When last yuh read ah book?

De mere thought dat ah person is willing to pay ah quarter million US dollars foh ah SVG Citizenship Passport is enough reason to feel something wrong. Ley me state my position. I have great respect foh de Foreign Policy of Excellency Joseph Chatoyer, first National Hero. Chatoyer was not in fear-fah of alienating de leg-ah-see i.e. Land and Passport, of unborn generations of Vin-sense-shun to any far-rainer. So I say, our lands may be leased but not sold! And our Citizenship Passports are not foh sale! We could give yuh ah Visa dat has an expiry date. If yuh want to infest, clean up yuh Act and yuh Free to come! Free to Stay! Free to Go! Ah don’t know of any Vin-sense-shun who was able to buy ah US/UK/Can/Cuba Citizenship Passport above board, so why do we want to put ours foh sale on de market like fish and fruits? Dat is ah form ah desecration.

Everybody asking way happen to SVG, how come Sin Kitt/Nevis, Antigua, Dominica and de rest selling Citizenship Passports hands down or hands up, developing dey country wid de money, way wrong wid SVG. Ah could reason wid PM Gone-Soft’s “not foh sale” position on Vin-sense-shun Citizenship Passports. Dey is ah procedure whereby one can “qualify” foh ah Vin-see Citizenship Passport, dat does not or should not involve passing money, i.e. No Sale!

Ah hear all kind ah benefits dat can be gained from de sale of Citizenship Passports. But no money or financial value could be placed on ah Citizen of ah country, not to even men-shun ah good decent Citizen, placing ah price on dat sounds immoral to me. Ah want my Vin-See Citizenship Passport to be treated as sacred!

DE 1935 RIOTS

After waiting foh ah whole month, ah finally got ah copy of Dr Fraser’s book ” The 1935 Riots in St Vincent.” Just because ah didn’t go to de Book Launch, de Doc sold my signed complimentary (ah wish) copy. But ah really needed de book to give to my darling wife for her Christmas, hoping of course to get to read it before she did. Ah had to buy another Gift. Anyway ah got my copy last week, wrote de usual “Merry Christmas to my one and only,” signed it, nicely wrapped it and placed it where she thought I had hidden it and forgotten. Now ah good gift at any time of year, is always appreciated; and my lickle scheme worked!

So ah teef ah lickle read of Doc Fraser’s Book, ah still on chapter One and already ah feeing de vibes, actually de Riot took place six years before I arrived. Ah will comment as ah go along, but dat will be ah long haul. My problem is, ah does read like five books at ah time, including The Book of Books daily. Right now ah hooked on de writings of an Anglican Bishop, John Shelby Spong, Mr Controversial wid ah capital “C” but very thought provoking. Den ah started to read an interesting novel “Graced by Grace” written by La La London ah Vincentian aka Lorna Edwards from Evesham. So good to see ah Vin-sense-shun woman among what seems to be ah “man” dominated field, boldly taking to de Pen, and not afraid to share stories of her trials and her triumphs.

But back to Doc Fraser who triggered my memories as he simply men-shun de word “village cricket” ah sporting tradition long ago dat formed part of our cultural landscape. Almost every public holiday, ah Cricket team or Rounders team from one village will journey to another village to do “friendly battle” in what was called ” Ah Goat Match.” As de name suggests, de menu was Goat: “Goat Water” before de match started; Callalo Soup wid goat head, feet and tripe foh lunch; and de real macoy, Stew Goat at de end ah de match. De whole village was in attendance, lots of speeches and everybody was served refreshments. But de I-sing on de cake was de Victory song. As long as my home-base Murray’s Village team won, it was like ah parade wid Bum Drum thru de village to de song: “If yuh follow de Murray’s Village Boys yuh get fever, (repeat twice) And de fever will never recover!” Now-ah-days ah hearing so much gun shots blasting above me at de same Murray’s Village, it giving me Gun Fever, my hope is dat one day, de Gun Fever will recover! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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