Finish de dial-ah-sis clinic

Ah does get ah lickle NIS Pen-shun when de fortnight come round, nothing big, no way close to way dem fellars does get foh having served two terms (10 years) in Par-liar-mint; some ah dem ain’t deserve ah cent.

So yuh could just imagine how it does bother me when ah hear dat Guv-ah-mint dey digging into de NIS, teking out millions to finance de Argyle Airport. Airports all over don’t mek money, dat NIS Funs in de Airport should ah been better spent in these times! On de other hand ah stamp my approval when ah hear dat Guv-ah-mint mek ah second dig into de NIS Funs, dis time ten million dollars to finish de Die-agnostic (Health) Centre at Sugar-town.{{more}} By de way, wasn’t dat centre supposed to be ah gift from de Cubans, and wasn’t it supposed to be finished two years ago? Anyhow we need dat centre, too many Vincentians wid kidney problems to be specific, have suffered and died already foh want of dial-ah Sis treatment. My hope is dat de 10 million will complete de project, and de Centre will provide Hell’t care foh kidney patients at an affordable price, hopefully it will become ah free service. What we need right now is ah National Hell’t Service like way de NDP keep saying dey will introduce. Contributions to dat Fun will be paid into de NIS and over time, dat ten million loan will look like peanut change.

ROW ROW YUH BOAT KAMARA

Youthful exuberance got de better ah Kamara Jerome and why not! Kamara is Young! Gifted and Chalented! He’s de Architect, Engineer and builder behind his “Emerald Energy” team dat represented SVG at de CIC Competition in Barbados last month. His speed-boat, designed and built by himself, from scratch, came out on top. Ah overs dat he impressed de folks in Bo-bathe-us and de trip turned out to be great promo foh Kamara and SVG as well. What is unfortunate is dat all of ah sudden, everybody want to ride pon Kamara’s boat foh de wrong reason, personal, pull-it-tek-all and otherwise. Like de saying goes: “Success got plenty friends but Failure is like an orphan!”

De Congratulations were overwhelming and young Kamara, too young maybe to overs how Vin-see Pull-ah-tricks does get in de mix; he refuse to remain modest bout de whole ting, he decided dis was his (wrong) time to let some people know how he felt along de way. Lie-Za say somebody influenced him to vent his feelings pon his Face-Book page. Ah fraid dat Face-Book like satan fraid holy water. Is ah positive way to netwuk, but people tek it mek come-mess basket.

Kamara gee dem licks lef right and sent-her before apologizing to all, and den tek his Face off de Book. Apparently de PM got some fire from Kamara foh de size of ah donation ($250. 00) de government made to de project.

Lie-Za say de PM should ah give more because dat is not even 0.001 percent ah way he got from NICE Radio Fun dat he promised to give to Charity. Congrats to de young man still in his teens I am told. Kamara’s next Big Catch wid his boat is in Guatemala, and den hopefully to Tie-One. Even Ivan Own-heel will be happy to hear ah Vincy boat mek ah big catch in Tie-One waters. Go foh it young-star!

MY GRADE 4 TEACHER

Cheryl Phylls-King, wife of Dr Baldwin King has a very informative e-mail dat she circulates to “de Villagers;” relatives and friend now in de die-us-poorer who hail from de Villages around Calliaqua, i.e. Villa, Ratho Mill, Prospect, Glen, Choppins, Brighton etc. Cheryl’s mission is to update ‘all’ on de latest events and matters of interest to Villagers at home and abroad. Lots ah good people who have progressed from de Village, including my Grade 4 Primary Teacher, Ivy Keane-Bynoe who is presently here on ah vacation wid her family. At Richmond Hill Government School, now Tommy Saunders Sec. she was loved. Somehow we preferred our female Teachers, de feminine touch must have made de difference.

Doris Mc Kie stands out; den we had Pam Anderson nee John fresh out ah GHS, she taught us ah few Latin words in Grade 5, Quo Vadis and so on. Den dey was Miss Keane from de Village, Ratho Mill. She invited me to do some wuk foh her last Fry-dey. Ah mek sure and reach dey ten minutes early, very unlike me, just to create an impression on my Teacher.

Ah needed no introduction to her husband, Randolph Bynoe who is Vincy born in Sin Lucia, wuk here as ah Lawyer’s Clerk before migrating. Miss, as we called her, looks just as radiant as she was in de 1950’s, one would think dat I is she older brother. You should see de shock on de children faces when she told dem she taught me at Primary School. Her teenage son rubbed his chin in amazement and asked her: “ Mom, you really taught dis guy in Grade 4?” Ah couldn’t resist rubbing it in; so ah told him dat she didn’t just teach me, dat his mother was responsible for my foundation in Mathematics and Geography, is she who helped to mek ah Land Surveyor out ah me,. Ah would ah love to say she taught me English too, but he will read dis article he will have to know French to overs what ah write.

And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.