Grenada – 36th Anniversary of Independence

Grenada~
My land, my home
Life has taken me so far away from your grasp
But no matter where I may rove
It’s paradise in my heart

I make the best of wherever I am
But when I am home
I belong
We eat the same foods
Breathe the same air
We talk the same language
And though your faces vary, they’re familiar

Your vibrant colours and rich aromas
Your breath-taking and individual sunsets
Your culture and traditions
Your picturesque expressions
Your law abiding officers in smart uniforms
Even your pot-holes and sleeping polices
But the passion, the heart of your people, warm and friendly
Your traffic polices too, call me

You’re calling me
With every heartbeat~
I hear you calling
Calling me home

Reality is neither blind nor deaf
And does not forget
From the desert of Egypt to the snow top Alps
No matter how near or far
I close my eyes and you are there
The dust of your earth
The green in your volcanic landscapes
Your supreme wealth and piquant fragrances
Natural health remedies
Costumed spices
And petticoat beaches
Your crystal waters
My invisible footprints left in your sand
And your yellow sun
Always leads me back to you
I hear you calling ~
Calling me back to my island

Grenada~
Your days sparkle
And your nights full of wishes
Your shadows, tender
And your air, warm
Calling me
Calling me back to your charms

Visitor, foreigner, stranger
These are the names I acquire when I return to your shores~
As I no longer lie and wake in your embrace
But sweetly and forgivingly you strike my face and welcome your own
You’ve been calling
I heard your whisper, calling~
Calling me home

The taste of Rivers and Mountain dew
Lime juice, Ginger beer, Sorrel and Mauby
Johnnie bakes and salt-fish cakes
Lambie, Oil-down, my favourite local dish lingers on my tongue
And my senses awaken to your call
Calling me home

Your nostalgic songs and traditional dances
Belle Air, PK, Bongo and Heel ‘n toe
Not to forget the Big Drum
Your sweet calypso music and steel band
I hear your ageless sounds and rhythms
Calling~
Calling me home

Sweet mother land~
I can’t stay away from you for too long
Daughter of your soils
Born and bred and raised
There’s a band that no one, no distance can break
No matter where life takes me
I hear you… always calling~
Calling me home

Oh Motherland
Wherever I may roam
My heart will always be your home

Grenada,
I pledge myself to thee
With head and heart and hands in unity~
Proud of our heritage, proud of you
May we, together with faith and courage
Ever conscientious of God
RISE, BUILD and ADVANCE as one people
May God richly bless you Grenada
With my distant pride, I celebrate your beauty and achievements
GRENADA..HAPPY 36TH INDEPENDENCE

Poem by Nesta Ruegg-Aberdeen, Grenadian Poet

www.myweatheredheart.com

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Haiti Relief Effort in Grenada – Information

Haiti Relief
Prepared by Ms. Roberté Laurent

The situation is very desperate, as you have been seeing on the television. I am very touched by the out-pouring of support from Grenadians. On behalf of the Haitian people, I would like to express my sincere thanks to everyone.

Most people are asking what assistance they can give? Because of the generosity of the Grenadian people, an hoc committee has been formed comprised of the following persons

• Roberte Laurent
• Beverly Renwick
• Chenny Joseph
• Cecile La Grenade
• Leslie Ann Seon
• Mithsouka Ramdhanny

We plan to obtain a 20 foot container which we hope will be donated. We will fill the container with donated supplies which will be sent to Haiti as soon as possible due to the extreme urgency of the situation.

We are asking for donations of the following items:-

• Tents, blankets, tarpaulins, sleeping bags, sheets clothes and shoes for men, women and children, cooking utensils, cups, plates, spoons and medical supplies.
• We will also need non-perishable food items, rice, flour, sugar, milk, cereals, canned goods, can openers etc.We are requesting that the items be packed in cardboard boxes, crates or barrels.

We are currently organizing a central receiving area where the goods will be packed. You can call De La Grenade Industries at 435 4819, 449 0848, or Seon and Associates at 435 1770 or 407 2040 to find out the location of the receiving area.

So far we have received donations of:-
50 cases of 5 litre bottles of water, ( 1000 liters?) from Glenelg Spring Water
5 bags of dried milk, 5 bags rice and 5 bags of brown sugar from De La Grenade Industries
5 bags of dried milk, 5 bags rice and 5 bags of brown sugar from Seon and Associates

We will also need volunteers to help pack the container. Once again we wish to thank everyone.

ALSO – LOCALLY DIGICEL will be sending a text to all of their customers starting FROM TOMORROW Thursday January 14th 2010 – asking you to reply to the text for the cost of EC$1, please donate one or more through this text.

For Lime clients please text also the number OECS or 5151 FROM TOMORROW.

INTERNATIONALLY – ALL other DIGICEL offices throughout the other islands will be doing this from tomorrow, each number will be different so please contact your local DIGICEL office

This particular site http://www.yele.org/ accepts donation from all credit cards.

 

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RBTT Grenada Ltd has set up an account for donations – 745-7724

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The Caribbean Youth Volunteer Service is a registered Non-Profit Organization; operating from its Secretariat located at the Department of Public Health and Preventative Medicine, St. George’s University, Grenada hereby seeks your assistance in supplying the vulnerable people of Haiti who have been devastated by a 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday 12th January 2010 with the following items: Baby and Adult Clothing, Shoes of all sizes and non-perishable food items.

We are asking you to kindly call the following numbers to donate any of the above-mentioned items: Mrs. Kendra Clyne 1-473-406-8229 & Kem Jones 1-473-534-9028 and Shireene McMillan 1-473-456-3264 to arrange to pick-up items.

 

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HAITI Earthquake Relief

via siliconcaribe.com

(Content reblogged from Silicon Caribe. Check the link above for updated information)

Trusted Online Sites You can Donate Money to:

* American Red Cross
* British Red Cross
* Christian Aid
* International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
* Lambi Fund of Haiti
* Mercy Corps
* Network for Good list of sites
* Oxfam (UK)
* Save the Children
* UNICEF USA
* Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti

Text in Your Donations

- Yele Haiti Wyclef Jean’s grassroots org: Text Yele to 501 501 to donate $5 via your cellphone

-American Red Cross:Text “HAITI” to 90999 to give 10 dollars to relief efforts by the

Bank Deposits

- The Jamaica Red Cross is accepting contributions for Haiti at Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) A/C # 20499 at Cross Roads branch but you can deposit at any branch.

- Account opened to accept relief, donate at any NCB branch, account #061048596. All gifts going directly to Haiti & relief efforts.

Drop Off Donations

JAMAICA

-Our Haitian brothers and sisters need everything – non-perishables, toileteries, bed linen, clothes.Drop off at 10A West Kings House Road. Email haitiaidja@gmail.com for more info.

- Kingstonians Haitian Relief items can also be dropped off @ the following supermarkets…..Sovereign, Loshuan, John R Wong.

TRINIDAD

-Foodstuffs, blankets and clothing can be dropped off (please label all bags) to the COP (Congress of the People) Flagship Office on the corner of Tragrete Road and Broome Street in Port of Spain between 9am and 3pm

- ITNAC (Is There Not A Cause) is collecting non-perishable food items, clothing, bedding, temporary building supplies, medical supplies, and toiletries. For details, contact Avonelle Hector-Joseph (firstsamuel1729@yahoo.com) or Mellissa Lezama (868-714-5610/396-3330)

Posted via web from BlahBlohBlog

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edit to add:

Grenada

Caribbean Youth Volunteer Service – Baby and Adult Clothing, Shoes of all sizes and non-perishable food items. Call Mrs. Kendra Clyne 1-473-406-8229 & Kem Jones 1-473-534-9028 and Shireene McMillan 1-473-456-3264 to arrange to pick-up items.

Project 2010 – The BBB Version

via youtube.com

Over at the #WITArmy HQ in Twitterverse (that’s West Indian Tweeters Army for the non-twits), @gwto asked us to participate in an interesting pet project. @gwto, a Trinidadian who blogs at http://www.gamewellandtrulyover.com/, proposed Project 2010, which he outlined as such:

I need you to choose a song that means a lot to you. Then I need you to say why it means a lot to you, in a paragraph or two (or three, or any amount). Then I need you to include a link to a YouTube video of that song.

As soon as I read the parameters for the Project I knew immediately which band I was going to feature. Tears for Fears has been my favourite group since the days of my emo-teenagerdom, way back in the 80’s when emo wasn’t trendy or hip and us emo pioneers were considered just plain old weird and creepy.

Back in the days, exposure to a variety of music was severely limited, simply due to the means of media and communication available then. I still remember the start-up of this odd TV station that promised to show nothing but “music videos” all day. Despite the endless rotation of the same 25 music vids, we never imagined that MTV would become the massive behemoth that it is today. (It is a pity that MTV presently does everything else BUT show music videos!) What MTV did do for this little Grenadian girl was to open up a world of Euro-pop, Techno, Hard Rock, Punk and early Rap, music so very different to the familiar Soca and Reggae played on local and regional radio. (Reggae mind you, not Dancehall. That would come later.) As a child of the 80’s, a lot of the music and bands of the 80’s are favorites, embedded into the consciousness of my emerging adulthood. There are so many songs from that time that evoke specific memories and emotions, even 20 years later. “Careless Whispers” by Wham – my first slow-dance with the “first-love”. “Take Me On” by A-Ha – my hairbrush-as-a-microphone tune. “When Doves Cry” by Prince – sadness. “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics – badass. “Like A Virgin” by Madonna – inspired many a fashion faux pas. The Police, Joan Jett, Bruce Springsteen, Genesis, Simple Minds, Pet Shop Boys, Duran Duran, Culture Club. Just typing the names triggers snippets of forgotten lyrics and long lost memories.

Songs from the Big Chair by Tears for Fears was the first album that I ever owned. Even more than the technicality of the music, their lyrics spoke directly to the mind of the restless, unhappy loner that was me, driving me to own every album they made. I’ve chosen “Shout” as my Project 2010 video, but “Mothers Talk” and “I Believe” are also personal favorites. The video above is not the original music video but was recorded in 2006 during a concert in Europe – the passion, beat, lyrics and sound are still there 25 years later.

Now excuse me while I go lip-synch in front of the bathroom mirror.

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The Royals in Trinidad for CHOGM

Courtesy of @patrickmanning.

((tag: chogm, patrick manning, british royalty))

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