· May, 2006

Stories about Caribbean from May, 2006

Guyana: Report on International Day Against Homophobia

  23 May 2006

Wednesday 17 May was International Day Against Homophobia. Guyana's Society Against Sexual Orientation Discrimination (SASOD) reports on its programme of commemorative activities: a film screening, a radio discussion, and an interactive forum at the National Library.

West Indies: Cricketer Ramnaresh Sarwan comes of age

  23 May 2006

Today the West Indies cricket team won its third One Day International match in the current series against India, in which Guyanese batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan scored 115 runs not out. “He’s coming of age before our eyes,” says the West Indies Cricket Blog. Ri at Revolution Island reminds us that...

Jamaica: Mango season

  23 May 2006

It's mango season in Jamaica (and the rest of the Caribbean), and Geoffrey Philp rhapsodises his four favourite mango varieties: Bombay, Number 11, East Indian, and Julie. He even writes a mango poem.

Haiti: Among 10 Highest Producers of Mangos

  23 May 2006

“The place occupied by the Haitian mango is threatened on the international market given the demands of foreign consumers looking for a quality product,” says (Fr) Haitian newsfeed Alterpresse. “Ranked among the 10 highest worldwide producers of mangos, Haiti needs to do everything to better exploit this niche. A study...

Haitian Diaspora: Franco-Haitian Solidarity Meeting

  23 May 2006

CollectifHaitideProvence announces (Fr) they received an invitation by Collectif Haitien de France [Haitian Collective of France] to participate in a series of meetings taking place June 3 and 4. The main themes of the meetings will be humanitarian solidarity and education, development, the problems of Haitian migrants in France, and...

Haiti: New Blog CollectifHaitideProvence

  23 May 2006

CollectifHaitideProvence [Haitian Collective of Provence, France] is the name of a new French and Creole language blog launched by a Haitian organization of the same name made up of nine organizations that seem to be based in either France, Haiti or both. Their first entry posted yesterday explains (Fr &...

Montserrat volcano watch and West Indies cricket

  22 May 2006

A woman looks at the rear window of her car, broken by a flying rock from the nearby Soufriere Hills Volcano, Montserrat, on Saturday. Photo from the Trinidad Express website Nearly eleven years ago, Montserrat’s long-dormant Soufriere Hills Volcano began erupting for the first time in the island's recorded history....

Caribbean: Hurricane outlook

  22 May 2006

Over at the West Indies Cricket blog, Ryan Naraine cites the NOAA’s 2006 Atlantic hurricane season outlook, which says there is “an 80% chance of an above-normal hurricane season, a 15% chance of a near-normal season, and only a 5% chance of a below-normal season.”

Caribbean: A West Indian anthem?

  22 May 2006

Kyk-Over-Al links to a column in Guyana's Stabroek News criticising the new West Indian anthem adopted recently by CARICOM (the Caribbean Community), and the Caribbean Beat blog asks its readers how Caribbean leaders should have gone about choosing an anthem. “Via a competition, soliciting entries from the region's best composers...

Barbados: Environment minister angry about leaks

  22 May 2006

Barbados Free Press reports that environment minister Liz Thompson “was ‘in a state’ all last week trying to discover the identity of ‘Hummingbird’ — the Environment Ministry insider who has lately been talking to Barbados Free Press and other island media”, and posts a satirical poem on the subject.

Jamaica: Missing generation

  22 May 2006

Francis Wade thinks about the “missing generation” of middle-class Jamaicans who emigrated seeking better lives for their families, and suggests four reasons for expatriate Jamaicans to return to their homeland, as he himself did. “We probably should not be so ready to encourage our children to migrate, selling them on...

Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica: Remembering ancestors

  22 May 2006

At The Pan Collective, Trinidadian Attillah Springer describes the Ifa ancestral ceremony held yesterday on the third anniversary of her grandmother's death. “We sang for her. Cooked her favourite foods. Cried a bit and missed her dry humour terribly. And in the end the Iya cast the obi. The offering...

Martinique: Reaction to mtvU's “Darfur is Dying” Game

  22 May 2006

Martinique-based Le Blog de [Moi] reacts to “Darfur is Dying,” an mtvU online simulation game featuring a family attempting to flee Darfur. The game is designed to raise consciousness about the hardships in Darfur but the blogger is not pleased (Fr): “Where is the world going? I know we have...

Haiti: Haitian Flag Remembered on May 18

  22 May 2006

On the occasion of Haitian Flag Day celebrated in both Haiti and the diaspora, AyitiCherieConnexion says (Fr) “May 18, 1803, Catherine Flon sowed the first Haitian flag … to mark the ending of colonisation. La Dessalinienne, the national anthem, was composed in 1904 with lyrics by Justin Lherisson and music...

Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis: Soufriere Hills Volcano activity

  20 May 2006

Georgia Popplewell reports from St. Kitts that the dome of the Soufriere Hills Volcano in Montserrat (sixty miles away) has collapsed and an ash eruption has caused flights in the vicinity to be cancelled, due to reduced visibility. She quotes an activity report from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory (whose website...

Trinidad and Tobago: Happy birthday, Sam Selvon

  20 May 2006

Geoffrey Philp writes a birthday tribute to the late Trinidadian writer Samuel Selvon, one of the major figures in West Indian literature. “Comedy is a subversive art form. And comedy in the hands of Selvon obliterates class, color, and creed.”

Grenada's Chinese Village

  19 May 2006

From the Caribbean Free Photo photoblog: This rather quaint archway marks the entrance to the construction site for Grenada's new National Stadium in Queen's Park, which is being built with funding, expertise and manpower provided by the People's Republic of China. With 500-plus construction workers from China living and working...

Trinidad and Tobago: Visit from a televangelist

  19 May 2006

Rentaempress takes on Benny Hinn, the American televangelist visiting Trinidad this weekend. “The last time he was here he made all sorts of pronouncements about how many demons he had to cast out,” she says. “I'm damn vexed … that we still haven't emancipated ourselves from this colonial mentality.”

St. Lucia, Grenada: Kweyol lesson and photos

  19 May 2006

Georgia Popplewell at Caribbean Free Radio is travelling in the Eastern Caribbean this week; she's struck by “conservative” St. Lucians’ frankness about condoms, and gets an impromptu Kweyol lesson from two women in Castries. She also posts some photos taken in St. Lucia yesterday, and some from Grenada the day...

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Janine Mendes-Franco
Janine Mendes Franco is the Caribbean editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.