A very short story

Man driving down road. Woman driving up same road. They pass each other. Woman yells out window, PIG!   
Man yells out window, BITCH!   
Man rounds next curve. Man crashes into a huge PIG in middle of road and dies.  
Thought For the Day: If men would just listen... 

-courtesy of Ruby Martin and Ofe Polack :)
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Winston Chung Fah on the mend

Message from Neville Hoo in Fort Lauderdale:

Winston is taking a few steps now & is also doing exercises for his hands to gain mobility in them.
Please remember him in your prayers.
‬

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Jamaican 'moron' twins fight Canada deportation

Total morons - giving their poor Mom a heart attack! - J


Jamaica Observer | Thursday, July 21, 2011

TWO 19-year-old Jamaican-born but Toronto-raised twins face deportation from Canada after robbing a grocery store of CA$30 and 16 packs of cigarettes, reports the Toronto Star.

Keshawn and Dushane Edwards have been in custody in London, Ontario since August last year for robbing the store in Pond Mills with an unnamed young offender, who has been sentenced.

The twins assaulted and also robbed the store manager who described them as "utter morons" and asked that they receive the maximum sentence possible. The prosecution is seeking at least two years.

Meantime, their mother has suffered a heart attack.

They face being immediately deported to Jamaica unless they can raise their immigration bail money in time. They have been granted one final adjournment to August 18.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Jamaican--moron--twins-fight-Canada-deportation#ixzz1SnOV3XIo
Jamaican 'moron' twins fight Canada deportation

10 Tactics for Managing Your Career

By Sandra J. Bishop, President, Executive Solutions

Here is my 10 point plan to help you stay ahead of the game:

1. Take Your Career Temperature
- Have you developed any new skills this year, especially computer skills?

- Are you willing to step outside of your comfort zone, take a lateral move in your company and learn a new part of the business?

- Have you become a real problem solver?

- Have you saved your company any money lately?

- Do you read the current literature from your industry and share it with your team?

- Can you or have you discovered an unmet need in your company and volunteered to fill it?

- Do you know what your colleagues and customers think of you?

- Are you aware of who your major competitors are and how they're doing?

- Are you developing your project management skills?

2. Create a Two-Year Vision for Your Career
Make it fluid enough to adapt to today's economic reality. Write down your goals and objectives to clarify it. The thinking and writing processes will help you feel secure about your future.

3. Devise a Plan B
Have a backup plan in anticipation of a possible job loss. Start saving more money. Three to six months of expenses should be your savings goal.

4. Build Your "Personal Brand"
The personal branding process identifies your strengths, skills, expertise, management style and unique characteristics, and packages them into powerful identity, distinguishing you from your competition. The core of your personal brand is based on authenticity. Your personal brand influences how people perceive you, engenders trust, and encourages your company to promote you or your competitors to hire you. It also serves as a foundation for becoming a successful and effective free agent.

5. Build and Nurture a Strong Effective Network of Friends and Professional Business Colleagues
Make a list of names and keep contact information current. Include former colleagues, friends, classmates, neighbors and acquaintances from church, the gym, etc. Contact each person monthly - one contact a day. Keep it simple. A two sentence email or a quick phone message. As you network, give freely of yourself, especially to those who are in a tough spot. It will come back to you in spades when you're in a similar position.

6. Figure Out the Informal Power Base in Your Company
Make every effort to know and build solid relationships with the people who use their informal power - executive assistants, human resource personnel, finance staff - and those who have been in the company many years.

7. Identify Experts in Your Industry and Try to Get to Know Them
Create ways to meet them. Volunteer to participate in one of their more challenging projects, or write a note commenting on an article or book that this national expert has written. Find out which professional organizations these experts belong to and join if possible.

8. Determine Which Professional Organization Is the Most Prestigious in Your Industry and Join if Possible
Review the admission requirements. If you can't afford to join, go to your boss and make a case for your membership. Explain how it can help the entire team if you participate in the organization and offer to share what you've learned with your teammates.

9. Compose a Two-Minute Commercial About Yourself
Briefly define who you are, what you do, your work history, successes, professional strengths, skills, unique characteristics and what your objective is. Compose it and rehearse it until you are blue in the face, especially if you are looking for a new position or new client. Be prepared to share it with anyone at anytime. It's a great way to market yourself!

10. Construct a Cutting-Edge Resume and Keep It Current
Whenever possible, a) quantify your accomplishments using a number, dollar amount or percentage, b) cite examples of how you saved the company money, and c) stress your problem-solving abilities. Update the resume with your accomplishments every few months.


Sandra J. Bishop is president and founder of Executive Solutions in Chicago. Bishop is an executive coach, career strategist and outplacement counselor working with individuals, corporations, small businesses and entrepreneurs. She appears regularly on WGN Morning News in Chicago giving coaching advice. Email her or call 312-654-8689.

Khajeel Mais to be buried today - News - Go-Jamaica

Barbara Gloudon wrote that Khajeel was the grand-nephew of the late great Prof Barry Chevannes.

Khajeel Mais to be buried today - News - Go-Jamaica

Dog health tip!

From Karlene Craig:

Wash water and feed bowls every time you use them, do not leave feed down remove all scraps and wash feed bowl...leptospirosis spreads through rat urine on feed bowls also through direct bites. Rats that have been poisoned will come looking for water . Make sure your dogs boosters are up to date and if in doubt go to your vet. Lepto spreads on contact.
This is important information.


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Is Jamaica really the fifth worst economy in the world? - Poppycock!

BY AL EDWARDS

Caribbean Business Observer | Friday, July 08, 2011

THE country was aghast at the pronouncement by the esteemed and renowned bible of financial journalism, Forbes Magazine, that Jamaica comes in as the fifth worst economy in the world. The local media wasted no time in broadcasting the solemn news with people proclaiming 'It has to be true if it is in Forbes.'

But Forbes is no longer the bastion it once was. In recent times it has become beset by dwindling readership and falling advertising and now takes on a more populist approach in an effort to garner revenues.

THE country was aghast at the pronouncement by the esteemed and renowned bible of financial journalism, Forbes Magazine, that Jamaica comes in as the fifth worst economy in the world. The local media wasted no time in broadcasting the solemn news with people proclaiming 'It has to be true if it is in Forbes.'

But Forbes is no longer the bastion it once was. In recent times it has become beset by dwindling readership and falling advertising and now takes on a more populist approach in an effort to garner revenues.

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Is-Jamaica-really-the-fifth-worst-economy-in-the-world--Poppycock-_9162965#ixzz1RfoDn6S4

Jamaica - first and only!

Jamaica is the first and only country to have all 100m sprint titles for all ages and all levels in males at once.

We now have
- the Gold Medal in the World Youth Olympics (Odeen Skeene)
- the World Youth Championships (Odail Todd)
- the World Junior Championships (Dexter Lee)
- the Commonwealth Games (Lerone Clarke),
- the World Championships (Usain Bolt)
- the Olympics (Usain Bolt).

Jamaica is the first and only country to ever achieve this!

To the Worrrrld!

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Missing Margarietta St Juste

Margarietta St Juste collects her prize for the best Jamaican outfit at the 2006 PROComm Party

Missing Margarietta St Juste

I first met Margarietta St Juste at the Tourist Board in the 70s, accompanying Merrick Needham for a Carifesta planning meeting. The scene: a strict Merrick pronouncing instructions, and Margarietta planting little kisses on his head! Her legacy of warmth and good humour is secure in her beloved sons Brian and Francois. We mourn with them even as we give thanks that we shared happy moments with this truly beautiful soul. We miss you, Margarietta.

OMG - CRV drives INTO Lee's!

Happened in Tropical Plaza, HWT at about 11am!

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Garvey's inscribed photo benefits speculator

— Photograph courtesy of Sotheby's

Sent by Rob Mullally -
San Diego City Lights News

Bidders Check Out Copley's Library

By Jeanne Schinto | Published Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Bidders at the fourth and final auction of the now-defunct James S. Copley Library, held at Sotheby's in New York City on May 20, did what they had done at the previous three sales. They paid big money for a few choice items, underpaid for others, and sat on their hands for far too much of the rest.

... 13 others achieved comparably minimal amounts. Among the lowest priced, at $1250, was a signed and inscribed portrait of Marcus Garvey, the Black Nationalist and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Its buyer was a dealer, who quickly doubled his money by selling it to another dealer. But then that dealer consigned it to an auction of African-Americana at Swann Galleries in New York. At that sale, it sold for $31,200 — a gain of $28,700 (minus Swann's commission) for the savvy second dealer.

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Jackfruit and Naseberry :)

Where else in the world could I get such a beautiful breakfast - Jamaican fruit topped with yogurt, honey and cinnamon!
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Denis O'Brien decorated by the President Martelly

Report from Haiti Libre website (click title above to link)

Haiti's President Michel Martelly, decorated Tuesday at the National Palace, the Chairman of the company Digicel, Denis O'Brien, for his dynamic involvement in the social and his contribution in the development of telecommunications in the country.

In his speech for the occasion, the Head of State declared : "This distinction reflects my personal appreciation and that of the Nation for what you and your company have achieved in Haiti. Not only has Digicel become a key partner of our telecommunications sector but also it has embarked on unprecedented social investments in the country, art, education or sport, have had to benefit from the attentions of your team in the different departments of country.

"When the January 2010 earthquake shook not only Earth, but all the Haitian families, your company has proven to be a model of solidarity for our customers and also for all citizens affected [...] We will never forget, that thanks to Digicel, one of the jewels of the architecture of Port-au-Prince: "the Market Hyppolite" commonly known - Iron Market - has been restored. We will not forget, the establishment of a rehabilitation program of 50 schools affected by the earthquake.

"It is all your efforts and those of your company, that we intend to salute by the decoration that you have awarded. Decoration, the citation for which I quote, 'for his dynamic collaboration to the promotion of investment in Haiti and his contributions to the development of telecommunications in the country' eloquently expresses the feelings of the Haitian people to your person.

Mr. O'Brien, Chairman of Digicel, thank you for all that you have given us and I invite you to continue on this way of active solidarity that honours you."

Graphic Images to Deter Smokers

NY TImes | June 21, 2011
U.S. Releases Graphic Images to Deter Smokers
By DUFF WILSON

Federal health officials released on Tuesday their final selection of nine graphic warning labels to cover the top half of cigarette packages beginning next year, over the opposition of tobacco manufacturers.

In the first major change to warning labels in more than a quarter-century, the graphic images will include photos of horribly damaged teeth and lungs and a man exhaling smoke through a tracheotomy opening in his neck. The Department of Health and Human Services selected nine color images among 36 proposed to accompany larger text warnings.

Health advocacy groups praised the government plan in the hope that images would shock and deter new smokers and motivate existing smokers to quit. The images are to cover the upper half of the front and back of cigarette packages produced after September 2012, as well as 20 percent of the space in cigarette advertisements.

“These labels are frank, honest and powerful depictions of the health risks of smoking, and they will help encourage smokers to quit, and prevent children from smoking,” Kathleen Sebelius, the secretary of health and human services, said Tuesday in a statement.

The four leading tobacco companies were all threatening legal action, saying the images would unfairly hurt their property and free-speech rights by obscuring their brand names in retail displays, demonizing the companies and stigmatizing smokers.

The government won one case last year in a federal court in Kentucky on its overall ability to require larger warning labels with images; the specific images released Tuesday are likely to stir further legal action. The Kentucky case is before the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

The new labels were required under landmark antismoking legislation giving the Food and Drug Administration power to regulate, but not ban, tobacco products. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act required F.D.A. action on the graphic warning labels by Wednesday, two years after President Obama signed it into law.

The United States was the first nation to require a health warning on cigarette packages 45 years ago. Since then, at least 39 other nations, including Canada and many in Europe, have imposed more eye-catching warnings, including graphic photos.

Click on title to read more

CNN: Rape in wartime: Listening to the victims

By Ashley Fantz, CNN
June 23, 2011 11:58 a.m. EDT

Editor's Note: This is the first of two stories focusing on rape as a tool of war. The second story, being published tomorrow, looks at the untold stories of rape in the Holocaust. Both stories contain graphic language; discretion is advised.

(CNN) -- It began as a headache. Then her throat started to feel tight. A dull pain welled in her chest and her joints ached.

But Victoria Sanford continued to do the interviews. Even in the middle of the night, the women in Guatemala always managed to find her, the "gringa" they heard had come to listen to them.

It was the early 1990s, years before the international community would formally recognize the Guatemalan government's role in the systematic rape of its Mayan women, and decades before the current Arab uprisings would once again remind the world of the brutal effectiveness of rape as a weapon of war.

Sanford was then in her early 30s and pursuing an anthropology doctorate at Stanford University. A Spanish speaker who had worked with Central American refugees, she befriended the few Mayans who had moved to California.

Click on title to read full story.

What Greece can learn from Jamaica

Gleaner | May 02 2010 by Dr Adrian Stokes, Guest Writer
astokes@scotiadbg.com

Several months ago, a yawning fiscal deficit, spiralling financing costs, and a closed capital market threatened a full-blooded economic disaster in Jamaica.

A number of rating downgrades, coupled with a very unstable currency, added to the frustration of Jamaicans. The country needed a game-changing event since the often-adopted muddle-through option was no longer available or applicable to a very bad economic backdrop.

Taking the bull by the horns, the Jamaican economy took its first stride on its path to emerge from its fiscal woes. The game-changing event was for holders of locally issued Jamaican assets to agree to a coupon 'hair cut' and maturity extension of their bond holdings - the Jamaica Debt Exchange (JDX).

Stupid, you may say, or totally patriotic, depending on your perspective of the actions of the bond holders. However, investors realised that the solvency of the Jamaican state was at risk, and a bitter economic crisis was about to unfold.

Jamaican investors recognised that the State needed breathing room to implement far-reaching reform to the Jamaican economy.

In return, the Government promised to be fiscally prudent and not to spend our money in a way that would call on our children to shoulder the burden.

Of course, Jamaica's history of fiscal profligacy meant that investors take with a grain of salt what policymakers often have to say. To seal the deal, or to remove, technically speaking, the dynamic inconsistency problem, investors - including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) - asked for a binding commitment.

We really hope that binding commitment will come by way of a well-crafted fiscal responsibility law that can only be amended by a qualified majority in Parliament.

Why does Greece look so similar to Jamaica? Well, the simple answer is that a Herculean effort is needed in both countries to stem financial meltdown. In the case of Jamaica, some of that effort has been seen with the strength of the overwhelming support of the JDX by local investors.

Greece will need major action on the fiscal front to address solvency issues.

Bulging fiscal deficit

Even Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou would admit that his country has a credibility problem when it comes to past fiscal indiscretions. The European Union (EU) estimates that Greece's fiscal deficit finished last fiscal year at 13.6 per cent instead of the 12.9 per cent originally targeted, due mainly, we suspect, to rising interest cost on the debt and weak revenue flow.

The debt-to-GDP ratio for Greece is running above 100 per cent and it is scheduled to go even higher with the bulging fiscal deficit. The market, just like it did with Jamaica, has lost faith in the Greek government's ability to pull the country back from a financial disaster, hence, the SOS by the Greek Prime Minister to the EU and IMF for a package to stave off the "bond vigilantes".

So why can't the Greeks borrow their way out of the problem, or give more to the public-sector workers who are demonstrating in Athens? Well, you could ask the same question of Jamaica.

Why can't the Government pay public-sector workers more money, or spend more to stimulate the Jamaican economy? The simple answer is that there is no fiscal free lunch.

In other words, no one will lend you money to continue spending on recurrent - or any type of expenditure, for that matter - expenses when your solvency is in doubt.

In simple terms, no one wants to board a sinking ship. You may argue that the Jamaican Government could print the money to pay workers and everybody would be happy.

Truth is, the Government can only print money and be effective in spending that money if - and only if - holders of the currency allowed it.

The explanation for this is a bit technical, but it boils down to a higher rate of inflation.

In the case of Greece, of course, it cannot print more of the euro, since the currency is controlled by the European Central Bank.

Credibility issue

Again you might say, surely all the government - Greek or Jamaican - has to do is promise investors that they will be repaid if they buy government bonds.

Well, no investor will believe your promise to pay once your debt level rises past 90 per cent and there is a credibility factor. There are many ways out of a sovereign solvency problem, and the government spending more money is not one. The Greeks will testify to this if you are still in doubt.

What do you have to do?

First, you need Hercules or some Herculean effort. Greece has close ties to the mythical Heracles and will understand quite easily the scale of the solution.

The JDX was part of the Jamaican Herculean effort. Reducing the fiscal deficit and bringing down the debt-to-GDP ratio in coming years are enormous challenges that Jamaica will face.

Greece, in coming years, will have to bring the debt-to-GDP ratio from 13 per cent to around 3.0 per cent as per the Maastricht Treaty.

I suspect Greece will have a huge challenge here since it cannot devalue the nominal exchange rate, as we have done in Jamaica.

In addition, there are signs that the real exchange rate in Greece is overvalued and will have to be brought under control via output loss. Given the demonstrations in Athens and what we know of the Jamaican Government's efforts to reduce public-sector spending, I wish Greece luck. Notwithstanding, the Greeks have the backing of the EU - the EU has very little choice given the huge risk - in reforming their economy.

Jamaica has started on the road to fiscal responsibility from what we can see in the 2010-11 Budget. For this fiscal year (2010-11), the Government has projected a J$88.4 billion reduction in aggregate spending (at J$503.9 billion).

Due wholly to the JDX, planned domestic interest costs and amortisation costs for the year have been slashed by J$46.5 billion and J$74.1 billion, respectively. In particular, domestic amortisation and interest payments collectively for this fiscal year were forecast at J$164.8 billion, noticeably lower than the J$289.3 billion for FY 2009-10, and underscores the future benefits to be garnered from the JDX.

Move in the right direction

Moreover, to tighten the fiscal purse further, the increase in expenditure on recurrent programmes and wages was kept at a minimum of 2.2 per cent (J$1.6 billion), and 0.8 per cent (J$1 billion), respectively.

While there are key risks to the Budget, such as inflation, natural disasters and a weaker-than-expected domestic economy, we believe there is a reasonable chance of the Government coming close to the targets.

The Budget deficit is targeted around J$80 billion, with some J$21 billion due to Air Jamaica divestment costs. Whether intended or not, if you add back the one-time cost due to Air Jamaica, you realise that for the first time in many years, the Jamaican Government is only borrowing to fund capital expenditure.

This is a move in the right direction and should augur well for a sustainable fiscal position over time.

However, like Greece, because the debt burden in Jamaica is so high, the Jamaican economy will be highly vulnerable to a variety of economic shocks going forward.

Dr Adrian Stokes is vice-president of strategic planning at Scotia DBG Investments.

Mother Teresa & Blessed Pope John Paul

A beautiful photo sent by that wonderful lady Ruby Martin!
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McKenzie: 'Reggae Boyzs Humbled Honduras'

By Evan McKenzie – from the KSAFA Website

http://www.ksafa.net/news_06-14-11.htm

Reggae Boyz packing possession, passes and speed, put the Hondurans to play second fiddle in the final group B game of Gold Cup 2011. From the early proceedings the Boyz were prepared to get thing right this time around rather than to wait for the second half as they did against Guatemala.

While both teams prided themselves with the use of speedy players, the Reggae Boyz were more potent on the day, as Omar Daley, Demar Phillips, Ryan Johnson and Dane Richards could not be contained. These electrifying runs were made possible by the overall team possession, and movements off the ball even though Honduras showed on many occasion that they were not prepared to lay down and die nor were they prepared to watch the Reggae Boyz dazzling display of speed and passing which puts the law of average on their side, when Ryan Johnson 26 yards power drive slammed the underside of opponents goal and bounced gentle off the Honduras goalkeeper to rolled over the prize line for the Reggae Boyz to take pole position in Group B, as they put their stamp on the Tournament with a number of goal getting passes which the Boyz could not score.

The second half started with the Boyz immediately playing the expected passing game and despite the many chances including a penalty which the goal scorer Ryan Johnson just could not increase, the Reggae Boyz lead over the fighting Hondurans, who despite the Reggae Boyz territorial dominance still had enough fight in them to take the final 20 minutes of the game putting the Boyz on the back foot even with the fresh legs brought in by coach Whitmore. Weary Jamaicans for the first time in the tournament looked vulnerable and were more to hear the referees final whistle and for the 1st time topped their zone.

Read more at :

http://www.ksafa.net/news_06-14-11.htm

He buried the dead in Haiti; now he is poised to lead the living

"It was not in my cards at all," Daniel Rouzier said of being prime minister. "But it is quite an opportunity to serve the people."

By Moni Basu, CNN
June 10, 2011 11:48 a.m. EDT
(CNN) -- Two weeks after Haiti's devastating earthquake, Daniel Rouzier stood in front of heaps of bodies, dumped unceremoniously in the valleys of Titanyen. He clutched a mahogany rosary and covered his face with a sterile mask -- the stench of decomposing human flesh carried with the breeze.

Rouzier, a wealthy businessman and executive with a notable charity had seen on CNN how earthquake victims had been trucked out of Port-au-Prince and disposed in Titanyen without burial. Upset, he put his own resources to work and hired bulldozers to dig mass graves for 2,500 bodies.

He said then that it was sacrilege so many people had not been given proper internment. He didn't want to blame anyone for the aftermath of Haiti's tragedy; he was simply grateful to be able to help.

Now, Rouzier stands poised to be able to do a lot more for his country.

Haiti's new President Michel Martelly tapped the successful entrepreneur to become the troubled nation's next prime minister. Unknown in Haitian politics, Rouzier at first was not even sure he wanted to enter a new realm.

"It was not in my cards at all," he said in a brief phone conversation in the midst of his confirmation hearings Thursday. "But it is quite an opportunity to serve the people."

The ratification process before a parliamentary committee began Wednesday and is expected to go on for a few days. Rouzier said he hopes to be approved by next Tuesday.

Martelly and Rouzier go way back. They went to the same high school and Rouzier's brother Fabrice Rouzier founded the Haitian band Mizik Mizik. Until recently, Martelly, of course, was better known as Sweet Mickey, a wildly popular bad boy of music.

Martelly said he tapped Rouzier because the two men share a vision for a prosperous Haiti.

"Daniel Rouzier is a man of integrity," Martelly said. "He has a track record of getting things done, he turns dreams into reality. Daniel is a man who will prioritize the interests of the country and will respect the rule of law."

A deeply devout Catholic, Rouzier said that if he is confirmed, he will serve in the prime ministerial post as a servant of God. He acknowledged that the journey ahead will be challenging.

Haiti remains the poorest and least developed country in the Western hemisphere and is struggling to recover from the 2010 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people and displaced 1.6 million others. Hundreds of thousands of those people are still eeking out existances in makeshift camps.

The Inter-American Development Bank estimated that the cost of rebuilding homes, roads, schools and other infrastructure could be as much as $14 billion.The international community pledged $10 billion in March, 2010 but evidence of that money is scant.

A year after the earthquake, there are still mounds of rubble stacked high in parts of Port-au-Prince.

Haiti's problems were compounded by a cholera epidemic that erupted last October and has resurged recently as the rainy season begins.

Part of the reason Martelly won at the polls is because Haitians had increasingly grown discontent with the slow pace of recovery and reconstruction.

Haitians said they wanted a fresh start. Rouzier adds to Martelly's credibility in that aspect, said Jocelyn McCalla, a Haitian-born political strategist and human rights expert.

Rouzier also brings expertise both in the business world and in charitable work.

He served as general manager of his family's Port-au-Prince car dealership, Sun Auto, and also spearheaded E-Power, a private plant intended to increase Haitians' access to electricity. That project was inaugurated on the first anniversary of the earthquake this past January.

Rouzier also helped oversee Food for the Poor, a Florida-based Christian charity that is active in Haiti.

Despite no political experience, Rouzier is seen as someone who can be fair, McCalla said.

"He has a good reputation," McCalla said. "He strikes me as somebody who is well-intentioned."

But as with all others who have entered politics in Haiti, Rouzier will have to rise above entrenched corruption, McCalla said. If he becomes prime minister, Rouzier will inherit a government that was barely functioning, McCalla said.

"One of his challenges is to rebuild the government from the ground up," he said.

Martelly has already promised a free and mandatory education for all Haitians, key to the Caribbean nation's development. The new president has also said he will not look so kindly on those who hinder much needed change.

Rouzier, said McCalla, will help Martelly in challenging a mindset that has hindered Haiti in the past.

"There is so much to be done," Rouzier said. "It's not going to be easy."

All those months ago, he had bestowed peace upon the souls of the dead. It may prove more difficult to do so for the living.

Kiwanis heroines

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller (third left) and president of the club, Andrea Moore (fourth left), share some of the spotlight with the awardees (from left) Myrna Hague-Bradshaw, Barbara Gloudon, Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, Verene Sheperd, Dr Patricia Yap and Lisa Lewis (accepting on behalf of the Digicel Foundation). - photos by Gladstone Taylor

Kiwanis heroines (excerpt from Observer column by Jean Lowrie-Chin - 6 JUN 11)

We may have been the only ones giving Barbara Gloudon a standing ovation last Wednesday, but we were not at all deterred. Miss B was one of five exceptional Jamaican ladies who were honoured by the Kiwanis Club of New Kingston for their excellence and contribution to the people of Jamaica. The citations reminded us that in this small spot we have some of the biggest hearts and finest minds: Barbara Gloudon, playwright, cultural icon and wearer of innumerable other hats; Professor Verene Shepherd, passionate historian and gender specialist; Myrna Hague-Bradshaw, dazzling jazz singer and innovator; Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, legal luminary and Dr Patricia Yap, brilliant dermatologist and entrepreneur.

We were delighted that the Digicel Foundation received the "Because You Care" Community Service Award for ploughing $750 million into sustainable projects across the island since 2004. (I am advised that I should mention they are a client.)

Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Playing-with-people-s-lives_8956191#ixzz1OoXKFuUb