It is a well-known fact that Barbados has a high incidence of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer and hypertension, and these are especially prevalent among people over the age of 65. Recent figures from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) show that in 2015, cardiovascular diseases accounted for 31 per cent of all deaths […]
Category: Column
Bessie Coleman soared across the sky as the first African American, and the first Native American woman pilot. Known for performing flying tricks, Coleman’s nicknames were; Brave Bessie, Queen Bess, and The Only Race Aviatrix in the World. Her goal was to encourage women and African Americans to reach their dreams. Unfortunately, her career ended […]
This week my reflections are somewhat of a pot-pourri of this and that. I start at Bridgetown, go all the way to Africa and come back to our region via Venezuela. I think if there is a singular theme that binds the ideas together it would be broadly an examination of our ability to manage […]
If ever there is a sewerage spill in two years from now and onwards, the main concern of Barbadians will be that a valuable resource is going to waste rather than the emanating foul odour and defilement of the landscape. Such is the optimistic view of Energy and Water Resources Minister Wilfred Abrahams who has […]
An inventor, abolitionist, and trained medical professional, Dr Thomas Elkins played a significant role in supporting the Underground Railroad in Albany, New York during the 1840s and 1850s. He also made an important contribution to the development of refrigeration techniques and patented several inventions for other household furniture items during the latter part of his […]
Last Friday night I stood on the track of the Usain Bolt Sports Complex and was awed by the spectacle that unfolded before the reported 4,000 persons in attendance. I was at the St Michael School Inter-house Sports Meet. For the first time in Barbados, a secondary school chose to have its sports meet at […]
The governor of the state of New York recently signed an unprecedented and dangerous bill into law. On January 22, 2019 the state made it legal for a woman to have an abortion up to a baby’s due date. In other words, “The law allows for abortion at any time throughout pregnancy. And if a child […]
George Washington Carver was a world-famous chemist who made important agricultural discoveries and inventions. His research on peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other products helped poor southern farmers vary their crops and improve their diets. A monument showing Carver as a boy was the first national memorial erected in honour of an African American. George Washington […]
The world is an interesting place, full of interesting people. It is a cornucopia of personalities, events and happenings, moods and melodies and so much more. Were I to attempt to write about the different types of personalities that help to spin the globe, someone would find my skeleton sitting at my desk. I choose […]
Sarah Breedlove – who later would come to be known as Madam C. J. Walker – was born on December 23, 1867 on the same Delta, Louisiana plantation where her parents, Owen and Minerva Anderson Breedlove, had been enslaved before the end of the Civil War. This child of sharecroppers transformed herself from an uneducated farm […]
I worked the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for 22 years and I was rough in CID. I realize CID was the end result because whenever you get to that stage you are almost finished. It is in line with the broken window theory, if you can save those youngsters before they start committing those big […]
It was not my intention to have a part 2, the discussion was after all done and dusted. in August 2018, I was moved to comment on, and applaud the Speaker of the House of Assembly of St. Lucia, Andy Daniel, whose performance in the parliament I noted was so refreshing that it was deserving […]
Rape of females has been an aspect of war as long as war has existed, but only in recent years has rape in war been acknowledged as a weapon. The United Nations Human Rights Commission passed a resolution identifying rape as a war crime in 1993. Sexual assault in the United States armed forces continues […]
The Heads of Government of the independent member states of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), who met by video conference on January 24 to consider the fast-moving events surrounding Venezuela, demonstrated an independent and principled stance. Absent from the meeting was any representative of the Bahamas and Haiti. It was clear that, collectively, the remaining 12 […]
Sometimes – scratch sometimes – advocacy in the women’s and girls’ space is always lonely, painstaking and melancholy work. The frustrations are many; there are people who seem to thrive on perpetually misunderstanding and misrepresenting what women are agitating and fighting for. Most disappointing and confusing of all though, are the women who remain deeply invested […]
We aid in the destruction of our environment by tossing away indiscriminately just one plastic fork, one plastic cup or one Styrofoam container. Have you ever driven behind another vehicle and watched as the occupants carelessly threw from their windows empty fast food containers, empty pep bottles or other forms of garbage? I have witnessed, […]
Information that the ruling political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was defeated in the December 2018 general elections, though controversial, is really good news for the continent. Surely a classic example of a country where the sit-tight political leader ruled absolutely cannot be disputed. Additionally, the Democratic Republic of the Congo exhibited […]
