Keep us free from evil powers

Observer column for MON 25 Oct 2021

By Jean Lowrie-Chin

The reports around a shadowy individual become increasingly 'curiouser and curiouser.' How could this man become so powerful in his ridiculous 'ark' in St James that his followers allegedly obeyed his instructions to carry out human sacrifice?  

This particular story was published in the 'Lipstick Alley' blog in March, 2020. On behalf of two families, a woman said she had booked a house in St. James in January of 2020 on Airbnb. When they arrived there, they discovered that the host 'Carlette' who confirmed the booking allegedly had sold the house to none other than the so-called 'pastor' Kevin Smith. This is what she alleged happened to them on the second day of their visit: 'We get to the house and there are three cars on the property… one dude is sitting in a black Escalade just waiting…. He's like 'I own this house'."

She continued, "Diane has lived on this property as a housekeeper for over 5 years, she's getting fired and he has his goons start moving all her [items] out of the guest house immediately… In the middle of all this I notice that the new owner's employees were acting really weird around him, like they were afraid of him. I also heard one guy call him 'your excellency'. So, I ask the property manager what's the deal with the new owner and he's like 'he's a descendant of Queen Sheba' …Apparently he's a bishop and owns a church somewhere in Jamaica also."

 

She alleges, "Fast forward to the 22nd. We're mildly uncomfortable because at this point, we've noticed that one of His Excellency's goons is on the property 100% of the time. We were never in the house alone. We have three young children not including my baby…Two days later there was a crazy rainstorm. It's now Feb 24th. My mom wants to go out on the balcony to film the storm but noticed that the door is locked. She goes to check all the other doors. Locked. We're locked in the house."

 

They get permission eventually from 'His Excellency' to go out and arrange with an apologetic Carlette to move to another villa. After they returned and packed however, on orders from Smith, the property manager allegedly locked them in the house. They managed to escape from the house but the gate on the property was locked. They had to throw their luggage over the fence and jump to their safety.

 

"We go straight to the police station to file a report," she said, but was allegedly told that there was "no law in Jamaica against locking people in a house. No one put their hands on you, so no real laws were broken."

 

The drama continued as she alleged: "So we argue with the police for about an hour when His Excellency shows up at the station. He wants to press charges against us for illegally staying at his house without having paid to stay there. I immediately pull up my Airbnb receipts …We're like alright let's just get to this new house before someone tries to kill us. We … get to the new house and literally just sat there and cried for an hour. Every single one of us."

 

Just one month later in March 2020, this 'pastor' embarked on an unbelievable grift, as reported by Rochelle Clayton in the Jamaica Observer last Friday. One of his followers disclosed that Smith used the beginning of the pandemic to trick his followers, offering protection from the virus in his 'ark', demanding $100,000 for entry and had them sleeping on a concrete floor in a state of near starvation for a month. Clearly Smith had a hold on them because the victim is quoted as saying, "Time passed, and we started going back to church."

Sadly, the ill-fated Tameka Gardner who lost her life in an evil ritual at the 'ark' remained devoted to Smith, despite the warning signs. She was persuaded to replace the names of her mother and son with Smith's on her insurance policy – thankfully for her family, there was an error in the request, so the change did not go through.  It is alleged that her murder was ordered when she was accused of taking the vaccine, yet her co-workers are convinced that she was against the vaccine and had not taken it.

This column has been appealing to the Church groups to have a system of due diligence so grifters cannot disguise themselves as pastors. Now that people have lost their lives in this 'ark', Government must step in and insist on a registration system for churches. Let us follow the example of the Rwanda government which passed laws recently to have strict regulations for those who wish to be pastors.

Vaccination appeals

We have received reports of fully vaccinated elderly persons with comorbidities being hospitalised with Covid.  The US has now determined that the elderly and persons with serious health conditions be allowed to receive booster shots and so we are appealing to the Ministry of Health to allow this to be done here instead of dumping vaccines.

We also support Professor Figueroa's call that private doctors be invited to participate in the vaccination programme. Family doctors have built trusting relationships with their patients and may very well be able to convince hesitant individuals better than any campaign.

We join with UNICEF Jamaica in appealing for the reopening of schools in January. They note that 120,000 children have received no education since schools closed. As quoted by the Fi Wi Children Foundation, the organisation notes that "schools are not just a place to gain academic knowledge. They support social well-being, mental health and dramatically help to reduce the risk of violence." We hope the JTA will appeal to their members to get vaccinated.

Climate Change Emergency

Even Queen Elizabeth has remarked that not enough is being done to address climate change. From October 31 to November 12, the UK will host the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow. The objective is to take stronger action to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The COP26 website warns, "If we continue as we are, temperatures will carry on rising, bringing even more catastrophic flooding, bush fires, extreme weather and destruction of species. We have made progress in recent months to bend the temperature curve closer to 2 degrees; but the science shows that much more must be done to keep 1.5 degrees in reach. The world needs to halve emissions over the next decade and reach net zero carbon emissions by the middle of the century if we are to limit global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees."

Jamaica is classified as a "small island developing state" (SID), far more at risk that the developed countries which are the biggest carbon emitters. Let us do as much as we can to move the objectives of COP26 forward – our very lives depend on it.

 

Covid’s strong impact on education

 

Excerpts from Jamaica Observer column published MON 6 Sept 2021

by Jean Lowrie-Chin

Trisha Williams-Singh, ECC Chair

Two organisations which give me great hope for bringing our children up to speed despite the pandemic, are the Early Childhood Commission (ECC) and the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf (CCCD). I was able to join Education Minister Fayval William’s Back to School Session for early childhood institutions in Region 4 and the guidelines presented by Executive Director Karlene Deslandes are thoughtful and thorough.

Well ahead of Covid, former ECC Chair Professor Maureen Samms Vaughan and current Chair Trisha Williams-Singh spearheaded programmes and standards that give Jamaican pre-schoolers a solid start. Every new parent should download the ‘First 1000 Days’ App developed by the ECC which gives a great deal of practical advice.

Similarly, as we listened to the Tashi Widmer (via interpreter Denque Wedderburn), Executive Director of CCCD, Chair Grace Lindo and staff members from the campuses in Kingston, Manchester and St. James, we were assured that their deaf students would be able to avail themselves of quality education. If you know of a needy child who is deaf, please consider offering them a scholarship to CCCD and watch them bloom.

Despite these valiant efforts, the data shared last week by CAPRI Researcher Stephanie Sewell is disturbing. In her presentation titled “Time Out – Impact of Covid-19 on Education” (available on YouTube), we learn that half of the households in vulnerable communities have no internet access, 20 percent have no suitable devices, paediatricians are seeing poor health issues and grades are falling.

She described the ideal conditions for learning at home: comfortable spaces and parents working from home who can supervise their children.

“The presence of all these variables as you can imagine in one home are more likely to be found among households in the upper socioeconomic quintile as compared to poorer households and especially multi-person households within vulnerable communities,” she noted.

She said that comparing the Grade Six ability tests of February 2020 and February 2021, there was an eight percent decline in the performance of students, with the average mean score moving from 60 percent to 52 percent.  At the secondary level, they identified a decline in the number of students sitting such examinations as the NCTVET and CXC.

But here is another worrying situation: “Apart from learning loss, we can see that school closures can also have an impact on other areas, such as causing weight gain and other diet related illnesses including diabetes and hypertension. Students have also been impacted by increases in hyperactivity, indiscipline, sadness, loneliness, frustration, and anxiety.” 

She noted that a group of Caribbean pediatricians have made a statement that our children “are on the cusp of a regional childhood obesity emergency and mental health emergency.”

They note that the situation “is exacerbated by the lack of or reduced access to guidance counselors and other in person coping mechanisms for students, higher screen time ... using online learning can cause issues to do with eye health and distractibility or lack of focus and even less emotional stability for students.”

In a previous study, CAPRI’s ‘Stress Test’, there were reports of Covid's impact on violence: “Pre-teen boys and teenage boys who had no devices were dropping out of school forming cliques, carrying knives, smoking, gambling and getting into fights. Girls are also at a higher risk of abuse and sexual exploitation when not in school.”

She acknowledged the improvements made by the Education Ministry, but urged the return to face-to-face classes as soon as possible. She recommends, “COVID testing regimes for teachers as well as students should be instituted; surveys of infection and positivity rates for communities surrounding schools should be undertaken and alternative locations such as church halls, community centres and other larger locations should be engaged to be used as classrooms to allow for social social-distancing as well as to reduce class sizes where possible.”

 While we wait for this third surge to end, she is calling for improvements to online learning, “for example, establish and support smaller groups of students, use the learning pods as a methodology for remote teaching, continue to expand the internet infrastructure and internet access across the island.”

At the event, Education Minister Williams said her Ministry welcomed the research, noting that significant efforts were made to provide devices to the most vulnerable students and assistance to teachers. She said that while face-to-face classes were not yet possible, “our focus in the coming year until able to get back into the business environment and even beyond that, is to ensure that those children who are not consistently engaged with the educational system that we know exactly who they are, that we make the necessary intervention for them and so at least by the end of the year we're hoping that we would have caught them up to at least where they were before the pandemic.”

Hope Zoo’s crucial role

One of the many establishments that has been severely handicapped by the pandemic is the Hope Zoo, owned by the Government of Jamaica and resuscitated through the kindness of Guardsman Chairman Kenny Benjamin. The Zoo was transformed into an oasis and pre-Covid, was a preferred spot for family outings.

Marketing Manager Patrice Levy pointed out the crucial role of the Hope Zoo Foundation, its responsibility for conservation practice, advocacy and research. “Conservation practice entails captive breeding, species reintroduction programs, Species survival plans and the use of zoo revenue for conservation programs in the wild,” she explained. “Conservation advocacy includes public engagement, promoting awareness, advocating stewardship, and fundraising.”

The Hope Zoo is a wild-life sanctuary which collaborates with National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) to rescue native species. Injured or orphaned animals are cared for until they can be released back into the wild. “Others with permanent injuries are given a new forever home here at Hope Zoo,” she says.

The Hope Zoo Foundation initiated the conservation programme for the Jamaican iguana, successfully housing and protecting 300 of reptiles for up to six years before releasing them back to their natural habitat.

 

Spread over 57 acres with a 65-strong team, there is enough space to distance and enjoy the surroundings. With the recent lockdowns, there is the need for funding to support the high cost of feeding the wide variety of animals. Big thanks to Nayana Williams of Lifespan water for contributing proceeds from her sales.

 

Freedom awaits – the vaccines are here

 Jamaica Observer column published 30 August 2021

by Jean Lowrie-Chin

The Covid vaccines are arriving thick and fast, courtesy of international donors. Soon no one who wants a vaccine will be denied.  Last Friday, Jamaica passed the 500,000 vaccinated mark and the target of 700,000 by the end of September is in sight. This cannot happen too soon, as health care workers are frustrated and exhausted. 

Nurses at the Savanna-la-mar Hospital shared on Dionne Jackson-Miller’s ‘All Angles’ programme that sometimes they cannot help crying, so stretched they are with the deluge of Covid patients and so sad they are to see some dying despite their valiant efforts. The Clinical Coordinator for the Cornwall Regional Hospital Dr Delroy Fray has stated that none of the Covid patients in the Western Jamaica hospital have been vaccinated.

Malicious anti-vaxxers continue to share fake news on various social media platforms, even twisting the content of straightforward reporting.  In an interview with Emily Shields, K.D. Knight related that although he and his late wife Dr Shirley Knight had gone to the vaccination centre together, she postponed taking the vaccine due to a medical concern. Dr Knight subsequently contracted Covid and sadly passed away the day after the couple’s 54^th wedding anniversary. Incredibly, a false report that Dr Knight had been vaccinated began circulating to the point that the interview had to be played on a newscast to assure the public that this was not true.

It is a comfort to know that many Jamaicans are looking forward to taking the vaccine, and that with the rise in hospitalizations and deaths, vaccine hesitancy seems to be waning.  Dr Melody Ennis hosted an excellent virtual Townhall on the vaccine last week, and a repeat may be required for those health care workers and teachers who are still vaccine hesitant. 

Covid boosters being considered

Dr Eve Palomino-Lue and husband Basil 

Dr Eve Palomino-Lue noted to us that that persons like her who have had renal and other transplants are immunocompromised and may require Covid booster shots for sufficient antibody response. Others such as persons with rheumatoid arthritis, cancer being treated with chemotherapy and HIV may not be creating enough antibodies as they are taking immune-suppressant drugs.

Dr Palomino- Lue is appealing for such persons to receive booster shots, and that they should be made aware of this issue and be sure to take every possible precaution, even if they have already received the two shots.

We understand that her appeal is being considered by the Ministry of Health and Wellness and for the sake of the immunocompromised individuals, many of whom are seniors, we hope that a third shot will be made available.

Coding & Robotics Rock

We have always regarded Mona GeoInfomatics (MGI) led by Dr Parris Lyew Ayee as a digital powerhouse, but what is even more impressive is their enthusiasm in opening the digital world to children.  The gaming technology company IGT brought MGI on board to conduct a Tech Camp at homes and centres in the Caribbean where they operate their After School Advantage Centres. From August 9 to 19, students in Barbados, Jamaica, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Maarten and Trinidad & Tobago were introduced to HTML, JavaScript and CSS projects along with group robotics activities at the Camp. MGI tutors, led by Kaodi McGaw and Hugh Billings guided the enthusiastic youngsters, and at their ‘graduation’, we were treated to creative web pages.

 

Jamaica’s students hailed from Sunbeam Children’s Home, Spring Village Development Foundation & Training Institute, SOS Children’s Village - Stony Hill, Mustard Seed Communities – Jerusalem and Mary’s Child, and the Women’s Centre Jamaica Foundation centres in Mandeville and Savanna-la-mar.

 

Alpha Bandmaster is a lady

The Sisters of Mercy of Jamaica have announced that music educator Gay Magnus has been appointed Band Master at the Alpha School of Music (ASOM) in Kingston. Preparing to welcome its first cohort of students in the Associate Degree programme for Music Performance, the Alpha School of Music is Jamaica's only tertiary programme focused on ensemble performance. As ASOM’s first Band Master, Ms. Magnus will be leading the innovative music curriculum as it expands to offer its renowned vocational training in music and entertainment to a national audience of young men 16-25 years old.

With more than 15 years of experience lecturing and directing ensembles at the university level, including Lecturer at the University of the West Indies and Head of Percussion at the Edna Manley College for the Visual and Performing Arts, Gay Magnus brings an array of music education and band performance skills to the Band Master position. A trained pianist who switched to percussion and now focuses on steel pan, Magnus received a teaching certificate from the University of the West Indies, Mona campus and completed her first degree in music performance at the UWI’s St. Augustine campus (with First Class Honours) and a Master’s in music performance from Northern Illinois University in the United States. For more information about the Alpha School of Music Associate Degree please visit www.alphamusicja.com.

Seniors Celebrate Jamaica

Justice Roy Anderson 

Where can you find judges, psychologists, PR gurus, medical doctors, potters, dancers and poets on the same stage? Only at a CCRP Virtual Concert, where we donned our black, green and gold Jamaican colours to soak up the amazing and hidden talent of some of Jamaica’s leading lights, expertly guided by emcee Charmaine Harrison and co-hosts Corrine Stewartson and Debbie Cargill.

Last Wednesday we enjoyed songs from Barbara Hylton, Retired Justice Roy Anderson (who was celebrating his 80^th Birthday), Winston Sherwood and DiMario McDonald, renditions on her saxophone and Miss Lou poetry from Rosemarie Voordouw, and presentation of original poems by poem ‘Elmina’ by Retired Senior Parish Court Judge Lyle Armstrong and Dr Winsome Miller-Rowe. Dr Owen James coaxed beautiful Jamaican melodies, ‘Redemption Song’ and ‘Island in the Sun’ from his harmonica.

We paid rapt attention to the thought-provoking poems presented by Ambassador Aloun Assamba and Berl Francis and laughed with Doris Halstead as she dramatized Valerie Bloom’s ‘Recommendation’. Janet Crick had us on the edge of our seats with a ‘duppy story’ from Robert Lalah’s book and Enid Bissember got us floating as she danced in a floating gown. With her bright smile and cool moves, Dr Lilieth Nelson took us down Festival memory lane featuring Toots & the Maytals, Stanley & the Turbines and Roy Rayon. We also enjoyed a video of Vilya Thomas’ unique pottery.

Farewell Lady Daphne 

We have lost church Sister Daphne King, whose stewardship as a choir member and Eucharistic Minister at Stella Maris inspired her fellow congregants. Ninety-seven-year-old Daphne served faithfully up to a few years ago and passed away peacefully earlier this month.

Daphne was a trailblazing executive at BWIA, BOAC and Air Jamaica. She and her late husband Noel raised four successful children of whom she was extremely proud. Son Paddy King recalls that his mother moved up the corporate ladder in the airline industry by dint of hard work. “We miss her terribly, but we feel very blessed to have had the perfect mother,” he says.

 

Deepest sympathy to her children Garth, Paddy, Damien, Sharon, grandchildren and great grandchildren. May the beautiful soul of Daphne King rest in peace.