Some 130 res­i­dents of Fyz­abad were af­fect­ed af­ter flood wa­ters gushed in­to their prop­er­ties and homes yes­ter­day.
Fed up of this sit­u­a­tion, res­i­dents and Fyz­abad MP Lack­ram Bo­doe called on the au­thor­i­ties to fix the four of sev­en sluice gates which have been non-func­tion­al for sev­er­al years.
The ar­eas af­fect­ed were St John Trace, Av­o­cat, Ack­bar Trace and Chat­ter Av­enue.
Res­i­dent Rod­ney Ramjit, who owns a fur­ni­ture fac­to­ry at St John’s Trace, es­ti­mat­ed his loss­es to be more than $75,000.
He said, “The flood come up so fast I did not get time to move out every­thing. We save some things, but I lost a lot of fab­ric, foam and ma­te­ri­als.”
He said it be­gan rain­ing heav­i­ly on yes­ter­day morn­ing and by 4 pm the riv­er had burst its banks and the flood wa­ters start­ed to rise. He called on the Gov­ern­ment to dredge the riv­er and fix the flood­gates.
“The main prob­lem is that sev­en years now this riv­er not clean and then four flood­gates not work­ing. And that is the main prob­lem caus­ing this flood,” Ramjit said.
“We con­stant­ly com­plain­ing about it to the Min­istry of Works but they do­ing ab­solute­ly noth­ing. The min­is­ter came and looked at it at the be­gin­ning of the year, but noth­ing was done. I fed up of this thing. I have a busi­ness and I los­ing a lot of mon­ey.”
When the T&T Guardian called him lat­er on in the day, he said the flood wa­ters had risen again.
“Look the wa­ter com­ing up again. I have to call for help,” Ramjit said.
Bo­doe and his staff were yes­ter­day out in the floods ren­der­ing as­sis­tance to the res­i­dents and dis­trib­ut­ing wa­ter and food sup­plies. He ex­pressed con­cern about “gov­ern­ment’s re­luc­tance” to re­pair the sluice gates at St John Trace.
“As a re­sult of this the flood wa­ter, flow to the Godineau Riv­er and Gulf of Paria has been de­layed. I call on the Min­is­ter of Works again to ef­fect re­pairs to those sluice gates.”
Bo­doe al­so com­plained that he had re­ceived no help from the gov­ern­ment agen­cies.
“So far, it’s just my staff and some mem­bers of the com­mu­ni­ty who have been ren­der­ing help. The res­i­dents are in­di­cat­ing that the wa­ter is still ris­ing and they are a lit­tle bit fear­ful about what will hap­pen,” Bo­doe said, adding he and his staff will be out in the field to­day again ren­der­ing aid.
The Fyz­abad An­gli­can Sec­ondary School was closed yes­ter­day.
The Min­istry of Ed­u­ca­tion al­so said the North Oropouche Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry, North Oropouche RC and Debe Hin­du SDMS Pri­ma­ry School were closed as a re­sult of the de­te­ri­o­rat­ing weath­er.
“There were al­so ear­ly dis­missals for sev­er­al oth­er pri­ma­ry and sec­ondary schools and Ear­ly Child­hood Care and Ed­u­ca­tion (EC­CE) Cen­tres be­cause stu­dents and teach­ers were not able to ac­cess the school com­pound due to flood­ing in the com­mu­ni­ties,” the min­istry added.
The Pe­nal Quinam Gov­ern­ment Pri­ma­ry School was opened as an emer­gency shel­ter for res­i­dents of Pe­nal/Debe and Bar­rack­pore who were hard hit by the floods.
​Source:  Guardian

This beautiful song celebrating the 50th anniversary of Barbados in 2016.  A couple of years old but still very nice.

In an unusually very high voter-turnout in midterm elections in the United States that observers say illustrates strong opposition to President Donald J. Trump, several Caribbean Democratic candidates in New York romped to victory Tuesday night with overwhelming majorities.
Uninterrupted rain throughout Tuesday and problems with the voting machines did not prevent voters from casting ballots in an era of Trumpism.
According to New York State Board of Elections results, popular Caribbean American Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, won in a landslide, garnering 167,199 votes, or 87.59 percent, to her Republican Haitian-born challenger, Lutch Gayot, who received 10,336 votes, or 10.13 percent.
Clarke, who represents the 9th Congressional District in Brooklyn, noted that her victory came on the 50th anniversary of the first Caribbean American woman, Shirley Chisholm, to run for the United States Congress.
The late Chisholm, whose mother was Barbadian and father Guyanese, was also the first Black woman to run for the US Congress. She had represented the then 11th Congressional District in Brooklyn.
“I’ve demonstrated to the people of this district (9th Congressional) that I am committed to them,” Clarke told Caribbean Life Tuesday night.
“But I still have more work to do in the era of Trump — that this district has opportunities to sustain itself, that we use voter-strength to push for the goals of my community,” she added.
With the Democratic Party regaining the US House of Representatives, Clarke, a senior member of the House Energy Committee, said she will be in a better position to help her constituents.
“The victory will help to invest in infrastructure, health care, among a host of other things,” she said.
In the New York State Senate, Democratic Senator Roxanne Persaud, a Guyanese-born immigrant, regained her seat in a landslide in the 19th Senatorial District in Brooklyn.
Persaud received 64,940 votes, or 86,90 percent, to her Republican challenger, Jeffrey Ferretti, who received 7, 419 votes, or 9.93 percent.
“By winning the seat, we can continue doing what we’re doing,” Persaud told Caribbean Life Tuesday night at the Democratic Party Club headquarters in the Canarsie, Brooklyn. “I’m not focusing on one group of people. When you do that, you’re polarizing people.
“I do a lot of social issues in my community — foster care, senior care, etc.,” Persaud added.
For just the third time in 50 years, the Democratic Party gained control of the New York State Senate Tuesday night in what pundits said was a clear repudiation of Trump’s policies.


In the 20th Senatorial District in Brooklyn, Zellnor Myrie, a young lawyer of Costa Rican parentage and Jamaican-born grandmother, defeated the incumbent Jesse Hamilton, who ran for the Independent Party. Democrat Myrie had trounced Hamilton in the Democratic Primary.
In Tuesday’s midterm, elections, Myrie received 67, 803 votes, or 88.06 percent, to Hamilton’s 5, 327 votes, or 6.92 percent.
In New York State Assembly, Caribbean Democratic candidates were also triumphant.
Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, who represents the 42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn, handsomely beat two challengers.
Bichotte garnered 26, 817 votes, or 87.66 percent; Republican Matthew Williams received 2,173 votes, or 7.10 percent; and Jamaican Anthony Beckford, of the Green Party, received 631 votes, or 2.00 percent.
“I feel good!” Bichotte exclaimed on Election Night. “I think, throughout the whole year, I’ve been working hard to fill all corners of my constituen­cy.”
Bichotte’s Assembly Democratic colleague, Diana Richardson, the daughter of St. Martin and Aruban immigrants, was unchallenged in the 43rd Assembly District in Brooklyn. Richardson received 33,345 votes, or 92.94 percent.
In her first bid for elective office, Haitian Dr. Mathylde Frontas, a Columbia University professor, was victorious in the 46th Assembly District in Brooklyn.
In a four-way race, Democrat Frontas received 14, 750 votes, or 51.84 percent; Republican Steven Saperstein received 11, 823 votes, or 41.55 percent; Ethan Lustig-Elgrably, of the Working Families Party, received 421 votes, or 1.48 percent; and Patrick Dwyer, of the Green Party, received 284 votes, or 1.00 percent.
Trinidadian Jaime Williams was overwhelmingly re-elected in the 59th Assembly District in Brooklyn. Democrat Williams received 26, 229 votes, or 77.69 percent, to Republican Brandon Washington’s 6,306 votes, or 18.67 percent.
Source:  Caribbean Life, Nov. 2018

THE GIRLS have done it again.
THE President medal winners for 2018 are Sadhana Balladin of St Joseph’s Convent, San Fernando and Amrita Singh of Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College.4 

They were among the pupils of girls high schools who took the lions’ share of 376 national scholarships in 2018.
The list was announced by Ministry of Education Anthony Garcia on Thursday at the ministry’s office in Port of Spain, live on social media.
The schools which took the most scholarships was St Joseph’s Convent in Port of Spain (41), St Augustine Girls’ High School (34), Naparima Girls’ High School (31), Lakshmi Girls’ High School (24) and St Joseph’s Convent (18) in San Fernando.
The tops boys’ schools which were awarded scholarships were Hillview (35), Naparima Boys’ College (31), Presentation College Chaguanas (19), and Presentation College San Fernando (18)


Also awarded scholarships were - Couva East Secondary school (four), Debe Secondary School (one), St Francois Girls’ College (one), St George’s College (one).
Garcia identified St George’s College and Queen’s Royal College (QRC) as two schools which “normally do very well” but did not this year.
“QRC is not among the schools which have been awarded scholarships but I am sure that in the future they are going to improve. It has been a school that has been one of the bastions of academic excellence in the past. These things happen. Sometimes we have a year does not do too well but I am sure that the principal and students are going to step up to the plate next year and when these scholarships are being awarded they will be among those. Some schools that did exceptionally well for example St Joseph’s Convent, Port of Spain”, said Garcia.


He said overall that “most of our students have done well”.
Garcia said: “While we glorify and we are very happy with the performance of our students and we are very happy to know that we can award substantial number of scholarships, Cabinet was also very concerned about the apparent imbalance in terms of the number of scholarships that are awarded in particular areas of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. In Natural Sciences 188 scholarships were awarded and Mathematics 103 students received scholarships.
Garcia said that Cabinet decided to appoint an Inter-Ministerial committee that will do an in-depth analysis of the award of scholarships. In future scholarships should be closely tied to our developmental needs.
“In other words there are some areas to the continued development of our country and every opportunity should be given to our students so that they can do further work in these areas and this can assist us in the development of our country", he said.

Beverley Ramsey–Moore has been voted as the new president of Pan Trinbago.
Mrs Ramsey-Moore, current manager of Petrotrin Kat-zen-jammers Steel Orchestra, received 116 votes to beat out the other 7 candidates at the organisation’s internal elections on Sunday.
She replaces embattled incumbent Keith Diaz and has become the first woman to be in charge of the national pan body.
Ramsey-Moore contested the Pan Trinbago elections under the Team-Rebuild banner.
Mrs Ramsey Moore said her first order of business will be to review Pan Trinbago’s constitution with a particular focus on separating the powers of the executive and administrative arms of the organisation.
Former Port of Spain mayor Keron Valentine finished second with 54 votes.
Other candidates included Darren Sheppard, Keith Byer, Thecla Forde-Rodriguez, Vernon Morancie and businessmen Lawford Duprey and Robert Amar.
Source:  102FM

Less than a week af­ter say­ing a fi­nal farewell to Win­ston “Mighty Shad­ow” Bai­ley, the ca­lyp­so fra­ter­ni­ty is mourn­ing the death of an­oth­er vet­er­an ca­lyp­son­ian in Win­ston ‘The Orig­i­nal De Fos­to Him­self’ Scar­bor­ough.
Scar­bor­ough, one of this coun­try’s most pro­lif­ic ca­lyp­so com­posers and en­ter­tain­ers, suf­fered a heart at­tack this morn­ing. He was 64. He had been bat­tling heart dis­ease and was hos­pi­talised sev­er­al times in re­cent months due to the con­di­tion.
De Fos­to’s last pub­lic ap­pear­ance was at the fu­ner­al of fel­low ca­lyp­son­ian Win­ston “Mighty Shad­ow” Bai­ley on Tues­day at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah and had even joined oth­er mem­bers of the fra­ter­ni­ty in a mu­si­cal trib­ute at the end of the ser­vice.
De Fos­to was aban­doned as a ba­by and grew up in the Tacarigua Or­phan­age. It was there, very ear­ly on, that his mu­si­cal tal­ents were dis­cov­ered and nur­tured. Even­tu­al­ly, he learned to read and score mu­sic.
He made his pro­fes­sion­al singing début in 1976 with Chicks Come Out to Play and over the years had com­posed and per­formed many pop­u­lar ca­lyp­soes, in­clud­ing ones spe­cial­ly writ­ten for the steel­band. Four Lara Four, co-writ­ten with the late Mer­chant, was played by the 1995 Na­tion­al Panora­ma win­ner, Amo­co Rene­gades.
Oth­er Panora­ma hits writ­ten by De Fos­to in­clude Firestorm and Pan Lamen­ta­tion, which helped Trinidad All Stars win the ti­tles in 2002 and 2007, re­spec­tive­ly and Pan­do­ra and War which helped Ex­o­dus Steel Or­ches­tra score back-to-back vic­to­ries in 2003 and 2004.
De­Fos­to nev­er won the Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Monarch but came close on more than one oc­ca­sion. In 2000, he placed sec­ond with Pan Forever­more and One More Kitch­en­er and in 2007 with Po­lice Mon­ey. De Fos­to al­so placed third in 2010 with In A Palace State of Mind. Source:  Stabrock News

​Any­one from T&T who has dined on au­then­tic In­di­an dish­es, im­me­di­ate­ly re­alis­es that In­do-Trinida­di­an cook­ing is a Caribbean ex­pe­ri­ence all on its own and owes as much to its evo­lu­tion in the west as its ori­gins in the east. Short­ly af­ter the ar­rival of In­di­an In­den­tured Im­mi­grants as a source of cheap, re­li­able labour, Trinidad's Colo­nial Gov­ern­ment, un­der Lord Har­ris (1846-54), re­alised that the new­com­ers had by ne­ces­si­ty, to be fed on food that they were ac­cus­tomed to in In­dia or else they would suf­fer mal­nu­tri­tion.
Thus, large quan­ti­ties of food­stuff be­gan ar­riv­ing in the colony. Pad­dy rice (Trinidad was al­ready fa­mil­iar with cre­ole hill rice or red rice, grown by ex-Amer­i­can black sol­diers of the Com­pa­ny Vil­lages), split peas (dhal), ghee, and cur­ry spices, all orig­i­nal­ly sourced ex­clu­sive­ly for the In­di­ans, be­gan to find their way in­to shops and soon formed a foun­da­tion­al part of the na­tion­al cui­sine.
For new In­do-Trinida­di­ans, the com­mis­sary of their as­signed es­tates was sup­posed to sup­ply them with food ra­tions and cloth­ing for the first year of their five-year con­tract. This manda­to­ry reg­u­la­tion was of­ten ig­nored, and some un­scrupu­lous planters even de­duct­ed the cost of the ra­tions from the pit­tance paid to the In­di­ans. Strict­ly speak­ing, the stan­dard al­lowance was as fol­lowed: For every male over 18 years of age per month: 45lbs of rice, 9lbs dhal, 1/4 gal­lon ghee or co­conut oil, 1 1/2 lbs salt, 6 lbs salt­-fish, 2 lbs onions and chill­i­est. Women and chil­dren re­ceived half the ra­tions of men.
At the de­pot for in­com­ing In­di­ans (up to 1917) at Nel­son Is­land, pro­vi­sions for the tran­sients con­sist­ed of rice, pump­kin, fresh­ly-slaugh­tered mut­ton, and cha­p­at­tis. Most es­tates al­lowed the In­di­ans pro­vi­sion grounds to sup­ple­ment the ra­tions. Where gar­den plots were al­lot­ted, and on small home­steads af­ter their con­tracts ex­pired, the im­mi­grants grew an abun­dance of food, which by the 1880s had made them the pri­ma­ry source of veg­eta­bles, root crops and milk in the is­land.
Man­goes were a key in­gre­di­ent, orig­i­nat­ing of course in In­dia, as were sev­er­al va­ri­eties of squash, in­clud­ing jhingee and lowkie. By in­fus­ing the bare in­gre­di­ents of the com­mis­sari­at is­sue with cur­ry and adding the boun­ty of the veg­etable gar­dens, whole­some talka­rees were cre­at­ed.
These were large­ly en­joyed on­ly by the In­do-Trinida­di­an com­mu­ni­ty as good, hearty peas­ant fare un­til the ad­vent of the roti-shop in the 1940s. With the com­ing of thou­sands of Amer­i­can sol­diers to the army and air­- force bases on the is­land, roti and cur­ry found a new and en­thu­si­as­tic con­nois­seur.
Per­haps the great­est ex­am­ple of cul­tur­al fu­sion and the flag­ship of In­do-Trinida­di­an food is the ubiq­ui­tous dou­bles, which was born in the 1940s when an en­ter­pris­ing ven­dor named Mr Ali com­bined cur­ried chick­peas (chan­na) with two fried dough slices (bara) and gave Trinidad and To­ba­go its sta­ple fast food.
To­day, roti, dou­bles and oth­er In­do-Tri­ni fare has spread to Eu­rope and Amer­i­ca through the di­as­po­ra, and re­mains as wild­ly pop­u­lar as ever.
Source:  Virtual Museum of T&T 2012

St Joseph's Convent Port-of-Spain has topped all schools for national scholarships. with a whopping 41, which includes 24 open and 17 additional.
The full list of scholarships-by-school, was released by the Ministry of Education today.
Hillview College was second best with 35 scholarships and St Augustine Girls High School, third with 34.
Couva East Secondary was the top government school with four scholarships.