Long love Fidel Casro

Dr Fidel Castro came on de scene when ah was in senior form, and as youngsters, we all admired dis bearded young hero, so much so dat every youth-man wanted to grow ah Castro beard. Interestingly later down de road when he was isolated by de US and got support from Russia and declared his Communist ideology, ah Castro Common-is beard was not welcomed.{{more}} Poor Mitchell wid his Castro look alike, had ah hard time convincing de populace here dat he was not ah Communist. Our basic lack of information and vision of what Castro was doing foh Cuba, plus de anti Common-is-him boogey fed to us by de US, has caused us to mek NME of de Cubans, ah people whom we knew very lickle about. Ah ship load ah medicines came here from Cuba during de Volcanic eruption, we rejected it all and refused to allow ah single Cuban sailor to come ashore. But time longer dan twine and today after 49 years, de fruits from de early seedlings of de Revolution are flourishing and every country is stretching out dey hands foh ah taste ah de harvest, be it medicine, eye treatment, Education, technical assistance. My own observations of Castro over de years are dat he was consistent when come to his policy, never ah flip-flop, he honored his commitment especially to de struggle foh freedom from slavery on de African continent. Dey are question marks against his treatment of dissidents or those who oppose him, maybe one will have to be ah part ah de Revolution to better overs what and why he took certain harsh positions. One thing ah strongly believe is dat were it not foh Fidel Castro, Cuba would have been Haiti No 2 today. Ah wrote already dat when his pluses and minuses are laid on de table, Castro will be hailed as one ah de greatest leader of all time, well at least in my book he is. Pity he didn’t mek de fifty years, but one year meks no difference. Long Live Fidel!

YUTE MAGAZINE IS REFRESHING

Ah thoroughly enjoyed February’s edition of “YUTE’, ah monthly magazine specially produced by Searchlight foh young people. It was refreshing to read ah paper done in SVG dat shifted away from the sensational stuff: crime, violence, rape and drugs, man it’s depressing sometimes, more like ah wuk to read the weekly papers now-ah-days. Thru YUTE, ah was able to catch-up wid young people activities and some ah de more positive things dey are into. Nani Billingy’s back page story should be ah challenge as well as ah tunnel of hope foh our disillusioned youths. How often do we read about ah young woman (26 years ole) fully committed to Farm life and from her story, beginning to bubble wid great success. Nani is into Rabbits, vegetables, flowers, floral arrangement and already she has won de President’s choice trophy for Herbal Gardening. Young people tek note.

And there is Dr Coleen Phillips. One of our shortcomings in SVG is dat as ah people, we not into bigging-up, complimenting and encouraging each other, tell us bout bad-tark and cut down, full marks. And it teks nothing to say “well done” or “go get it” maybe one day we will get dey. Even me forgot Dr. Coleen Phillips, my kindergarten daughter-in-law, affable and ah Gem growing up. We didn’t get it all but her story is big, she tumbled thru de Banana fields of SVG, to de farms in Venezuela and finally to Vet medicine in Cuba, dat’s positive and progressive stuff, real education and inspiration foh our youngsters.

But de front page story wid Nakeisha London almost hit me foh ah six. Every time ah read anything bout “Virgins” and does remember ah joke Sir James gave. We all knew dat he was never good at giving ah joke and some ah dem were so salt dat dey uses to back-fire and get him into trouble. He actually earne humself ah Cliché ‘member “bat and don’t score”. Wouldn’t give up, Sir James went at ah meeting one night, announced dat he had ah joke to give in de form of ah question: “Why didn’t de wise men come to SVG”? he asked, everybody was stumped foh an answer, den Sir James chuckled and said : “ because we have no Virgins here”! Den he alone burst open laughing while everybody around de meeting looking at each other, asking “way de joke dey”?

Today ah have news foh Sir James, SVG is alive and well wid Virgins, many thanks to Nakeisha London whom ah want to congratulate. Dis one-dah-full young lady not only gave us ah peek into her inner privacy, but braved it all and allowed her photograph to appear on the front page of “YUTE”. Ever too often we would see half naked girls posing on front pages wid no meaningful story. But Nakeisha is more dan skin beauty, she’s intelligent, brilliant (has ah University degree) and her message to all young people, boys and girls is ah solemn one, dat at age 25, she is Pure and Proud to be still ah Virgin; dat deserves ah big B.A. correction, she deserves ah husband wid ah big B.A. as in Bank Account. And hear dis all yuh young men, don’t rush, she say she is in no haste to give up her status. Ah think Sir James had his joke mixed up, it is not dat we have no Virgins in SVG, is dat we have no Wise Men here. But read dis, if ah was free, single and disengaged, ah would ah beg Nakeisha to marry me de day after her picture came out in de papers.

On ah serious note, today many women consider dey “vaginallity” as ah personal and private matter to be shared between dem and dey medical doctor. Dat’s why ah want to thank Nakeisha for using her story that ah hope will be an inspiration to our young girls and hopefully, this will reopen de very important discussion of Abstinence. Young people, stay away from Sex till all yuh married. Lie-Za must have de last say, she wants YUTE to publish her story on the front page next month, but no photographs or age. When ah asked her what is her story, she say dat she Lie-Za is ah Virgin. She got furious when ah told her ah heard bout recycled bags, recycled bottles, recycled dis, recycled dat but never, I repeat never, heard of ah recycled Virgin. And wid dat, ah gone again.

One Love Bassy