June 19, 2015

Who E Hut E Hut

AH LISTENED wid pity foh SVG, when ah heard de Aweposition Leader lamenting over de act-shun of ah Permanent Secretary, who turned up as part of de ULP delegation when pull-it-tek-all parties met at de Electoral Office, to discuss de new Votes List.

Eustace did not I-dentify de PS by name, but ah read way Julie-Ann cleared de air on de matter and said dat his deputy chairperson attended de meeting, de pieces fitted Dr Audrey Gittens-Gilkes, PS in de Ministry of Housing who incidentally, is de only PS/ deputy chair of ah Pull-it-to-kill Party in SVG. Bucket ah go ah well….{{more}}

Dis has serious implications. I am reminded of ah party fanatic who cheered de Nurses Select-shun Panel dat refused to employ Kass, my granddaughter. She had just graduated at Nursing School wid distinction, having placed 1st in years one and two and 2nd in de Final Year. Dey was an interesting turn of events when her name came up foh select-shun foh employment. Forty persons were selected but my grand-daughter’s name was not on dat list. One member of dat fear-most Select-shun Panel informed me later, dat when my grand-daughter’s name came up for select-shun, de Cheerwoe-man, ah party demon-I-saw asked : “Who is she? What colour is she?” And dat was it foh Kass.

Yes, Ole People was correct, yuh could forgive but yuh can’t forget. Many times ah would have prayed to de Almighty for forgiveness foh dat cheerwoe-man, in particular foh her second and third generation. Ah won’t want anyone to share de pain I endured watching my grand-daughter, ah local Graduate Nurse wid ah baby to mind, being victim-eyes and denied employment, when dey were vacancies, Thanks to Dr Garraway, he had no vacancy, but he give her ah job thereby protecting her sanity.

Ah bin dey and ah know about de danger and pitfall dat await our young graduates in dis country, when Permanent Secretaries parading wid high executive positions like ‘deputy cheer-person of de party’ and not even discrete about dey party ah-filly-hear-shun. Dis smells of dis-truck-shun!
 

SVG, Hairouna, Yurumei our Home of de Blessed must be saved from dis wicked brand ah Comered-is-him!

NOBODY FAILED Ah get bitter when ah have to return to events like de above. It takes away from de joy ah want to share wid all CPEA students who wrote de 2015 examinations. As usual ah would big-up those who passed as well as those whose efforts did not make de grade, let us never refer to our youngsters as failures. Jules Ferdinand takes pride in walking around wid a copy of his Common Entrance Results. De way Jules talks about his results you would think he came in de top five. But Jules never passed Common Entrance and dat is de piece ah paper dat he walks around wid.

Today, over forty years after, Jules is Dr Ferdinand, lecturer at deUWI St. Augustine Campus. So all is not lost foh those kids who didn’t make de pass mark. Ah does pray dat it is de Lord’s Will dat Jules wins de West St George seat dis upcoming elect-shun. When yuh sharing out goodies, don’t share foh one only if yuh can’t share foh all. But ah glad foh Ms Ula Johnny, St Mary’s RC Principal and young Catlick Woe-man, ah Garyfoh-Una from Greiggs. She took over from Sis Ivy, de former Principal and ah Nun, incidentally Ms Johnny had signed up to become ah Nun, but de Lord had her down foh another mission, Lie-Za say she went in foh Nun and came back None (deless).

My two kids adore Ms Johnny who was dey Common Entrance Teacher. Dis year St Mary’s got three of de Top Ten positions way Rishona James of RC tie-in wid Paige Cadogan of Windsor Primary foh de first position. Ah was reliably informed dat both Rishona’s and Paige’s fathers, performed dey role as fathers on de school’s PTA, congrats fellars!

Ah know about Andre Cadogan’s involvement in Cubs and de Swimming Association. But pardon my buy-us eh, I am particularly happy foh Bobby and Jeanette France, Paige’s grand-parents. De France family recently suffered ah terrible loss when Robert Jr, dey son, died in de USA. De young man’s death sent shock waves not only to his immediate family but his former classmates and friends back home. From all reports he had done exceptionally well in his academic pursuits: Graduate, Doctorate, Professorate, yuh name it, Robert Jr had achieved it all. My wish is dat Paige’s success will help to reenergize de family’s faith in de Lord who does as He pleases wid de powers of heaven.
 
He remains in charge. And ah glad foh mother Jackson, Paige’s great-grand-mother now in her mid 90’s and going so strong, dat every morning, before de sun raiseup, Owen, her son and Ken, her son-in-law religiously find dem-selves at her home, well seated in her porch, making dey daily family visit. But come-mess Lie-Za tell me how Kingstown Park people tell she, Mother Jackson does mek ah delicious breakfast, and dah’s why two young men does visit her every morning, never miss ah day and dey never late. Seriously though, our society needs more men like Owen and Ken wid love in dey hearts, keep up your good works fellars, of course de breakfast notwithstanding!
 
And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.