HEARTICALLY YOURS

Last week I visited the W.I.S.E. programme in operation at the old Cottage Hospital building. The acronym stands for Workshop Initiative for Support in Education and I commend fully those who made the decision to begin the programme in September 2004.

A strange thing happened in my backyard last week. I was hanging out clothes on a line attached to a loblolly tree when I heard a yard fowl and her chicks making a commotion out under the tree. I could see the mother hen looking frantic but I could not see her chicks. As I drew near I realized what had happened and shouted to my partner Ras Iration I for help.

There is this curious tension within the Rastafari Movement which indicates a lack of appreciation of the difference between politics and supporting particular political parties. The very concept of a Movement implies broad political purpose but I and I have never fully trusted the institutions, agencies and representatives of the established system of parliamentary democracy.

The concept of children who are vulnerable and at risk is hardly ever manifested in one single area of living. For example a child who is being sexually molested is also at risk of contracting HIV and part of the response to that kind of violation may be drug abuse and violence.

It was a truly imperial gathering of Rastafari women and they came from near and far to Issemble at Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia for the 4th Annual Empress Menen Earthlight celebration. The Conference followed the pattern established during the first one held at Howard University in seeking some engagement with students of the host institution.

Wow! What a weekend! What an explosion of Anguillian and Caribbean creative expression! As the fog of sleepless nights clears and the afterpain of feet dancing all night for two nights in a row subsides, there remains that head full, belly full, heart full feeling of love, and pride at what was definitely the best Moonsplash ever. Yeah, I know I may have said that last year but that’s only because last year came before this year. The news of Bankie Banx’s reunion with his Roots and Herbs after 30 years was met with high expectations but what we at Moonsplash 2006, was a touch of the sublime.

On March 5th 2006, the Honour Rebel RasTafari Elder Mortimo Planno made his exit from this Earthical plane to travel in the realms of the African ancestors. Brother Kumi as he was affectionately called, was the Ultimate Dread. He was a big, African man with a commanding presence and when he opened his mouth you listened.

Like “Justice Boldface” I too was dismayed to witness the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) in a Vincy hanging court standing accused right alongside the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Uncle Sam - but this is not the end of the story.