics from Addis Ababa University, took blood samples from mosquitoes that had just fed indoors and outdoors.

Cattle were the most fed upon animal outdoors with 63 per cent of mosquitoes being found to have eaten their blood. Twenty per cent had sucked human blood with five per cent feeding on goats and 2.6 per cent on sheep. The researchers found just one mosquito with chicken blood.

In this area of Ethiopia, animals are brought inside at times. In this setting, the mosquitoes appeared to prefer the blood of humans who made up 69 per cent of meals, compared to cattle on 18 per cent, goats on 3.3 per cent and sheep on two per cent. No indoor chickens were bitten.

There were about 6,700 humans, 10,000 cattle, 3,200 chickens, 850 goats and 480 sheep who were “available” to the mosquitoes.

The researchers identified four “chicken-specific compounds” – isobutyl butyrate, naphthalene, hexadecane and trans-limonene – found in their feathers that appeared to have a repellent effect.

They also said the chicken feathers posed a physical barrier to mosquitoes and noted the birds “will actively feed on mosquitoes”.

Mosquito traps were set up in 11 homes for 11 days with a volunteer agreeing to sleep under an untreated bed net nearby.

Significantly fewer mosquitoes were caught in traps baited with the chicken compounds than in the control traps and putting a live chicken in a cage next to a trap had a similar repellent effect.

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Bees spit water at each other in hot weather (NEW SCIENTIST) Turn the air conditioner on, it’s a scorcher out there. When honeybee hives get too hot, thirsty bees beg their specialised, water-foraging sisters for more liquid, which ends up cooling the colony.

Honeybees have a few strategies for chilling out: some fan the nest, others leave the hive to increase air flow, and a few zip off looking for ponds or puddles. These “water collector” bees fill their bellies with water, fly back home, then regurgitate the liquid. Other bees slurp it up and spit it out around the hive, allowing the colony to cool as the water evaporates.

It was suspected that a steady supply of water is important during extreme heat, says Thomas Seeley at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. To confirm that, Seeley and his colleagues exposed two hives — each containing about 3000 honeybees — to heat lamps in the lab.

When the bees didn’t have access to water, the colonies shot up to about 43°C, a hazardously high temperature: above 40°C, bee larvae can dehydrate and die. When the researchers restored water access, the hives cooled below the lethal threshold. “[Water] is not just icing on the cake, it’s critical for their cooling,” says Seeley. “Without that, they cannot really control the temperature in the nest on hot days.”

But the researchers weren’t sure how the water collectors knew when more liquid was needed. To find out, they turned up the heat and watched how individual bees responded.

Once the hive ran out of water, the bees that stay home and dole out provisions begged for more by touching their tongues to the mouths of the water collectors, entreating them to spew up more liquid. These solicitations were almost non-existent under cooler conditions.

“They’ve given up their water and they’re still being begged, almost pestered,” Seeley says. “That motivates the water collectors to zoom right out and get more.”

The foraging bees largely ceased their excursions once their sisters stopped pleading for more water — but not before they stockpiled some water their hive-mates didn’t spread around, Seeley says.

After a day enduring hot and dry conditions, several dozen bees — both water collectors and others — transformed themselves into living storage tanks, bulging with water stowed in an expandable region of their gut. The bees also stashed some water in honeycomb cells, but, because water can easily evaporate from the comb, “water-bottle bees” may be a more efficient storage method, says Seeley.

Researchers have long focused on how honeybees gather pollen and nectar, while spending relatively little time investigating water collection, says Susan Nicolson at the University of Pretoria in South Africa.

“We just don’t know much about how bees handle water,” she says. “It’s been a bit of a gap.”

The exciting thing about this study is that it clarifies how individual bees are stimulated to respond to a colony-wide need, says James Nieh at the University of California San Diego. “It provides new insight into this mechanism that we’ve long suspected, but now we have more concrete details of how it works,” he says.

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How Rajinikanth and Kabali mania swept India (BBC) Indian film superstar Rajinikanth, who has the kind of following most Hollywood actors can only dream about, has released his latest film, Kabali.

Hundreds of thousands of fans are flocking to cinemas across India with frenzy also mounting around the world.

Some businesses gave employees time off to avoid "sick" days, a jumbo jet was repainted in honour of the film and Twitter India "broke" several times.

It made $30m (ÂŁ20m) in film rights sales even before it released.

The film is being shown on more than 12,000 screens in India alone from Friday. The term "blockbuster" doesn't even come close.

Who is Rajinikanth?

Rajinikanth is an Indian film actor who works mostly in Tamil cinema. He is one of Asia's highest paid actors with a notoriously devoted fan base.

Screaming fans throng cinema halls hours before his films and prayer ceremonies for their success are held.

Watching a Rajinikanth film is an experience in itself. He lights cigarettes with his pistol, catches grenades with his eyes closed, leaps to unfeasible heights and knocks out rooms full of bad guys in mere seconds.

People cheer, clap, whistle and stomp their feet every time he comes on-screen.

Off the screen he is so revered that any news of ill health has been known to have serious consequences. In one incident, a fan from Tamil Nadu attempted to overdose on sleeping pills and later told doctors and his family that he had been trying to "end his life" and donate his kidneys to the actor.

Kabali has been described as a gangster revenge drama. Some reports say a trailer for the movie is the most watched teaser in Asia.

The film is being released in a number of countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the US, France and Japan, where tickets are said to be selling out fast.

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Edward Snowden talks film debut and dramatizing his life in 'Snowden' (REUTERS) When former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden met with Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone to discuss a movie on his life, he never thought he would be making his own film debut.

Stone had initially interviewed Snowden to include him in DVD outtakes, Snowden said via video link late Thursday in San Diego after a screening of Stone's "Snowden," which stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the title character.

But Snowden and Stone ended up filming nine takes for a scene in which he talks about his fears stemming from his actions.

"I spoke at length just about personal values and just what it meant to me with the things that were happening since 2013," said Snowden. "I guess he liked it. People do seem to respond to that."

The movie, due out in September, follows

the 2013 events that led Snowden, a former contractor with the National Security Agency, to expose the U.S. government's mass surveillance programs and flee the country after the government filed espionage charges against him.

He was granted asylum in Russia later that year, and has lived there since with his girlfriend, Lindsay Mills.

"When there is enough in the public record, you don't really get to decide whether or not the movie gets made," Snowden said.

The film follows Snowden's discovery of the U.S. government's mass surveillance programs that digitally monitor unaware citizens.

It fictionalizes and condenses some events, such as how Snowden smuggled the data out of the NSA - dramatized with a Rubik's Cube in the film and got it to documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras and Guardian journalist

American whistleblower Edward Snowden is seen on a screen as he delivers a speech during the Roskilde Festival in Roskilde, Denmark, June 28 2016. (Scanpix Denmark/Mathias Loevgreen Bojesen /via REUTERS) Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong.

"I admitted that I did not have a plan beyond getting straight out of there (Hong Kong), I planned to ask the world for justice and see what happened. It

was kind of surprising how that worked out," he said.

Asked by an audience member if he was happy, Snowden said: "I actually live a surprisingly free life," working with organizations such as the

American Civil Liberties Union that Gordon-Levitt donated his "Snowden" acting fee to.

"Every day, I'm working on something now that I can be proud of. I love my country, I love the

Idris Elba: I'm too old to play James Bond (BBC) Idris Elba has said he feels he is "too old" to play James Bond.

The 43-year-old actor has been widely tipped by bookmakers to take over the role when Daniel Craig leaves the film series.

Elba, who is currently on the big screen in Star Trek Beyond, told ABC's Good Morning America: "I think I'm too old for that.

"Running around in cars and ladies and martinis, who wants to do that? Sounds terrible."

The oldest actor in the film's history to have taken on the role of James Bond was Roger Moore, who was 45 when he appeared in his first film - 1973's Live and Let Die. Elba, famous for his roles in Luther and The Wire, said he has not been contacted by the James Bond team about the possibility of joining the franchise.

"I keep saying if it were to happen it would be the will of a nation because there haven't been any talks between me and the studio about any of that," he said.

"But everywhere I go people want that to happen."

Elba is one of the favourites to step into Craig's shoes, with bookmakers naming him, Tom Hiddleston, Aidan Turner and James Norton as the frontrunners.

Bond producer Barbara Broccoli is currently working on other projects - including Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool, which will star Jamie Bell and Annette Bening.

It is not yet known when the next James Bond film - the 25th in the franchise - will begin production

Idris Elba

things that we try to do," he said.

"The fact that Lindsay ... has been with me for ten years, is still with me, that's something that just makes me happy every day."