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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

The Mermaid – The White Pearl M oonlight touched the earth with its soft, golden embrace illuminating the smooth waters of the river that flowedits waves just a soft whisper.

A young man standing on its bank walked to the water’s edge and from his harmonica, sweet and enthralling music flowed, calling her. He watched expectantly and rising soundlessly from its depths, like a dream, her long golden hair glinting in the moonlight was the mermaid. He

stood waiting as she swam towards him, the soft wind tussling his dark hair and the thin white shirt he wore. It was the magic of the moonlight it seemed since the first time he saw her, captivated by her beauty, a love story, unique in its own, it’s theme song, luring her from the water’s depths, into his arms.

She smiled and turned with a flick of her tail as he plunged into the water, swimming with her. He couldn’t stay below its depths too long but an inlet she had found was the perfect place for them to spend time together. He loved to play with her long hair and her laughter, always such a sweet sound, brought a smile even to the drowsy night.

Since a little boy, he had believed in her existence, wanting her so much to be a part of his life but even though destiny had brought them together, that night when she saved his life.

It kept them apart, for he was human and she was a mermaid.

“Annabella!”

She turned her head, her hair brushing his face and looked at him as he spoke.

“I want you to be my bride, to share my life and give you my love but how can I do that?”

A flicker of sadness crossed her face because she knew that could not happen so she could not answer him. They stayed together all night, until the moon bid them farewell as dawn approached. It was time for her to leave and he watched until she disappeared with a swish of her tail. He walked back

maureen.rampertab@gmail.com to the manor, dejectedly, not knowing what to do, not wanting to lose her, for he loved her and she had become such a close part of his life.

Annabella swam away slowly into the castle and laid on her water bed, lost in thought, not knowing what to do for she had fallen in love with a human.

“Father will create a storm if he knows,” she said quietly.

Arista, her sister entered suddenly, almost startling her and said: “You don’t look like yourself sis, what’s bothering you?”

Annabella looked at her with a pained, helpless look, not sure how to explain but she had never hidden anything from her sister and she told her.

“I’m in love with a human, Arista, and he wants me to be his bride.”

Arista looked at her stunned, “Oh boy, this isn’t good.

Father will ---“ “Create a storm,” Annabella interrupted her sister, “I know.”

For a long while, they sat in silence for they both knew it couldn’t happen until Eric, their impetuous cousin burst in like a little tornado.

He knew the reason for the sad faces and said: “I know someone who can help.”

“Who?”Annabella asked.

“The Witch of the Dark Seas.”

“Oh no!” the girls gasped in horror, “She is dangerous.

How can she help?”

“She has magical powers no one has that can transform you to human.”

“But she will want something very precious that I may not be able to give.” Annabella said.

“You can always say no but let’s check it out.” Eric urged, swimming out with another burst of speed.

The girls followed him, not sure it was a good idea. For a long while they swam until they reached the dark corners of the sea where strange creatures looked at them with evil, hungry eyes until they came upon a small, castle like structure, where creepers hung like tentacles. The witch was seated on her self-imposed throne, staring with a wicked smile as they approached.

“Come my children, I know why you’re here.”

She told Annabella she could give her legs but only if she could bring for her, a rare white pearl that belonged to her great-great grandmother, now in the hands of the demon creature at the depths of the sea and guarded by the most ferocious sea creatures.

Annabella was afraid knowing the dangers of such a mission, afraid she may never come back but foremost in

Please turn to page XI

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

III

By Petamber Persaud

The Maya Angelou-Guyana Connection W hile looking for material to write part two of an article, ‘Guyana Honours its Women Writers’ I came across something that channelled my attention in another direction but it was still connected to women writing. That lead was good as you will see.

In that first part of the feature, the focus was on 50 women writers exhibited by the Ministry of Human Services & Social Security in collaboration with the National Library. The University of Guyana Library also made a contribution to the exhibition that was staged at the National Library during the latter part of May. My surfing led me to the work of Joan Cambridge, discovering there is a physical connection between Maya Angelou and Guyana. That connection was through Joan Cambridge and her late husband, Julian Mayfield. Cambridge is the author of ‘Clarise Cumberbatch want to go home’.

The writing of Maya Angelou has long entered the psyche of Guyanese, resounding and resonating over Guyana at various forums, publicly in the heart of the city, and in faraway corners of the country. However, there is a greater focus on Angelou’s poems because they can be performed from the pulpit to the parliament, poems like ‘And still I rise’, and ‘I know why the caged bird sings’ ....

I also discovered there is also a West Indian connection to Maya Angelou - her maternal grandfather was Trinidadian.

But far greater than her connection to Guyana, far greater than her West Indian connection, is her connection to the world.

Here are a few verses from ‘And still I rise’ which is essentially the voice of people everywhere attempting to right wrongs.

I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise I rise I rise.

Before the above mentioned connections, it would be useful to remember that the early literature of Guyana was closely linked to the English Literary tradition, a tradition that has produced writers like Shakespeare, Jane Austin, Virginia Woolf, Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Roald Dahl, C. S. Lew-

The life and work of Maya Angelou will continue to connect to people where there are wrongs to be righted and will inspire people to share their struggles and triumphs because the caged bird will forever be singing of freedom.

Responses to this author telephone (592) 226-0065 or email: oraltradition2002@ yahoo.com

You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may tread me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise.

You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.

Out of the huts of history's shame

is, Dickens, John Fowles, P. G. Wodehouse, Lewis Carroll, Francis Bacon, Chaucer, Ted Hughes, Samuel Johnson, W. E. Johns, John Keats, Anna Sewell, Mary Shelly, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Evelyn Waugh, just to name a few established ones that come readily to mind. In many ways, our literature is still linked to that tradition but our literature is also now influenced by other literary traditions including the literature produced by American writers including the contribution of Maya Angelou who recently passed away. Even though list of outstanding American writers is lengthy, it is tempting to mention a few: F. Scott Fitzgerald – ‘The Great Gatsby’; Walt Whitman – ‘Leaves of Grass’; Mark Twain – ‘The Adventures of Tom Sawyer’; Ernest Hemingway – ‘The Old Man and the Sea’; Harper Lee – ‘To Kill a Mocking Bird’; Margaret Mitchell – ‘Gone with the Wind’; Alice Walker – ‘The colour Purple’; Tony Morrison – ‘Beloved’; Tennessee Williams – ‘The glass Menagerie’; Ralph Ellison – ‘The Invisible Man’; Alex Haley – ‘Roots’; J. D. Salinger – ‘The Catcher in the Rye’; Phillip Roth -. ‘Goodbye Columbus’; Pearl S. Buck – ‘The Good Earth’....

Dr Maya Angelou

What’s Happening: • You are invited to repeat performances of ‘Expressions’ – a new forum for poetry on Thursday, July 10, at Theatre Guild, school show at 1 pm, public show at 8 pm.

‘Expressions’ is a Gems Theatre Production.

IV

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

Giglioli in Guyana

by Denis Williams Introduction by Professor Clem Seecharan London Metropolitan University

G

eorge Giglioli was an Italian, born in Naples.

His father was Director of the faculty of Agriculture and Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at the Royal University of Pisa; that was where Giglioli graduated from in 1921 as a Doctor of Medicine. In 1922 he obtained a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene from London and in 1925 a Diploma in Dermatology and Venereology from Paris. In 1932 he got a Diplo-

tropical medicine.

In May 1966, on the occasion of Guyana’s independence, the Guyana Graphic attributed the eradication of the dreaded malarial disease almost exclusively to Dr. George Giglioli. They observed: The era of Guyana’s growing pains is pockmarked with incidents, none of the least significant of which has been the battle against the scourge of malaria. And in this battle one man’s name stands out boldly – Dr. George Giglioli, fames malariology, whose dedicated service in the cause of ridding Guyana of this dreaded scourge, is a story of single minded purpose and unflagging determination. In the course of this battle, (he) has

Professor Clem Seecharran ma of the Superior School of Malariology; while in 1933 he was admitted to membership of the Royal College of Physicians, London, as well as becoming honourary lecturer in Tropical Pathology at hi alma mater, the Royal University of Pisa. However, it is his phenomenal achievement in British Guiana, which will endure in the annals of

helped Guyana’s transformation from one of the world’s foremost fever-ravaged countries to the place where the death-dealing disease was first checked, then beaten back until today, victory over malaria has become one of the glorious achievements in the history of Guyana’s progress against disease and death. Today Guyana can boast of freedom from ma-

laria, a freedom won largely through the unrelenting campaign of Dr. Giglioli.

The Graphic’s designation of the malarial experience as a ‘scourge’ was no exaggeration. In 1943-44 the percentage of school children with enlarged spleens was astounding. Malaria had had such a devastating effect on population growth that between the 1931 and 1946 censuses, while the drier, ma-

laria-free Corentyne Coast recorded a population increase of 384 per 1,000 and the partially malaria-free West Coast Berbice 249 per1,000, it was a paltry 87 per 1,000 on East Coast Demerara, and 113 on the East and West Bank Demerara. On the Essequibo Coast the population actually declined by 142 per 1,000. This translates to a meagre natural increment of 36 per 1,000 between 1921

and 1931, and 186 per 1,000 between 1950, the natural increment, overnight, was a comparatively prolific 192 per 1,000.

On the sugar plantations, in a population of about 75,000, hospital admissions during the malaria epidemic of 1938 was over 13,000, with 240 deaths directly attributed to the disease. In 1944, over 10,000 cases were admitted to estate hospitals;

200 died. With the eradication campaign launched after 1945, less than 800 were admitted in 1948, with under 30 deaths; by 1950 under 200 cases were admitted to estate hospitals, with less than 10 deaths.

Yet, as late as 1939, the Director of Medical Services of British Guiana argued that malaria was so endemic to the colony that it was futile to contemplate its eradication.

It was axiomatic that the ‘scourge’ which stifled the imagination, nullified effort, and killed was a ‘sisyphean’ task: ‘elimination is an utter impossibility’.

Since the late 1920s, Dr. Giglioli’s passion for researching the cause of malaria in British Guiana had led him to isolate the Anopheles darling as the sole vector.

Moreover, he was well on his way to identifying the sources of its vulnerability, its potential for self-destruction. In June 1939 a Malaria Research Unit, headed by Dr. Giglioli, was established with support from the Rockerfeller Foundation, the Sugar Producers’ Association and the government. This extraordinary man was on the verge of possibly the most significant achievement in the social history of Guyana.

For 10 years, 1922 to 1932, Giglioli was Chief Medical officer at Mackenzie, Upper Demerara River.

His major contribution, in malariology, was still to be established. In 1933 Giglioli joined Plantation Blairmont as medical adviser. This estate, at the mouth of the Berbice River, had a fairly high rate of malaria infection; but under its progressive

Please see page V

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014 From page IV head, Sir Edward Davson, and its imaginative manager, Guy Eccles, Blairmont had become a reforming estate, already trying to sweeten the bitter legacy of sugar.

It was Blairmont's susceptibility to malaria which had led to the inspired appointment of Giglioli as their medical adviser. He had already done useful research on the Upper Demerara River in the 1920s; this was published as a book in 1930, Malarial Nephritis, which won the Davson Centenary Gold Medal in 1932, the year before he joined Davson at Blairmont.

Giglioli’s excellent research at Blairmount, between 1933 and 1937, was pursued with equal vigour at Booker, which he joined as Estate Medical Officer, in the latter year. In 1939 he was seconded to the government5 as Director of the Malaria Research Unit. By then he had published several ground-breaking essays on Anopheles darling and identified its cardinal behavioural patterns, its feeding and resting routines. By the late 1930s the colonial inertia on malaria was lifting. Workers’ militancy after 1934-35 and the low productivity of workers with chronic malaria were eroding the complacency, along with other factors.

In 1942 Giglioli was named Honorary Government Malariologist and in 1945 he became Medical Adviser to the S.P.A., a post he held until his death. Indeed, Giglioli’s research into A. darlingi, establishing that it was the sole vector of malarial infection in British Guiana, the assessment of its breeding habits and the astounding eradication of the dreaded disease in the colony, between 1946 and 1948, constitute an epic in tropical medicine. It was an achievement with revolutionary potential economically, socially and politically, at the end of the 1940s.

Between 1922 and 1932, when he was the Chief Medical Officer of the Demerara Bauxite Co. at Machenzie,

Upper Demerara River, he established that A. darlingi could not survive in the excessively acidic, brown water of the Demerara River and the surrounding forest creeks and swamps. When, however, this water was contaminated by the bauxite washing process, leading to precipitation of the brown organic matter the water carried in suspension, thus reducing its acidity, A. darlingi was able to breed. This was the start of his journey on the tortuous road to its demise.

Between 1933 and 1937, on the Davson’s Estate on the Berbice estuary – Blairmont (West Bank), Bath (West Coast) and Providence (East Bank) – Giglioli advanced his work, limiting the breeding and distribution of the anopheles to the pivotal question of water reaction. This was the environment which enabled him to isolate A. darlingi as the sole vector of the disease, rampant on most of the coastland of British Guiana.

In 1938-39 those findings were published locally, in four articles. He arrived at four principal conclusions: (i) that A. darlingi was the only carrier of malaria of importance in British Guiana; (ii) that it ‘breeds selectively in large bodies of water which are clear and slightly acid or neutral in reaction; it does not breed in waters with a marked acid reaction’; (iii) A. darlingi does not breed in water of high salinity or brackish water, very common on the Corentyne Coast, in Berbice; (iv) originally a forest mosquito, it likes a humid climate; it does not survive on the windswept, drier coast front-lands of the Corentyne.

On the basis of these crucial findings he was able to recommend to the sugar producers in 1937, when he joined Booker, that the depredations of A. darlingi could be tempered if ‘sheltered yards, situated within the cane cultivation, were condemned to be gradually eliminated’. He advised that all new residential areas be

located on the ‘open frontlands, where salt soils, windborne sea spray and constant winds offer naturally unfavourable water and atmospheric environment for both the breeding and survival of A. darlingi.’

Giglioli attributed its virulence to the empoldered, man-made environment of the British Guiana coastland.

Ironically, it was the reclamation, the humanising of this environment, which had made it vulnerable to A. darlingi. He argued that malaria was virtually nonexistent on the Corentyne Coast, apart from the occasional epidemic in years of excessive rainfall, because much of its frontlands were still in a primitive state, unreclaimed, with constant incursions by sea water and the consequent high salinity of the land. This gave rise to a sort of scrubland, hard grasses, not trees, thus exposing the coast to high winds; this was antagonistic to the propagation of A. darlingi.

Giglioli contended that the highly acidic, organic soils of the ‘pegasse’ area immediately inland from the coastland clay, was well as the forested sand reefs, interspersed on its margins, were not conducive to the dreaded malarial vector. So both the sea in front and the ‘pegasse’ lands and sand reefs behind, were inimical to the propagation of A. darlingi. They tended to predominate in the less acidic interior regions of red loams and lateritic soils.

The cultivated coastland, the planation zone, with its myriad drains and ditches, irrigation canals, flood-fallowed cane fields, rice fields, ponds and borrow pits, provided an ideal habitat for A. darlingi.

These ubiquitous reservoirs of non-acidic water were a haven for this species – a point dramatized by the malaria-free Corentyne Coast’s sudden susceptibility to ma-

laria, in years of heavy rainfall, when the water on the saline front-lands become diluted, as was the encroaching acidic water from the ‘pegasse’ back lands.

Giglioli calculated that on every square mile of cane cultivated (10-acre field) there were 16 miles of irrigation canals, 4.5 miles of drainage sideline canals and 45 miles of four feet drains.

This complex hydrological environment, in conjunction with the extension of the area under wet-rice culture since the First World War, made coastal British Guyana especially vulnerable to A. darlingi. By the start of the Second World War, Giglioli had unearthed most of the key characteristics of this species, including its peculiar feeding patterns.

At the end of his series of articles on malaria, in 1938-39, Giglioli had concluded that ‘certain weaknesses’ in the biology of A. darlingi ‘may be exploited to its detriment’.

Though confident that malaria could be ‘successfully controlled’, he was circumspect about its eradication.

His achievements a decade later, by 1948, had exceeded his most optimistic prognostication.

As Giglioli observed, it was Davson’s imaginative approach to industrial relations, even before the 1930s, which had made his research possible. The higher incidence of the disease at Blairmont gave urgency to the task. Giglioli remarked that it was here that ‘great advances’ were made in ‘unravelling’ the old problem of the

transmission of malaria. But he also conducted surveys and treatment campaigns on hookworm on Davson estates. In April 1934 the infection rate was 73.4 percent; by December 1935 it has been reduced to a mere 6.2 per cent. Giglioli tackled another common problem, megalocytic anaemia of pregnancy. He observed :’(It was) a very common and disabling disease in East Indians causing a high maternal, foetal and neo-natal mortality, was identified and its complex causes were elucidated; very effective therapeutic and preventive measures were successfully introduced.’

The health, of the predominantly Indian resident workers at Blairmount were dire. In 1934, 1,075 of its resident population of 1,926 had to be admitted to hospital at least once that year – 55 per cent. That constituted 1,392 admissions, entailing a loss to the estate of 13,388 hospital man-days in 1934 alone. In short, this amounted to 36.5 inpatients per day, with each patient spending 9.5 days in hospital. Besides, 1185 cases were treated as outpatients and 40,656 minor treatments were administered at the estate’s dispensary.

On the sugar estates of British Guiana, in 1944, just before the start of the anti-malaria campaign, infant mortality per 1000 live births was 176. This declined progressively to 109, 106, 91, and 82 between 1945 and 1948. It is irrefutable that malaria was at the crux of the stagnant population on the estates. Indeed, it was the foundation of the static Indi-

V an population in the colony before the end of the 1940s.

For them in particular, more susceptible to the ravages of malaria than African people, the results were dismal.

As the Immigration Agent general observed in 1922, of the 238,969 Indians taken to the colony as indentured labourers between 1838 and 1917, 69,803 had returned to India, leaving a balance of 169,166. However, the census of 1921 recorded 44,228 fewer Indians in British Guiana – 124,938.

With the eradication of malaria, a revolution took place in demographic patterns among Indians after 1948. The implications of this demographic revolution for the social, economic and political evolution of the colony were astounding. Even when taken in conjunction with broader international and imperial developments after the Second World War, the eradication of malaria – Giglioli’s monumental achievement – still represents the most important achievement in the country in the twentieth century.

It is nearly 40 years since this great man died, yet no major biography of him exists. He deserves a work on the scale of the book I did on Jock Campbell. This short book by Denis Williams, written shortly after Giglioli’s death, is all that we have.

I hope, therefore, that its republication may inspire someone to do a full study of a true revolutionary in the medical and social history of Guyana.

VI

Trauma to teeth should be managed in a timely, effective manner

W

e classify teeth into groups: incisors for cutting, canines (“eye teeth”) for tearing, and premolars and molars for grinding. The tooth types all have their own specific functions. For patients, the knowledge of how these teeth come together in pairs to function or rest is very important, not only for the longevity of the restorations (fillings) being placed in the mouth but for the health of related structures affected by these functions, like the muscles, nerves, and joints.

Besides gum infection and tooth decay, the most common cause of disease of the mouth is abnormal forces acting on the teeth. This is usually self-inflicted by habits like grinding and clenching.

While the first two pathologies, gum infection and tooth decay, are relatively easier to diagnose and treat, abnormal forces leading to trauma to teeth is much more complicated to treat. Most importantly, it needs to be managed in a timely and effective manner.

We l i v e i n a stressful world today. Unlike many years ago, no longer is our stress limited to personal and domestic affairs only, but now includes international events also. I have seen that stress reflected in the mouths of my patients. When I look into people’s mouths and see worn-down, fractured teeth, I sometimes ask them, jokingly, “Do you chew rocks?” They reply: “No, but I have been stressed lately. I think I am grinding my teeth.”

For the patients who think they grind or clench their teeth (bruxism) because of stress, I want to clarify that stress is a contributing factor, not the underlying cause of that habit.

Most patients know that worn-down, flat, or saucer-shaped depressions on the chewing surfaces of the teeth may be a sign of grinding or clenching. What they do not know is that their grinding or clenching is usually a symptom of an unhealthy bite or traumatic bite.

What they also may not know is that a receding gum line and the notching of the teeth they see at the area of gum recession is not because of using a hard toothbrush or conducting overzealous brushing.

The notches which appear as grooves at the necks of the teeth, and which can become deep are called abfractions. They are symptomatic of a traumatic bite. Sometimes, these gum line erosions can be extra sensitive to hot, cold, or sweet or sour foods. Treatment must begin with correcting the cause. Then, to relieve the pain and sensitivity, the dentist may treat chemically or fill those grooves, depending on the severity or aesthetics. The condition is quite common and generally do not pose the risk of the patient losing the tooth.

It should be noted that not every time a patient visits the dentist the reason results from bad oral hygiene. As a matter of fact, patients should visit their dentist for a check-up at regular intervals. One important reason is because stress related bruxism is not due to dental neglect, and more importantly, the signs are usually insidious, in other words, you could be developing a serious condition without even being aware of its presence.

There are times when worn down teeth are not due to abnormal forces such as uneven teeth, grinding and clenching. Instead, some people would either have soft enamel (a defect during its formation) or they may be manifesting the effects of severe demineralisation as a result of excessive intake of acid foods and beverages.

Remember that each tooth is the weakest at its neck, where the root of the tooth begins and the crown narrows down. Abnormal forces applied to the teeth cause them to flex at the neck, which can produce fractures in that junction. These teeth if not treated are at risk of fracturing completely at the gum line if the abnormal forces are not controlled and the teeth are not strengthened (restored).

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

He's Reserved, But does He Love Me?

The Widower I started seeing a gentleman four months after his wife took her own life. He has two adult sons.

His youngest son and fiancée moved into his house shortly after we started dating. This was to help them out financially because they are both in college and have wedding plans.

In fact, they will be married this weekend.

Initially my boyfriend showed no sign of affection in front of them, which I did not have a problem with. Now, eight months later, his oldest son and daughter-in-law are in town for the wedding. We went to dinner last night and honestly, I thought he would exhibit some sign of affection toward me. It wouldn't matter if it was holding hands or sitting beside me. But there was nothing.

I have never felt so angry and hurt. Am I being unreasonable?

Trudy

Trudy, public expressions of affection say something about a person's nature-demonstrative or not demonstrative,stoic or ebullient, introvert or extrovert. In public, your boyfriend may feel something akin to the unease of the boy who says: "Oh, mom, don't do that to me in front of my friends."

Simply being there says the two of you are in a relationship. Why do you feel he must demonstrate intimacy in front of his sons? Are you being territorial, like a schoolgirl? "He's got to kiss me in front of everyone so they know he likes me."

Are you asking him to show what he doesn't feel, or show what he feels but can't express? Are your feelings coming from you (it's going on a year for gosh sakes, where's my ring), or from him (I was lonely, I was on the rebound after my wife's death). Are you his "break glass in case of emergency" woman, or does he feel "in four months I was open to this new love."

It's hard to get over a natural death in four months. Suicide is worse. If he wasn't ready for a new relationship, he may feel he's out with the maid, the cook, the laundress. How does it feel to you?

Work down the list of questions and decide on the best explanation.

WAYNE & TAMARA

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

VII

Divorce Proceedings 1975

Maria Ault gets decree nisi; custody of eight children IN 1975 Divorce Petitioner Maria Ault was not only successful in her divorce petition against her husband Cecil Ault but she also got custody of her eight children.

And, she was granted leave by Justice Aubrey Collins to take the children out of the jurisdiction to the United States of America.

A late application by the respondent husband, Cecil Ault, to have a variation of the Order to exclude the child Anthony, who was still in his possession, was refused by the Court.

There was no order as to costs.

The respondent Ault was also cited for Contempt of Court for failure to hand over custody of one of the children to petitioner in disobedience of the Court Order.

The applications were heard together because they both dealt with substantially the same matters.

Counsel for the petitioner objected to the respondent being heard because he had disobeyed an Order of the Court by not handing the one child over to the wife.

States of America.

Attorney-at-Law, Mr. Stanley Moore represented the petitioner, while Mr. Ashton Chase, S.C appeared for the respondent.

Justice Collins delivering the judgment said: “These proceedings concern the children of the marriage of parents now divorced from each other. In the divorce proceedings instituted by the wife, the husband did not appear and a decree nisi was granted to the wife by Justice Rudolph Harper on June 13, 1975 on the ground of malicious desertion and she was also granted custody of the eight children of the marriage.”

Justice Collins held that :( 1)The respondent was clearly in contempt of court, but the fact that a party to a cause had disobeyed an order of the court was not of itself a bar to him being heard where the disobedience did not impede the course of justice.

(2) In deciding the question of custody and upbringing of a child, the Court should have regard to the welfare of the child as the first and paramount consideration. Having regard to all the circumstances, the child should grow up in the society of his brothers and sisters.

(3)Custody of the child granted to the petitioner with leave to take all the children out of the jurisdiction to the United

The present proceedings arose from two applications.

Firstly, on June 24, 1975 the wife filed an application for leave to take the children out of the jurisdiction to the United States of America, and for an Order that the husband deliver one of the children of the marriage, who he still had in his possession, to the wife. The husband filed an answer. This was fixed for hearing on November 15, 1975 before Justice Harper.

Secondly, on September 19,1975 the husband filed an

By George Barclay

application seeking a variation of the order of Justice Harper made in the divorce proceedings on June 13, 1975 to exclude the child, Anthony. In other words, the husband should be excused from delivering Anthony to the wife.

The wife filed an affidavit in answer. On October 28, 1975 during the hearing of the Chambers list, fixed for December 3, 1975 for the hearing of this application. Later, on October 28,1975 Mr. Moore, counsel for the wife requested that both applications be heard at an earlier date as the wife was travelling to Guyana early in November for a limited stay, and would be available to give evidence.

Accordingly, with the consent of Justice Harper, notices were sent out that the matter would be heard before on November 5, 1975.

Justice Collins said in deciding the question of custody and upbringing of a child, the Court should regard the welfare of the child as the first and paramount consideration. But paramount does not mean exclusive.

“I have had to consider whether Anthony should be left with his father and he would have one of the eight children of the marriage, or whether Anthony should be with his mother and thus grow up with his other brothers and sisters, Justice Collins explained.

He added: “I have had to consider whether the children should be allowed to leave Guyana perhaps for good and never to know their father or whether they should remain here and probably grow up without a mother.”

“In all the circumstances, I decided that Anthony should go into the custody of the wife so that he can grow up in the society of his brothers and sisters and that the wife should have leave to take all the children out of the jurisdiction to the United States of America.”

Application was granted to petitioner with no order as to costs.

VIII

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

OUT OF TUNE

A

By Neil Primus

long, long time ago, before there were any street lights, before there were any telephones, before there was running water, there was only darkness and bush.

Mark was a musician. He played the guitar at rum shops, dances and many other places for money. He even worked at funerals. There was no Juke Box in the tiny village of Caneview so his music was very popular.

Whenever he performed he would take a percentage of his pay in drinks. This meant that by the end of the evening, he was either half drunk or stoned out of his mind. Despite this he always managed to find his way home. One Saturday he worked until one o’clock in the morning. As he wobbled home he sang a drunken melody.

‘When I die, don’t you bury me at all, at all, at all.

Just sprinkle my bones with alcohol.

A bottle a rum, from my head down to my toes.

When I die my bones I’ll cure.’

To this he added the strumming of his guitar. Even though he was drunk the music was still good. Half way down the sideline dam, Mark met a tall, lanky fellow with a broad, crooked smile. The stranger had about three teeth

in his expansive mouth and he was giving the musician a toothless smile. He stood in the middle of the dam blocking Mark’s way.

“Like you is a musician?” His question surprised the drunken man.

“Yeah man. I am a guitarist.’

“Da good. I is a musician too.” ”Really?’ Mark was drunkenly skeptical.

“Uh huh!”

Mark began to boast at the top of his voice.

“I don’t know about you but I does play at parties, weddings, funerals and all dem things.”

“You must be good.” The old man sounded doubtful.

“I is de best musician bout here!”

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!” “No joke old boy-is true. I is a real bad musician.”

“Because you never hear me play.” The man actually sounded amused.

“Like is a challenge or wat?” Mark was way past boasting point. He would prove it and shut the old fool up.

“Alright I gon play fuss.”Mark started one of his favourite tunes.

“A drunk man walk in a graveyard, And at de top of he voice start bawling out hard.”

“A drunk man walk in a graveyard, And at de top of he voice start bawling out hard.”

“My friend a come, long time no see.”

“A used to hate keeping yo company.”

“A ent come alone a walk wid de thing.”

“He put down a lil bag an started to sing.”

He sang well and played better. It was an excellent piece of music and another great performance. When he was through he handed the instrument to his challenger.

The old man strummed the guitar skillfully then began his melody. His voice was so low that Mark could not hear a single word. “…………………………………………………………..”

Mark strained his ears and made out a few words here and there. The man was playing a beautiful melody on the guitar and even though he could not hear the words properly, the drunk musician was thoroughly enjoying the number. “ W h e n … … … … … … … … … … … . .

Now………………………………”

“Wat yo say?”

“When me been living me could a play. Now me dead me fingers rotten way.”

Mark’s intoxicated mind did not register this the first time. The clearer the voice became the bigger Mark’s eyes and mouth grew.

“When me been living me could a play. Now me dead me fingers rotten way.”

The old fellow was half way through his tune when the full meaning hit the drunk.

“When me been living me could a play. Now me dead me fingers rotten way.”

By the time the old musician got to the end of his next line, Mark was two hundred metres away. He had taken off in a dead sprint that even Yohan Blake would have difficulty bettering. What was amazing was that there was no wobble in his steps and his course was straight as an arrow.

“Look yo guitar friend.”

The old man’s voice sounded too close behind him for comfort. Mark climbed into fifth gear and hit overdrive.

ZOOM! Mark reached home soaked, terrified and cold-sober. He banged on the door in desperation and when his wife reacted too slowly he kicked in the door breaking one of the hinges.

Mark ducked inside and quickly barricaded the door with the table and a few chairs on top of it for safety. There was no sleep for him that night.

Next morning Mark found his guitar on the verandah.

He picked it up then dropped it and recoiled in horror.

Where the strings were supposed to be was now taken over by a thick mass of white cobweb. He threw away the guitar he had come to love. Mark now drinks less.

He is presently the best pianist around. Anyone care to challenge him??

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

IX

SIDNEY POITIER - The first black person to win an Academy Award

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native of Cat Island, The Bahamas, (though born in Miami during a mainland visit by his parents), Poitier grew up in poverty as the son of a dirt farmer. He had little formal education and at the age of 15 was sent to Miami to live with his brother, in order to forestall a growing tendency toward delinquency. In the U.S, Poitier first experienced the racial chasm that divides the country, a great shock to a boy coming from a society with a majority of people of African descent. A determination to find and create opportunities for African Americans was born in him because of the poor treatment he received on the streets of Miami. At 18, he went to New York, did menial jobs and slept in a bus terminal toilet. A brief stint in the Army as a worker at a veteran's hospital was followed by more menial jobs in Harlem. An impulsive audition at the American Negro Theatre was rejected so forcefully that Poitier dedicated the next six months to overcoming his accent and performance ineptness. On his second try, he was accepted. He was spotted in a rehearsal and given a bit part in a Broadway production of "Lysistrata," for which he got excellent reviews. By the end of 1949, he had to choose between leading roles on stage and an offer to work for Darryl F. Zanuck in the film No Way Out (1950).

Poitier's performance as a doctor treating a white bigot got him plenty of notice and led to more roles, each consider-

ably more interesting and prominent than most African American actors of the time were getting.

Nevertheless, the roles were still less interesting and prominent than those white actors routinely obtained. But seven years later, after turning down several projects he considered demeaning, Poitier got several roles that catapulted him into a category rarely if ever achieved by an African American man of that time, that of starring leading man. One of the films, The Defiant Ones (1958), gave Poitier his first Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Five years later, he won the Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963), the first African American to

win for a leading role. Poitier maintained activity on stage, on screen, and in the burgeoning Civil Rights movement. His roles in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and To Sir, with Love (1967) were for their time landmarks in the breaking down of social barriers between African Americans and whites, and Poitier's talent, conscience, integrity, and inherent likability placed him on equal footing with the white stars of the day. He took on directing and producing chores in the Seventies, achieving success in both arenas. Although he has reduced the frequency of his roles in recent years, he remains one of the most respected and beloved figures in American cinema of the twentieth century.

He was former brother-in-law of light heavyweight champion Archie Moore.

Children: Beverly Poitier-Henderson, Pamela Poitier, Sherri Poitier, Gina Poitier (with Juanita Hardy); Anika Poitier, Sydney Tamiia Poitier (with Joanna Shimkus).

In 1963 he became the first black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor in his Lead Role as Homer Smith in Lilies of the Field (1963). The first black man to win an Academy Award was James Baskett (although an Honorary Award) for his role in Song of the South (1946).

When he came to New York from the Caribbean to become an actor, he was so impoverished at first that he slept in the bus station. To get his first major role in No Way Out (1950), he lied to director Joseph L. Mankiewicz and told him he was 27, when actually only 22 years old.

He sits on USC School of Cinema-Television's Board of Councilors.

Stanley Kramer approached him about co-starring in The Defiant Ones (1958), which made him a bigger star, but admitted that if he did not take the role of "Porgy" in Porgy and Bess (1959) for Samuel Goldwyn it might kill his chances to get the role in The Defiant Ones (1958) as Goldwyn had that much clout in Hollywood.

Appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1974. Although this is often mistaken to have been an honorary knighthood, it is actually a substantive knighthood, as Poitier is a citizen of The Bahamas, a Commonwealth realm which at the time of his appointment recognized the British Honours System. He is thus entitled to be known as Sir Sidney Poitier, but he does not use this title.

His Stir Crazy (1980) was the highest grossing film directed by a black filmmaker until Scary Movie (2000), directed

by Keenen Ivory Wayans almost 20 years later.

He is of Haitian ancestry from his father's side While trying to sing with some fellow actors in Off-Broadway theatre he found he was tone deaf.

In the 1960s, for many of his films, he was paid in a way known as "dollar one participation" which basically means he begins collecting a cut of the film's gross from the first ticket sold.

Has an honorary doctorate degree from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania and is fluent in Russian.

He was the first black actor to place autograph, hand and footprints in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre (June 23, 1967).

Premiere Magazine ranked him as #20 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

Was named #22 greatest actor on the 50 Greatest Screen Legends by the American Film Institute Was nominated for Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best

Actor (Dramatic) for "A Raisin in the Sun," a role that he recreated in the film version of the same same, A Raisin in the Sun (1961).

Future wife Joanna Shimkus encouraged him to direct his first film, Buck and the Preacher (1972), after he and the original director could not agree creatively.

His performance as Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night (1967) is ranked #55 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

His performance as Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night (1967) is ranked #20 on Premiere Magazine's 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time.

During the early 1980s a man named David Hampton conned his way into the homes of several wealthy and prominent New Yorkers (including a dean at Columbia University) by falsely claiming to be Poitier's son. Playwright John Guare, fascinated by the way the story illustrated the magic that the mere mention of Poiter's name held for people of his generation (especially white people), based his play "Six Degrees of Separation" on Hampton's story. The play was adapted into the movie Six Degrees of Separation (1993) in 1993, with Will Smith as the character based upon Hampton.

Along with Gary Cooper, is the most represented actor on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, with five of his films on the list. They are: A Raisin in the Sun (1961) at #65, The Defiant Ones (1958) at #55, Lilies of the Field (1963) at #46, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) at #35, and In the Heat of the Night (1967) at #21.

His performance as Detective Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night (1967) is ranked #19 on the American Film Institute's 100 Heroes & Villains.

Along with his name uttered in the lyrics, a photograph of Poitier is held by Busta Rhymes in the 1998 rap video "Gimme Some More".

Received the Screen Actors Guild's Life Achievement Award.

His role in The Bedford Incident (1965) marked the first time he would play a role in which his character's race was not an issue.

Considered for the male lead for The Owl and the Pussycat (1970), opposite Diana Sands, who had played the part of "Doris" on Broadway.

Prostate cancer survivor.

Has four grandchildren and two great-granddaughters [200 Is a long time friend of singer, fellow actor and activist Harry Belafonte. They were born 9 days apart. They met in New York at age 20 before either was in show business.

Release of the book, "Sidney Poitier: Man, Actor, Icon"

by Aram Goudsouzian.

Release of his book, "Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter".

Release of the book, "Sidney Poitier" by David Paige.

Appointed as ambassador of the Bahamas to Japan (he was born in the United States but is a citizen of the Bahamas).

[April 1997] Member of the Board of Directors of The Walt Disney Company.

Release of the book, "Sidney" by William Hoffman.

Release of the book, "Sidney Poitier" by Carol Bergman.

Release of his book, "The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography".

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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

(A look at some of the stories that made the news ‘back-in-the-day’ with CLIFFORD STANLEY)

TAPIR: THE BIG VEHICLE FOR THE SMALL MAN:

(The Daily Chronicle August 29, 1976) Farmers will find the AINLIM TAPIR the ideal type of vehicle especially suited to their individual need. The vehicle’s space, loading height and drop down tailgate allow for quick and easy loading.

TAPIR is in every sense of the words “the big time vehicle for the small man farmer.” 1300cc ½ ton capacity. Manufactured in Guyana by Guyanese. AINLIM: Associated Industries Ltd.Ruimveldt Georgetown. ***********************************************

BROWN BETTY FIRE

(Guyana Chronicle February 10, 1976) Fire of unknown origin completely destroyed the $300,000 Brown Betty Dairies Ltd. Putting 90 workers out of employment.

Members of the Georgetown Fire Service using three units including the firefloat “Forbes B” battled for two hours with the raging flames and succeeded in preventing the fire from engulfing the entire block of buildings between Robb and Regent Streets.

Upon realising the building housing the Brown Betty Dairies Ltd. could not be saved the firemen put up a desperate battle to contain the flames from spreading to the other buildings.

They did so by soaking the other structures including the City Pawnbrokers and Jewellers Ltd. On the top flat of which is housed Caribbean Agencies the representatives for Avon products , the recently renovated building of Singer Sewing Machine Company ; the show room of Mohan Persaud manufacturers of furniture and the Standard Pawnbrokery at the corner of Regent and Hincks Street.

This is the second time within 14 years that Brown Betty had been destroyed by fire.

On February 1962 the building went up in flames when it was housed in the space now occupied by the American Life Building on Hincks street. ***********************************************

WOODEN SHOES THE “IN THING” NOW

(The Daily Chronicle January 27, 1976) One of Guyana’s leading shoemakers said yesterday that locally manufactured wooden shoes were becoming a craze with the local shoemakers who claimed that they had more durability than the foreign shoes.

Aubrey Barrington who designs and manufactures locally made handicrafts including attractively coloured wooden shoes said that he developed his own skill six years ago when he ventured into the shoe making business assisted by Charles Quintin and two female assistants.

He said that Guyanese men and women were becoming more fashion conscious in choosing shoes. They go for wooden shoes which they feel last longer than the imported shoes.

Barry said that women demand “Kickers” with heels ranging from two to six inches in height.

But he added that women with extra large feet do not look as well in “Kickers” as those with small dainty feet. ***********************************************

COUNCIL SHELVES PLAN TO CONVERT BOURDA CEMETERY INTO PARK

(Daily Chronicle May 26, 1977) The Georgetown City Council has decided to shelve its plan to convert the Bourda cemetery into a Park.

The decision was taken at last Monday’s statutory meeting of the Council when Councillors accepted the recommendations of the City Works Committee.

The Council had planned cutting a roadway through the cemetery but after considering a letter from the National Trust, the Works Committee recommended that no further action be taken at this point in time.

The National Trust in its letter to the Council expressed the view that the Bourda cemetery is an important historical site where the remains of several persons who have made important and significant contributions to the political economic and social history of Guyana are entombed.

The National Trust had further requested an interview with the Council regarding buildings and other sites which the Trust considers worthy of preservation. ***********************************************

PRANK COULD HAVE CAUSED BOY’S DEATH

(Guyana Chronicle October 1, 1977) A 10-year old Berbice schoolboy could have been burnt to death following a childish prank by three youngsters whose age range from 13 to 15 years.

Reports state that Andries Batson of Betsy Ground East Canje was at a “wakehouse” playing cards with friends when he fell asleep.

Observing this the three boys soaked a piece of cloth in kerosene, tied it around the lad’s instep and set it alight.

Aroused from his sleep Batson jumped up screaming .

People rushed to the scene put out the blaze and applied flour to the burn.

About three days later the injury showed signs of deteriorating.

Batson was taken to the New Amsterdam Hospital where he spent several days before succumbing to his injury.

The Chronicle understands that the matter was reported to the Reliance Police and investigations are being carried out.

GIRL DIES A DAY BEFORE HER WEDDING DAY (Guyana Chronicle October 4,1977) A teenaged bride-to-be collapsed and died one day before her wedding.

She is Bibi Halima Ali 18 of Reliance Settlement East Canje.

Reports stated that Bibi’s parents and other relatives had everything set for the ceremony.

The tent was erected; invitations were sent and everyone in the family and neighbourhood looked forward to the wedding.

Last Saturday night just 12 hours prior to the wedding Bibi’s parents held a religious function in her honour.

The young woman, who was in high spirits, welcomed the guests and chatted freely with them.

But around 10 p.m. after the service and while she was sharing sweetmeats to the guests, she collapsed.

She was rushed to the New Amsterdam Hospital where she died about one hour after without regaining consciousness.

The Chronicle understands that the would-be husband whose name was given as Boyo Ramdat is also 18 years and is employed at Rose Hall Estate Canje.

It was reported that his parents too also planned a big reception for the occasion. ***********************************************

SINGING STAR OFF TO T’DAD; USA

(Guyana Chronicle October 9, 1977) Remember Joyce Ormelia Harris the “Taxi Driver” girl? Certainly, yes. Well she was scheduled to leave for Trinidad yesterday to cut twelve 45 records.

The “Melody Queen” from Guyana who released the last of her seven records “Banaras Babu” recently is expected to travel to the United States to join her brother after completing recording in Trinidad.

Joyce who started singing in school during her early teens and who made her first appearance on Radio Demerara is a young woman who encountered and overcome various problems in her singing career.

She admitted that show business is not all glamour and it will take a determined person to make it in Guyana.

Joyce who hails from Canal No. 1 Polder has based several of her records on past experiences.

“You see they are many and the only way I can express myself is just to sing them.”

Some of the records she will be cutting are: “Tribute to Mukesh,” “The lonely sailor boy,” “The return of Johnny,” “Boolbaba,” “The hurricane of my heart,” “My son Vishal” and “Farewell to Guyana.”

Clifford Stanley can be reached to discuss any of the foregoing articles at cliffantony@gmail.com or cell phone # 657 2043.

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

The Mermaid ...

From page II

her mind was the thought that she could not become Edward’s bride unless she could live on land and she knew that one day he may never come back; she may never see him again and her dreams will be lost.

At the break of dawn on the fourth morning, she looked into her father’s and sister’s chambers and slowly bid them ‘farewell,’ tears in her eyes and she set off to the darkest depths of the sea. She swam for hours and hours, trying her best to avoid lurking dangers when she felt she could go no longer, her body so tired, a strong whirlpool caught her and she was pulled down. Try as she might, she could not get away, she felt herself falling and screamed as she hit the bottom. She felt dazed and lifting her head slowly, she looked around. She was in a dimly lit cave and sitting on a rock throne was the ugliest creature Annabella had ever seen. She gasped in fear and the demon creature laughed.The sound of his voice harsh like the wind of a storm.

“Now what do we have here?”

Annabella was too terrified to answer.

“You are very far away from home, little mermaid. Are you lost?”

She swallowed hard and shook her head.

“Then what brings you here to my Kingdom?”

“I seek the white pearl,” she said in a trembling voice.

The demon creature looked at her disbelievingly then he threw his head back and laughed, the echo shaking the walls of the cave.

“Why, I beg, do you seek the white pearl?”

She told him about Edward, his proposal and the request made by the witch.

“So you risk your life for the sake of love?”

She nodded.

“How sweet,” he mocked and plunged towards her.

“Do you know little mermaids like you I eat for dessert?”

Annabella closed her eyes, knowing this was her end and in her mind she said, “I’m sorry Edward, I tried. I hope you’ll always remember I did this for our love.”.

He stopped suddenly in a small cave and catching her breath, she stared in wonder at the walls where the gems of the seas and oceans, glittered in a magical display of pure beauty.

The creature plucked the white pearl, turning it over in his huge hands slowly and looking at her said: “You’re a brave girl to come here just for the sake of love, take this pearl, return and do not ever come back.”

The moon was at its fullest when she rose from the water and the worried look on Edward’s face disappeared and his eyes lit up for he hadn’t seen her in many days. He waited at the water’s edge as she swam to him and stared with unbelieving eyes as she rose from the water not as a mermaid but as a human girl. He sank down on his knees, touching her to make sure she was real.

“Annabella, how did this happen?”

She smiled sweetly, tears in her eyes and touched his face, “It’s a long story Edward, I risked my life so we can be together.”

“So will you now be my bride?”

“Yes I will,” she laughed softly.

He lifted her in his arms and walked to the manor, their love story, magic of the moonlight, music and water, a sublime love.

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SHIVANIE THOMAS

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

-Believes in honouring the elderly

By Telesha Ramnarine MEET the beautiful 24-year-old Shivanie ‘Mandy’ Thomas, who is equally beautiful in personality; a friendly character who is skilled at putting a smile on someone’s face.

Growing up with her grandmother at Coconut Dam, Cane Grove, East Coast Demerara, she attended Virginia Primary before moving on to Bygeval Secondary where she wrote the Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) Examinations.

Born to parents Rohit and Sandra, Shivanie has two sisters namely Reshme and Samantha. Her dad died when she was just about a year old and ever since then, her grandmother, Kowsilla, was kind enough to take in the family in order to care for and support them.

Growing up, she entertained the usual childhood fantasies of becoming an air hostess and a teacher, but as she matured, she found her real interest in accounting.

“I like accounts a lot, probably because it’s challenging

“You have to try. You have to start somewhere and endure the challenges to get where you want to be,” Shivanie acknowledged.

HONOUR THE ELDERLY

Shivanie really appreciates the elderly, especially since she grew up with her dear grandmother and understands certain things about people in that age group.

FOLLOW YOUR DREAM “I hate to see when old people are mistreated. My grandShivanie believes in faith, hope and lots mother always told us that one of prayers. “I believe if you pray, you will day, we will get old and reach to get what you want some day.” Her advice to that same stage in life and will other young people is that much good result be in need from others.” from following their dreams.

And so Shivanie makes it a “Follow your dreams and believe in point to stop and assist the elderprayers. Trust me, there is a God. And one ly, even if it is just to help them day, if you are suffering, he will get you cross the road, or provide them through it. You have to have the courage to with something to eat or drink. think differently, to invent, to discover the Her grandmother has also impossible, and to conquer the problems and taught her and her siblings to succeed.”

Shivanie ‘Mandy’ Thomas love people and treat everyone Currently, Shivanie is concentrating on equally. her studies. She does plan to get married “She didn’t give me a chance to miss my father. I didn’t but prefers to achieve certain things in life and ensure she is know him except for what people spoke about him but she comfortable in life before taking such a big step. fulfilled every role.”

Shivanie enjoys shopping, browsing the internet, Shivanie fondly recalled how her grandmother helped sports, dancing, modelling, cooking, and best of all, her to study.

‘Candy Crush’ on Facebook.

Shivanie

and I like dealing with figures,” said Shivanie.

Currently, she is an accounts clerk/store keeper in the Accounts Department of the Guyana National Newspapers Limited in Lama Avenue, Bel Air Park.

“I am not yet an accountant but I hope to reach there someday,” she expressed.

Beginning September, Shivanie intends to pursue a twoyear accounts course at the University of Guyana (UG). She is fully aware that working full-time and studying will not be easy for her because she will have to take the night class at UG. But she is determined to put forth the necessary effort and hard work to make a success of the two years. According to her, staying in town and having a helpful mom definitely helps her out. For instance, her mom would cook and send her meals for the week.

“In the nights, she and mom were up until we were finished studying. She did everything for me and was always on my side.”

Sadly, her grandmother died in January of this year as a result of illness.

“We miss her and think about her each day. Growing up with her has impressed upon my mind the need to always honour the elderly. In fact, I think looking after old people is the best thing!”

Her two “favourite ladies” (mom and grandmother)

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

By Rebecca Ganesh-ally FANTASTIC USES FOR BAKING SODA * Freshens Your Mouth Put one teaspoon in half a glass of water, swish, spit and rinse. Odours are neutralised, not just covered up. * Soak Oral Appliance Soak oral appliances like retainers, mouthpieces and dentures in a solution of two teaspoons baking soda dissolved in a glass or small bowl of warm water. The baking soda loosens food particles and neutralises odours to keep appliances fresh. You can also brush appliances clean using baking soda.

acids on the skin and help wash away oil and perspiration, it also makes your skin feel very soft. Epsom salts are pretty miraculous for the bath too.

CALMING COCKTAILS Lillet-Basil Cocktail For an interesting twist, use sweet, fragrant cinnamon basil in this drink.

INGREDIENTS 1 cup ice, plus more for serving 1/2 cup Lillet Blanc (French aperitif wine) 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) gin 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves, plus sprigs for garnish Splash of tonic water 1 cucumber spear, for garnish 1 cinnamon stick, for garnish DIRECTIONS STEP 1 Put ice, Lillet, gin, orange juice, and basil in a cocktail shaker; shake well. Fill a glass with ice; strain mixture into glass. Add tonic water. Garnish with cucumber spear, cinnamon stick, and basil sprigs.

Pineapple and Mango Rum Cocktails INGREDIENTS

* Use as a Facial Scrub and Body Exfoliant Give yourself an invigorating facial and body scrub. Make a paste of three parts of baking soda to one part water. Rub in a gentle circular motion to exfoliate the skin. Rinse clean. This is gentle enough for daily use. * Treat Insect Bites & Itchy Skin For insect bites, make a paste out of baking soda and water, and apply as a salve onto affected skin. To ease the itch, shake some baking soda into your hand and rub it into damp skin after bath or shower. * Make a Bath Soak Add 1/2 cup of baking soda to your bath to neutralise

two 1/2 small ripe mangoes, peeled and cubed (about 2 cups), plus 1/2 mango cut into slices with skin, for garnish 4 ounces best-quality golden rum 4 cups fresh pineapple juice (from a 4 1/2-pound pine-

XIII

apple) Fresh tropical fruit, such as dragon fruit and star fruit, for garnish DIRECTIONS STEP 1 Puree mangoes, rum, and 1/2 cup water in a blender. Pour 2 ounces puree into each of six 12-ounce glasses. Fill glasses with ice, and top off with pineapple juice. Garnish with tropical fruit.

KIDS CORNER Handprint Craft Make a handprint of your child using Plaster of Paris. You can hang this cute decoration on the wall.

Supplies needed: Plaster of Paris Large plastic bowl (like a big cottage cheese container) and stirrer (to mix the plaster) An aluminum pie plate or a plastic lid A large paper clip Disposable plastic gloves Permanent marker STEPS * This is a messy craft - wear old clothes and work outside if possible.

Have an adult mix the plaster of Paris. Before starting, collect a large container to mix the plaster in and a wide container (like an aluminum pie plate or a plastic lid) to mold the handprint in. * Have an adult mix a small amount of Plaster of Paris with water in a sturdy container (a disposable plastic container is the easiest) - the plaster should be stiff but creamy. Do not mix the plaster with your hands - use a stick as a stirrer. Wear plastic gloves to protect your hands. Do not breathe in the plaster dust. * Pour the plaster into the flat container. Have the child quickly make a handprint (or a footprint) in the plaster. Wash the child's hand immediately afterwards (prolonged exposure to plaster can burn the skin). * Before the Plaster of Paris hardens, push a partly unfolded paper clip into the plaster (this is how you will hang it on the wall) - or use a straw to make a hole in the plaster.

The plaster will be completely dry in about a day, but you can take it out of the molding container after about 20 minutes. * Don't forget to write the name of the child, the date, and the age of the child on the plaster using a permanent marker.

XIV

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

Ranbir-Raveena’s dance-off At a recent party the two actors burned the dance floor. At the recent wrap-up party of Bombay Velvet, Raveena Tandon Thadani and Ranbir Kapoor were the cynosure of all eyes. A source tells us that there was a dance-off of sorts between the two actors.

After Raveena wowed everyone with her sexy moves on her popular song, Tip tip barsa paani, Ranbir immediately hit the dance floor and danced to his recent hit, Badtameez dil. The two even joked about it later.

Cool!

Deepika to get a new tattoo?

Preity Zinta: Salman Khan has stood by me like a rock The bubbly actor talks about her equation with the Dabangg Khan Salman Khan and Priety Zinta are friends. That’s no secret. And he stands by his friends. So to some,

Salman’s behaviour at being questioned about her recent sexual harassment complaint against former boyfriend Ness Wadia, at the trailer launch of Kick on Sunday may have seemed odd. But

while he is there hundred per cent for his friends in private, he won’t talk about them in public. So he sidestepped the question about her case, reprimanded the reporter demanding an an-

swer and finally broke into a dance. But he won’t have to explain his behaviour to Preity because she understands him.

“From the film industry, the closest friend that I have is Salman. I don’t want to say that he’s my best friend as it sounds clichéd but he’s somebody I would do anything for.

He’s my friend forever and ever. He has done so much for everybody through his Being Human foundation.

Salman doesn’t talk about it himself and that’s why I am talking about it. How many people he has gotten treated for cancer, done eye operations for thousands of people and so much more.

He’s so good that way and that’s why I feel bad when actors are used for political differences. When things are said about actors and they are cornered. I am not saying that he is perfect but if you can find anybody in this world who is perfect and can get them to me I will do whatever you say.

I will always stand up for Salman.”

After RK on her nape and DP on her ankle, is Deepika planning to get RS inked on her body? Apparently, Deepika Padukone is keen on getting another tattoo and has been contemplating the idea with her director/ friend, Homi Adajania. Though we don’t know what the actress plans to permanently imprint on herself, we definitely know it won’t be current flame, Ranveer Singh’s initials.

Rani Mukerji beefs up security at her house

The actress doesn’t want to take a chance after Aditya Chopra was snapped at her house by the paparazzi. Not for herself, but for her new home. Now that she’s married to Aditya Chopra, Rani Mukerji wants to completely protect her private life. A friend of the actress tells us that there is not a single space from where you can look inside the Chopra bungalow. We hear the couple does not want a repeat of what happened last Diwali when a photographer captured them enjoying the festival together.

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

XV

How Nkiru Sylvanus Movie On Kidnap Turned Into Reality In December 2012, the movie industry was thrown into confusion after an actress, Nkiru Sylvanus was kidnapped in Owerri, Imo State alongside her colleague, Kenneth Okolie. For days, the two actors were in the den of their abductors, who demanded a ransom in order to set them free.

Ironically, the pretty actress and former Special Assistant to Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State on Lagos Affairs was shooting her movie entitled ‘The Voice, and in the flick, Kenneth kidnapped Nkiru, which later turned a reality. Till today, no one has been able to understand that mysterious incident.

According to her “we continued with the movie as I and Kenneth learnt something from our captors which was helpful to us in our role interpretation.”

‘The Voice’, according to information available to Nigeriafilms.com, is set for premiere on July 13, 2014 at the prestigious Oriental Hotel, Lekki, Lagos. The thriller film was written and directed by Afe Olumowe, while Nkiru, who played the lead role, produced it.

According to the synopsis, Sandy (Nkiru Sylvanus) had been told by a stranger named Jeremiah (Larry Briggs) that she will die in 90 days. To prove that she will truly die, he tells her three unusual events will precede her death. They all happened the way the stranger told her. On the 90th day, another stranger named Solonzo (Kenneth Okolie) turns up and wants her money and may be her life.

So he kidnaps her and holds her hostage until he could assess the 10 million naira check she had given him. Would she have the wisdom to live with him and would he have the patience to keep her alive? It is just 5p.m, they have till 12 midnight of the 90th day to decide that.

Kefee’s Remains Arrives in Nigeria, ‘Branama Kitchen’, locatBranama Kitchen Closed ed in Maryland, Lagos, has The body of late Nigerian gospel singer, Kefee Obareki, who died last Friday in America after being in coma for about 15 days, has arrived in Nigeria.

It was reported that the corpse of the late wife of Teddy Esosa Don-Momoh

landed at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos around 4pm on Tuesday and was received by few family members.

The death of the Delta State-born singer shook the entertainment industry in Nigeria, with many expressing shock over her demise. It

was gathered that a service of songs will hold on Thursday in Los Angeles, USA in honour of her. The service is being organised by Gofamint House of Testimony, in conjunction with the Rhema House.

Meanwhile, there are reports that Kefee’s

been shut since the news of her death hit town.

I owe Dede a kiss for scoring -Nikki Samonas Actress Nikki Samonas says she owes Dede Ayew a kiss for scoring Ghana’s lone goal in Monday’s game against the USA. Prior to the game, Nikki had made a promise to kiss the first Ghanaian player who would score.

Revealing the cause of her kissing promise on Radio Universe, the beautiful and sexy Ghanaian actress said she did not notice any substantial or motivational promise by any Ghanaian celebrity for the players to prompt them to score goals during the match which came off on Monday, June 16.

According to Nikki, she received reports from Brazil that the Black Stars were impressed with her promise, thus boosting their morale for the match.

“Friends who are in Brazil called to tell me that the guys were impressed not because I promised them a kiss but I went out of my way to say something like this. They were all happy when they heard my promise.”

Nikki stated that “if he (Dede Ayew) doesn’t come for the kiss, the fact that I said something like this and they responded and were happy, that is enough for me”

Nothing Can Take Me Off My Family.........Mercy Johnson When it comes to hard work, then you can give it to Nollywood actress, Mercy Johnson who despite her schedule, still creates time for her family. Mercy who has been taking her time to put finishing touches to her movie in London, has not allowed her job to consume her time as she went on her social media page to express her motherly love for her child purity.

Mercy Johnson-Okojie, pregnant with her second child, took to Instagram to demonstrate the priceless family moments and the growing baby bump. The kogi state born actress has explained that nothing can take her time off her family because they give her joy and they are the source of her inspiration.

The screen diva that is heavily pregnant is expected to put to bed soon as fans and colleagues continue to wish her well and safe delivery.

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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

Brightest World Cup ever!

Tournament filmed in full 4K ultra high definition

T

he World’s biggest football extravaganza is recorded in stunning pin-sharp 4K for the first time, bringing fans closer to the action This new format produces an image four times the resolution of the standard HD, which most UK homes currently enjoy. With pin-sharp image and eye-watering colour, the quality of 4K is so good it’s hard to explain the viewing experience until you’ve witnessed it.

Sony and FIFA will be filming three matches in this stunning format including the final on July 13. Sadly, these games won’t be broadcast live but 4K TV owners will be able to view the footage after the tournament. FIFA is producing an exclusive 4K film during the World Cup, which will include footage from both on and off the pitch.

Online movie service Netflix, has already started streaming content in 4K and Sky are also testing the technology. Content is also limited but with events like the World Cup being broadcast in the new format don’t expect it to be long before prices drop and the number of 4K programmers increase.

Microsoft promises Windows Phone 'kill-switch' by July 2015

Microsoft today spelled out the "kill-switch" deterrents it will add to the Windows Phone mobile operating system, and said it would meet an industry deadline for making stolen smartphones useless.

The announcement came hard on the heels of new data that shows anti-theft tools have dramatically reduced smartphone-related crime.

According to the "Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment," signees must pledge to offer four theft-deterrent features, ranging from remote wipe to a kill-switch that "bricks" the device.

Microsoft signed the agreement two months ago, as did Google and Apple, Samsung and HTC, AT&T and Verizon, and others.

The new theft deterrent features will be offered as an update for all phones running Windows Phone 8.0 and newer, though availability is subject to mobile operator and phone manufacturer approval.

The new functionality will be added to the already-in-place "Find My Phone" section of Windows Phone's settings. Users of Windows Phone-powered devices access the feature's tools through a website Microsoft maintains.

Amazon unveils long-rumoured Fire Phone featuring a 3D 'dynamic perspective' Amazon has finally taken the wraps off its much rumoured, often leaked smartphone. Dubbed Fire Phone, the device features a 4.7-inch display, a quad-core 2.2GHz processor, Adreno 330 graphics and 2GB of RAM. That’s right in line with what we’ve been hearing so far, and so are the multiple cameras around the front to aid rendering 3D elements on screen... more on that later.

The Fire Phone, with a rubberised frame, Gorilla Glass 3 on both sides and aluminium buttons.

They also used injection-moulded steel connectors, which

means no wobbly USB port as some Android devices are prone to suffer from.

Around back is a 13-megapixel camera with a 2.0 lens and optical image stabilization. Amazon compared a few low light shots with samples from the Galaxy S5 and iPhone 5S where the Fire Phone came out on top -- but you’d expect that, of course. There’s also a dedicated shutter button that launches the camera app and free unlimited photo storage with Amazon Cloud Drive.

Pre-orders for Amazon’s Fire Phone are open now but the device won’t ship until July 25th.

Generating Clean Power by Playing Football Children can now give the energy crisis a swift kick, enjoying the world’s most popular sport while generating electricity that can power a light to read or do homework.

Meet Soccket, a soccer ball and rolling power plant in one.

The New York-based company Uncharted Play began selling the ball last November with a focus on getting it into the hands (and onto the feet) of kids in underdeveloped countries. So far, Soccket has rolled into 62 countries and all 50 states.

The Windup The ball uses electromagnetic induction to transform kinetic energy, produced from rolling or striking the ball, into electricity. It’s a process akin to that of a self-winding watch.

Just as the watch is wound with movement, Soccket converts every corner kick or header into battery-stored power via an internal DC generator.

Power Player After a budding Pelé or Maradona takes the ball home, small appliances can be plugged into it (such as the LED lamp included with each ball) using a typical USB adapter. A 30-minute session of play produces three hours of power, with a full charge of 72 hours possible from six to eight hours of activity.

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

Mikhail Lomonosov R ussia's first world-famed specialist in natural science, a poet who laid down the foundations of Russian literary language and an advocate of education, Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov (17111765) will forever remain in the history of Russian science as "the first and the greatest."

Aspiring to get an education, Lomonosov left his native village of Kholmogory in Northern Russia in 1730 and travelled all the way to Moscow on foot.

The son of a poor fisherman, he had to conceal his origin in order to be admitted to the Slavonic-Greek-Latin Academy of Moscow, where he started his education at the age of 19. Recognized by his instructors as an excellent student, he completed his education in St. Petersburg and in Germany.

He became the first Russian professor of chemistry at St. Petersburg Academy of Science in 1745. His major scientific accomplishment was in the field of physical chemistry, with other notable discoveries in astronomy, geophysics, geology, metallurgy and mineralogy.

Mikhail Lomonosov was the one who created a system of higher education in Russia. The foundation of a university in Moscow became possible only due to the efforts of M. Lomonosov, the outstanding Russian scholar and scientist, a person of encyclopedic knowledge. In 1940 on the occasion of its 185th Anniversary, Moscow State University was named after him.

Mikhail Lomonosov

Lomonosov University in Moscow, statue of Lomonosov in foreground.

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- Russia’s first world-famed specialist in natural science

Interested in furthering Russian education, Lomonosov wrote a grammar that reformed the Russian literary language by combining Old Church Slavonic with the vulgar tongue.

He published the first history of Russia in 1760 and invented a new system of meter in his poetry, which consisted mostly of eloquent odes.

He also revived the art of Russian mosaic and built a mosaic and colored-glass factory.

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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

The pioneering woman the world forgot

By Martin Vennard BBC World Service The name Nokutela Dube is not well known - but a century ago she made a big contribution to South Africa's black-empowerment movement helping to form the country we know today. Now, the director of a film about her is hoping to set the record straight and give her the recognition he feels she deserves.

"Mr President, I have come to report to you that South Africa is free today" - the words of Nelson Mandela on the day he cast his vote in South Africa's first democratic elec-

tions in 1994.

He was paying homage at the grave of John Dube, the founding president of the group that became today's governing African National Congress (ANC).

But while Dube is remembered by many South Africans today, his first wife is far from a household name. Even if he had wanted, Mandela could not have paid tribute at her grave too - it was unmarked and she had been virtually forgotten.

And yet she worked hand in hand with her husband in all his major endeavours.

Please see page XXI

Nokutela Mdima

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

From page XX Nokutela Mdima was born in 1873 to a family of Christian converts who were living at an American missionary station in Inanda, near Durban in the east of South Africa.

After graduating from the mission's prestigious boarding school she worked as a teacher and in 1894 married John, the son of a local Christian pastor. The couple then moved to the US, continuing their education at a missionary institute in Brooklyn, New York and John was ordained.

She was "young, with blazing black eyes, smooth brown skin and handsome regular features," says an article first published in the New York Tribune in 1898.

"She speaks good English with a deliberation that is charming and in the softest voice in the world. Her manner is grace itself."

While they were in the US, the Dubes were inspired by the work of the black American educator Booker T. Washington who preached self-reliance - arguing black people had to make economic progress before they could make political progress.

After returning home to Inanda the couple became

roof, says Prof Cherif Keita, director of the African studies programme at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota. "They trained generations of leaders."

Keita only found out about Nokutela while making a film about John and, feeling she had been overlooked by history, made it his personal mission to set the record straight. He has made a film about her too - Remembering Nokutela will be shown in Minnesota next month with other locally-produced films.

"John's name was always floating around, but in her case she was wiped out and yet she had been there at every stage of the building of these institutions that were ground-breaking in South Africa's history," he says.

"Every source that you read on the founding of Oh-

Nokutela Dube's grave in Johannesburg's Brixton Cemetery was unmarked for almost a century the first black South Africans to start a school. In 1900 they founded the Ohlange Institute which is still teaching pupils today.

We j u s t k n e w v e r y vaguely that my mother had a connection with the Dube

family but we didn't know how she was connected �

Joyce Siwani Descendant of Nokutela Dube The Dubes created a "national spirit" bringing students from across the country together under one

lange says John Dube founded this school. No he didn't.

John and Nokutela Dube could not have done it without each other," adds Prof Heather Hughes, a South African historian and biographer of John Dube, who has worked with Keita on uncovering Nokutela's story.

Nokutela started the prestigious music programme at Ohlange, composed songs and formed a choir. She also taught students cooking, house-keeping and tailoring.

"The clothes that the students were capable of making competed with the clothes in the European shops in Durban," says Keita, who argues that Nokutela's artistic talents were key "to the whole enterprise of both awakening a political consciousness, and preparing Africans intellectually".

They set up a newspaper,

XXI produced a book of Zulu songs and popularised the song Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika (God Bless Africa) that became part of South Africa's national anthem after apartheid.

The Dubes returned to the US at least twice to raise funds for the school - John would speak and Nokutela would perform traditional Zulu songs and play the piano and autoharp - a hand-held wooden box with strings that are plucked.

In 1912, John's reputation as an educator helped him become the first president of the South African Native National Congress, which later became the ANC. Its purpose was to protest against racial discrimination and call for equality.

Women were not allowed

Please see page XXIV

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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

The longest word in the English language is pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses!

66% of home based businesses are owned by women.

President George W. Bush is related to all other U.S. Presidents!

Rain contains vitamin B12.

Real diamonds can be made from peanut butter!

Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch T.V for 3 hours!

Rubber is one of the ingredients in bubble gum.

Salmon can jump as high as 6 feet.

Seaweed can grow up to 12 inches per day!

Snails breathe through their feet.

The average company saves over $7,000 for each employee suggestion that is enacted!

The average four year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day.

Sound at the right vibration can bore holes through a solid object.

The average housewife walks 10 miles a day around the house doing her chores.

Sound travels fifteen times faster through steel than through air.

The average ice berg weighs 20,000,000 tons!

Surgeons who listen to music during operations perform better than those who don't.

The average person walks the equivalent of twice around the world in a lifetime

The American Film Institute has named composer John Williams score for Star Wars as the greatest film score of all time.

The banana tree cannot reproduce itself. It can be propagated only by the hand of man.

The average American/Canadian drinks about 600 sodas a year!

The Bible is the most-shoplifted book in the world.

The chances of you dying on the way to get your lottery tickets is greater than your chances of winning.

Please see page XXIII

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

From page XXII The cigarette lighter was invented before the match.

The cruise liner, 'Queen Elizabeth 2', moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

The energy of a discharge of an electric eel could start 50 cars.

The filming of the movie 'Titanic' cost more than the Titanic itself!

The IRS processes more than 2 billion pieces of paper each year.

The largest diamond ever found was an astounding 3,106 carats!

The launching mechanism of a carrier ship that helps planes to take off could throw a pickup truck over a mile.

The little bags of netting for gas lanterns (called 'mantles') are radioactive...so much so that they will set of an alarm at a nuclear reactor.

The longest word in the English language with no vowels is Rhythms!

The name Wendy was made up for the book Peter Pan. The normal static electricty shock that zaps your finger when you touch a doorknob is usually between 10,000 and 30,000 volts!

The oldest patented company logo is the red triangle of Bass beers!

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The venom of the king cobra is so deadly that just one gram of it can kill 150 people.

The warmest temperature ever recorded on Antarctica was 3 degrees F. The word 'News' is actually an acronym standing for the 4 cardinal compass points - North, East, West, and South!

There are 53 Lego bricks manufactured for each person in the world.

There are 92 known cases of nuclear bombs lost at sea.

There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and month! Interesting tries from our readers: orange: door hinge, melange (French for mix) purple: hurtle, durple?, turtle month: once, bunth?, hunch There is more real lemon juice in Lemon Pledge furniture polish than in Country Time Lemonade.

When glass breaks, the cracks move faster than 3,000 miles per hour.

When young and impoverished, Pablo Picasso kept warm by burning his own paintings.

You can start a fire with ice.

You can tape a small mirror onto a cone speaker, play music and shine a laser on to the mirror and the reflection will look like a laser light show on your wall.

You share your birthday with at least 9 million other people in the world.

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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

The pioneering woman ...

From page XXI full membership of the organisation when it was founded but there is evidence that Nokutela was "an incredibly important female role model within that movement," says Hughes. "A lot of historians have [thought] women weren't involved or they were involved only in very subordinate capacities and I think that's quite demeaning to women like Nokutela."

Despite this, all was not well in the Dube household.

Nokutela was unable to have children and after 20 years of marriage John had an affair - which led to the birth of an illegitimate child.

Nokutela left him and went to the Transvaal region, where for the next three years she preached the gospel to rural communities, before becoming ill with a kidney infection. When John heard about her condition he brought her to a house they owned in Johannesburg for treatment, but she died shortly after in 1917 at the age of 44.

She was buried in Johannesburg but her grave had no headstone - just a reference number, CK9753 - the CK standing for "Christian Kaffir" (a racist term for a black person, widely used at the time).

John moved back to Inanda to concentrate on his educational work. He remarried and had four children. (His first child, born out of wedlock had died.)

While he was carrying out his research, Keita discovered a personal link to Nokutela's story. One of the school teachers

who taught the young Nokutela was a missionary from Keita's adopted hometown of Northfields. She sent home an essay Nokutela wrote called My Home Africa which was published in a Northfields newspaper in 1882.

She wrote: "We live in Africa, there are many people here.

Some are good, and some are wicked. They know how to read. There are a great many who have wagons, oxen, goats, sheep and some other things. Some are rich and some are poor. Those who are poor are jealous for the things of those who are rich.

"Their food are these, mealies, potatoes and other things.

There are a few who are diligent, their houses look so clean and nice; and some are bad. In our homes we sleep down upon mats, and some people buy beds to sleep."

She also said that in Africa "if a person had no children, he troubled very much".

"It's as if she had a premonition that this particular childlessness was going to be her own downfall," says Keita.

Although Nokutela took a back seat to her husband, Keita says she showed great strength of character, in particular when she left him and her home to go to an area where there was a lot of hostility between the Afrikaans-speaking white settlers and the black population.

In his film he locates Nokutela's grave and members of her family, many of whom knew little about her. One of them is Joyce Siwani, whose grandfather was one of Nokutela's nephews.

Cherif Keita spoke to World Update on the BBC World Service

Siwani's parents were staunch ANC activists. "As children in the 1950s we used to go to the Mandela house to collect weekly newspapers to sell. Just to know that we were following in the footsteps of somebody who had been connected with the founder was very interesting and intriguing," she says.

Siwani became a big supporter of a campaign led by Keita to properly mark Nokutela's grave. A headstone was finally erected last year.

It says: "Taught self-reliance and independence to generations of South Africans and planted the seeds of freedom."

Keita is hoping that his film makes that legacy known to a much wider audience.

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

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Golden Grove A village where smiling faces are infused with a bustle of activity

By Alex Wayne THIS week, I trekked to a quaint little village way up ‘in de countryside.’ It is nestled in an almost cozy ‘nook and cranny’ quite close to the Atlantic Ocean, as some would say.

I was taken aback by its appealingly picturesque appearance, and just marvelled at the manner in which villagers bustled about their business, intent on getting the day’s chores done as the ticking clock signaled the onset of the darkness, when the day is done and billowing clouds, in almost religious ritual, seemingly unburden themselves and drench the village in torrential downpours.

My dear readers, I was in the village of Golden Grove, located just over 16 miles from Georgetown, and quite popular for its ongoing bustle as the feisty and smiling residents always seem to have a chore left to complete.

This village is divided into sections named Golden Grove Housing Scheme, Centenary Street, Collins Street, Third Street, Sandy Street, and a few others.

With latitude reading of 6.7000°, and longitude recordings

The Golden Grove Secondary School

of 58.1667°, this small village is nestled between the quieter East Coast Demerara villages of Haslington and Nabaclis.

HISTORY Golden Grove is one of a series of villages stretched like a string of beads along the narrow coastland of Guyana; all are a few feet below sea level.

In times gone by, travelling through this location one would have observed, among other things, a filling station, cinema, a coconut oil factory, and several shops and small

stores along the roadway. their home village the proud title of “the granary of the East The majority of the population estimated at just over Coast of Demerara.” But today, low fertility of soil, small 5,000, are descendants of former African slaves who, over 150 years ago, pooled their savings and purchased the abandoned sugar estate of Plantation Williamsburg, now renamed Golden Grove. This cooperative spirit shown by the village founders is a splendid heritage on which the present inhabitants built and made further improvements within the community.

Embracing an area of about 2,300 acres, the village is laid out in typical local fashion.

The residential section is on the front lands.

Many years ago, one would have seen houses built on stilts clustered on both sides of the public road and internal streets. Small farms, averaging between two and three acres in A section of the prestigious President’s size, and many of them in scattered holdings, College at Golden Grove Village were found in the backlands. Like their ancestors before them, most of the people earned farms and poor drainage, to name a few constraints, pose challenging problems to farmers.

An indication of the old, flourishing days is the fact that an Agricultural Show – said to be the first ever held in British Guiana – was staged in Golden Grove in 1894.

Two years after the purchase of Golden Grove, a survey of the newly-acquired settlement was made in 1850, and the land was divided into building lots. An area of 450 square rods was given to the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society for building a church and school, both of which still stand to this day. In 1873, another and more detailed survey was made which, no doubt, contributed to the fact that Golden Grove is fairly well laid out, including cross-roads.

It was in 1892 that Golden Grove became a village in the true sense, and a Village Council was established.

While the face of Golden Grove has changed much since those early years, links with the past, such as the Methodist Church and School for example, still remain.

Another reminder of days gone by came to light recently when, on the village foreshore, some strange relics became exposed through erosion of the foreshore, where the water had eaten away the land for a depth of about seven feet.

The erosion revealed about sixty square yards of solid red brick which looked like the remains of some Old Dutch building. In the black earth were seen pieces of broken plates, coins black with age, jugs, jars and demi-johns with peculiar drawings. their livelihood from farming, but today things have changed, And so life goes on at Golden Grove amidst relics of the as persons have sought professions that are more acquainted past and the challenging community problems of the present. with evolving modernisation.

The church steeple, the school, the community centre, the Back in the 1850s, villagers travelled each day from their roadside market, the fishmonger’s cart, the stores and the homes to their farms and back, several miles in some cases, provision farms – all reflect the day-to-day life of the people. either by boat along the canals, or else by foot over the dams.

But deeper than these lies the community spirit which Principal crops at that time included fruits (sapodillas, man- created Golden Grove and which today is being rekindled to goes and citrus), ground provisions (plantains, cassava and foster the further development, not only of the village, but of eddoes) and coconuts. They also had some livestock – mainly the people who live there. cattle – along with some swine and a few sheep.

Please turn to page XXVI In the olden days, the farmers of Golden Grove earned for

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Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

Golden Grove

From pageXXV

Today, the village has greatly evolved, and sports a bevy of new houses; businesses, inclusive of the New Generation Barber Shop, Central Point Snackette and Bar, Lester’s Internet Cafe, and the Sumners’ Enterprises for rental of chairs, tents, tables and other items for hosting of weddings, birthday celebrations and such like activities. They can be contacted on telephone numbers 255-3133, or 687-2117.

LIVELIHOOD

Today this village has somewhat lost its grip on the old colonial aura, and with its transformation has come a change in its residents’ means of livelihood.

Many have now opened stalls at the Golden Grove Market Square, from which they peddle snack foods, vegetables, confectionaries and other items. Some of these structures are actually temporary fixtures and are normally taken down after the day’s sales, as the owners wait the next ‘customer rush hour.’

Some structures are, however permanent, and would customarily be locked up late at nights after the owners retire to gather strength for the next day of sales.

That aside, some villagers have taken up teaching in and outside the village, while there has been a recent upsurge in the amount of young men converting their vehicles into taxis or hire cars that ply the ‘Road Front/President College Route.’

Many male residents are working in the interior as pork-knockers, while some unleash their masonry and construction skills, especially when a new business or house is to be built in the village or in its environs.

ENTERTAINMENT

Golden Grove residents have learnt to come to grips with their not-so-sophisticated entertainment calendar, and a few ‘rollicking hotspots’ have sprung up there not so long ago.

Every weekend (starting from Friday), droves of villagers will converge by the Market Square for wild revelling as ‘Mason,’ who owns the Kyle and Vickie’s Fish Shop, will set up for the ‘Golden Grove Entertainment Saga.’

This will involve loud music from popular one-man bands, and of course the Determine Sound System, owned by Eon Havercone a/ka ‘Father Moey’ will feature.

On Tuesday nights also, villagers will gather at this same location for karaoke sessions, or just to listen to their favourite hits as they enjoy delicious fish and chips, black pudding, and other snacks that have become ‘must haves’ on their agenda of tasting craves.

In times gone by, the village would gather for massive Emancipation celebrations in August month each year, but with the death of a female villager who customarily would have spearheaded such activities, this feature has dwindled, except for a very small ceremony which is hosted at the Golden Grove/Nabaclis Community Centre Ground to acknowledge the annual celebrations.

the twinkle of girlish fire still in her eyes, declared: “Boy, I might look bright and peppy today because of the rich life I enjoyed here in my girlhood days, filled with the love and affection of my children, other relatives and my lovely neighbours.

“In my time as a girl, Golden Grove was a simple village with lots of bushes and not so many houses or businesses. We had no electricity back then, and the streets were really bad during the rainy season. I can remember how we slipped and fell into the mud as we tried to go to school, but even that, too, was fun, because for many it meant that they would be allowed to stay at home on account of their soiled clothing.”

“Many yards flooded during rainy season; and oh, how we welcomed the warm sunshine! When the weather was good, I can still remember how we hurried to fetch water from a roadside stand pipe, and tried not to get into fights or quarrels

EMPLOYMENT PROBLEMS The village is rapidly increasing in its population count, and with it comes the increase in youths that are unemployed.

And it appears that amongst them are several who have acquired great grades at the CSEC Examinations and are still trying to find proper employment.

Speaking on this issue was the young Oslen Michael Shepherd, who possesses seven CSEC subjects with great grades, but cannot seem to find useful employment. “Golden Grove is definitely in the grip of a vice-like employment problem, and this is evident in the amount of youths one can find liming by the street corners in the afternoons. There is not much to be done here as the village population increases, and it’s extremely difficult for even qualified persons to find jobs, since the few loopholes for meaningful employment have already been filled. This results in many persons sitting around without jobs, and hoping for a positive change.

“Even if a qualified person tries to get employment elsewhere, they are then faced with the problems of finding accommodation, and the out-of-town addresses on applications most times leave them at a disadvantage, since employers prefer those that reside in the city,” he said.

Shepherd is of the view that erection in the village of an industrial facility of some sort would reasonably solve this problem, since it would provide ready work for villagers.

Taxi drivers await their turn to take passengers at the Golden Grove Market Square with the village bullies.”

“I can remember the little children coming around to sell tomatoes and bora on trays, and the fishermen bring fresh fish and shrimp to our doors. Oh! That was really good times, and things were really cheap then”.

Mrs. Persaud relished how the men would come around selling the ‘coconut banga’ which was much needed to light

As customary, villagers dry their laundry in the countryside sun

That aside, villagers go for recreation at their own pace at the lone Nightclub in the village called ‘Diamond Ice.’ REMINISCING ON THE OLDEN DAYS

Taking a stroll along the Golden Grove Public Road

If this village has lost most of its traditional touches, it still holds fast to the rich harmony and deep connections shared amongst residents.

Today there are smiling faces everywhere, despite challenges they face; and jovial laughter and merry spirits abound in every ‘nook and cranny’ as villagers bask in the glory of rich camaraderie.

And to share the tale of how this was passed down from generation to generation, villager elder, 76-year-old Jane Rita Persaud, a merry soul with

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

the coal pot fires or firesides, whichever a family used to cook their meals on. In those days, the milk man would come around ringing a bell to announce his arrival, and mothers rushed to the door with their mugs and sent their children scurrying in all directions to find the relative utensils.”

While she was in high praise of the intervention of the paved President’s College road and many side streets, she reminisced on the era when they would move from village to village on donkey-or horse-drawn carts, and even on bicycles, before the dawn of hire cars and mini-buses.

Those were the days when vegetables were kept for a week and over by being sprinkled with cold water or covering with a damp towel (soaked at intervals), and according to Mrs. Persaud, the vegetables rarely rotted because they were not grown with artificial fertilisers.

PRESIDENT’S COLLEGE President's College is a senior secondary school located in Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara, Guyana. Students can enter the school through the National Grade Six Assessment, and the lower sixth form in the academic performance of the student at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC).

Cashews and other tropical fruits rake in a fast dollar for residents President's College, opened in 1985 and was the brainchild of the late President Forbes Burnham, who launched the project in 1983 but died before the school was opened.

Students used to be selected from the top two percent of candidates in the Secondary Schools Entrance Examination (SSEE) and were subjected to an evaluation process, including interviews with school personnel. Now preference is given to those students from more remote areas. The school allows students to attend without being residential, thereby functioning as a boarding and a day school.

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On April 26, 2004, a large fire destroyed the boy's dormitory, resulting in damage worth between $45 million and $100 million in property damage, but no injuries or fatalities resulted.

As a result of the fire, more than 100 students had to find alternative housing, many off-campus. Reconstruction was started a year later, but was delayed due to the floods of 2005.

In June 2006, the Ministry of Education announced a new plan for rebuilding the dormitory, and blamed the then contractor for the delays.

In November 2010, President's College participated in the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission's Science and Technology Quiz, competing among fifteen other schools nationwide. Members of the team representing the institution included Kevin Garbaran, Sheena McLean, Randol Schwiers and Sheena Chin. They emerged as the winners of the competition, with the team winning full scholarships to the University of Guyana.

The students with the most accumulated points for the entire competition were Kevin Garbaran and Randol Schwiers from PC. The Quiz was aired for television during November-December of that year.

CHALLENGES Every village has its setbacks and Golden Grove is no exception.

We interacted with several residents along the Market Road, and were informed that amongst the challenges faced was an increasingly high rate in teenage pregnancy. Other issues of great concern to villagers were the lacklustre manner in which the NDC body was maintaining irrigation drains and trenches in the village. This, they claimed, caused instant flooding in the rainy seasons.

Youths standing by the roadside indicated that the level of work done by the NDC in this respect is unacceptable and not satisfactory.

That aside, villagers are begging for a boost in their sports sector, since there are many talented and sports-oriented youths residing at Golden Grove.

Presently, there are vibrant football sessions ongoing there, and this practice is spearheaded by village sportsman Andrew Walcott. The training in this sport is made available to youths between the ages of 15 and 20. However, according to Walcott, it would be a welcome relief if football gear and clothing can be donated to these youths who are unable to access same because of financial constraints.

Some are calling for repairs to the Golden Grove Secondary School, which they claim badly needs a facelift. Students from that school informed that their washrooms are in a deplorable condition, and that the water coming from the taps is at times unfit for drinking.

Science students at that institution, who requested to remain anonymous, related that their science laboratory is in a bad condition, which is certainly not conducive to effective

Villagers make a fast dollar by selling confectionery

Even the young ones are left to ‘hustle’ sometimes, as parents attend to other chores

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The masonry and construction elites of the village are certainly hard at work Places of worship in Golden Grove

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Golden Grove

learning.

CONCLUSION Come join in the joys and abundant love of this village.

Come bask in the glory of the rich laughter of its inhabitants.

Come folks, get lost in the bustle of the residents, or join them by the roadside for humorous ‘countryside gaff’.

Whatever you do, do not hesitate to visit Golden Grove, where the sun shines in its brightest glory as residents make the best of the simplest of existence.

Cashing in on the noontime market bargains

Oslen Shepherd gave us the grand tour of the village

Come get your fresh fruits and vegetables

Great joy and love abound amongst residents of Golden Grove

Village elder Jane Rita Persaud reminisced on the ‘good old days’ of Golden Grove The constant bustle of the Golden Grove Market Square

Welcome to Golden Grove A typical Golden Grove family gathering

One big happy Golden Grove family

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

Rotary Stabroek hosts tribute to Fathers in an evening of “Jazz, Wine and Words”

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Jazz performer captivates crowd with musical rendition

By Derwayne Wills Another evening of tribute in fine arts was hosted by the Rotary Club of Stabroek in the fifth staging of its main fund-raising event, “Jazz, Wine and Words.”

The event, held on Saturday 14, 2014 at the Theatre Guild, Kingston, Georgetown was organised by John Campbell and aimed to highlight the unremitting involvement of Fathers in every facet of community development.

The all-inclusive affair in no way fell short of its title.

Performances at the evening centred on a tribute to Fathers, was aimed at spotlighting the role of the Father in nurturing the development of the child, Family and Community.

Bringing warm greetings from the island of Dominica was a vibrant and sensational singer, song-writer and flutist,

Michele Henderson, whose voice was as powerful as it was smooth.

With six albums credited to her name, Henderson has carved a trail for herself following stunning performances

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Rotary Stabroek hosts ...

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at major music festivals across the world including: the St. Lucia Jazz Festival, Trinidad’s Jazz Arts on the Green, Spice Jazz in Grenada, the World Creole Music Festival in Dominica and numerous concert events in the French islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe.

The evening was filled with resonant ballades of spoken-word featuring the performances of seasoned artistes under the banner “Wordsmiths”, among them: Antonio Devonish, Randolph Critchlow, Latoni Beaton, Andrew Timram, and Yaphet Jackman.

The powerhouse line-up of local and regional talent ensured that there was never a dull moment in the almost four hours of class acts that were well worth the admission fee.

Since its conception in 2010, ‘Jazz, Wine and Words’ has steadily evolved as one of Please see page XXXI

Michele Henderson captivated the audience with a sterling performance

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Rotary Stabroek hosts ...

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From page XXX the premier entertaining events in Guyana drawing from a list of the prominence in entertainment to provide a jam-packed night of Jazz and the arts. “I think John Campbell did an extremely great job. I have been in Jazz for a long time, I have been a part of the Jazz Committee for St. Lucia Jazz, so assessing what he did there in such a short period of time, it is an excellent show,� one Patron said, in an invited comment from the Guyana Chronicle.

The patron noted that the event should form a blue-print for further events in Guyana, which are classy in nature drawing an exceptional crowd

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Summer camps for coding

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By Ian Rose and Samira Hussain Business reporters, BBC News THIS is the year when teaching children how to code is really taking off and there are moves to make sure it is not just the children of the rich and the technocrats who learn this key skill.

In England, come September coding will be made a mandatory subject for state-run primary schools and younger students in secondary schools.

In the US, the organisation "Black Girls Code" is making moves to bridge a digital divide and give girls the skills they need to make it.

Coders today, billionaires tomorrow?

'MY LANGUAGE' Twelve-year-old Nia Johnson and her mother Stacey were up at six in the morning to make it to the Black Girls Code hackathon in Brooklyn, New York. They won't be home until after 10 at night.

At the event girls come together to solve problems by building apps.

Today Nia is creating a game called "Just Relax". The point of the game is to help the player control their temper when bad things happen to them.

She is also working on a quiz about respect and abuse in relationships.

Please see page XXXIII

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"It's very interesting because some people have a love for different languages. Coding is like my different language," she says.

"It's something different, that not a lot of people get the chance to learn about, but I'm grateful that I do."

Donna Knut is one of the organisers of the event. She got involved after feeling intimated in computer classes where she was the only woman.

"To me it's really personal to help young girls understand that it's not intimidating," she says.

"You don't have to be scared to be a techie. And I think when they get that at that young age, as they progress, it's not as intimidating any more."

The hackathon was just a two-day event but summer camps are springing up across the world, offering residential intensive learning for children as young as six.

From page XXXII

LEGO AND MINECRAFT Sheineez Barber has been running FunTech in London and south east England since 1996, teaching children computing.

Each year kids come from all over Europe to their summer schemes.

Child-focused programmes include Lego robotics, 3D game design and one course which uses the popular game Minecraft to teach students to understand and virtually build the inside of a computer.

"Parents are quite surprised because we're not just childcare with a technology element we have a properly academic approach so the children really do learn key skills," she says.

Parents of the students have traditionally worked at technology companies like Microsoft, Pfizer and HP but as the importance of coding has become more widely acknowledged the backgrounds of the homes the children come from has also expanded.

Ralph Dreischmeier is the global leader for technology at the Boston Consulting Group.

He has sent three children to FunTech.

"Our kids will live very differently and the difference between their generation and mine will be much more radical than that between mine and my parents, so it's important they learn about technology in an exciting and interesting way."

A week at FunTech's new residential course can be yours for ÂŁ879 ($1,500) though scholarships are available.

'They earn more than U2' It is not just in the UK - there are camps run by other companies this summer in cities including Singapore, Mumbai and of course, across the US, some of them costing up to $5,000.

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t is a price many consider worth paying. With the technology sector still growing fast the appetite and rewards for a good coder are huge.

"Companies are falling all over themselves to get the top talent. They know that a super productive, amazingly talented programmer is worth 1,000 times more than an average person, so they'll pay 1,000 times more," says Bruce Upbin, who manages the technology coverage for Forbes magazine.

"I've seen signing bonuses at Twitter and Facebook being thrown around for $100m in restricted shares. That's crazy. That's more than sports stars like LeBron James makes.

"These people are truly rock stars. They earn more than U2."

Breaching the digital divide The billionaires of tomorrow may inherit their wealth, some may go into businesses that their connections have helped them found, but if you can code you can make it without any of those benefits, says Mr Upbin.

"I mean, you can't just start a cable TV system right now but you can start an app like SnapChat or WhatsApp that gets to 100 million users," he says.

"All of a sudden Facebook is starting to talk to you, and offering you a check for 3 billion, 9 billion, and you're on your way."

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Why do so many nations want a piece of Antarctica?

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

By Matthew Teller I pick a path between rock pools and settle my bottom on a boulder. A spectacular, silent view unfolds across a mountain-fringed bay.

Then there is a flash in the shallows by my feet - an arrow of white and black.

What on earth fish is that? My slow brain ponders, as before my eyes a gentoo penguin slips out of the water, steadies itself on a rock, eyes me cheekily, squawks and patters off into the snow.

Antarctica is the hardest place I know to write about. Whenever you try to pin down the experience of being there, words dissolve under your fingers.

There are no points of reference. In the most literal sense, Antarctica is inhuman.

Other deserts, from Arabia to Arizona, are peopled: humans live in or around them, find sustenance in them, shape them with their imagination and their ingenuity. No people shape Antarctica.

It is the driest, coldest, windiest place in the world.

So why, then, have Britain, France, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Antarctica: So many Argentina drawn lines on nations are trying to get a piece of Please see page XXXV

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

From page XXXIV

Antarctica's map, carving up the empty ice with territorial claims?

Antarctica is not a country: it has no government and no indigenous population. Instead, the entire continent is set aside as a scientific preserve.

The Antarctic Treaty, which came into force in 1961, enshrines an ideal of intellectual exchange.

Military activity is banned, as is prospecting for minerals. Fifty states - including Russia, China and the US - have now ratified the treaty and its associated agreements.

Yet one legacy of earlier imperial expeditions, when Shackleton and the rest battled blizzards to plant their flags, is national covetousness.

Science drives human investigation in Antarctica today, yet there's a reason why geologists often take centre-stage. Governments really want to know what's under the ice.

Whisper the word: oil. Some predictions suggest the amount of oil in Antarctica could be 200 billion barrels, far more than Kuwait or Abu Dhabi.

Seven countries have laid claim to parts of Antarctica and many more have a presence there - why do they all want a piece of this frozen wasteland?

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Antarctic oil is extremely difficult and, at the moment, prohibitively expensive to extract - but it's impossible to predict what the global economy will look like in 2048, when the protocol banning Antarctic prospecting comes up for renewal. By that stage, an energy-hungry world could be desperate.

The Antarctic Treaty has put all territorial claims into abeyance, but that hasn't stopped rule-bending. The best way to get a toehold on what may lie beneath is to act as if you own the place.

One of the things nation-states do is stamp passports - so when Antarctic tourists visit the British station at Port Lockroy, they can have their passport stamped.

This is despite the fact that international law doesn't recognise the existence of the British Antarctic Territory - indeed, both Chile and Argentina claim the same piece of land, and have their own passport stamps at the ready.

Another thing states do - or used to - is operate postal service At Ukraine's Vernadsky base, I wrote myself a postcard, bought a decorative Ukrainian stamp with a cow on it, and dropped it into their post box. It took two months

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Why do so many nations ...

From page XXXV

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

to arrive - not bad, from the ends of the earth.

But tourist fun connives at all the flag-waving. Russia has made a point of building bases all round the Antarctic continent.

The US operates a base at the South Pole, which conveniently straddles every territorial claim. This year China built its fourth base. Next year it will build a fifth.

All Antarctica's 68 bases are professedly peaceful research stations, established for scientific purposes - but the ban on militarisation is widely flouted.

Chile and Argentina, for instance, both maintain a permanent army presence on the Antarctic mainland, and the worry is that some countries are either not reporting military deployment, or may instead be recruiting civilian security contractors for essentially military missions.

Antarctic skies are unusually clear and also unusually free from radio interference - they are ideal for deep-space research and satellite tracking. But they are also ideal for establishing covert surveillance networks and remote control of offensive weapons systems.

The Australian government recently identified China's newest base as a threat, specifically because of the surveillance potential.

It said: "Antarctic bases are increasingly used for 'dual-use' scientific research that's useful for military purposes."

Many governments reject Antarctica's status quo, built on European endeavour and entrenched by Cold War geopolitics that, some say, give undue influence to the superpowers of the past.

Iran has said it intends to build in Antarctica, Turkey too. India has a long history of Antarctic involvement and Pakistan has approved Antarctic expansion - all in the name of scientific cooperation.

But the status quo depends on self-regulation. The Antarctic Treaty has no teeth.

Faced with intensifying competition over abundant natural resources and unforeseen intelligence-gathering opportunities, all it can do - like my penguin - is squawk, and patter off into the snow.

Oonya Kempadoo Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014

– Internationally Published and Acclaimed Author Oonya Kempadoo

Oonya Kempadoo is an internationally published and acclaimed author, born in England in 1966 to Guyanese parents. She was brought up in Guyana and studied art in Amsterdam. Oonya has lived and worked for most of her life in various Caribbean islands including Trinidad, Tobago, St. Lucia, and is currently based in Grenada. A creative writer and novelist, she also works freelance as a researcher and consultant in the arts, private sector, with youth and international organizations, focusing on social development. Her father, Peter Kempadoo, was also a writer.

Oonya started writing in 1997 and her first novel Buxton Spice, long listed for the Orange prize, went on to being published in five foreign languages and is used in universities and colleges worldwide, including the University of the West Indies. Buxton Spice, was published in 1998 to critical acclaim for its portrait of the interior and exterior worlds of a young girl coming of age in a small Guyana village in the Seventies. Also published in Spanish (Tusquet Editores,1999 – El Arbol de los Sentidos), French (Grasset, 1999 – Les Secrets du Manguier), and in Italian, Dutch, Portuguese and Hebrew, serialized for radio by BBC Radio 4.

Her next novel, Tide Running, was also critically applauded – winning the Casa de las Americas Literary Prize for best English or Creole Novel – for its depiction of two young men in Tobago, encountering an outside presence. Kempadoo was named a “Great Talent for the 21st Century” by the Orange Prize judges.

“All Decent Animals” is Oonya Kempadoo’s third book of fiction. Set amid the distinct rhythms of Port of Spain, Trinidad, Kempadoo’s multifaceted and multicultural cast of characters confront the inevitable while Carnival, in all its music and madness, plays on. Friends gather to protect and cherish one of their own and learn about themselves through all the island’s capacity for humor, complexity and the love of living.

Oonya is working on a non-fiction narrative/novel in prog-

ress. ‘Ti Marie” (working title) is based on documenting and then voicing an eighteen year old Grenadian girl’s life story of sexual abuse, violence, rape, love, sexuality and motherhood.

It reflects her own and local perceptions of what is considered abuse or normal, and contrasts these with institutional and foreign views. It will look at how the heroine and her wider society deal with these issues, as she carries on with her life.

The narrator’s authentic humorous language and irrepressible character will bring a fresh, vigorous approach to old univer-

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sal themes and particular Caribbean psycho-social issues.

Oonya’s novels are used in several universities in the US, UK, Canada and the Caribbean and she has contributed to collections, anthologies and journals such as: Trinidad Noir, Akashic Books, 2008; Caribbean Dispatches – Beyond the Tourist Dream, Macmillan 2006; The Bomb, literary magazine. Past projects include work with: UNAIDS, UNICEF, Agency for Reconstruction – Post-Hurricane Ivan Social Situation Analysis of Grenada.

Oonya is a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at various American colleges across the U.S. and has won the honor of her new book, All Decent Animals, being listed as number six on Oprah Winfrey 2013 summer reading list.

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Meet the National Dance Company

By Rashid Osman TODAY we introduce to you Maresha Arthur. She has been in the company for the past 8 years, and has danced at Carifesta in 2006 in Trinidad and in 2008 in Guyana.

Just last year she performed for CARICOM’s 40th anniversary celebration in Trinidad.

Of course she dances in the many genres demanded of the company’s members, but for her, modern dance is the thing.

“It allows me to speak to my audience the best way I know how, and this makes me feel good inside,” she says.

For her, the company’s studio is a haven after a long and trying day.

Maresha, a mathematics teacher at St. Joseph’s High, explains that if her day is demanding and stressful, she would hurry home after work, have a quick bite and hurry to the studio for exercises or rehearsals if a show is coming up.

Chronicle Pepperpot June 22, 2014 “This is a panacea for me. At the end of the evening my feet would be sore, but my heart would have been lifted.”

Like every good dancer, Maresha is familiar with the proverbial butterflies fluttering in her stomach before a performance.

“Particularly if the choreography has a tricky sequence, I would wait backstage, costumed and fully made-up, working it over and over in my mind; and then when the curtain rises and I go on stage and it works out , I say a silent prayer and all is right with the world.”

She never misses her exercises, and these, she says, help to build stamina and technique.

And stamina is important, for sometimes a performance rums to 15 items, each of these with intricate choreography and individual sets of beats that have to be memorized by the performer. Just a single slip would ruin the dance and set ensemble work awry.

She is also particular about her diet, staying away from fatty foods and turning a blind eye to energy drinks.

Maresha is slim, with just the figure for ballet, and so she is the primary dancer to be put in classical ballet sequences.

It is likely that come July 5, onstage at the National Cultural Centre, we will see her in tutus and ballet shoes.

(Raschid Osman)

Maresha in performance

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ARIES - You’ve held off on making that business deal because it was the only strategy that made any sense. You can put that waiting to an end now, though -- and cut loose any age-old grudge you were carting around, too.

Your hard work will begin to pay off now. And while you generally dwell in the electric excitement of the current moment, you recently managed to give the future some thought -- that will turn out to be very much to your advantage as well. Keep your values firmly in mind as you proceed. Be aggressive, but deploy some of your trademark charm, too -- and look out, world, here you come!

TAURUS - Feeling as grounded as you do now gives you the stability and confidence you need to truly shine -- and to make big progress in pretty much any arena you like. Want to jump-start your career? Feel the need to enhance your romance? Perhaps some changes around the house are a bit overdue?

With your thorough, practical approach, now’s the time to get it done. Keep your successes to yourself, though, at least for the most part. No need to shout about your superiority.

GEMINI - You’ll need all the powers of concentration you can muster to cut through some complications that are arising now. You’re more than equal to the task, but you’re also a little prone to avoid issues -- which will only cause a snowball effect at the moment. Tune in -- a good first step is to listen up -- and focus on the important stuff. Regard any advice you get with a critical eye -after all, you’ll want to consider the source.

CANCER - Even for someone with changeable moods, you’ve been getting more than your fair share of ups and downs lately (sometimes within moments of each other). The good news is that right now a positive perspective is offering itself to you, and all you have to do is take it. Why not? You’ll get along better with others, you’ll enjoy yourself more and you might just be surprised by how good rose-coloured glasses look on you.

LEO - Power is in the stars, and it’s a very malleable thing at the moment.

Where you may expect roles to be set and rules to be put down in black and white, you might just find hard-to-interpret shades of grey and shaky boundaries.

On the one hand, this kind of uncertainty and shifting is difficult to get a handle on; on the other hand, it means there are lots of opportunities to put yourself where you want to be and promote healthy change.

VIRGO - A lot can be achieved by way of a little soul searching right now.

There’s some stuff going on with you on a level that’s deeper than the everyday -- perhaps regarding an important relationship -- and it’s definitely worth some thought. Meditating and writing in a journal might help you to get some freeform feelings down -- then you can begin to apply your trademark powers of analysis. Clarity is right around the corner.

LIBRA - The spirit of compromise is alive and well with you as its representative right now. You realise that cooperating is both more efficient and more fun than competing at the moment, and you’re building alliances that’ll prove mighty useful down the road. Any kind of conflict just seems to dissipate in your presence, as you diplomatically create a completely different kind of atmosphere in which all points of view are valid ones.

SCORPIO - If you’re sensing a potential ambush, you’re probably right on.

There’s some friction happening, maybe a little competition, definitely some intensity, and someone involved would like nothing more than to take you by surprise. Little do they know that with your built-in awareness, that’s a very difficult thing to do. Evading whatever sneakiness they’re cooking up shouldn’t be a problem, and you’ll come out of it smelling like a rose.

SAGITTARIUS - Your hot-headed side is easily launched into full flame right now, perhaps by some frustrating little details that you feel someone else really should’ve taken care of. The temptation to let ‘em have it verbally is a strong one, but will it really be productive? Things said in the heat of the moment can be difficult to forgive, not to mention forget. Back off and cool off, and come back to this situation at a later time.

CAPRICORN - How about letting a few of those sweet feelings slip out?

Put your reserve aside and get a little mushy. If you’re coupled up, renew and reinvigorate the romance by reiterating why it is you’re involved. If you’ve got a crush, well, they’re not going to realise you’re interested by sheer intuition.

Ask some in-depth questions about them, and express how fascinated you are by the answers -- and by them in general.

AQUARIUS - Watch for something from the past to resurface now. While you’re a champion at expecting the unexpected, this might actually catch you by surprise -- after all, these kinds of ‘coincidences’ don’t happen every day. Even better, this one offers you the chance to make a discovery you missed the first time around. Look to the most peculiar element of the situation for the biggest clue -- whatever’s putting the ‘extra’ in extraordinary.

PISCES - How’s the view from cloud nine? A mellow, affectionate mode should be all yours right now, with plenty of warm and fuzzy feelings. If you’ve got a love interest, they’re likely to get something special now -- some kind of gorgeous, creative communication from you. Otherwise, the world may be the object of your affection. You’ll be especially responsive to art and music. Enjoy the dreaminess, and consider capturing it in a poem.

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COMPOSTING:

How long does it take?

By Clifford Stanley It takes one year to compost if you leave the pile alone, a few months if you aerate the pile weekly or several weeks if you turn the pile every two or three days.

The pile will shrink to 20 to 70 percent depending on the organic materials it contains.

DO I NEED A BIN? You do not need a bin to compost. Some choose a bin to keep the pile neat, help retain heat and moisture or live in a neighborhood where a bin would be more appropriate than an open pile.

Many people choose to make their own compost bin using concrete blocks, wooden pallets, wire mesh or garbage cans.

HOW MUCH MOISTURE DOES THE PILE NEED? The decomposition process will slow down if there is too little or too much moisture. About 50 to 60 percent moisture is needed in the pile. At this moisture level, the pile should feel like a wrung out sponge. If the compost pile is too moist, it will stagnate and produce unpleasant odours. If that happens add dry leaves paper or sawdust to absorb the excess moisture.

Most often compost piles are too dry, which slows down the composting process.

HOW MUCH AIR IS NEEDED? The compost pile needs ventilation throughout the process.

Anaerobic (no air) piles smell bad, compost slowly and produce dense wet smelly compost. Aerobic piles with oxygen

throughout will produce little or no odor. To aerate the pile, turn the organic materials with a digging fork or shovel. If you are unable to turn the compost pile, poke it with a broom handle to help air flow into the pile. You can also layer small branches to allow air flow.

HOW HOT SHOULD THE PILE GET? Heat will be given off as microorganisms feed on waste. Temperatures need to reach over 54 degrees Celsius in the pile to kill pathogens that are harmful to humans and pets and over 60 degrees Celsius to destroy weed seeds. If the temperature in the pile climbs to over 66 degrees Celsius it can kill decomposers and slow the composting process.

MANAGING YOUR COMPOST PILE Mix and turn your pile every two or three days, moving the material from the outside to the centre. Within two to six days the pile should reach temperatures above 54 degrees Celsius.

After a few weeks the pile will cool down.

At that point turn the pile every few days and add water

if needed. When heating ceases, cover the pile with a weed barrier and let it cure for six to twelve weeks.

During that time mist the compost to keep it slightly damp

and poke it occasionally to let air in.

As the compost cures, nitrogen will increase, particles will shrink, organic acids will dissipate and pH will stabilise and move closer to neutral.

Next Week: (Final Article) Troubleshooting Compost Problems/ Using Compost

Pink Gets Naked for Who Magazine, Talks "Booby Butt Dance Party"

Zachary Levi and Missy Peregrym Get Married in Secret Wedding in Maui

Pink likes her strong body! The mother-of-one covers Who magazine's June body issue in just her birthday suit, where she opens up about staying fit and playing with her daughter Willow.

Looking gorgeous in the cover shot, with her tattoos on display, the 34-year-old says she feels the best about herself when she's in shape. "I'm in the best shape of my life," the "True Love" singer tells the magazine. "When I know I'm fit, I'm so much more patient with myself."

While the blonde beauty admits that she does feel pressure to drop more weight, she's comfortable with her fit figure. "I’m a person who could always lose a couple [pounds] here and there, but I would rather be strong than bony," the "Sober" singer explains.

Pink's not only super comfortable with her body, but she loves sharing that confidence with her three-year old daughter Willow. "She said to me the other day, ‘Mama, on Tuesday I think we should get naked and have a naked booby butt dance party.’ I was like, I’m in!’," she reveals.

Jillian Michaels Poses Nude at 40: ‘I Look Better Now Than I Ever Have’

Posing nude in the July/August 2014 issue of Shape magazine (on newsstands July 1), celebrity trainer Jillian Michaels, who recently turned 40, came clean emotionally about getting older. “I won’t lie. This birthday was hard. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, am I halfway through my life?’” said The Biggest Loser coach.

But it turns out this might be her sexiest decade to date.

“When I think back on my 20s and 30s I look better now than I ever have. Yes, I’m older, but I’m also wiser, and that’s a more intrinsic type of beauty,” she adds.

Calling her abs “the best part of my body,” Michaels tells the magazine, “I know I’m lucky because when I’m in decent shape, they tend to get toned really quickly.”

She relies on several types of plank poses (such as side, extended and imbalanced) held for a full minute to strengthen her midsection.

Whether you’re hoping to feel more confident at the beach this summer or you’ve been given orders from your doctor to bump up your cardio, Michaels seems to think that the most crucial reason to work out is the one that gets you off the couch. “There are so many good reasons to exercise. It doesn’t matter how profound or superficial your motives are, as long as it’s something that matters to you.”

Michaels also had a special message for women about a perk of building muscle that’s not often discussed: “It’s important for women to have overall strength, because when you feel physically powerful, it transcends into every facet of your life.”

It's official! Zachary Levi and Missy Peregrym tied the knot in a secret ceremony in Hawaii over the weekend, and the couple confirmed the happy news on Twitter. The "Rookie Blue" actress posted a picture of her and her new hubby in matching "Mr." and "Mrs." sweatshirts to break the news, writing, "That coffee date was UNREAL @zacharylevi #marriedinmaui."

The "Chuck" star retweeted the pic, adding the caption: "These dreams and goals are really working out." The couple's coffee joke began days before, when the brunette beauty tweeted: "Hey @ZacharyLevi, great job at the Tony's. You're a real babe alert. How about we grab a coffee and talk about your dreams and goals?"

"Hey, thank you," Zachary flirted back, "Name the place and time. I'll bring my own mug. Not my typical move, but I'm feelin like takin a chance."

Gisele Bündchen Poses Topless in Debut Stuart Weitzman Campaign

Gisele Bündchen is having a major career moment right now. She showed off her vocal skills for H&M, was recently named the new face of Chanel No. 5, and now the 33-yearold supermodel has landed another huge campaign, for shoe giant Stuart Weitzman.

Following in Kate Moss’s footsteps, Bündchen will be starring in the brand’s fall 2014 campaign, photographed by Mario Testino. In the first ad, the star poses in tight white pants, black ankle booties and nothing else.

According to a release, the label enlisted the star for “her international fashion icon status and her unique ability to personify the multi-facets of the Stuart Weitzman woman, from fashion forward trendsetter to sophisticated tomboy to multi-tasking mom to the quintessential girl-next-door.” They then illustrated that concept with a behind-the-scenes Instagram snap, below.