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Before the running of Everyone’s A Winner 5K and 10K, held on Sunday, April 29, 2018, road race organisers, Running Events Jamaica, committed to support the Jamaica Society for the Blind with the race proceeds.

On Monday, October 8, the partners delivered on their promise, in collaboration with Food For The Poor Jamaica, to present 24 HP personal computers, specially equipped with non-visual desktop access (NVDA) software to the society.

NVDA allows blind and vision-impaired individuals to access and interact with the Windows operating system and many third-party applications. In other words, members of the blind community are able to interact and access web pages, pay bills, send and receive emails, among other things, through the assistance of NVDA.

Reproduced from the Gleaner on Friday, October 19, 2018

CASH Pot players islandwide have racked up over a billion dollars in winnings at the end of the third week of Supreme Ventures’ latest promotion, Cash Pot Mega Pot, which kicked off on September 23.

Players who haven’t played the new promotion only have one more week to cash in on the winnings, Supreme Ventures said in a release yesterday.

In the three weeks since the start of the promotion, players have bagged $1.297 billion.

The Mega Pot promotion features three Mega Balls, Gold, Silver and Green. The ball machine contains five balls, 3 Mega Balls (Gold, Silver and Green) and only two white balls. Players have an increased chance of ‘catching’ a Mega Ball in every draw and more cash has been paid out on the classic Gold Ball.

To participate and win, players will continue to play the Mega Ball feature as usual, which starts with purchasing Cash Pot with a minimum wager of $10. For every $10 wager on the Cash Pot base game, players can spend an additional $10 minimum to equal their base wager, to participate in the Mega Ball feature.

Immediately after the regular Cash Pot draw, there is a draw for the Mega Ball. If a white ball is drawn, winners of the base game will receive the normal prize payout of $260 for every $10 bet.

If the Gold Mega Ball is drawn, winners of the base game will win the prize payout of $260 for every $10 bet, plus the Mega Ball payout of $780, for a total of $1,040. This is an increase of $80 over the usual $700 payout for the Gold Mega Ball.

If the Silver Mega Ball is drawn, winners in the base game will win the $260 payout for every $10 bet, plus the Mega Ball payout of $300, for a total of $560.

If the new Green Mega Ball is drawn, the winner in the base game will win $260 for every $10 bet, plus the Mega Ball payout of $200, for a total of $460.

Assistant vice-president, group corporate communications Simone Clarke-Cooper said even more people are playing Cash Pot week over week since the start of Cash Pot Mega Pot,

“We have seen an uptick in our week-over-week sales and with the addition of the silver and gold balls, players now have a 60 per cent chance to win the Cash Pot Mega Ball with each ball attracting higher pay outs. This is a win-win-win and we encourage all players to enjoy the promotion while it lasts,” she said.

Reproduced from the Daily Observer on Wednesday, October 17, 2018. 

“I am deeply moved to share these thoughts on the great Mahatma, Mohandas Gandhi with you, on this the commemoration of his 150th Birthday. I express my heartfelt gratitude to High Commissioner, His Excellency Sevala Naik and Mrs Naik for this honour,” expressed Jean Lowrie- Chin.

My Jamaican-Indian father, Sydney Gopaulsingh, a Hindu, died when I was four years old and our mother encouraged us to leaf through a scrapbook that he had kept. There in pride of place was a newspaper clipping of the great Mahatma Gandhi with a report on his extended fast, in his nationwide leadership of a resistance against British colonialism. (My surname was changed to Lowrie when my widowed mother later married Joscelyn Lowrie.)

And so, at that impressionable age, the influence of this man
of courage took root, challenging us to a brave and altruistic way of life. I am pleased that my sister Frances is with us today, a dedicated volunteer who lives this path of courage and giving. With her is her husband William Beard, an African American who recalls the day his parents marched in Washington DC with the Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jr who had declared that Gandhi inspired his campaign of peaceful resistance for Civil Rights.

My husband, Hubert is proud that he shares the same birth month with the Mahatma and I believe my family will agree that he is indeed a man of peace and justice. The symbol for Libra is the scale of Justice – How appropriate!

I shared the request from His Excellency Naik with family members and friends of Indian Ancestry, so they could give me their reflections on the Great Soul, the Mahatma. Here are their reflections:

From my cousin Rachael Mair Boxill: “Perhaps his most significant one for me is his respect for all religions, in particular Christianity.

The quote that has stayed with me is, “”For me different religions are beautiful flowers from the same garden or branches of the same majestic tree.” In a time when the media (in particular social media) seems to foster unnecessary criticism of various belief systems, his genuine respect for all is refreshing and empowering.
Rachael continues, “I am especially captivated with the impact that the Beatitudes had on him and his promotion of non-violence. In a region struggling to maintain peace these words, that had such a profound impact on him, should also be our mantra. Of significance too, is the simplicity of his lifestyle which we should definitely imitate.”

My cousin Dawn Williams Bobo, whose son, Brandon has been grieving the loss of his schoolmates in the shooting at the Stoneman-Douglas High School in Florida wrote: “In this age, when there is so much hurt and anger being unleashed, not only on the political and global front but also in our daily interactions with other fellow citizens, I am constantly reminded of his quote, ‘the weak can never forgive, forgiveness is the attribute of the strong’.”

Andrea Jaghai Williams wrote: “I think the following quote is so true. ‘It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver’.” She notes that our mental, physical, spiritual and social well-being determines our happiness and harmony with the universe.

My cousin Winnie Gopaulsingh Mair says: “What I remember is that my father had a photograph of Gandhi hanging in the shop at Savanna-la-mar. Later I learned he was an activist in India promoting peace and nonviolence. I enjoyed his quotes.”

My sister Sandra said with feeling: “I love and revere this Great Soul.”

My friend Valerie Juggan-Brown notes: “My favorite Gandhi quote is: “Be the change you want to see”

And then I received this stunning email from my Brother Sydney ‘Tony’ Gopaulsingh Lowrie: “This is a very significant moment for Jamaicans of Indian descent. See if you can find Marcus Garvey’s address to the UNIA on the day of Mahatma Gandhi’s arrest by the British colonial government.”

Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, here I was priding myself on knowing so much about Jamaica’s first National Hero, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, and I did not know this! Much respect to Tony!

I was able to retrieve the Speech from the Duke University collection prepared by Jamaica’s own Professor Robert Hill and I am honoured to share excerpts of this brilliant address made by Marcus Garvey to the UNIA in New York, on March 12, 1922.

He begins his wide-ranging speech with this:
“News has come to us that India’s great leader, Mahatma Gandhi, has been arrested for advocating the cause of 380,000,000 Indians – the cause of freedom of his country. He has been arrested by an alien government that seeks to disrupt, to destroy the freedom of 380 millions of people. You are well acquainted with the work of Gandhi. For twenty-five years Gandhi has been agitating the cause of his countrymen. Within the last three years he became very active. He organized a movement that has swept the entire country of India – a movement that has united the different castes of India that have been apart for centuries. The British people are now feeling the pressure of Gandhi’s propaganda. It is customary for them to suppress the cause of liberty. It is customary for them to execute and imprison the leaders of the cause of liberty everywhere. Therefore, Gandhi’s arrest is nothing unexpected to those of us who understand what leadership means. Leadership means sacrifice; leadership means martyrdom. Hundreds of thousands of men as leaders have died in the past for the freedom of their country – the emancipation of their respective peoples – and we will expect nothing else from Gandhi but that self-sacrifice and martyrdom that will ultimately free his country and his countrymen.”
Our learned Marcus Garvey compares Gandhi to the Irish freedom fighter, Terence MacSwiney:
“Gandhi, as you know, is one of the noblest characters of the day. Like MacSwiney, I believe he will pave the way ultimately for India’s freedom. MacSwiney’s death a couple of years ago paved the way for an Irish Free State, and I believe that the sacrifice – the imprisonment of Mahatma Gandhi – will ultimately pave the way for a free and independent India. I am in deep sympathy with Gandhi and with the new movement in India. As Provisional President of Africa I pledge the support of all Negroes of the world who support the principles of this organization to the cause of India’s freedom.”
To thunderous applause, he lauded the West India Regiment for refusing the British call to take up arms against the Indians:
“And I am pleased at a bit of news that had come to me just within the last twelve hours. It came from the island of Jamaica – where, as is the custom of the people I have mentioned, they called upon the West Indian regiments to go out to India – the black soldiers who have always fought for them in their wars of conquest – to fight the Indians, and they refused to go.”

“This is the effect of the propaganda of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Bill of Rights of the first convention of 1920, when we declared that no Negro shall take up arms against other men and especially against men of his race and those with whom he is in sympathy, without first knowing what he is about to fight for. The Negroes of the world have no cause against India. The Negroes of the world, on the contrary, are in sympathy with India and there are 400,000,000 Negroes who are prepared to stand behind 380,000,000 Indians to see that they get their freedom.”

Here is the cable, on behalf of the African Diaspora, that Garvey sent to the King George V and the British Premier: Four hundred million Negroes are in sympathy with Mahatma Gandhi, whom you have arrested. We are for the freedom of India and the complete liberation of the African colonies, including the Nigerias, Sierra Leone, Gold Coast and Southwest and East Africa. We wish your nation all that is good, but not at the expense of the liberties of the darker and weaker peoples of the earth. Rome, Greece, Spain, Germany fell because of imperialistic designs and aggression. May you profit by their experience by acting now to avert the bloody conflict that threatens all humanity. Let us have PEACE by being just, is the prayer of four hundred million Negroes.”

Marcus Garvey made it clear that the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi was not a setback for his campaign. He declared:
“There are many people who believe that the cause of the Indians is lost because of the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi. They do not understand the psychology of great movements. They do not well appreciate the valuable records of history; records that attest the struggles, the sacrifices made by leaders for the rights and liberties of their people. Those of you who are students of history know that all reform movements – I mean reform movements that are worthwhile – have had to pay – as far as the leaders are concerned – have had to pay the price of the liberty of the people in whose interest and for whose freedom they were begun.”
In this National Heritage Week, we Jamaicans of Indian ancestry stand proud in our memory of the triumph of Mahatma Gandhi, and the solidarity of our own Marcus Garvey in his historic campaign.

Thank you, Your Excellency, for this opportunity to share the pride and joy we Jamaicans of Indian ancestry feel in the monumental victory of Mahatma Gandhi, one that has inspired the activism of great leaders and will continue to do so forever.

On this, the 150th Anniversary of this extraordinary leader, we give thanks that God blessed the world with this enduring example of the strength of peace and love.
Thank you, and may God bless you all!
________________________________________________

Address by Jean Lowrie-Chin CD JP

SENATOR Dr Floyd Morris is urging people who are blind and visually impaired to take advantage of educational opportunities.

Dr Morris, Jamaica’s first blind senator, made the call on World Sight Day, last week Thursday, as Jamaica Society for the Blind (JSB) launched activities to mark the day at its Old Hope Road, St Andrew, location.

He attempted to assuage concerns shared by some people with disabilities, that even after being certified they will not be employed.

“Don’t adopt the approach that, ‘bwoy, a Jamaica, them not taking care of the disabled’, and say ‘Mi nah go get no job if mi go get education’. It is a wrong approach to adopt and I can tell you that efforts are being made by Government to ensure that the Disabilities Act is passed into force, and one of the things they are doing is preparing to draft codes of practice for some critical sectors of education and employment…

“Get yourself certified now so that when job opportunities come you are able to grab those opportunities with both hands,” he said.

The senator also urged corporate Jamaica to work with people with disabilities.

“Provide us with the opportunities that will allow us to get gainful employment so that we can take care of ourselves. That’s all we are asking for. When we go to primary school, when we go to high school, when we graduate from university with our degrees, we don’t have to come out on the streets and beg anybody anything or go out on the streets selling gizzadas, [coconut] drops or selling soap and all sort of things.

“We want to be able to be gainfully employed so that we can take care of our family, we can take care of our health, and we can enjoy a decent standard of living,” he pleaded.

Dr Morris said Jamaica and the Caribbean need to create an environment that caters to people who are blind and visually impaired, so they can maximise there full potential, access better health care and contribute to the improvement of their own lives.

“We who are blind and are visually impaired don’t want to go out there on the streets to beg anybody anything. We would like to be educated; we would like to be trained. Upon getting education and training, we can get employment so that we can earn an income to sustain our lives. We don’t want to be on the streets begging,” he said.

Using data from the World Health Organization to argue that there is a link between poverty and disability, Dr Morris stated that there are more than 280 million blind and visually impaired people worldwide. According to him, there are 39 million blind individuals across the globe.

“Of that 39 million, 90 per cent or approximately 36 million live in developing countries. What it seems, from this data, is that there is a connection between the levels of development and the extent to which one has some form of visual disability, and it seems further that… there is a kind of concentration of blind persons in developing countries than in developed countries.

“It also speaks to the fact that, in developed countries, blind persons have greater access to disposable income since the data is also showing that in developed countries there are higher levels of employment of persons with disabilities, with figures going as high as 48 per cent in Japan and a low as 13 per cent in the United States, in terms of the developed world,” he continued.

Morris said he made reference to the data because one must understand that there is a connection between poverty and disability, and a connection between employment and the capacity to afford certain services as a person with disability.

“So if it is that you have greater exposure to employment, the possibility exists that you will be exposed to better health care, for example, and this is why one can conclude that there are less blind persons in developed countries than in developing countries,” he said.

Meanwhile, the senator said last Thursday that JSB is responsible for his success.

“This institution holds a significant part of my heart because you laid the foundation for me to be who I am today. It was here that I learned to read and write Braille. It was here that I did my refresher course in type writing; it was here that I learnt to move around the city all by myself and started to get into trouble once I started to move around by myself,” Dr Morris said, adding that he moved to Kingston from Baileys Vale in St Mary in 1991, after he heard about the non-government organisation that year.

“Sometimes I just want to come sit and hang out here, but the time does not allow me to do those nice things anymore. My heart and soul is always here at this organisation because of its absolute importance to persons with disabilities across the island, especially those who are blind and visually impaired,” Senator Morris said while noting that he has fond memories of the 64-year-old institution.

There are 29,000 visually impaired people across the island, according to JSB Executive Director Conrad Harris.

Reproduced from the Daily Observer on Wednesday, October 17, 2018. 

Spain Day celebrations

In his address at last week’s Spain Day celebrations Ambassador Josep Maria Bosch Bessa signalled a deepening of the relationship between our two countries with increased investment by several Spanish hotel chains and further expansion of other business interests.

Ambassador Bosch applauded Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s commitment to make Spanish the second language of Jamaica, and the “decisive support” of Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith.

The ambassador noted that his embassy has been supporting the training of teachers and hotel workers. “Spanish language really matters,” he noted. “It means more opportunities and better jobs for Jamaicans.”

As we mention language, let us not denigrate our own rich Jamaican language. In Curacao, most people speak four languages — their native Papiamento, Dutch, English, and Spanish. It is worth the work to show respect for the linguistic comfort level of Jamaican pupils, even as they are encouraged to write and use standard English as well.

The ambassador referred to the “political momentum” resulting from visits to Jamaica by Spain’s Secretary of State for Latin America and the Caribbean Garcia Casas, and to Spain by Johnson Smith.

“We are close friends and partners,” he noted. “We share views regarding the main international issues such as promoting multilateralism, human health risk resources, and fighting climate change. We share interests and values in democracy and development.”

The ambassador presented awards from the king of Spain to two members of the embassy staff who have served with distinction for 41 years: Julia Mendoza and Melbourne Mascoe. Congratulations to these individuals.

Farewell, dear friends

I used to enjoy jogging daily around the Mona Dam and rich conversations with the lion-hearted Sister Minnie Phillips. Her Minnie’s Natural Foods Restaurant presented what has become the most fashionable of cuisines — vegan, organic creations. Bob Marley was one of her biggest fans.

We reconnected a few years ago and were looking forward to more time together, despite her failing health. Minnie was the best of mothers and a caring friend. Blessings on your crossing over, dear Sister Minnie.

Then came the news that the vibrant Elva Ruddock had passed away. Her friend Christopher “Johnny” Daley posted a touching remembrance of her: “It’s hard to watch the most energetic, witty, outspoken, intelligent, radiant, larger-than-life personality you know lose to this God forsaken thing called lupus,” he grieved. “She always said, ‘Don’t bother with the crying for me, Johnny… don’t be afraid of dying be afraid of not living.’ ” Wise words from a young woman. Hubie and I miss you, dear Elva.

A special Heroes’ Day

This National Heroes’ Day is a special one for me. I will join the many dedicated Jamaicans who have served our beloved country to be conferred with a national honour. For my readers in the Diaspora who see so much negative news on Jamaica the continued contribution of these stalwarts sends a message that we believe that our country remains a land of hope and opportunity.

I thank the good people who took the time to nominate me, the parents who nurtured me, my husband Hubie, and other family members, friends and colleagues who have supported me. With true respect for all, let’s forge ahead for Jamaica, land we love.

Reproduced from the Daily Observer on Monday, October 15, 2018. 

So why were the words of our first National Hero Marcus Garvey such an important part of last Friday’s ‘Satya Vaarta’ or ‘talk from the heart’, hosted by Indian High Commissioner M. Sevala Naik? The event was held in celebration of the 150th birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, and I had the honour of being invited as a Jamaican of Indian ancestry to share how his life had inspired me.

In preparation for my talk I asked family members for their comments and received an astonishing lead from my brother Sydney “Tony” Lowrie who wrote: “This is a very significant moment for Jamaicans of Indian descent. See if you can find Marcus Garvey’s address to the UNIA [Universal Negro Improvement Association]on the day of Mahatma Gandhi’s arrest by the British colonial Government.”

What a wonderful surprise! Here I was priding myself on knowing so much about Garvey, and I did not know this! Much respect to Tony!

I was able to retrieve the speech from the Duke University collection prepared by Jamaica’s own Professor Robert Hill, and shared excerpts of this address made by Marcus Garvey to the UNIA in New York on March 12, 1922.

Garvey began his powerful speech with this: “News has come to us that India’s great leader, Mahatma Gandhi, has been arrested for advocating the cause of 380 million Indians — the cause of freedom of his country. He has been arrested by an alien Government that seeks to disrupt [and] to destroy the freedom of 380 million of people.

“You are well acquainted with the work of Gandhi… He organised a movement that has swept the entire country of India… The British people are now feeling the pressure of Gandhi’s propaganda. It is customary for them to suppress the cause of liberty.”

Garvey explained the sacrifice that leadership required: “Therefore, Gandhi’s arrest is nothing unexpected to those of us who understand what leadership means. Leadership means sacrifice; leadership means martyrdom.”

Garvey then gave his followers news of the defiant stance of the West India Regiment in response to the call of the British to join them in fighting the Indians: “And I am pleased at a bit of news that had come to me just within the last 12 hours. It came from the island of Jamaica — where, as is the custom of the people I have mentioned, they called upon the West Indian regiments to go out to India — the black soldiers who have always fought for them in their wars of conquest to fight the Indians, and they refused to go.”

To thunderous applause, he ascribed this action to the UNIA’s Bill of Rights, announced at their first convention held in 1920 …That no Negro shall take up arms against other men and especially against men of his race and those with whom he is in sympathy, without first knowing what he is about to fight for… The Negroes of the world have no cause against India. The Negroes of the world, on the contrary, are in sympathy with India…”

Jamaica’s first national hero was not only an eloquent speaker, but also a man of action. He disclosed that he had sent a cable of protest to both the premier and the king of England. It read in part, “Four hundred million Negroes are in sympathy with Mahatma Gandhi, whom you have arrested. We are for the freedom of India and the complete liberation of the African colonies… Let us have peace by being just, is the prayer of four hundred million Negroes.”

On this National Heroes’ Day, we Jamaicans of Indian ancestry stand proud in our memory of the triumph of Mahatma Gandhi, and the solidarity of our own Marcus Garvey in his historic campaign. We salute Garvey and our other national heroes: Queen Nanny, Sam Sharpe, Paul Bogle, George William Gordon, Sir Alexander Bustamante, and Norman Washington Manley.

Reproduced from the Daily Observer on Monday, October 15, 2018.