March 3, 2017

Eleven woe-man to one man

As ah lickle youth we never knew anything bout Population Census. De only thing ah remember dat

 
had to do wid population was de talk dat in Sin Vin-sin we had more women dan men and de ratio was six woman to one man. It was no secret if ah married man had, in addition to his wife, several keepers. On de other hand, it was normal foh ah single man to have half ah dozen keepers in one village, all wid children. Ah can’t call my former near-bah’s name, he’s dead now, Dr. Care-not John knew him well, but when he died, de family discontinued de count at sixty-eight, when dey were trying to record de names of all his children for de death announcement on radio.

Those were de days when de Ratio weighed heavily in fear-foh de man. But times have changed and over de years our women folk have been smartly, silently and effectively working to reduce dat ratio. Dat Eddy-Care-Shun Rev-all-yuh-shun man! It licking up de men bad. Last Thursday night ah witnessed on TV way sixty-two adults walked up Graduation Ah-venue, and collected dey well earned degrees. And as dey walking down de aisle, something strange struck me. Ah didn’t see ah single man.

So next morning ah sent foh de list and it was stunning: Two masters degrees; 13 First Class Bachelors degree; and dey was five men among dem and 55 women, including Searchlight’s very own Teshorne Cain, ah Gem who has ah success story!

Back to de topic. When I learned my Eleven Times Tables, it was “eleven fives are fifty-five, eleven into fifty-five equal five. Lie-Za bragging off and telling me “Watch how de tables turn, de ratio reverse now, is one to eleven, to every man is eleven successful women.” Ah tell her dat she got it wrong, in fact, dat’s how it was when ah was ah youth “Is still eleven woman to one man!” Ladies, ah proud ah all yoh!

DE ET JOSHUA MUSC

Lie-Za was upset dat she was not included among de persons invited by Searchlight, to give her views on what we should do wid de ah-ban-done E.T. Joshua Airport (ETJ). She reminds me dat in de early stage of construction at de Argyle Intl. Airport (AIA), de CEO, Dr Rudy Matthias was on ah “Hits Talk” program giving his project-shun foh E.T.J. “Kingstown was overcrowded” he said, so de plan foh ETJ was to mek ah New City at Arnos Vale. Sir Rudy had even (over ambitiously) suggested $600.00 ah sq. ft. foh de lands in de proposed Arnos Vale City.

De available land at Arnos Vale is estimated at approximately 63 acres – Mek dat fifty (50) acres because dem Squatters going move in and tek out ah de best 13 acres. So using Sir Rudy’s Math-iah-smat-ticks, de remaining 50 acres should realize ah modest “One point three billion E.C. dollars,” dat is approximately five billion TT dollars. And as Lie-Za remembered, Rudy said dat money would ah cover de cost ah de AIA. Eight years ago, Rudy had already figured dat de Airport will cost One point three billion E.C. dollars and he knew way de money was coming from to complete de project. So doh mind all de talk about Airport costing seven hundred million dollars.

De Rumah she getting now, is dat ah Tree-knee man of shine-knee de-scent already buy E.T.J. SVG lands selling out to non-vincent-shuns. Again? Dat has to be ah Rumah.

Young people crying out foh ah proper Sports Complex; our Athletes need ah home and Minister Mc Kie done promise de Athletes ah Synthetic Track at Arnos Vale. Our Swimmers have done more dan enough locally, regionally and internationally to be rewarded wid ah full size swimming pool. Early o-clock in de life ah de ULP we were promised ah Sports Stay-dum; ah site was selected at Die-man, plans drawn, monies spent, but dat’s about it. Both parties promised us ah State-ah-de-Art Hospital, why not at Arnos Vale? Well dey done tun E.T.J. into ah Block-O site, might as well. SVG needs a Recreation Site. Please Mr Pry-minister, don’t sell out our children’s heritage; Give us ah Multi Use Sports Complex (MUSC) and name it de E.T. Joshua MUSC. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy!

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