​Yesterday I saw some beautiful hammocks on sale at the Blind Welfare Institute Outlet Store on Coffee Street , San Fernando.
Did you know that the hammock is in fact a legacy of the first people who found them to be easy beds when moving from place to place. They were skilled at weaving cotton to make hammocks.The word “hammock” was derived from the Taino hamaca or yamaca, and the first hammocks are thought to have been woven out of tree bark.
According to source cited below the hammock was lightweight and easy to set up . It was safer than sleeping on the floor, where one could be vulnerable to snakes and other crawling creatures. It was also quite versatile since it could be used as a bed, chair, a sack, or a fishing net.
Today hammocks are still used by farmers like this group in their makeshift camp in the forests of Quinam. In my travels I also noticed hammocks being used by Indigenous Kogi Tribes in Columbia.
Some people use them as a place for relaxation , somewhere you could take a short snooze.

A rebel Trinidadian, who never learnt to speak Chinese fluently, never even liked Chinese food eventually became the Foreign Minister of China, after establishing himself as the backbone of the government of Sun Yat-Sen, the first president and founding father of the Republic of China.
Eugene Chen, the ultimate Trinidadian was born in San Fernando in 1876, of mixed heritage that included Chinese, African and Spanish.
The St Mary's College graduate became the first lawyer of Chinese descent in the Caribbean having studied in London, after which he returned home to marry a black woman, Agatha Alphonsin Ganteaume, against his parents’ wishes.
But in 1912, Chen left Trinidad aiming to join the Chinese Nationalist Movement, headed by Sun Yat-Sen.
Once in China, he started the Peking Gazette, writing articles against the British colonial powers, in English.
Five years later he fearlessly published an article revealing secret negotiations between the then Premier of China, warlord Duan Qirui and the Japanese, which landed him in jail.
This got the attention of Sun Yat-Sen and four months later, a free man, Eugene left Beijing and went to join Sun in Shanghai, where he established the Shanghai Gazette and became Sun’s confidante and legal advisor.
He led a boycott against the British interest in China, causing Britain to back down and to sign the Chen-O’Malley Agreement in February 1927 which paved the way for Hong Kong to be returned to China 70 years later.
Eugene Chen never returned to Trinidad but died in 1944 branded as one of the most important Chinese diplomats of the 1920s.
In a 1931 publication on China, Time Magazine called Eugene Chen “the brains, the master propagandist of China and a fearless editor in his own right”.
-Leah Skeete
Source: Virtual Museum of TT, Dec. 28, 2020

In 1864, a Presbyterian minister from Nova Scotia arrived in Trinidad and changed the face of education on the island forever. But historians say his legacy isn't entirely positive. 
Rev. John Morton was born to Scottish parents in Stellarton, N.S., then called Albion Mines, in 1839. He went on to study at the Free Church College in Halifax and was licensed and ordained to serve in Bridgewater, N.S., in 1861.
According to Rev. Peter Bush, editor of the Presbyterian Church in Canada's newsletter, Presbyterian History, in the winter of 1864 Morton left Nova Scotia for the Caribbean.
"He had, we think, diphtheria and for health reasons had traveled to Trinidad because his doctor ordered that he do that," Bush said in an interview.
The ship he sailed on was carrying salted fish and lumber — part of a thriving two-way trade between the British West Indies and Nova Scotia that had been happening since the 1700s.
While in Trinidad, Morton saw the condition of indentured Indians who had been brought from India to the island by the British, starting in 1845, to fill in the labour gap left by the abolition of slavery.
"He saw that the indentured Indian workers were not being served, not being cared for by any Christian group, that there were Presbyterians who were working with the Black community in Trinidad and with the Indigenous people of Trinidad. But no one was working with the indentured Indian workers," Bush said.
Ignored, alienated and ostracizedBetween 1845 and 1917 over 140,000 Indians were transported to Trinidad to work on the island's sugar and cocoa estates. Most never returned to India. 
Jerome Teelucksingh, a descendant of indentured Indians and lecturer in history at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine, said Morton would have found these labourers living in wretched conditions and shunned by the rest of Trinidad society. 
"They would have been ignored, they'd have been alienated, ostracized, the majority were poverty stricken," he said.
"And remember at that time the planters and the colonial-era British government were focused only on obtaining their  labour so they were not concerned about their health, welfare or their culture. It was a state that was really despicable."
Convinced that he had to aid this growing community, Morton tried to enlist the help of Presbyterians in the United States and the Church of Scotland, but to no avail.
He returned home and found a receptive audience in Nova Scotia's Presbyterian community.
The Presbyterian Church in Nova Scotia was already familiar with foreign mission work, as Rev. John Geddie had been dispatched from Pictou, N.S., to the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) in the South Pacific in 1846.
Morton's request for a mission was approved and, after raising funds for a year, he set off for Trinidad with his wife, Sarah, and his daughter Agnes — arriving in the capital, Port-of-Spain, on Jan. 3, 1868.
He set up a mission base and home in Iere Village in the south of the island but eventually moved his home to the southern town of San Fernando. 
From the outset, Morton saw education as essential to his mission, according to Brinsley Samaroo, professor emeritus of history at the University of the West Indies at St. Augustine. 
"Most of these missionaries were Scottish Canadians, their ancestors had come from Scotland," he said. "The Scots have always been very, very much concerned about education. And ... whereas Morton was more concerned about evangelization, he used education as a tool towards that."
The indentured Indians in Trinidad had always been reluctant to enrol their children, and especially their daughters, in the Roman Catholic, Anglican or ward schools that served the white and African-Trinidadian populations.  
At the time, Teelucksingh said, Indian children were despised and treated with contempt because of their dress, food, religion and culture. Schools also conducted classes exclusively in English, which most of the new immigrants could not speak.
Canadian Mission Indian schoolsRealizing the daunting extent of his planned undertaking, Morton appealed to the church board in Nova Scotia for help and by 1870 he was joined by Rev. Kenneth James Grant from Merigomish, N.S. 
They established a number of Canadian Mission Indian schools, which later became known simply as Canadian Mission schools.
Unlike other religious groups on the island, Morton and Grant opted to teach in the language of the indentured workers. 
They initially imported Hindi and Urdu religious and teaching books from missions in India but eventually set up their own printing press locally.
By speaking their language and incorporating it into church services, classes and even the names of their churches, the efforts of the missionaries were embraced by the indentured labourers.
"All of that really appealed to the Indians because you were meeting them on their own ground and very slowly and subtly moving them away from that ground and onto a Christian ground," said Samaroo.
"But I think the most important thing is that they all understood that once they got a Western education via the missionaries, that was the beginning of the end of their life on the plantation."
The missionaries also provided material benefits to the Indian population, including food and medicines imported from Canada, according to Teelucksingh.
A few other male and female missionaries from the Maritimes went to Trinidad over the years, but the focus was always on training local converts to keep up with the tremendous demand for schools.
A Presbyterian theological college was established in 1892 and by 1894 a teachers' training college was opened. 
As a historian of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, Bush said he is fascinated by the fact the "mission in Trinidad is led largely by the Indian community."
"If you look at our records ... in Canada, our records record the names of teachers and lay missionaries, long lists of Indian names who are listed in our books as being members of the mission, the Presbyterian Church in Canada, in Trinidad."

Teelucksingh said in addition to opening numerous schools in areas with a high concentration of indentured Indians, the Canadian Mission also offered night classes for adults and women missionaries from Canada taught women "catechism and domestic chores."
The popularity of the education opportunities offered by the Nova Scotian missionaries and their use of locally trained teachers led to a rapid expansion of their mission. 
Although conversion was not a requirement for taking part in their educational programs, it was a requirement for taking up teaching positions, and some Indians, though not the majority, converted for the opportunities it offered for upward mobility. 
Samaroo estimated that by 1956 there were 71 Presbyterian elementary and secondary schools in Trinidad serving 3,000 students.
Unintended consequencesHe said that the influence of the missions also caused unintended negative effects on the Indian community, and the island in general, that persist to this day.
According to Samaroo, Presbyterian Indians became alienated from their culture as they were taught that they shouldn't bother with their old cultural ways.
He said because their education allowed them to prosper and move away from the plantations, it allowed them to ascend into "a higher echelon of the society" and become an "elite Indian class." 

Teelucksingh said this distinction lessened when Hindu and Muslim schools started to be established in the 20th century, allowing the rest of the Indian population to catch up.
He said it became evident that many converts were actually "temporary Presbyterians," as they went to teach at the new schools with many reverting to their previous religious practices.
The more problematic side-effect, according to Samaroo, was that the Canadian Mission deepened racial divisions on the island. 
He said the creation of divisions was not deliberate or unique to the missionaries but part of the British colonial system of "divide and rule."
"By going to the Indians and speaking in Indian languages and calling churches after Indian names," Samaroo said, "it created antagonism because you didn't have too many Black people in the Presbyterian circle, very few of them ... and that created a kind of ethnic competition, a kind of ethnic antagonism."
Despite the creation of divisions within the Indian community and the wider community, Samaroo believes the Canadian Mission had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the island.
"I think they were the major agencies for the emancipation of the Indians from the plantations to the professions," he said. "And had they not come, I think it would have taken much longer for the Indians to escape the drudgery of the plantation."
Today, four of the most prestigious high schools in Trinidad & Tobago — Naparima College, Naparima Girls' High School, Hillview College and St. Augustine Girls' High School — can trace their roots directly back to the work of missionaries from Nova Scotia.
Source:  Vernon Ramesar · CBC News ·  Dec 28, 2020

The black and white photos are of women of East Indian descent preparing food for some special occasion in the 1950s
There is no immigrant story that comes without some painful recollections. It is a testimony however to the spirit of ALL Trinbagonians, that we have managed to grow beyond recriminations and become a more unified people despite the will of divisive elements such as politicians and pseudo-religious leaders.
It seems odd now in a society that counts doubles as a staple food, and where roti has almost epicurean status in some places, that the derision of the Indo-Trinidadians and their food was once commonplace. One of the first articles I wrote for this newspaper back in 2012, was on the roots of Indo-Trinidadian gastronomy which is anchored firmly in the rations which the labourers received during their contracted residences on the sugar plantations of the island. Though the provisions were sometimes augmented or differed according to the estate, the general issue was as Charles Kingsley described it in 1870:
“Till the last two years the new comers received their wages entirely in money. But it was found better to give them for the first year (and now for the two first years) part payment in daily rations : a pound of rice, 4 oz. of dholl, a kind of pea, an oz. of coco-nut oil, or ghee, and 2 oz. of sugar to each adult ; and half the same to each child between five and ten years old.”
The variations would usually be the addition of a small quantity of saltfish, dried pepper or potatoes. Eked out by provision gardens, often planted with crops brought from India as seeds in the ‘jahaji’ bundles of the labourers, it laid the foundation of a spicy food culture which is as different from anything produced in India today. Those who have dined on authentic Indian dishes will attest to the immense difference from the deliciously creolized creations of Trinidad. Diversification of the Indo-Trinidadian palate came about in the 1880s when many shopkeepers realized what was necessary to attract a clientele from this ethnic group. Wholesalers began to import a variety of spices and curry ground with a ‘sil and loorha’ became more commonplace. Large quantities of ghee, channa (chickpeas). Essentials like mustard oil began to make their appearance at both rural and urban grocers.
Nevertheless, Indo-Trinidadian cooking remained an ‘underground’ scene, unknown to most other ethnic groups and rarely tasted outside of the mud huts where it was prepared unless one was invited as a guest. Tempting talkarees, rotis and meetai (sweets) churned out in the aromatic smoke of an earthen chulha (fireplace) were a well-kept secret, not by dint of cultural isolation alone, but also because of a growing sense of shame and self-loathing. Indo-Trinidadian children who attended government schools or schools operated by denominations other than the Canadian Presbyterian Mission to the Indians (CMI) were ridiculed for the lunches they carried, usually sada roti and some sort of bhagi or talkaree. It inculcated a massive inferiority complex which many carried into adulthood. This is well-remembered by persons today and finds its way into Caribbean literature such as the works of Sir V.S Naipaul and Ismith Khan. Well through the 1930s, Indo-Trinidadian concoctions was looked down upon as ‘hog food’ or fit only for the poorest classes. In a calypso sung by the Roaring Lion, he noted the cheapness of the diet by the chorus:
“Though depression is in Trinidad, maintaining a wife isn’t very hard, Well you need no ham nor biscuit or bread for there are ways they can be easily fed, like the coolies on bargee, pelauri dhal-bat and dhal-pouri , channa, paratha and the aloo-ke-talkaree”
Even doubles at its genesis in the hands of Enamool Deen in Princes Town was viewed as lowly stuff, unfit for consumption by all but rumshop drunks and hungry schoolchildren. In a memoir written by his son, Badru Deen, the struggle to introduce doubles to the urban consumer in San Juan and Port of Spain is well documented. It would be many decades before Trinidad’s most celebrated street food found a place in the national palate. As a fast food, roti was almost non-existent in the towns like Port-of-Spain where it only began to appear in the 1940s during World War II. Roadside roti-stalls were set up with all the necessary utensils, including several coal-pots, churning out dhalpouri with fillings of curried beef (ironic and at once immensely popular), goat, and curried aloo. Chicken a more expensive option. Some rumshops owned by Indians served roti as well.
It is a long and stony road that Indo-Trinidadian cuisine has travelled to gain the universal acceptance it enjoys today.
Source: Virtual Museum of Trinidad & Tobago, Nov. 13, 2020.

To add to his long list of accolades, Slinger “Mighty Sparrow” Francisco will now be immortalised at the Caribbean Wax Museum in Norman Centre, Bridgetown, Barbados.
The life-like depiction of the ‘Jean and Dinah’ singer will be unveiled tomorrow on the premises of The Commercial Credit Division of Consolidated Finance Co. Ltd, Barbados.
The unveiling is a merged effort of the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Barbados, Corporate & Commercial Credit Division of Consolidated Finance Co. Ltd and the Caribbean Wax Museum. ​The Grenadian-born Francisco gained the title “Calypso King” of the world through his music. Since 1956, he has remained the only calypsonian to have won the T&T Calypso Monarch title more than anyone else—eight times. He also took the Road March title on several occasions. Fransisco also took his music to the US, Europe and even Africa.
For his contribution to the cultural and musical landscape of T&T and taking the art form to the world, the 85-year-old was bestowed several honours, including an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies in 1987, the honourary title of Chief of the Yorubas, Chaconia Gold Medal, Order of the Republic of T&T and the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Of this latest honour, Francisco yesterday told Guardian Media it was a very nice thing for the Caribbean Wax Museum to honour him in such a way. He said he was made aware of this five months ago and had no objection to it.
“I have been doing my thing for a very long time. It is good to see this…I wish I could be there to see it,” he said through laughter via a telephone conversation from his US-based home.
Asked whether more needed to be done in T&T honour its creatives, Francisco answered, “I think we should continue doing these things.”
Meanwhile, Trinbago Unified Calypsonian Organisation (TUCO) president Lutalo “Brother” Resistance” Masimba labelled the unveiling as “timely.”
Masimba said given that the honour has come during the celebration of Calypso History Month adds a certain “quality” to the celebration and fitted in nicely with its theme—Calypso Beyond Boundaries and Borders. He said TUCO was very pleased with the recognition of one of the Caribbean’s greatest calypsonians of all times.
In an email interview, directors at the Caribbean Wax Museum said, “As with everywhere else in the world where Caribbean people have settled, the Mighty Sparrow set the standard against which all calypsonians are judged. Barbados’s Mighty Gabby is in many ways a protegee.”
The wax figure of Fransico will join other regional artistes in the soca arena like Barbados’ Alison Hinds and Lil Rick, Barbadian-born US-based R&B singer Rihanna, as well as historical revolutionaries like Che Guevera and Fidel Castro.
Source:  T&T Guardian, Oct 30, 2020