Excerpt from the Jamaica Observer column published on Monday, January 24, 2022

By Jean Lowrie-Chin

Despite these trying times I heard some good news from two tourism-related companies last week: Bluefields Villas and VIP Attractions, operators of Club Kingston and Club MoBay at our two international airports.

The Moncure family, owners of Bluefields Villas, Jamaica’s only all-inclusive villa complex, through its foundation, has been supporting the Bluefield’s Fisherme’s Friendly Society, the Mearnsville All-Age School, and the Belmont Academy. They built sanitary facilities and donated classroom furniture at the Mearnsville school, subsidise the lunch and breakfast programmes for both schools, and have supplied tablets for students at Belmont Academy.

They also assist the dynamic Bluefields People’s Community Association in their anti-litter programme, providing trash cans and skips and organising beach clean-up days.

Additionally, the vice-chair of the Bluefields Foundation Houston Moncure and his wife Kate led their staff members throughout several communities in the area, distributing care packages to the elderly over the holiday season, an annual exercise.

Meanwhile, VIP Attractions, operators of the airport lounges Club Kingston and Club MoBay, are increasing their offerings for departing passengers at the Sangster International Airport. The 4,000-square-foot “island vibe” expansion will be launched in September and will host another 100 departing visitors.

CEO of VIP Attractions Shelly-Ann Fung King described it as “a significant investment in Jamaica’s economy not only in cash terms, jobs created, and enhancing our tourism product, but also by boosting the nation’s image and marketability as a great place to do business”

Excerpt from the Jamaica Observer column published on Monday, January 24, 2022

By Jean Lowrie-Chin

You can imagine my joy when Dr Opal Palmer Adisa invited me to share a poem in her great publication, 100+ Voices for Miss Lou. The planning began a few years before the centenary in 2019 of the legendary Louise Bennett-Coverley, and finally, the first batch of books has arrived at the University Press.

When I showed my daughter my poem, she quipped that her dad is also in the book as the one they chose to publish was My Chinaman Jumped to the Riddim of Jah. It is humbling to be counted among so many distinguished poets and authors.

This book is a treasure trove of everything Miss Lou. Please read with the younger generation so they can appreciate the richness and joy of the legacy of Louise Bennett-Coverley.

Excerpt from the Jamaica Observer column published Monday, January 24, 2022

By Jean Lowrie-Chin

Jamaican women stood tall as we watched the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Change of Command Parade at which Rear Admiral Antonette Wemyss-Gorman was handed the baton by outgoing JDF leader Lieutenant General Rocky Meade to become the first woman chief of defence staff.

We thank Lt General Meade for his brilliant leadership of the JDF over the past five years and his 28 years of service in the force. The holder of a PhD in linguistics and a part-time lecturer at The University of the West Indies, Lt General Meade should have great new opportunities in academia.

In her address, the rear admiral stated that she remains committed to changing this culture of violence. “I joined to serve, and my service continues,” she stated.

Indeed, that service marks nearly three decades of firsts for the career officer, who was trained at the Britannia Royal Naval College, HMS Collingwood, and the US Navy War College. She was the first seagoing woman officer to serve in the JDF, commanding various patrol vessels, the JDF Coast Guard, the Caribbean Military Maritime Training Centre, and the Maritime, Air and Cyber Command.

Among the barriers the rear admiral has broken are the attainment of the rank of commander and assuming command of a unit in the JDF in 2014. She now steps up from the position of force executive officer to the pinnacle of her ‘tour of duty’. The much-decorated Wemyss Gorman has gained respect regionally and internationally and has been a distinguished participant in forums worldwide.

What a momentous week it has been for Clarendon: topping the charts for high school achievement, winning football trophies, and now proud that Jamaica’s chief of defence staff hails from Top Alston district.

Rear Admiral Wemyss-Gorman is married to Jonathan, and they have a 15-year-old son. We wish her many blessings in her historic achievement.

Excerpt from the Jamaica Observer column published on Monday, January 24, 2022

By Jean Lowrie-Chin

As I listened to the list of areas which were declared zones of special operations (ZOSO) in Westmoreland at last week’s press briefing, my mind went back to my childhood days in Savanna-la-Mar. Dalling Street was a place where zinnia gardens flourished in front of quaint country cottages. Great George Street was the lovely road on which we walked from our mother’s house and shop at 2 Rose Street down to the fort by the seaside where we would watch magnificent sunsets. My mom would lend tables and chairs to both political parties when they had meetings at the fountain.

We attended St Mary’s Academy, run by the Sisters of Mercy, with its walkway of swaying palms and the St Joseph’s Catholic Church at Hendon Circle. We were fixtures in the Savanna-la-Mar library and we knew we should say good morning or good afternoon to everyone we met, and this was always returned with a smile.

Fast-forward to 2014 when there was news of the shooting of a couple on Dalling Street, who were survived by several children, and Food For the Poor Jamaica decided to build a house for them. When I arrived as part of the handover team I could hardly believe my eyes. The location of the house was in a tenement yard, and all the lovely cottages along the street were gone.

The following year, with the sad eyes of the bereaved children still on my mind, I prepared an Easter package for them and went to Dalling Street to deliver it. At the entrance a man on a bicycle growled, “Whey yu want?” I told him that I had brought a bag for the children. “Gi mi, mi will gi dem,” he said menacingly. I must confess that I became very afraid of being attacked so I gave him the bag and quickly got back into the car.

This is just one of many areas in Jamaica, land we love, where you must seek permission from a thug to enter a yard, a street, or a community. They have decent citizens under their thumbs who must “see and blind” to stay alive.

As usual, the police are being blamed for the upsurge of crime because this takes the heat off those who are bringing in expensive weapons to arm our unattached youth, and those who could do more to heal their communities but hide behind profiling and puffery.

So here is what every Jamaican can do. We can mentor a child; make a weekly call to just listen and point them in the right direction.

Richard Lawrence, who created the Adopt A Youth Foundation, held a webinar last week to assist young people in finding and applying for scholarships. He is active in the Apostolic Worship Centre.

Racquel Simpson, a public relations executive, mentors primary school children and holds extra classes for them.

Through our churches, we can start these groups, using those spaces that are locked all week to create oases of peace and productivity. The Government and the security forces alone cannot do it; we must also do our part to save our beloved Jamaica.

Jamaican born actress turned Fitness and Life Coach Denise Hunt will be among the featured presenters at the WELS (Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod) South Central District GROW Conference, to be held at the Abiding Word Church in Houston, Texas from Thursday February 3 to Friday February 4.

The two day event brings together WELS pastors, teachers and lay leaders from across the South Central US regions of the synod – including Texas- with the aim of  fostering growth and greater understanding  of  the various roles within the church through a variety of presentations, workshops and fellowship opportunities.

Hunt, a born again Christian, media practitioner and former thespian is best known for her small but memorable role in the box office hit How Stella Got Her Groove Back, opposite Academy Award nominee Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs. She will deliver her presentation – Culture in Christianity and The Lutheran Experience- An Immigrant’s Perspective– on the second and final day of the event.

According to Hunt, her presentation will be based on personal experience and will chronicle some of the many challenges she encountered when she immigrated to the USA from Jamaica after becoming a born again Christian in her native homeland.

“So many people speak of the culture shock that envelops them when they arrive in the US as an immigrant from a region like the Caribbean,” she says. “But the stories that often go untold are those about the spiritual and religious culture shock that many experience as well. For me in particular, after accepting Christ and embracing my faith in Jamaica, I then arrived here only to discover an interesting set of challenges… Namely that many of the religious cultural practices I was used to in Jamaica were completely different in the USA. Accepting and embracing the fact that we are all Christians but may take very different approaches to how we choose to worship was a whole new journey.”

She believes her interactive presentation- which is already one of the most eagerly anticipated at the event- will help attendees form an appreciation for the  need to recognize and be respectful of  the differences between themselves and Christians from other cultures.

For Hunt, her appearance at the high profile event is another step on a remarkable personal and spiritual journey that began in the inner city community of Allman Town in Kingston Jamaica where she was born.

Raised in deep poverty and suffering for many years from the  low self esteem that she says often accompanies being born “ black, female and poor”   in  countries like Jamaica,  she embraced  dual careers in  acting and media, quickly rising to become one of the most popular  and recognizable women in Caribbean entertainment .

At the height of her success, she was the host of two top rated television shows on Jamaica’s TVJ network,  as well as an in demand stage actor moving quickly from one award winning theatrical production to another. This lead to her audition and subsequent casting for her breakthrough role in How Stella Got Her Groove Back.

For all her success however, she felt, in her own words, “Like an imposter…. Like I wasn’t deserving. Something was missing and I couldn’t figure out what. And  I needed to know fast or I thought I was literally going to die.”

She sought help and once she did, things turned around dramatically. She became a born again Christian in 2012 having attained her Fitness Coaching Certification in 2010. Her Certified Life Coaching qualification followed in 2019. She quit acting to focus on physical and mental wellness for both herself and others, which she continues to do at her company SizzleFit Faith and Fitness in Austin, Texas.

It is the blending of her two life passions- faith and fitness- that put her on her path to her upcoming second appearance at the GROW Conference.

In 2018, with no experience and on very short notice, she entered the SCW (formerly Sara’s City Workout) Dallas Mania Idol Competition- a contest among fitness trainers giving presentations – and won.  Already professionally engaged in fitness training with seniors and the elderly at her job, she took that platform and her fitness skills into her church. She subsequently toured much of the southwest USA giving workshops and workout sessions to many seniors in Christian communities and elsewhere, as well as training other fitness professionals to do the same.  Her success and growing reputation attracted the attention of WELS, leading to her first appearance at the GROW conference in 2019 at which she did a lecture fitness presentation targeted at seniors.  The opportunity to present for the second time at this year’s event subsequently followed.

Denise Hunt also hosts Random Thoughts Live every Thursday at 8pm EST on her Instagram site – @denisesizzlefithunt.