My kind of church😉

Papa San (Puppa San) has only gotten better with age. The super DJ who used to mash up Sumfest and other music  festivals when great dancehall music prevailed, is still there.

 Only the lyrics have changed.🩷.

 

Amazingly, during his chart stopping performance at the Faith Center, he revealed that he had only just come out of hospital after a serious appendix issue! WOW.

He is amazing. 
 

I like the Faith Center too. It reminds me of the popular Church on the Rock which I attended for many years in Jamaica, to get my Sunday exercise.😉.

You know, Jamaica is reputed to have the most churches per square mile in the world. I will add, that no one in the world knows how to make a joyful noise to the Lord like a Jamaican. Faith Temple is clearly following the tradition. 👍. 

It was a wonderful Jamaica Worship night.

And the lobby of the church was beautifully decorated too.

The young DJ who calls himself Prince SAJ, set the stage for Papa San and was good too.

 I predict he will have his own church in a few years. 

He introduced himself as a 26 year old from Spanish Town. He had a moving testimonial about being an unwanted child born to a teenage mother (14 years old!) who was really only a child  bringing up a child. And as is so common in Jamaica, his father spurned him.

He has clearly come a long way and his high energy and original music ignited the church and set the stage for the great Papa San.

After the concert, there was a drone show, but the main event sell off😊.

Carol, Paulette and I had a wonderful time. 

Nb. Some pics contributed by Carol.

Birthday bash.

 Guess what, Michelle has made it into the big leagues. Proud of her being now a certified yoga instructor. 🥰

When I saw the above on Instagram, I excitedly suggested to Shadrach that we should go, join her class and have the  brunch with her. After all, west Palm is only an hour away and we owed her a visit. 

It seemed like a great idea, especially since it was my friend Camille's birthday, so we could kill two birds with one stone by inviting another friend  Sonja aka Sonia, and spend a pleasant, celebratory afternoon out of town. 💢💥🧑‍🧑‍🧒‍🧒.

It sounded like fun till I learned that brunch was going to be "healthy." As that usually means things like a few sprigs of parsely and other tasteless green stuff🤑, I quickly changed plans.

So it was on to plan B, lunch at the lovely Seasons 52 where Michelle/Melissa/Shadrach took Norma and I to lunch on Mother's Day.

Seasons 52 on Mother's Day.

That was a far more palatable idea, as the ambiance and food there is great and guess what, Melissa works with the group, so we get a decent discount through her.😋

With the birthday girl

Seasons 52 is right on the waterway so you can watch the boats go by and even pick up the water taxi right outside.

We who drove from Tamarac, arrived early so relaxed by the water and in the lounge.

We had reserved a table outside by the water but as we ate and relaxed out there there, a tumultuous cloudburst accompanied by fierce lightening and thunder spoiled the setting. (That same lightening storm killed a mother and her 2 year old daughter in nearby Margate.)😭

Although they pulled down awnings, the sheets of water were blowing inside so we had to repair to the cold air conditioned, crowded, dining area.

As expected the food was great and we had a wonderful afternoon. 

Later, we started to drive behind Melissa and Michelle to head home we thought, only to end up at Yard House where Melissa works.

Melissa hailing up colleagues at Yard House. She is very popular there😉.

We enjoyed ourselves at Yard House though only having space for drinks.

Camille got birthday dessert at both Seasons 52 and Yard House but at the latter, she actually got candles in her cheese cake. We all enjoyed the cake with her 😋. 

It was a really nice day all around and we were transported back safely by super driver Shadrach.👏.

A great day without healthy food.😁

Mothers day 2026

 It was a wonderful mothers day get together at the Season 52 in West Palm Gardens.

Delicious food, good ambiance and family.

A memorable afternoon.

Stealing land

The big news in Jamaica concerning the destruction of illegal homes erected by squatters in Coopers Pen, Trelawny,  reminded me vividly of one of the main reasons why I  became disenchanted with the People's National Party (PNP) and joined the struggle to get them out of power in the 1970's.

It's a long saga, and I outlined it fully in my book, "Looking Back...the struggle to preserve our freedoms."

 Link:LOOKING BACK......... by Joan Williams - Audiobook - Audible.com

The recent Coopers Pen development is a sad story about what happens when poor, struggling people are fooled by corrupt politicians who use them as pawns to gain power.

The destruction of the homes and assets of the residents is heartrending and everything should be done to assist them in their plight.

I indicated at the top that it was squatting (land stealing) which mainly drove me from the PNP, for I was first made aware of this initiative pushed by the late DK.Duncan, former General Secretary of the PNP, shortly after we had paid down on farm land in St. Catherine and were struggling to pay the mortgage before one grain of rice was reaped. Just about then Duncan and his fellow political criminals started to target medium and large sized land owners with "capturing." (They claimed they had the right to take some of our land as they had none and we had too much, hence they were going to capture some!)

Had the PNP succededed in this socialist thrust, we would have had far more gullible poor people losing their hard earned assets through legal bulldozing, as in many instances, that is the only option left to legitimate land owners who were targeted by these socialists.

For once free loaders move on to your land, it is a long and extremely expensive and tedious process to get them off.

In the case of Coopers Pen, the owners have been going to court from 2012 (14 years!) to gain access to their land. And in every case, the courts had ruled that they must get the use of their land for their own use as the squatters have no rights to it.

But look how it has ended!

About fifty families, some with babies just days old, were thrown out of their houses and their assets destroyed by bulldozers in the early hours of the morning. 

The JLP which has been consistently in power since 2016 does not have clean hands in this matter either. For our constitution does not recognize parties but governments and it is the Ministry of Housing that has consistently represented (misrepresented?) the interest of the  residents in Coopers Pen. 

This incident once again not only demonstrates how terrible it is for people to be exploited by politicians, but also, the fact is that these politicians, whether PNP or JLP, don't really give a hoot about the poor.

Hampton School

 As I am honest, I will say up front that I hated most of the years I spent at Hampton School in St. Elizabeth.

When I was growing up, Hampton supposed to be one of the most prestigious schools in Jamaica, and since it was only about a mile from my home in Malvern, my fate was sealed before I was even born💫

When I attended however,  it was more like a prison or the secluded covent in Britain that your read about, than a school. 😡

 I will be honest though in that I loved the last two years of my life there (in sixth form), as we commuted daily to share classes with the boys at our brother school, Munroe College 🥰. (Oh boy, weren't those days exciting! One day I will tell you about them.)

It was my dislike for all things Hampton though why I washed my hands off that institution on leaving, and never got involved in the "old girls" affairs. (HOGA, Hampton old girls association is the name of the past students' group). (ME OLD? YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING.😉

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I learned about the situation below recently and had to get involved. 

The information came via a video about conditions in Woodlands, St. Elizabeth and its environs,  which suffered badly with the passing of hurricane Melissa. The video was forwarded to me by my cousin Everett Smith, a Florida based attorney who was born in Woodlands.

 It's about a Hampton girl whose home was upended by hurricane Melissa. This further added to her misery as a day girl who had to use public transportation daily from the border of Westmoreland/St. Elizabeth to get to Hampton School. This distance means she has to leave her home in the wee hours of the morning in the dark and return at nightfall. That sounded appalling, especially as it related to her safety as a young woman.

Besides, what time would that leave for her to study, was my other reaction and how could she deal with personal issues such as bathing etc when the very bathroom of her home no longer exists?

 These are what motivated me to contact Sonja Pringle, an active HOGA mrmber, to see how we could help. I am happy to see the ball got rolling quickly, thanks to the hard working Dawn Ebanks, president of HOGA.

 Let's all rise to the occasion.

You see whether we like the school, me or not, there are situations that call for immediate action.

I am therefore calling on all who read this blog to assist this young lady. No donation will be too small and a spreadsheet will be sent to everyone showing all donations and expenditure. 

 Thank you. And please share this blog with friends/schoolmates who have a heart.🤎

,.....................,,.......................................

The young lady's name is: Anna Marie Wright. 

Donations are to go to:

Zelle. Jordannem.ebanks@gmail.com. 

PayPal. Jordannem.ebanks@gmail.com. 

Update from Dawn Ebanks 08/15/2026

Spreadsheet not opening on my phone but anxious to share contributions so far: 

1. Karan $10,000

2. ⁠Anonymous $10,000

3. ⁠Annette $40,000

4. ⁠Sonia us$100

5. ⁠Sharon us$50 

6. ⁠Joan us$200

Total j$60,000

Total usd$350 j$54,250 

Total J$114,250

Ps. Google Hampton School, St. Elizabeth if you require any other info.

A WhatsApp group chat called "Tatewood student" has also been established. (Tatewood is the name of a large property in Woodlands).

Link: https://youtu.be/wtmUzaCD-g4?is=w39LMukggbYC4z9u.