HAVING lived through years of darkness because of cataracts, two 70-year-old grandmothers could not stop smiling and offering thanks after chosen for surgery by a medical team on the USNS Comfort, a US Navy hospital ship.
The ship is anchored near the Brighton Port at La Brea.
Today a team of doctors will begin to prepare grandmother of five Jemina George of Biche.
George smiled as she waited to the board the vessel.
“To me, this is like a dream come true. I am so happy to be chosen and I am excited about being able to see.” George told Newsday.
She said she had given up hope of having her vision restored.
“I think what these people are doing is so nice, and may God continue to bless them. They have made me a happy woman. This is one of the best gifts I have ever received.”
Point Fortin grandmother Shirley Best felt the same. When Newsday boarded the ship, Best was being taken to the surgical area for her second operation.
“I feel great. I had a cataract removed from my right eye here and now I am going to remove the cataract from my left eye.”
Best said she was grateful to the doctors and happy to be selected.
“I can’t wait to return home to see my children and begin to see properly,” she said.
Media personnel were given a tour of the hospital ship and invited into the operating theatre to witness Best's second cataract operation.
The ship's tour captain Charles Cather said in 1987 the ship, a former oil tanker, was converted into a hospital for disaster relief and humanitarian work.
He said the crew was happy to assist citizens and migrants.

“We are here to help when health care systems start to get overrun with higher volumes of patients than expected. We are happy to be here.”
Trinidad-born US Navy sailor Mitchell Julien said it has been nine months since he joined the navy and he has already been to several countries. But even though the visit was brief he was excited to be in TT to visit his family.
The 20-year-old Julien, from Arima, encouraged other young men to remain positive despite any challenges they may face.
“Work hard and do what you have to do. Stay focused and you can make it.”
The Comfort's medical team was expected to treat about 100 patients a day for the next five days.
The international medical professionals on board are expected to provide a wide range of surgery, dental screening and treatment, optometry screening and eyewear distribution, among other services.
The ship is anchored three miles off the port and the mission also has medical clinics on land at different venues, including the National Energy Skills Centre at La Brea and Funsplash at Debe. Source: Newsday, Sept. 6, 2019

​Four million people have fled Venezuela, as the country continues to face economic and political crisis.
40,000 have gone to the small Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago, just seven miles off the coast.
But life isn’t easy for those who arrive, and some locals have made it clear they’re not welcome. The BBC’s Ashley John-Baptiste went to find out more.
In 2018 - more than 35,000 people were forced to flee their homes every day - that's one every two seconds.
This story is part of a BBC News series, called "The Displaced" - a selection of stories exploring the human impact of this movement, and how it is changing our world.
Check back next week, Monday 23rd September, for our next episode in Uganda #TheDisplaced
If you have been affected by these issues in Trinidad or anywhere else in the world and would like to speak to the BBC, email [email protected]

With the ‘bacchanal’ and whimsical beauty of carnival costumes showcased at the West Indian Day Parade celebrations still poignant on the streets in Brooklyn, Michelene Auguste, the Trinidadian model and owner of Dem Vintage, staged a unique sidewalk runway show Tuesday evening just parallel to the bridge in Chinatown.
Michelene said, “A lot of my friends are Caribbean, so they were at all the parties,”  who skipped the annual Labor Day festivities to focus on bringing Dem’s runway ambitions to life. “They were all asking me, ‘Are you coming out?’”
Various designers from Trinidad & Tobago were invited for the show.  Favourite looks from the event, which was held guerilla-style on the sidewalk environment included a billowing, black feathered evening dressing from Claudia Pegus, Anya Ayoung-Chee’s wax-print pants and crop tops, and handmade jewelry from Coco Vintage Jewelry, all of which was mixed and matched with clutch vintage finds from the shop—think Roberto Cavalli animal-print denim from the ’90s and ’80s kitten heels.
​“At first when we were styling the show, we thought that every look was doing a little too much,” Auguste said laughing. “But that’s how I grew up! I wanted to stay true to my culture and show a mix of the NYC-downtown look, and that you can mix these prints in so many ways.” Part of a limited-edition capsule of her own, the hand-painted workwear pants and silk dresses were created with the help of Auguste’s partner, artist Jordan Sullivan.
Beaming with satisfaction from the curb-side front row was Gabrielle Elizabeth Roth, Auguste’s mother who flew in from Trinidad to support her daughter. “From a young child, she showed an interest in fashion,” Roth said. “She was always dressing in my clothes and walking in my shoes.”
The show’s soundtrack, utilised the island sound of the steelpan musician, Kareem Thompson, who frequently pops up at Dem for sidewalk sets. The ‘vibes’ were proudly evident, with models dancing along the impromptu runway. Friends and family were grooving to the rhythms, spilling out onto the streets as they we served delicious coconut rum cocktails.
The entire scene felt closer to a Trinidadian ‘lime’ (local parlance for a hanging out/gathering) than your traditional fashion soirée, where editors and buyers typically rush on to the next event on their jam-packed agendas. With its relaxed pace and convivial energy, Dem injected a spectacular island breeziness within the idea of the show. Source:  IZZS September 2019

​AS TOLD TO BC PIRES
My name is Gary Griffith and I am a St Mary’s/Sandhurst old boy and I’m using all the traits I acquired at those two institutions to try to make TT a better country.
I spent most of my life as an only child in the very boring Valsayn Park, but I (often) ran away to my grandmother’s massive family in Diego Martin to enjoy things that, unfortunately, many people don’t experience in Trinidad now.
Doors were left open and children could walk free.You could go up the hill, pick mangoes, climb over the mountain, come back in the afternoon. Boat-racing in the canal.
Now, young persons, inclusive of my son, have to spend their time behind locked doors and in front of some screen.
I really didn’t need to become commissioner of police. Both my parents died back-to-back about three months before I became (the United National Congress) national security minister.
And they both did pretty well, so I inherited quite a bit.
They were divorced for 25-odd years so it looks like they couldn’t live with each other but, apparently, couldn’t live without each other either.
My father was an old QRC boy and a true Trini. He loved everyone and everybody loved him.
My mother was rigid, meticulous, stringent.I take character traits from both. One day, round the Savannah – I was about 14 – I asked a sno-cone man if he had a valid food badge.
I never get cussed so in my life!
I realised that day I mustn’t use all the traits of my parents!
This country is full of negativity.
In England, if Newcastle is being demoted from the Premiership, there will be 80,000 people in the stands for their last game.
In TT, as soon as we feel we may not qualify, nobody turns up. That is how we are.
Everyone who’s tried to do something for this country – the Brian Laras, the Stern Johns, the Russel Latapys, the Dwight Yorkes, Minshall, Rudder – they’re recognised as role models internationally – but they’re ridiculed at home. The national U-15 football team – little boys just trying to play football – and the country tried to destroy and undermine them.
You can criticise it but you must stand firm with your country.
Who has more problems now than the United States or the United Kingdom? But how many of them attack their own country? In Africa, all over the world – but, in this country, we attack our own.
You may not have voted for a prime minister but he or she still represents YOU! The more you ridicule the prime minister, the more you undermine your own country!
I’ve noticed that the people who know very little about any topic are the ones who speak the most.
I want to tell people: have faith! Believe! Trust!
When it comes to the main problem, crime, people feel the easiest thing to do is to blame the politicians, blame the police.
But when you do that, you’re attacking your own.
We are not the enemy. Trying to demonise us is not helping.
Maybe it’s my military training but I work towards a chain of command of my God, my country and the citizens.
If BC Pires tells me that people say I like to pose with guns for pictures, I ask, “Who wants death threats?”
I don’t need to advertise. If people say, “Gary Griffith loves the camera,” it shows (their own) ignorance. I am just doing what is required.
I see individuals who do that as hypocritical. I don’t go to the media, the media comes to me. So, because of me being accessible, you try to condemn me for it?
I have stepped on many toes. There have been 27 death threats on me and my family from criminal elements in my first year as police commissioner.
Before me, there wasn’t any death threat on any commissioner probably for years. So it means I’m doing something right.
I’ll be turning the screws even harder. So I expect twice as many next year.
In total contrast to what people may think, I have the world of respect for (businessman and social activist)] Kirk Waithe, who has attacked me for (what he apparently worries might be the militarisation of the police force).
I think he has the interests of the country at heart and is just trying to make sure that checks and balances are in place. Kirk Waithe could be an asset towards my intention to clean up this country.
My Sandhurst comrade Raffique Shah has attacked me.
But at least I’m using my military training to try to help the country, not to overthrow it.
The camouflage matter was blown totally out of proportion.
Another unit used camouflage for 22 years. I’m not saying that makes it right, but there was a precedent. One point three million people did not see it as an issue.
The five persons who did had access to the media and continued to pump it. In hindsight, if it hurt those five people so much – and one of those people is BC Pires – I could have held it back for a month.
I have no problem with people who criticise me in a classy manner.
But social media has provided (People’s National Movement) red and (UNC) yellow sycophants with an avenue.
People try to call me a puppet – but this puppet stood firm against (the) government (in which he was a Cabinet minister) against (the programme associated with alleged corruption) Life Sport.
That probably caused him to get fired.
This puppet said state contracts shouldn’t be given to gangs. This puppet was bold enough to clear (controversial parliamentary revelations by now Prime Minister Keith Rowley) E-mailgate and (controversial accusations against then Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar) Plant-like-substance-gate.
So who am I a puppet to?
Well, I am a puppet – but to my God.
People want change, they want the country to become better – but it mustn’t affect them personally.
Don’t come and tell me I can’t drive intoxicated. Why you picking on us? Is because we are the One Per Cent! Why you only arresting us? Is because we are the little black boys!
Go after everybody else but don’t harass me, my people, my race, my community.
Gangs aren’t even involved in robberies much any more, because they’re getting easy money from the State. If you have two pothounds – and I refer to gang members as pothounds – in fact, I take that back: pothounds are very nice animals – if you give two pothounds two plates of food, they’re good.
But if you take away one plate of food, they start attacking one another in the cage!
So be it! The majority – almost 90 per cent – of our homicides involve people engaged in questionable activity.
As much as the lady in the towel cries, “He was a good boy, police too wicked!”
I called gang leaders, “cockroaches” and people were upset, so I wish to apologise: gang leaders are not cockroaches.
Because cockroaches will get into your food, but they do not deliberately try to harm you.
A gang leader is worse than a cockroach.
So I wish to apologise…to the cockroaches!
I might lose some fans with this statement, but I have NEVER eaten doubles in my life.
One day I’ll try to understand why 20 people would stand up in front a wooden box on Sunday morning with curried channa running down their mouth because they just have to eat two more. I just don’t get it.
A Trini is a citizen of the greatest country in the world. Simple as that.
What TT means to me is this: I plan to live for my country.
But I am prepared to die for it.[PHOTOs BY MARK LYNDERSAY]
Source: Newsday TT, August 26, 2019

​Six months before the #MeToo movement went viral in October 2017, women across the Caribbean were united by a feminist anthem celebrating their right to party without being manhandled. During the annual carnivals in Trinidad and Tobago, women danced through the streets in bikinis, singing Calypso Rose’s “Leave Me Alone”: “Boy don’t touch me!/ I there in the party/ Enjoying my body/ With my friends I am happy/ So leave me alone!” 
Their act was political. Local activists said that sexual assaults on women had been tolerated as part of the carnival scene for too long. The previous year Japanese musician Asami Nagakiya was strangled at the Port of Spain carnival. When her bikini-clad body was found in a park the following day, mayor Raymond Tim Kee claimed her clothing had led to her (still unsolved) murder. “The woman has the responsibility to ensure that [she is] not abused.” he told the press. “It’s a matter of, if she was still in her costume – I think that’s what I heard – let your imagination roll.”
Seventy-nine-year old Calypso Rose – delighted to be playing at the Womad festival this week – has no patience with such victim blaming. “Carnival is to be loose! To be free! We have to let everybody know that women should not be walking behind the men any more. Women should be walking in front!” she tells me with a broad smile via a video link from France. “I know it is a scary time. But I am here to tell women: don’t be afraid. Enjoy yourselves!”
Despite a series of heart attacks and one bout of cancer, the calypso queen is still an electrifying performer and engaged interviewee, regularly breaking off an anecdote mid-sentence to lean towards the camera and sing a snatch of one of her 800 songs, big pearls swinging from her ears. 
Calypso Rose was born McCartha Linda Lewis in Tobago in 1940. “We had no electricity and there was no music, no nothing to hear at all,” she tells me. “My dad was a preacher and my mum had 11 living children. I was the fifth. It was a lot for her, and I was adopted at the age of nine by my uncle’s wife and went to live in her big house in Trinidad. Suddenly, I was the only child. My auntie – Miss Robbie – gave me all the love she had. I could sit in peace, suck my fingers and play with my pikkie [short, Afro textured] hair!” Miss Robbie also loved calypso music: a genre descended from the west African “kaiso”, sung by the slaves imported to work on the sugar plantations from the 17th century onwards. Under the guise of jaunty melodies, it was used to mock slave masters and communicate. After the abolition of slavery in 1873, calypso music dominated the annual carnivals celebrated in the days before Lent.
“My auntie, she had all the calypso records,” says Rose. “She would grind up the gramophone and tell me: dance, dance, dance! On Sunday night she’d take me down to the clubs where they would be singing and moving until Monday morning, oh my God it was fantastic! I was on the roof! My auntie would be wearing her shorts and we were all just wiggling the bamsee [bottom] left-right, left-right.”
Rose was just 13 years old when she wrote her first calypso: fighting for justice from the get-go. “In the market one Sunday morning, we saw a guy run up and snatch the glasses from off the eyes of a vendor. We yelled, ‘Thief! Thief Thief!’ Well I went home and wrote ‘Glass Thief’ to warn Tobagonian boys not to be like those naughty Trinidadian boys.” It was the first calypso denouncing sexual inequality. Her second song was inspired by the Can Can dance craze: “I sang about the girls who can can!”
But she was writing and singing against the grain. Women were not welcome on stage in the calypso tents of the 1950s. “When I began entertaining at 15,” she says, “They said: ‘Why are you singing calypso? It does not belong to a woman. Calypso belongs to the men.’ Well, I told them the good Lord has given me the inspiration to create and I will not be like the foolish virgin in the Bible. I will not bury my talent in the soil! I will be jiggy jiving! I fought the battle as a woman and I won.”
Rose came of age as the world began to embrace calypso. In 1956, Harry Belafonte’s album Calypso spent 31 weeks at the top of the Billboard chart, becoming the first album by a solo artist in history to sell more than one million copies. In 1963, Rose became the first woman to win the annual Calypso King competition with a song called “Cooperation”. Four years later, she was on tour in the US with Bob Marley. 
“He was such a spiritual man,” she says. “He never lifted his guitar off the stage without putting his head onto the wall and praying. He loved to dance to my songs.” she says. “We learned a lot from each other… except the smoking. I did not learn that. When he was smoking he would try to reassure me saying: ‘No threaten, no threaten.’ He meant: don’t be afraid. And I am lucky that I have never been afraid. The men have always respected me a great lot.” 
But being barred from the Calypso King contest on gender grounds did cause Rose to quit the scene in the early 1970s. “I went to New York and studied criminology,” she says. “But those steel pans were still playing in my head, they sent me crazy! I kept running from explosives classes to write lyrics in the restroom. And when they changed the title from Calypso King to Calypso Monarch in 1978, I came back for my crown.”
Rose still lives in New York, from where she is proud to support the many waves of female calypsonians to have followed in her wake. “I swung back the door and welcome them in,” she says. “Come in! Come in!” She praises a new generation of young artists such as Nailah Blackman and stresses that they must continue to sing up for the women’s rights that are threatened by the current US administration.
“That Donald Trump does not like nobody, not even himself," she says. "He should shut his mouth up. Put a clip on his tongue. He should listen to my song, ‘Human Race’. Those Mexican children in cages at the border? It is a pain in my heart.”
Featuring no-nonsense lines like “Nobody cannot say this for true/ Who the hell descended from who”, the anti-racist anthem “Human Race” appears, alongside “Leave Me Alone”, on Rose’s 2016 album Far From Home, written with French artist Manu Chao. “Can you believe that I won a French Grammy Award for that record?” she grins. “I’m in Lyon now, on my way to the stage in Barcelona and then your Womad.”
Rose says the thrill of performing has only increased with time: “It’s great to sing, it’s great to see the fans. Especially those young-young boys winding it in front of the stage. Oh my God! I’m still enjoying the music, I’m still enjoying me.”
Source: Independent, July 2019

Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has an­nounced that Trinidad and To­ba­go will as­sist the Ba­hamas with sol­diers, elec­tric­i­ty work­ers and US$500,000.
The prime min­is­ter made the an­nounce­ment at Thurs­day's post-Cab­i­net news con­fer­ence.
Parts of the Ba­hamas have been dec­i­mat­ed by Hur­ri­cane Do­ri­an which hit the is­lands as a pow­er­ful Cat­e­go­ry 5 hur­ri­cane, re­sult­ing in at least 20 deaths.
Dr Row­ley told the me­dia that he has been in touch with the prime min­is­ter of the Ba­hamas, Dr Hurbert Min­nis and that they have dis­cussed what Trinidad and To­ba­go could do for the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (Cari­com) coun­try.
He said 100 mem­bers of the De­fence Force are now prepar­ing to go to the Ba­hamas to as­sist in law and or­der.
With large swaths of the coun­try with­out elec­tric­i­ty, sev­en tech­ni­cal per­son­nel of the Trinidad and To­ba­go Elec­tric­i­ty Com­mis­sion (T&TEC) are al­so be­ing sent to the Ba­hamas.
The prime min­is­ter said that the num­ber will be in­creased once need­ed.
While not­ing that the Ba­hamas is re­ceiv­ing "con­sid­er­able as­sis­tance from US and Cana­da", he said Trinidad and To­ba­go will al­so pro­vide mon­e­tary as­sis­tance to the tune of US$500,000 to as­sist in pay­ing for some ex­pens­es, in­clud­ing med­ical sup­plies.
Two CARI­COM lead­ers touched down in the Ba­hamas Thurs­day morn­ing to hold talks about re­lief ef­forts.
Bar­ba­dos Prime Min­is­ter Mia Mot­t­ley and St Lu­cian Prime Min­is­ter Allen Chas­tanet ar­rived at the Lyn­den Pin­dling In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port in Nas­sau short­ly be­fore 9 am.
Ac­cord­ing to Mot­t­ley's Face­book page, they were greet­ed by sev­er­al Ba­ha­mi­an gov­ern­ment min­is­ters, in­clud­ing Min­is­ter of Tourism Dion­sio D'Ag­u­liar, Min­is­ter of Ed­u­ca­tion Jef­fery Lloyd and Min­is­ter of Trans­port Ren­wood Wills among oth­er dig­ni­taries.
Both prime min­is­ters were ac­com­pa­nied by CARI­COM Sec­re­tary-Gen­er­al Ir­win La Roque and were lat­er whisked away for a closed-door meet­ing with Min­nis at the Na­tion­al Emer­gency Man­age­ment Ad­min­is­tra­tion (NE­MA) of­fice.
The first large re­lief ship ar­rived in the north­west Ba­hamas on Thurs­day morn­ing, with tug­boats fer­ry­ing pal­lets of wa­ter bot­tles, box­es of ce­re­al and 10,000 hot and cold meals from a Roy­al Caribbean cruise ship to bat­tered Freeport.
But with the grim toll still mount­ing, it was clear a lot more help will be need­ed for the once lush Grand Ba­hama and the neigh­bour­ing Aba­co Is­lands.
Source: Guardian, September 10, 2019

​“The leaves of the chadon beni is rich in iron, carotene, riboflavin, and calcium, and are an excellent source of vitamin A,B, C. This herb also has medicinal properties. The leaves of the plant is a good remedy for high blood pressure, and epilepsy. In some Caribbean countries it is called fitweed because of its anti-convulsant properties. It is a stimulant and has anti-inflamatory and analgestic properties. As a matter of fact, the whole plant could be used to cure headache, diarrhea, flu, fever, vomiting, colds, malaria, constipation, and pneumonia.”

An item from May, 2019.
​Trinidad and Tobago author Samuel Selvon was honoured with his very own Google Doodle on his birthday, May 20, 2018.
Selvon grew up in South Trinidad and migrated to the UK in the 1950s alongside the Windrush generation, where he wrote iconic books such as 'A Brighter Sun' and 'The Lonely Londoners'. 
Selvon, who passed away in 1994, is the first Trinbagonian writer to be given a Google Doodle. 
Google said Sunday's Google Doodle by guest artist Jayesh Sivan "depicts Selvon and other members of the Caribbean migrant community set against the backdrop of London, which served as the inspiration and setting for much of his works".

Novelist, poet, and playwright, Sam Selvon started writing during his spare time while working in the oilfields, serving in the Royal Naval reserve, and writing for newspapers and literary magazines.
In his early twenties, he wrote and published several short stories and poems in his native Trinidad. However, it was his move to England in 1950 which set the stage for his career to blossom.
Drawing from his personal experiences as an immigrant, Selvon published his pioneering novel “The Lonely Londoners” in 1956. In it, he gave the unique Caribbean creolised English, or "nation language", a narrative voice of its own on an international stage.
“The Lonely Londoners” was later followed by two more London-based novels: “Moses Ascending” (1975) and “Moses Migrating” (1983), both of which continued the saga of Caribbean immigrants and their experiences in London.  Source: The Loop, May 2019

Ingredients
table salt
1/2 pound elbow macaroni (about 2 cups uncooked pasta)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 pounds ground beef (85% lean)
2 medium onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chilli powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
12 oz Colby Jack cheese, shredded (about 2 1/2 cups) (or cheese of your choice)
Directions 
1.Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Bring 4 quarts water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon salt and add dry macaroni; cook until al dente. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water and drain pasta. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.

3. Using the same large pot, wipe dry and heat over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon oil and heat until shimmering. Add ground beef and break it up in pieces to brown. Once browned, remove from pot and discard drippings. Set beef aside.

3. Add remaining oil to the same large pot and return to medium heat until shimmering. Add onions, garlic, red pepper, chilli powder, and cumin; cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are softened and begin to brown. 

4. Add the crushed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, brown sugar, reserved 3/4 cup pasta water and beef to the pot. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until flavours have blended.

5. Stir in the cooked pasta, 1/2 cup of shredded cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer mixture to a 9x13 baking dish and smooth over with a spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the mixture is hot and bubbling.

6. Remove from oven and sprinkle the top of the dish with the remaining shredded cheese. Return the dish once again in the oven and bake for 5-10 minutes until the cheese begins to melt and brown. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Source: The Loop, August 2019