YESTERDAY 36 lucky children – winners of a Child Month promotion – were pampered and spoilt as they explored the island on an island safari adventure.This event was the result of a promotion conceptualised and organised by real estate agent Julie Dash. The children, whose ages ranged from six to 16, toured the fields, hills and valleys from 10:30 a.m to 3 p.m. in four Island Safari Land Rovers.They were accompanied by popular MC Mac Fingall, broadcaster Maurice Norville and calypso king Stedson RPB Wiltshire. Here, Dash encouraging Nathan Eristlee to pet Suga, a monkey, which they met mingling with his owner Henderson Durant at a bus stop in Bathsheba. Behind them looking on are other young ones who participated in the tour. (AH) (Picture by Donnay Deane.)
Belize’s faith in CCJ is valued
All right-thinking Caribbean people will be especially pleased to have read the announcement earlier this week that Belize will become a member of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in the not-too-distant future. Belize will be the third Caribbean territory accepting the jurisdiction of the court as its final Court of Appeal, and one anticipates that this fillip to the total acceptance of the court will bear fruit, and that very soon every one of the region’s territories will cease to take their appeals to the Privy Council in London.We have previously commented on the need for the acceptance of the CCJ, but the matter has become more pressing in the light of comments by several of the distinguished law lords who serve as members of the Appellate Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council. One learned law lord remarked on the fact that about 40 per cent of their time was taken up with appeals from the former Commonwealth. This is a major cost not borne by the former colonies, but cost, though important, is not the major consideration in issue. Rather there are greater and more philosophically rooted reasons for demitting the jurisdiction and signing on to the Caribbean Court of Justice.Lord Hoffman, a retired law lord who sat on many appeals from this region, has often spoken about the need for local judges in their several jurisdictions to decide local cases against the background of the conditions applicable in those jurisdictions. He has on more than one occasion opined that local judges are better able to understand the nuances of the social realities of these islands, and are therefore in a better position to apply the law in that local context. We agree with the reasoning of Lord Hoffman, and others who share his views. Law is not a stagnant discipline. It lives or ought to live since all societies change and the interpretation of a law in 1966 may have to be reconsidered in 2010, if the law is to serve the needs of the society and not hang like an albatross around the neck of the society. Current thought, for example, abhors the institutions of slavery, but in much earlier times, it was supported by the full weight of the law.The argument that local courts and judges are in a better position is the more cogently made when one considers the nature of our constitutions, and the duty of the courts to interpret the human rights provisions in those constitutions. To take an example from this weeks Court Pages, yet another instance has arisen of a person spending six years on remand before being brought to trial. A local judge faced with determining if such a lapse of time is reasonable will better answer that question against his experience of the local economic and social conditions.His counterpart 4 000 miles away in a different social environment might be inclined to apply an interpretation valid for his environment, but totally unsuited to our local reality. Such dislocation may also adversely affect rulings in other than criminal matters, and injustices may therefore be innocently visited upon one or more parties.We therefore urge Jamaica and Trinidad, in particular as two of the larger and more commercially developed islands, to urgently consider their positions and to put the processes in place that would recognise the CCJ as the final Appellate Court for their citizens.The Privy Council has done a remarkable job for the region in times past, but just as we now train our own lawyers, we now need to step up the task of persuading all our regional counterparts to follow the example of Belize . . . .To complete what one learned commentator called the “cycle of independence”, by demonstrating faith in our own courts and judges to be the final arbiters in our legal system.
The Al Gilkes column – Wishing the PM well
I TRY to keep as far as possible from politics and politicians whenever I sit down to write this column, but today I am making an exception following the unexpected news this weekend that Prime Minister David Thompson is not well.Sickness, whether it’s a simple case of the common cold or life-threatening, has no political, racial, religious, social or other boundaries. It matters not if you are Bee or Dee, black, white or Chinese, Christian, Muslim or Jew. Nobody is exempt.As a nation we all suffered the experience together of having two of our previous Prime Ministers literally drop down dead in office, and regardless of which camp we belonged to at the time or on which side of the paling we sat, we all felt the same painful sense of loss with each passing.Neither PM Barrow nor PM Adams had time fora physician to assess their condition and even admit them to the QEH for tests. Fortunately, time is on PM Thompson’s side, and as he uses that time to have his condition diagnosed and treated at home and in New York, let ours be a prayer with one voice for him to survive this fearful episode in his life and that sooner, rather than later, he will back in full stride, leading our nation.I also empathise with him because I once suffered similar excruciating abdominal pains caused by stomach ulcers at such an early age that nobody at the time considered them as a possibility for my affliction. Eventually, a wise old doctor by the name of Goddard dared to go where none before him had gone with a diagnosis that saved my life. . . . . . . . .Today, unless something unexpected happens overnight, I will be among the thousands from all over the world who will be bringing it to Kensington Oval today and enjoying a true clash of the titans, Australia vs England and Australia vs New Zealand, for the two world Twenty20 men’s and women’s titles.Don’t ask me anything about the West Indies men’s team. As far as I am concerned, you stand a better chance of being run over by a bulldozer and escaping without a scratch than having that team bring some joy to your life.It was a one-man team under Brian Lara and it continues to be a one-man team under Chris Gayle. When Lara made a big score, they won or came close to winning. When he didn’t score, they lost. The same thing is happening with Gayle, as seen in their recent victory and defeat in the current tournament.On the other side of the coin, I had hoped that the women would have made it through to the finals despite the fact that they are new to this class of competition and with their lack of experience didn’t have a ghost of a chance against New Zealand. Nevertheless, they made me very proud by making it to the semi-finals.I am sure that one day soon, that is the team we will all be hailing as West Indies fans.Finally, if I went and got married to two women without getting a divorce from one, I would be at a serious loss over what would make that act, though illegal, so heinous that I could be remanded to prison while other people are granted bail for a variety of crimes including indecent assault and manslaughter.Maybe my good friend, the Market Vendor, can help me with an answer to that one.
THE MOORE THINGS CHANGE: Goodbye, Test cricket
KENSINGTON OVAL: The second cricket Test match, West Indies vs England. Within the first half-hour, West Indies are 25 for three: captain Jeff Stollymeyer is run out for a duck after he and J.K. Holt find themselves both at the south end of the pitch; dapper Frank Worrell, in classical style, bat and pad together, is bowled comprehensively by Brian Statham for a duck; and J.K. Holt edges a Trevor Bayley outswinger to nonchalant Tom Graveney at first slip.That event is permanently etched in the inner recesses of my memory since February 6, 1954. I was 13.Clyde Walcott came in after Frank Worrell and dug in, with a young Bruce Pairaudeau, and stopped the rout. The Barbadian and the Guyanese put on 165 runs before Pairaudeau left for a stoic 71. By the end of that first day, Walcott was still there, at 147, and went on to his highest test score of 220.Now, get this, and then LOL – laugh out loud. West Indies won the match . . . on the sixth day! There was even a rest day in between.Kensington Oval: Two weeks ago – and ending today – an apparition of the game just described returns to the same venue. We call it by the same name, while borrowing a term usually associated with perfect vision: 20/20. All I can remember about this two-week burlesque are some attractive young women wukkin’ up in the broiling sun; Mac Fingall bawling all day into a thousand-watt sound system; an exhausted Indian fan dozing off while Chris Gayle slogged sixes over the 3Ws Stand, and a black Barbadian cavorting around the stands dressed up as a green monkey.This, they tell me, is the future of cricket. At the expense of disturbing the tranquility of Morgan Lewis, I am not interested in that future. It’s for those with the attention span of the female mosquito.In search of money and instant satisfaction, a game that once challenged the intellect of men and women (women have been playing Test cricket for decades), has been reduced to “Slam-bam, thank you ma’am” and “Before I go, gimme my pay cheque”. The irony is that the new version was also given birth where the old version originated: England.India, one of the emerging economic titans of the world, has made a money tree out of the game in its new and “exciting” format. Not all Indians are blown away by the razzamatazz, though. One of their outstanding stars, Mushtaq Mohammed, was heard to observe: “Twenty20 cricket is harming cricket technically. Batting does not require any technique and bowlers suffer even more, as their only priority is to avoid being hit out of the ground. Fielding is the only aspect that can benefit.”Another Indian, former fast bowler Khan Mohammad, reflecting on the long form, has said: “Cricket is the most intellectual of all the outdoor sports. It demands observation, calculation and judgment. It brings out qualities like courage, concentration, self-restraint and brotherly teamwork.”But they tell us that change must come; and it must. But it serves us right, those of us who moan and groan of the new turn the game has taken. The long form of the game ought to have undergone change a long time ago.Here I recall the creativity of a simple gentleman from Carrington’s Village, near where I grew up. The late Joe Connell took over the administration of softball cricket and came up with a design which I recall went like this: each side’s first innings compulsorily lasted, say, 20 overs; then the remainder of the match continued in its long form. This format usually made for more exciting finishes and the games usually did not drag on too long.A formula similar to that should have been adapted to all four-innings matches, up to Test cricket.Sadly, it’s too late. Goodbye, Test cricket.•Carl Moore was the first Editor of THE NATION and is a social commentator. Email carlmoore@caribsurf.com
Connell – a man for the people
The name John Connell is readily associated with jurisprudence – a criminal lawyer of some repute. He was a judge in the local Court of Appeal and also served as a permanent judge on the Human Rights Court for Latin America and the Caribbean. Connell also made a foray into politics, and many will remember his public dismissal from the Barbados Senate in 1976 by National Hero Errol Barrow, then leader of the opposition. As lawyer and politician, John Connell made waves.But the now retired legal luminary regards none of these as the hallmark of his life. While he acknowleges that he has made a contribution in the area of law, the thing dearest to him is his work in the area of conservation.The Government of Barbados recognised his contribution last year with the award of Barbados’ second-highest honour, The Companion of Honour for public service and his contribution to the legal profession.But he says: “When this recent honour was conferred on me, I learnt that it was conferred because of my services to law. That disappointed me because I think that I put more into the environment than I put into law. Law was my job . . . but I loved the environment.”He was the first director of the Parks and Beaches Commission, a forerunner of the National Conservation Commission, working alongside conservationists such as the late Iris Bannochie, Donald Wiles, Courtney Forde, Canon Harold Tudor and Garry Duesbury. Assuming the presidency of the Caribbean Conservation Association, he set about having that constitution changed and lobbied regional governments and NGOs for the kind of support that helped create a vibrant organisation for the preservation of the region’s natural beauty. This is why he regrets that “everything about my contribution to the environment was erased from my résumé”, prepared for delivery by the orator at the presentation of The Companion of Honour.He insists “it was the environment that was dearest to my heart”.Still, he is proud of his achievements. “I came from very poor family. My father was a carpenter, my mother was a needleworker. I got where I am because they had the good sense to make sure that I had a secondary education.”“I left here in 1958 and went to London. There were two types of persons who went to London in those days – either those who won the Barbados Scholarship and went straight into Oxford and Cambridge and those places, and those like me.”Connell worked as a bus conductor, in factories, in restaurants, all to finance a legal education. He was finally awarded a scholarship to Holborn College of Law.The experience in Britain saw what some people considered a radical young lawyer returning to Barbados.“Unlike many lawyers in Barbados, I saw the English society from both sides. I saw how black people were treated in England in those days and I felt that I should come back and tell Barbadians about it.“But I was somewhat disapointed. People in England warned me that Barbadians were not going to accept what I was saying. But I am satisfied with my conscience that I came back and I told them what it was like. “That is the black power chapter of my life for which I make no apologies.” He was about age 29.Many times since then he has questioned his decision to return to Barbados. “I gave up two jobs in England and came back here. “You know the years I have regretted that? I lectured law full time at the Balham and Tooting Polytechnic during the day, and in the evening lectured at the Woolwich Polytechnic.”When he came back he formed a political alliance with a group of like thinkers – the late Leroy Harewood, Calvin Alleyne, Glenroy Straughn. Together they challenged social and political issues of the day under the banner of The People’s Progressive Movement.When that failed, he was invited by a senior member of the Democratic Labour Party to join that political party, there beginning another interesting phase of his life.And in this Sunday Sun interview, he took the opportunity to clear the air on one point: “A lot of people feel that I was appointed to the Senate by Errol Barrow. Errol Barrow would never appoint me to the Senate. He never liked John Connell.“After he lost the election in 1976, he went to Miami on a sabattical and left “Sleepy” [Sir Frederick] Smith as the leader of the opposition and “Sleepy” appointed me to the Senate.“That is why Barrow dismissed me from the Senate. I was never his appointment.”The story of that dismissal is legendary. As an opposition senator appointed by the Democratic Labour Party, Connell voted in support of a Barbados Labour Party Government bill to increase constituencies from 24 to 28.“When [the bill] came to the Senate, I voted in support of it because they had made it clear to me that they had no intention to repeal it and they were doing what both political parties are constantly doing, fooling the people of Barbados and telling them they intend to do one thing, and when they get power they don’t do it.” Another DLP senator, Dennis Hunte, also voted in favour of the bill. A few days later both Connell and Hunte were dismissed from the Senate at a public political meeting.Today Connell speaks humorously about the experience, but posits the view that “there are people who offer themselves for a seat in Parliament and don’t have the testicular fortitude to go and do what they know they should do and as a result Barbados in my view is slipping, because you must have some courage to stand up for your views if you believe in them”.Having undergone double bypass surgery 12 years ago, the 72-year-old has slowed down and enjoys a quiet life with his wife Mary at their Edgehill Heights, St Thomas home.There he ponders his dream to help disadvantaged people in the Caribbean. “I want to get in a position in which I can relieve pain and suffering and illness, particularly among people who cannot afford to pay.”
Police discover election plot
PORT-OF-SPAIN – Acting Police Commissioner James Philbert said on Friday that police had arrested five people believed to be part of a plot unearthed by security forces to disrupt the 2010 general election.The arrests were made after lawmen raided a house in Carenageon Thursday night, where they recovered a deadly AK-47 rifle and T-shirts belonging to the New National Vision (NNV) political party led by Fuad Abu Bakr, the son of 1990 attempted coup leader Yasin Abu Bakr.Among those arrested were a 15-year-old boy from Ariapita Roadin St Ann’s; a 22-year-old woman of McKenzie Drive Point Cumana, Carenage, a 25-year-old former member of the T&T Coast Guard of Gonzales Road, Belmont, and two other suspects, ages 27 and 21, of Ariapita Road St Ann’s, and McKenzie Drive, Point Cumana, Carenage, respectively.Philbert disclosed the threat during an emergency press conference called on Friday evening at the Police Administration Building in Port-of-Spain. Police sources said the suspects are members of a particular religious organisation in the country. They were held at a house at McKenzie Drive, Point Cumana, Carenage.“We have unearthed credible information which suggests that a certain group has expressed its intention to disrupt election proceedings, and acting on that information, as of last night, police from the Western Division responded to information and conducted searches, and in a particular house in the Carenage district. They arrested five people and they foundan AK-47 assault rifle, together with two magazines containinga total of 48 rounds of ammunition,” he said.“We want to reassure the public that the Police Service intends to carry out its mandate to the fullest extent of the law, and no one would be allowed to disrupt the elections campaigns [and] the elections proceedings. “We intend to allow no one and no body and no group, whosoever they are, to stop us from exercising our democratic rights in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said. “Our officers will act fiercely, fearlessly and fairly within the ambit of the law. “We assure the law-abiding citizens of T&T that persons will feel the full brunt of the law if they intend to, and if they show their intentions, to disrupt proceedings or disrupt any aspect of peace in Trinidad and Tobago, not only at this time, but before and after the elections as well,” Philbert said. (Trinidad Express)
Civil service accepts pay cut
GEORGE TOWN – The Cayman Islands Civil Service Association has indicated it will not oppose government plans to cut workers’ salaries by 3.2 per cent starting in July.However, the group’s president has said government might consider implementing the pay cut a bit differently than has been proposed.According to government emails and memos obtained by the Caymanian Compass last week, the across-the-board pay reduction would affect all civil service departments as well as some statutory authorities and government-owned companies as of July 1 – the beginning of the upcoming budget year.Civil Service Association President James Watler said that reduction means a cut in monthly pension allotments government workers receive. Also, any older civil servants retiring under the defined benefit pension system next year would end up taking a lower monthly pension payment, since their final pensions are based on their last month’s salary before retirement.Both situations could be avoided, Watler said, if government would implement the pay cut as a furlough – essentially giving government employees unpaid days off.This would allow those workers to keep both their current pay grade as well as any pension payments, he said. Civil servants would likely have to take four or five days off for the year to make the 3.2 per cent pay cut.“Taking unpaid leave would help protect pensions and it would not have a direct impact on civil servants’ salary grades,” he said. “We urge government to consider this option.”As far as the pay cut itself, he said the idea was actually suggested earlier this year by the association, although they proposed it only as a temporary measure.“The Civil Service Association has always stepped up to the plate when called upon to do so,” Watler said.(CayCompass.com)
Comforted by God’s power
by CHERYL HAREWOODSHE WAS sexually molested by a family member when she was just six years old. At the age of seven she was frequently undressed and her private parts fondled by her primary school teacher.By the time she was nine, and left in the care of a family friend, she further suffered sexual, physical and verbal abuse by older men. When she entered secondary school, after attending eight primary schools, young Patricia became a cold-hearted, angry, radical teenager, who did whatever she could to protect herself from those who sought to take advantage of her.A school dropout by 16, and pregnant at 18, Patricia was suddenly faced with health issues, including spinal, hand and neck pains.And, as if her life was not filled enough with challenges and let-downs as a child, she would have to weep bitterly over her son’s lifeless body. The mother was confronted by the bloody tragedy just three years ago: the second of her three sons –25-year-old Jason Hinkson –was murdered. By then, she had received the heartbreaking news that she had contracted the HIV virus – the result of one of eight blood transfusions for her severe anemic condition.Today, Patricia Forde Hinkson, who was born in Trinidad to a Barbadian mother and Grenadian father, and who came to Barbados when she was 15 months old, has sought to change everything about her life – even her name to that of Faith.A born-again believer, she claims her faith in God has resulted in “healing from the HIV virus”. Now, she takes one instead of seven pills daily, and visits the clinic once every six months, compared with twice a month. Even in the midst of her pain and discovery she had the HIV virus in 2004, Patricia found love. She would walk down the aisle on August 31, 2008, at her side her husband Hallam – the man who married her despite her HIV status, and vowed to love, protect and support her, come what may. As a tearful Patricia sat to share her story with the Sunday Sun, she wanted to make it clear that she was reaching out to young people and hurting women.She also hoped her story would turn the drug addict, prostitute, homosexual, and those “facing life’s difficulties” to God – who she said“has been her constant source of strength”.Patricia, who came to Barbados in 1963, was first confronted by incest through her aunt’s children who “often interfered” with her.“At the age of seven, when I entered primary school, one of the male teachers would pull down my panties and fondle me,” Hinkson recalled.By the time she was eight, a 19-year-old cousin made her his target for further sexual abuse. She told no one of the sexual molestations.At eight years old, Hinkson had already attended five schools, because of her mum’s constant moving.When her mum wentoff to greener pastures in the United States, she left Patricia with a friend.The sexual abuse started all over again – this time by older men. A radical Patricia emerged at secondary school, and by aged 16, she was a dropout.“By then my mother had returned, but I had already started looking for love in all the wrong places. She was unable to show me love, because she too was abused,” said Patricia, who never met her dad. “After my daughter was born, things got worse. Her father disowned her,” said Patricia.By now a lover of parties, Patricia met another man, who fathered two of her three sons. That relationship soon died.At 23, she met a 41-year old man and within a year they were married. Sadly,that turned out to be another abusive relationship.Within a year she was back on her own.When Patricia gave birth to her third son before her divorce was final, she also suffered verbal abuse from her former husband who accused her of infidelity while they were married.“That was never the case,” she said.Fed up and hurt after this relationship too ended on the rocks, Patricia was next involved in a three-year same-sex relationship, a life she later regretted living in front of her children.“I knew it was a phase. I never saw myself as a lesbian. I just had no love for men,” she explained. Her desire for a better life took her to Canada; but even there bad luck seemingly followed. She was robbed of her possessions; ended up a hostel; and her daughter was sexually molested.Then in 2000, she was arrested and imprisoned for a month after threatening her employer because of ill treatment.Back home, she returned to church – a place she had left because of discouragement. Today, now sold on God, Patricia wants others to learn from her mistakes – and for believers to be real. “We give our lives to God but we still carry baggage,” she admitted.“I’ve been through a lot, but God has been good in spite of it all. “We in church need to stop being hypocrites and tell people that we messed up before, and we mess up sometimes because the flesh is always fighting against the spirit.”“Too many Christians make others believe they never had issues before meeting Christ. The church is just a hospital.”The former morgue technician, who hopes to make it in the field of beauty, thinks believers ought to show more love and compassion.“In church there is a lost world going to hell in a ham basket. People turn to drugs and all forms of addiction because they don’t know who to turned to,” said Patricia, who became a member of Restoration Ministriesin 2004.It was there she found love from pastors and church members.Love also came from others at the clinic.“I can’t sit back today and worry about people pointing fingers at me,” said Patricia, who went from 180 to 152 pounds after the blood transfusion.“They don’t know what I’ve been through.”Pressures and stress caused her to give up her job and she is yet to pay for her son’s funeral arrangements.Her husband,who describes her as his tower of strength,also gave up his security job to nurse her whenher spinal condition became unbearable.Going to the clinic has been an eye-opener.“I’ve met all kinds of people. Those who wantto ostracise, shun or discriminate against me would have to shun the person on the ZR van;in the hospital; the church; the restaurant and even their friends who are too scared to say they are HIV positive. Many people we come into contact with daily have the HIV virus.“It is through Christ that I am victorious. I know I am healed by the power of God,” said Patricia, who now has great respect for abstinence. Had she known better then, the 47-year-old said she would have charted a different course for her life.“I’ve learnt that life’s difficulties, and even HIV and AIDS, do not find people because they are promiscuous. HIV can happen innocently.“If my story can help anyone, I’ll be happy.“I am not interested in what people will say, only in the saving power of Jesus Christ. God looks beyond our faults and sees our needs.“None of us knows what will happen to us. I want to tell young people and the church to trust God,” she said.Now a devout prayer warrior, Patricia also believes too many Christians are seeking titles, rather than God.“I am not interested in titles, only in how much another believer cares and loves humanity.”She and her husband – a former cocaine, marijuana and alcohol addict – possess a deep love for the lost.“We thank God for everything he has done in our lives. We pray together, encourage others,and want to help those who are broken and need encouragement,” said husband Hallam, who stressed that when he and Patricia got married, God miraculously provided everything for them debt-free. “My dream is to see unity in the church,” declared Patrica,who plans to write a book about her life and God’s transforming power.
Ex-thug on God’s side
by MARLON MADDEN and ANESTA HENRY
BAD MAN, thug for life, Death Row, Out Law, Black Jesus and F…$ The World are tattooed on various parts of his body. He also once lived by the slogans of his gang: Ride Or Die and Thug Til I Die.Shawn Marshall was too busy living the life of a gangsta to consider life’s positives. That was then.Since March of this year he has turned his life around, and is now a man of God. He’s on a mission to help transform the lives of those who now live the life he shuns.Marshall, 34, said he was part of a gang for more than ten years.In an interview with the SUNDAY SUN, Marshall said he had a rough life growing up and that that was one reason he had joined the gang: one based in Black Rock, St Michael.“My life growing up was hard. My mother was a domestic worker and I didn’t have a father or a father figure. So I didn’t grow up with that guidance, and that is what a lot of the youths are growing up without.” He grew up seeing his sisters being sexually exploited by other relatives – debilitating images that remained etched in his mind for many years.“But I forgave,” Marshall declared.“Seeing my sisters being abused was mental abuse for me . . . . And my mother and I never had the relationship that a mother and son should,” he disclosed.Marshall, who joined his gang at 17, and whose “speciality” was robbery, told of some of his activities.“We had rivalry. We had ‘beef’ and war with other turfs – about three or four other gangs. We used to roll up on them and shoot at the men, and so on. “The men used to roll with nine-millimetres and Glock 40s and .38s. Drugs land here, and it doesn’t land without guns. “I wasn’t involved with the drugs, but robbery was my line; and I had this sort of theory, ‘God put me here for them sort of people who think them real cruel’. “I felt like I was invincible, like nothing could touch me; but God showed me He had a plan for me,” said the St Thomas resident.Marshall said that sometimes the gang he was a part of used other people to carry out their game plans.“You know there are youngsters that honour you; so things that you know you are not going to do, you send them to do. But if it is something that they can’t handle, you would handle it yourself. “They had a hit man on the block, and he died at age 17. His job was just to shoot and kill people. The last time he did [a killing], the next week he got killed.“We bought guns. We never landed without them – there are weed-runners and gunrunners in Barbados. We could get one gun for $5 000, depending on the type; and then we could get them more expensive too. “The gangstas on the street have guns just like what the police have,” Marshall claimed. During a decade of mischief and crime, and a life of uncertainty and cruelty, he has been sent to Dodds several times. But it was during his recent stay there, nine months of it, that he took time out to reflect on all he had done. “I am telling this story for the other young people out there; to show them that God changed me. If God could change me, he can change them. But they have to want to change too. “I think God put me in jail for a reason. I wasn’t vex for being in jail – because of the way that I was rolling. “God had to slow me down that year because I was on a fast pace; and he put me there to work on me. I had time to reflect. Maybe if I didn’t go at that time I would have gone at a different time for a bigger charge – maybe murder or something; or maybe someone would have killed me,” the repentant gansta testified.He hasn’t returned to the block since, and hasn’t smoked any ganja either, he insists.Marshall said he was now waiting on God to direct him when he should go back on the block to help him “change some of the youngsters out there”.He has a few regrets – among them the tattoos.“I wish I could take them off now. They may look pretty, but they are openings for demons . . . ,” he lamented. “I got them anointed with oil.”Marshall said that being involved in gang-related activities was not easy, and that it was a life no one should aspire to live.“Don’t take it up. Don’t start,” he warns. “Don’t even look at it. I have friends that are dead and some doinglong prison terms because of gang activities. “It might look sweet because you smoking and rolling with guns and with people who you think have your back. But, at the end of the day, if you are not one of the lucky ones, you will die in it.“I know some people are crying down the youths, but it doesn’t start with the youths. It had to start somewhere before,” Marshall argues.The former gangsta believes it started with the youths’ parents – and the parents before them. The children didn’t just wake up one morning and decide to be how they are, he insists. “It has to do with the Government too. You see poverty? It force you into doing things you don’t want to do.”
Picture this!
Forty pieces of photography by young Barbadians are now on display at the Barbados Museum after the National Geographic Photo Camp’s Exhibition was launched last Friday night.The exhibition, under the theme Waterworks: A Visual Expedition Of Barbados, was a culmination of a one-week camp held earlier this year, with 20 students of various schools in Barbados being trained by top photographers and graphic artists of National Geographic to capture island images of a water theme. The project was also funded by the United States Embassy.United States Charge d’Affaires Dr Brent Hardt and his wife Sasha Hardt, deputy assistant secretary Julissa Reynoso and council president of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society, Dr Trevor Carmichael, participated in the opening, showering the budding photographers with praises.The artistic quality of the photos suggested that the offerings could be at home in any national art gallery, the poignant images of varied Barbadian life calling out for them to be kept longer on display atThe Museum.Photo camper Melanie Grant described the week as a once in a lifetime opportunity where students were taught many valuable principles by top professionals. She said they had developed lasting relationships, and “it all climaxed” when they were given their own SLR digital cameras.Barbados also topped the National Geographic record for such camps, with students contributing2 900 images. (KB)