From Dancehall to Church Hall!

 I love Lady Saw. 

Her high energy, command of the stage, voice.......She has everything that makes a great performer. 

However, it's not simply her performing skills which have caused me to be a lifelong fan, but also the fact that she is such a generous and caring person. For ever since she declared publicly that she couldn't have children, she has adopted so many needy ones and even stray animals as well.

I have never seen or heard her since her conversion to Christianity, which caused her to turn to gospel music, ditching her moniker Lady Saw and performing under her own name, Marion Hall.

About three years ago, we went on our regular trek to Sumfest, hoping to get a taste of the transition of Lady Saw to Marion Hall, but she never came on stage until after 6 am and as we had to drive back to Trelawny, we had to skip her performance.

Well she is the main reason why I decided not to miss the fund raising concert put on at Faith Chapel in Florida last night.

It was billed as another fundraiser for the victims of hurricane Melissa where all the artists were performing free of charge.

These fundraising events are coming fast and furious. I only hope the people we are all trying to help, get the assistance!

See how many ways they tell u to donate!

The affair was anchored by Jamaica's Consul General, Oliver Mair and Bishop Hernandez, who is known for his fund- raising skills.

 He is even reputed to have raised funds in record time for his Lear jet, but that's for another discussion.😁

Bishop Fernandez And Oliver Mair.

The target for the night was US$175,000 and I am sure they met it, for I left immediately after Lady Saw finished her explosive performance and they were at $140,000.

There was a surprise appearance by Father Richard Holung who is often thought of as Jamaica's male Mother Theresa.

This is because, though born into wealth and privilege, he gave it all up to establish Brothers of the Poor, which operates in the ghettos, bringing relief to the poorest, the indigent and neediest. He has been doing this for perhaps more than 50 years!

Consul General Mair introduces Father Richard Holung.

Father Holung is not just a do-gooder but also a very talented musician and songwriter whose concerts I never missed while living in Jamaica.

His appearance at this event was to promote an upcoming concert they are having in Hollywood, Florida next week to raise funds for his organisation.

Three of his brothers showcased their skills for the upcoming event.

Bwoy, am I happy I attended for it exceeded my expectations or as we say in Jamaica " it sell off."👏🥳.

Interestingly, it kicked off with a dynamic performance by Omari, whom I had never heard of before, but he touched the nerve of Jamaican Christians by bunning (condemning) obeah.

Obeah is a West African ritual brought to Jamaica by our enslaved ancestors centuries ago.

Obeahmen use spirits and indigenous elements, herbs, oils, candles and supposedly supernatural forces, to heal or cast spells, give protection etc.

 It was banned by the slavers but recently in Jamaica there has been calls for the Obeah Act to be repealed. 

This is something objected to by many spokespersons in so-called Christian community at home and apparently in Florida too, as Omari certainly stirred up the passions.

A TASTE!

                                                                        Omari

                                                                      Carlene Davis

As expected, Lady Saw, sorry, Marion Hall, brought down the house.

A site to behold! 🙏

I took the train (all by myself😊) on what should have been a 5 hour trip to Anuradhapura. For some reason the trip took close to 7 hours, but I am not complaining.

It's around 127 miles north of Colombo and is an UNESCO World 🌍 Heritage Site, both for it's religious and archeological importance.

I have visited many religious sites all over the world, from Vatican, (christian), Istanbul (Muslim) Bangkok (Buddhist) etc, but I don't think I have ever seen anything as spectacular as this.

Had to buy a shawl to cover my white sleeveless top. No such requirement at the Golden Temple in Dambulla. Different towns, different cultures.

And when you consider that most buildings in Anuradhapura are over 2500 years old, it makes it more amazing.

My first image of one of the Temples. I arrived at night.

According to Wikipedia:

 "Anuradhapura is the cradle of the Hydraulic Sinhalese civilisation, Theravada Buddhism, and the longest-serving ancient capital of Sri Lanka that has survived for 1500 years. 

The networks of ancient temples and monasteries now cover over 100 square kilometers (40 square miles) of area of the city today.

The founding of the city is around 437 BCE, but the site has been inhabited for much longer, making it a major human settlement on the island for almost three millennia and one of the oldest continuously occupied cities in Asia, a cradle of Sinhalese civilization.

It's also longest-serving ancient capital of Sri Lanka  and has survived for 1500 years.

The city was mostly destroyed and largely deserted after 993 CE, with the Chola invasion from South India.[2] Although several attempts were made by later Sinhalese kings to return the capital to Anuradhapura, it was not reestablished as a major population centre of the island until the British colonial era in the 19th century CE. Despite its decline as a political centre, Anuradhapura remained a vital pilgrimage site for Buddhists throughout the medieval period and continues to be a significant spiritual destination today.[3][4] The modern revival of Anuradhapura began in the 1870s under British colonial rule, with infrastructure and urban planning initiatives aimed at supporting administration and accommodating pilgrims.[5] The contemporary city, much of which was moved during the mid-20th century to preserve the site of the ancient capital, is a major road junction of northern Sri Lanka and lies along a railway line. The city is the headquarters of Sri Lanka's archeological survey, and tourism is a significant factor in its economy."

(I was all decked out in my white sleeveless blouse to take the tour but had to cover my "mawga" arms. Also, I bought the bottom to enter a temple in Thailand but had to pin the split down to the knee, as too much leg was showing.🥴

Not complaining, just pointing out that different areas have different cultures in the same way even siblings can differ in their beliefs and practices.)

The young caretaker at Airbnb I stayed, gave me these petals. I thought they were for my room so left them at home.

I should have taken them to one of the shrines to use them to pay tribute to Lord Buddha.

 I live and learn.🫢.

Adherents putting gifts all around Lord Buddha's reclining image. They even bring cooked food!🤔.

Drummers leading some worshipers.

Loads of flower blossoms are given to worshipers to put on the altars at the Temples and Pagoda at the holy site.

The bottom of the main temples are wrapped with the Buddhist flag. It's quite a ritual performed by the monks.

While some of us are busy debating whether Buddhism is a religion or a way of life, to the thousands I saw there in May 2025, it is definitely a religion. 

They came to meditate, pray, pay homage to  Lord Buddha, give him gifts and get blessings.

And as part of this ritual, they bring (cooked) food, flowers and gifts for his monks and the smell of incense is all over, pleasant and calming. 

To me it was kind of surreal, especially since I have never witnessed such a crowd at a religious site a before.

Once a baby becomes 3 months old, he/ she is taken to a Temple to be blessed.

This is a man-made lake near the main Temples. Some adherents go there to cool off after a day of meditation and prayer.

One of the large rooms where incense are burned.

Despite the thousands moving through the large area, it is spotless as, workers ( volunteers?) are all around always cleaning up.

I tell you, the beauty of the artistry, carvings, sculptures is really overwhelming.

I have also been learning about the unlimited generosity of ardent Buddhists, but I was still surprised to see the truckloads of foods and fruits that local farmers brought there to give away free to those who were at the Temples🙏.

As I passed through one exit, I got a hand of ripe, bumpy bananas aka chiney banana, my absolute favorite.😊

 I was so tired after walking miles just to see what was taking place at the religious sites that I didn't even bother to visit the ruins.

They said this lady was a Hindu priestess who was performing some kind of a healing ritual there! 

Links. 

https://youtu.be/3mOwnITV3A0?si=joM-RF96EtluXgg3

https://youtu.be/80AuEBrPUsA?si=LxbG3X63mb_rLqHq

Out of Africa

 Religion and slavery

If you are a descendant of African slaves, you shouldn’t visit Ghana without going to Cape Coast to see for yourself, some of the atrocities of the Atlantic slave trade.

This horrid place is 135km journey from Accra, the capital.

There you find Elmina Town on the Atlantic Ocean. That is where the shipment of captured and tortured slaves took place. 

Today it is a bustling fishing village to which traders come to from near and far to get supplies.

However, still visible and intimidating is a solid building on the hill overlooking the town. 

This was the army barracks which housed the well-armed soldiers who guarded the slave port, the fort and castle in which the human cargo were held.

In short, that is where the most heart-wrenching example of 'man's inhumanity to man' and the evils of Christianity, still stand fully exposed.

 It is also now an UNESCO heritage site.

This is Elmina Castle where the slaves were held, traded and tortured. The second floor had a chapel and religious quarters.

This castle was erected in 1482 by the Portuguese as a normal trading center until they realized how much more lucrative it was to trade in humans rather than products.

The Dutch seized the castle and fort from the Portuguese in 1637 and like their predecessors, used the promise of milk and honey through Christianity, to fool native chiefs and lull them into complacency while they continued the lucrative slave trade across the Atlantic.

In the mid 1600’s, the British who had become the most successful slave-trading nation, took over the castle and used it as their main slave trading post until 1807.

Between 1650 and 1860, it is estimated that approximately 10 and 15 million Africans were transported, often more dead than alive, to the colonies in the Caribbean, North and South America and to other countries.

Although the British claimed they had officially abolished slavery in 1837, their traders either outrightly or covertly, continued the trade or owned most of the ships that took millions more of captured Africans to their doom.

I often heard our Ghanaian guide's voice crack with emotion as he related some of the atrocities our ancestors experienced there.

What was especially disgusting for me was seeing the Biblical quotes all over the chapel and the space where the religious leaders slept. 

This is right above where slaves were tortured and kept chained in dark dungeons on cold bare floors.

On trading days, the slaves would be paraded naked below, as the buyers inspected them through the peep hole on the chapel floor and choose the ones they wanted.

Once the deal was done, the slave would then be branded with hot irons, with the names of their new owner.

Female slaves were also held naked and chained too. Sometimes they never received any food for 72 hours and all bathroom activities happened right there.

As the traders did not travel with their women, when they wanted sex, they would take one or a few females outside and wash them off. The water used to bathe them came from an underground drainage which they said they could never use themselves, as it was toxic.

Females who resisted were brutally punished. Those who got pregnant would be taken away to the town to deliver and brought back to the dungeon immediately.

Their children were never seen by them.

The dungeon to which rebellious slaves were taken had no ventilation, and the slaves were left there to starve to death. Their bodies were then dumped in the ocean.

The door of no return which led out to the ocean, was through which the slaves were taken out to the shore to board to small canoes which took them to the large slave ships anchored offshore.

Quite frankly, after seeing it all, I was shocked at how much Ghanaians are still into Christianity today despite these stark reminders in their midst of how evil it all is! (25% of Ghanaians are Muslim, the rest are Christian.)

 I have never seen more posters and billboards vying for people's souls anywhere else in the world than on this road from Accra to Cape Castle!

I estimated that at least 70% of all the roadside ads were about church activities, a small number advertised funerals and memorials, and the rest were commercial.

Jamaica has just as many actual churches as they do (proportionate to size and population of course) but they spend a lot more money by far on advertising religion than we do.

On a lighter note, whereas in Jamaica, there is usually a bar or two beside each church, I saw very few bars along the road to Cape Coast or anywhere else in general.

It seems Ghanaians concentrate on one spirit only.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Protecting the unborn while neglecting the already born

The reason why I keep coming back to religion so  regularly, is because it has been used for so long as a cover to oppress people.

In the olden days, it was the principal tool to keep the enslaved and oppressed in line, the well-known ruse being, if they accepted the oppression their rewards would come in the afterlife.

As slavery was outlawed and most people became less naïve, the religious scammers evolved a bit and Bishop Tutu summed up the next step beautifully; “When the missionaries came to Africa, they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them, we had the Bible and they had the land.” Of course, you are aware that in South Africa, everything the apartheid government did was with the blessing of the Dutch Reformed church.

It was no different in other countries such as the USA and the Caribbean where slavery and later, white oppression, was the order of the day, for always, the slave masters had the full endorsement of the church.

Fast forward to my generation.

As far as I can see, the Christian religion is still mainly used as a tool to oppress the weak. Probably though, their favorite prey these days are women and children, because of their unequal physical strength!

So, while I have always been wary of Christians, the thing that drew me back to this topic today, is the most horrific story coming out of France about the sexual abuse of children by catholic priests. It stated in part; Clergy members in the Roman Catholic Church in France sexually abused more than 200,000 minors over the past seven decades, according to an estimate published on Tuesday by an independent commission that concluded the problem was far more pervasive than previously known.”

I find these reports about the catholic church especially painful, for while I don’t know much about their religious teachings and care even less, based on their operation in Jamaica, I have always been a big supporter of that denomination where through the efforts of representatives such as Father Holung, Sister Benedict and the Alpha institution,  it has only been surpassed by the Salvation Army, in assisting, uplifting and training the poor in my country.    

However, catholics internationally, are well known for their promulgation of the inferiority of woman and definitely, what we can do with our bodies, under the guise of protecting the unborn while abusing the already born.

What is happening in Texas too is a poignant example of how those who describe themselves as upright Christians, use their superior powers to oppress women, under the guise of protecting the unborn.

In this latest move, these Texan legislators too, have decided that women don’t control our own bodies, so government through them, can determine what pregnant ladies do with their’s!

I don’t know if it’s the nonsense about woman being created from Adam's rib which has driven this overreach in the Christian world, but whatever it is, it is nothing but another grab for power over us women in the name of religion.

For how is that these upright people in Texas, care so much about the recently conceived,(some are claiming that a human exists from the moment of conceptions!) when they display so little concern about the pligtht of pregnanat women and children  after they are born, especially minorities.

For according to the statistics, Black infants in Texas are twice as likely as white infants to die before their first birthday and maternal mortality is higher than the national average.

Protecting the unborn indeed while leaving those already here to suffer and die from their racist policies and neglect.

These religious zealots would be on firmer ground if they encouraged men to have vasectomies instead of  continually trying to take control of women's bodies!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJu_qutzS3Y

Blacks as lab rats? No way

Millions of white people have throughout history, maintained that they are the ‘chosen ones,' and that blacks are not fully human. 

Not only have they promoted this by any means possible over the centuries, but even more disgracefully, they have even successfully co-opted religion to promote this evil doctrine.

For, from Christianity was established and recognized by the imperial world power in Rome, as the 'true religion'  their depiction of Jesus as white with blue eyes, strengthened the campaign.

Latterly too, the  Dutch Reform Church in South Africa was for decades, masters of this ‘spiritual’ doctrine,  as has the white evangelical movement in the USA, though they have been a little more subtle.

Unfortunately, this evil doctrine has not only been super successful among millions of whites but also, they have even accomplished the mammoth feat of convincing a large segment of the black population that this is true.

As a result of the success of this doctrine, black people have often been used as lab rats, to test different types of medicines necessary to keep the white man healthy, without a peep from most people.

Some of the best known and recent examples of this abuse in the USA have been;  

From 1932 to 1972  the public health service along with the Tuskegee institute  established  a program called “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.”  Under this program, 200 black men in Tusgagee diagnosed with syphilis, were never told of their illness and were denied treatment. They were then used as human guinea pigs to allow the scientist to follow their progression and symptoms of the disease. They all subsequently died from syphilis and their families were never told that they could have been treated. 

The study continued for four decades. (NBC News.)

In 2014, according to the Atlanta Black Star, reports emerged that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hid results from a test of experimental measles vaccines that actually increased the likelihood of black children developing autism. Dr. William Thompson, who has been with the CDC for more than 10 years, told The Examiner that the authors of the study manipulated and hid data that proved black babies were more than three times more likely to develop regressive autism if they were given the vaccine before the age of 3. Parents of the black babies who were receiving the vaccines were not made aware of the risk of their child developing autism.

In the 1950s Henrietta Lacks, an African-American woman  was the unwitting source of cells which were cultured by George Otto Gey to create the first known human immortal cell line to be cloned for medical research. This was done without the lady's knowledge or consent, from a tumor biopsied during treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. 

Allegations are that doctors have grown roughly 20 tons of her cells since her death.

Only recently too,  the rumors that AIDS drugs had been tested on Africans were confirmed when Jean-Paul Mira, head of intensive care at Cochin hospital in Paris, was speaking about the global health crisis. He was  participating in an online the conversation when he suggested carrying out a major study in Africa in the race to find a vaccine for the Coronavirus.

According to  Yahoo News  on April 3rd, 2020, he declared; "If I could be provocative, shouldn't we be doing this study in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatment, no intensive care, rather as was done with certain studies on AIDS, where things are tested on prostitutes because it's known that they are highly exposed (to HIV)?" Mira asked. "What do you think?"

Camille Locht, head of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Lille, was also in on the discussion and was said to have agreed with the suggestion declaring; "You are right. We are in the process of thinking about a study in parallel in Africa!"

The head of the WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus who is an Ethiopian was quick to declare that he condemned the suggestion adding;

"Africa can't and won't be a testing ground for any vaccine."

While that official agency most likely will not sanction the move, what is to prevent private investors from doing it in their haste to enrich pharmaceutical companies? 

I will tell you what; only constant vigil by persons of color throughout the entire planet can guarantee that this will not be done. For as Edmund Burke, "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good man (people) do nothing. 

So it is to our own peril if, in 2020, we the black people of the world sit idly by and allow the continuation of the evil practice by wicked scientists and other exploiters, who treat our brothers and sisters, wherever they are, as lab rats!

Is Murder OK?

Osama Bin Ladin has been the USA's public enemy number one since 9/11 and with good reason. For he did take credit for the destruction of the twin towers and the elimination of over three thousand precious lives during that terrorist assault on the USA. So for over the past ten years, the USA has spent billions of dollars and sacrificed the lives of a number of young people in a vain attempt to capture him.

Then  their luck changed and on 1st May 2011 the joyous report was made by no less a person than president Obama himself that  Osama had been killed in a firefight in Pakistan after navy seals raided his luxurious hideout in that capital.


Now Washington, via White House spokesman Jim Carney is admitting that Bin Ladin was not carrying a weapon when he was killed (so obviously he was not involved in a firefight!). Oh no, he was obviously in no way apologetic in making this admission or even indicating that he understood the natural implications, for according to the New York Times,  '..........Mr. Carney said that Bin Laden’s lack of a weapon did not mean he was ready to surrender, and he and other officials reiterated that this was a violent scene, that there was heavy fire from others in the house, and that the commandos did not know whether the occupants were wearing suicide belts or other explosives."

Further, he admitted that the previous report which had claimed that Bin Ladin had used his wife as a :"human shield" was erroneous.Wow. So doesn't Mr. Carney realise that this report puts a totally different spin on the entire affair?

I don't suppose too many persons  except maybe his fanatical supporters, are mourning the death of OsamaLadin, Bin a man determined to wipe out as many non Muslims as he could. But how are those who commit murder in the name of Christianity any better than he is? For if he had no weapons and personally posed no threat to those who invaded his compound, it makes his death nothing but cold blooded murder!

It seems to me that those who claim to be walking the high road, merely pay lip service to the concept, for one gets the impression that from day one, there was never ever any intent to bring this alleged terrorist to trial, but to execute him whenever the opportunity presented itself .......and that is exactly what they did and no spin is going to change that raw fact.