What Slow Progress!

Do I sound like a female chauvinist pig when I say women are generally better managers than men? Ok I admit I am one, but generally it has proven to be quite true, although so few women are able to break through the glass ceiling.

This is specially so in the western world which boasts being the leaders in the democracy. Interesting though, countries such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, the last two being rabid Muslim nations, have had female leaders while Britain only broke through in the 1980's and the USA never. Even the Vatican had a female Pope in the person of Pope Joan. Only thing she had to pretend to be a man to gain that position sometime in 12 AD and when they discovered it, they determined "never again" and invented a chair with a slit through which the incoming pope's balls would fall, so someone would feel them to verify that it was indeed a man! (Read about it in the book about pope Joan!)

But back to the modern days.

Not even in the position of state governors has the USA made much progress for at this time they have only five female governors, less than  10% of the cohort.

I started reflecting on this topic once again while reviewing the Presidency of Joyce Banda who had been elected as head of Malawi last year, joining in Africa,  Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Presiident of Liberia. In other words  in the huge continent of Africa with its 53 independent nations, there are only two female heads of state.

Of course, many will insist that having a female head of state does not guarantee better government.  But if one takes a look at the progress in Liberia, a country with a population of just under 4 million, it paints a hopeful picture. For whereas it had negative growth up to 2004, the country has grown steadily since 2006 when Ms. Johnson took over, growing by a whopping  11%  in 2011.

 Malawi, with its over 12 million population needs that kind of miracle too. Lets hope Ms. Banda does not disappoint, as has our only female prime minister in Jamaica. But then on the other hand, no matter what Portia Simpson Miller does, she will never be labeled the worse Prime Minister for years to come, as that position has been cemented for time immemorial by the previous prime minister Bruce Golding.

A Really Great Day

Yesterday was another wonderful day lyming with the Fun and Thrills family as we finally went on the frequently postponed ride to Robins bay which Charles 1st had been proposing for months. (as a good St. Mary man).

I rode out of my home at 5.30 am, assuming I would meet up with other riders at Stony hill, but by the time I reached the intersection of Allerdyce road and Shortwood roads, I saw Pat and Charles 1st. 

Unfortunately in an attempt to hail me up, Pat lost balance and had a slight spill, but only got a small elbow cut  although her bicycle suffered some trauma, but compliments of the experienced "mechanics" who ride with the group, she was soon sorted out.

All went well with me continuing my recent trend of riding non-stop to Stony Hill square but I was unable to catch up Charles 1st and Sheriff flew past me on Long lane, making me the third rider to arrive at the square. Poor Barry who has suffered an elbow damage and has been unable to ride, had wanted to swap that leg with me as he was reduced to driving a support vehicle but badly wanted a little ride,  but I had to inform him  "no way" as keeping my record intact on that stretch was very important.

 Incidentally  Jamie is now in my bad books as I  had asked Chully to load my mountain bike and bring it along to Stony hill where he lives with his grandma Elaine, as he had said he wanted to ride with us.  But would the boy wake up? So we ended up having to transport an unnecessary bicycle. 

Never again.

At Stony hill square we were joined by most of the other riders from both group one and two, and it was an uneventful ride to Castleton, our regular lyming stop, where most people can't wait guzzle down the delicious janga soup and boiled corn.

There Pat presented us with a huge batch of delicious energy cookies which she had made by herself  and I think she needs to patent it as it is not only very delicious but indeed really energy giving too, for when I  got to Robins's Bay I felt like I could have ridden another 40 miles!

At Castleton when we were ready to depart, the Ayatollah declared that we had to wait for Desiree who woke up late and was driving to meet us there. Some rebellious souls rode away but a number of us stayed behind to wait for her. However, when she arrived and we attempted to charge her for having overslept, she disabused us, revealing that she told the Ayatollah that she was not coming as she was late, but he insisted that we had all agreed to wait for her! 

Poor Howie had the shock of his life after Desiree arrived and we prepared to leave, for he was confronted with a puncture which caused  him  to arrive dead last at Robin's Bay.

On the other hand, Grace had been so energized by Pat's biscuits and maybe because she was abandoned by David who had been riding with her, she passed the turn off to Robin's bay and attempted to ride to Port Maria.  Fortunately a rasta man saw her going astray, jumped into his car, chased her down and brought her back to the fold.

Would you believe that shortly after we arrived we were joined by extraordinary riders Johann and Marcus who had ridden together, leaving Kingston at 9 am and proudly telling us they only made one stop and that was a pee stop for Marcus who declared that  he had a small bladder from he was a child! (He volunteered the info publicly). Incidentally, Lisa, who Howie just taught to ride, made a small go of it also on this trip too.

We were also joined by a number of other persons who drove down, among them Stefan and daughters and our visitors from Canada Aunt Gladys, David, Donnie and Diana.

While there, Chris (driver) found some dominoes and summoned me as his great partner to play against Chuck and Neville. We did not disappoint and dropped a six love on them.  Unfortunately, I was so into the domino game that I missed the best part of the breakfast, the mackrel run dung as horror of horrors,  when I went to get some food, only a little gravy was left. Fortunately, Chuck is turning out to be the Robinson Crusoe of the group in terms of showing us how he can live off the land, for not only is he our resident bird shooter/fried bird supplier, but yesterday Karen brought a huge container full of delicious fried fish, enough for everyone. 

When I asked her for one specifically caught by Chuck, his son Marlon informed me indignantly that his father had been the great fisherman who had caught all the fish! So delicious was the fish that I had to apologize to the entire Chuck family for having given the head of the household a 6 love. lol.

After breakfast, Howie, Maurice, (ride back) Michael, Kim , Bernadette, Johann, Marcus, Conrad, all members of the A team, for some inexplicable reason, wanted to do an off road ride into the bushes  to do God knows what, while we the civilized ones went to the beach.

Kim with her beautiful baby Riley, Donovan and his family and a few others headed for Strawberry fields which is really nice and structured, but I don't like the beach there as it has a terrible current and when you float there,  you end  up in all sorts of rocks and strange places. So we rode east to where they once had a nice beach with some bamboo huts and a bamboo fence. We had some difficultly finding it as the last hurricane had blown away everything, but after asking around, the Ayatollah found the right place and in fact they were in  the processes of rebuilding while we were there.

The beach was absolutely wonderful, the water so cool, clear and full of energy. We spent about an  hour there just interacting , swimming and sharing jokes, before I had to beg a lift with the first car going  back to town as I had to make connection with friends at 4 pm. Thanks to the competent driver Carol (Betty White's cousin) I arrived home is good time and boy that  jerk/barbecue pork we had for dinner made it  one of the greatest days of my life.

The only thing that spoiled the wonderful day, was the absence of our dear friend Jordan Hanlan who had not only been a reliable support driver for the group but also such a pleasant and always smiling friend to all of us. She lost her life in an auto accident earlier this month and was buried on the 14th. R.I.P Jordan, we missed you but we know you were with us in spirit.

Young People Leading By Example

I get such a warm feeling every time I see some young successful Jamaican putting things in place to help the less fortunate. If only some of the greedy members of the older generation who do nothing but grab for more than they will ever need,  could learn from them.

The latest one to warm my heart was star sprinter Veronica Campbell Brown , who in wanting to make a difference in the lives of the younger generation, set up a foundation which will be funded from  fees she earns as an athlete.

She joins other conscious superstars like Shelly Any Fraser- Pryce, Asafa Powell , Yohan blake and so many other of our athletes who I cannot recall at this moment, who have shown the same type of care for the less fortunate.

However,  this type of generosity is not only confined to successful athletes as one recalls the contribution successful artists such as Lady Saw, Shaggy and Capelton continue to make towards children.

It is such a pity that so many of our politicians seem too old to learn that it is better to give than receive, thus they spend so much of their time trying to extract everything from all and sundry,  instead of helping the less fortunate.

Our salvation indeed lies with the youth.

As the World Turns.... Homosexuality in Cuba

I could not believe my ears on hearing a  recent BBC report which stated in part that "Cuban gay rights campaigner Mariela Castro has led a protest march against homophobia in the capital Havana.
Ms Castro is the head of Cuba's National Sexual Education Centre - and daughter of President Raul Castro."

 Gay rights in Cuba? Isn't this the same country where  in the 60's and under Ms. Castro's uncle Fidel, homosexuals were sent to re education camps?

Anyway, what the heck, that was over 40 years ago and Fidel is no longer in charge so I guess progress will have to come.

While I have no problem with gays having rights like anyone else, in my book , there are more basic rights that need to be respected in Cuba and these have nothing to do with the bedroom.

Like the right to vote for your leaders and the right to freedom of expression. I wonder why Ms. Castro has put bedroom rights ahead of  these most basic rights? After all, she is obviously a very influential person in Cuba and her father will no doubt be swayed by her views?

It certainly gives us a good idea of where Ms. Castro priorities lie!

The Realities of the garrison

I had difficulty deciding whether to laugh or cry on hearing the prime  minister, in defending the revived Innercity housing programme, under which numerous  non contributors will get houses, compliments of many poor contributors who pay into the fund but will never be able to qualify for a loan, claiming that if the inner city recipients do not pay the mortgages, their houses will go up for auction like any other mortgagee in the country.

Did the prime minister, a person who has represented a garrison constituency all her political life really say that with a straight face? Could it be that the prime minister has become so far removed from the Jamaica that she leads that she is no longer aware of the realities of the garrison life?

Would the prime minister tell us who in their right mind would ever dare try to go into a garrison to live in a house that they had bought at auction, assuming that anyone could even go into put up the notice signs? Does the prime minister really believe that even another garrison resident would dare to try and move into a repossessed  unit?

As I listened open-moutedly to the prime minister's defense of the progrramme,  I could not but recall the desperation with which a mechanic who I knew approached me some time ago. He lived in a garrison and had managed to get a government house for which he paid a small mortgage. When his mom got ill in St. Thomas, he went to the country for about three months to stay with her.

When he returned, his belongings had been packed away around  the back of the house had had been paying for for years and other persons were living in his home. He was told that he had a house in the county and it was other people's turn now to live in the house! When I suggested that I would go to the police with him to deal with the matter, you can guess the response.!

The reality of garrison life is that the vast majority are decent people, but they live under the gun and  are modern day slaves as the concept of free will in most of those areas is nothing but a dream.

 In fact, the Gleaner must be commended  for trying once again  for trying to awaken our collective consciences by putting the nasty realities of garrison life  back on the front burner with the recent editorial  entitled "Tyranny of the Ghetto, which began "A police superintendent has this week confirmed what was often rumoured about girls who have been reported missing from inner-city communities. According to Deputy Superintendent Steven Moodie, some teenage girls living in such neighbourhoods are sent away by their mothers to the country, or to relatives elsewhere, to get them out of harm's way. These girls are then reported missing.

By sending their daughters away, parents are trying to prevent their daughters' sexual exploitation by inner-city dons who are known to summon these girls, explained the deputy superintendent. Presumably, there are some parents who have nowhere to send their daughters, which means they have no alternative but to expose them to sexual abuse."

What the Gleaner highlighted once again is something we all know but prefer to live in the world of "See No evil, Hear No Evil" although we have no problem speaking evil.

But are we speaking with a desire to bring about change and liberate those who live under the gun in this country?

 Oh yes, garrison politicians pretend they do not know the enforcers and have nothing to do with them, but you don't see them at election time campaigning in those constituencies to try and win a seat like in real democracies,  for they are secure in the knowledge that the enforcers that they "do not know and have no association with "will ensure that all the votes are delivered in the boxes in their  absence as they prance around in other constituencies to assist weaker candidates!! 

So don't tell me that garrison politicians do not have a responsibility to liberate those who live under the tyranny in the garrisons and don't tell met that people can go into a garrison and buy a repossessed unit and live happily every after in a home which has been sold for non payment of mortgage.

You know what is sickening about Jamaica too?  We  are reputed to have more churches per square mile than any other country in them world and a higher proportion of persons professing to be christian than probably anywhere else, but  most of these "upright" persons and people of high morals have chosen to ignore the sections of the bible which speaks to being our brothers's keeper ! For if Jamaica was really a christian country or if modern day christians were against slavery as were some of their counterparts centuries ago, they would have risen up with one accord long ago and united to demand from the political beneficiaries, the freedom of those thousands of Jamaicans who live under tyranny in the garrisons, while the politicians who benefit try to pretend that they have no idea what is happening.

It was the late Martin Luther King who said "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."  I wonder what he would say if he reincarnated in  Jamaica today where we seem all too happy to remain silent about the wickedness that passes for normal circumstances and democracy in this country, with the tacit complicity of the huge religious sector?