Shouter Baptists, Vote Catcher and Lunch 2014

Before I try to compose the weekly Magpie I would like to share with you a little of the Trinidad and Tobago culture.

Tomorrow is Spiritual Shouters Baptist Day and is a Public Holiday in this nation.  We have a great many public holidays here!  The government also gives extra days when nationals make their mark world wide as in the case of cricketer Brian Lara breaking the world record with 375 runs and Keshon Walcott winning a gold medal at the London Olympics 2012 for javelin throwing.  I term these extra holidays as 'vote catchers' but in reality when it comes to General Elections, people forget what the government hope they would have remembered!

Rather than writing a repeat of a  past blog about this day, if you are interested, here is the link.

http://www.expatbeesblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/shoiuter-baptists-in-trinidad-and.html?showComment=1319079575278

I will not be at home tomorrow.  A girlfriend is leaving for two weeks holiday  in Canada soon and her birthday will happen whilst she is away.  So a group of friends have arranged a birthday lunch tomorrow.  Great way to spend a Public Holiday - girls' lunch.  Haven't been to one in a while and looking forward to it.  

2 Jan 2014 and Seven Murders.......

Trinidad and Tobago Crime News: Latest.

2013 ends with 407 murders which is higher than the two previous years. 

2014 starts with terrible violence in Trinidad & Tobago. The first murder was a 
Pastor and in the past 48 hours there were 7 murders already.  http://www.ttcrime.com/

So not yet quite 48 hours into 2014 and already seven murders have been committed. Oh yes, welcome to Trinidad and Tobago folks. It is difficult to determine who makes up the charts for world crime statistics s but last week according to one site, T & T ranks third in the world when it comes to Crime by Country. Venezuela heads the list, Guatemala second and South Africa fourth. The site is: 

http://www.numbeo.com/crime/rankings_by_country.jsp 


On another site, in December 2012 we ranked # 8 in the world for homicides which translates into 47 per 100,000.

The US has rated crime in T & T as critical and recently the British government put out yet another damning travel advisory.  The tourist industry is suffering.

Whether the Crime Index Country by Country (note crime and not murders) is a correct indication or not, we are perceived by the outside world to be a hot spot, a major hot spot. Trinidadians on the whole, pooh pooh these figures and question their authenticity yet are afraid to move out of their homes after dark and will not venture into certain parts of the country in daylight never mind after the sun has gone down.

A great many of the murders are drug and gang related, quite a few are domestic and some are committed against children by someone known to them.

My concern is that many of the crimes committed go unsolved.  There is talk of corruption within the police force, the military and the government.  Many of the murders are definite 'hits' .  We have a great deal of work to do in this country although many believe that we are far too gone to even think of being saved.

T T is a beautiful twin island Republic with a culture and beauty that is envied world wide.   How long before we become the Haiti of the Caribbean?

All Saints 1 November 2013

This is a repost  of last year's blog on The Blog of Bee which was then known as Bee's Blog.

Today 1 November is All Saints Day which is believed to have been established in the early part of the fourth century and was known as 'Martyrs Day'.  All Saints is a Feast Day which honours and remembers  all Christian saints whose names we know and those we don't.  Western Roman Catholics, Anglicans and Lutherans celebrate this feast today whereas the Eastern Orthodox churches observe it on the first Sunday after Pentecost. 

In the early days many Christians were persecuted by the Romans and died for their belief in God.  To remember those martyrs, various dioceses set aside special days to celebrate.  In the early seventh century the Roman Emperor handed over the Pantheon Temple to the Pope who removed the statues of the Roman gods and consecrated it as 'All Saints in recognition of those who had died  from persecution during the first three hundred years after Christ.   Pope Gregory III instituted the 1 November as 'All Saints' in the diocese of Rome as he consecrated a chapel to all the martyrs in st Peter's Basilica.  Pope Gregory IV extended the feast to the entire church and that is where it remains today except in the Orthodox churches.  

That is how people came to be made saints in the early days and when Christians became free to worship openly, the church found other ways to recognize sanctity.  Early in Christianity people were made saints by popular acclaim which was then sanctioned by the local bishop.  For the last 500 years, the path to sainthood has been a much lengthier process  and includes necessary proof of extraordinary sanctity.

In Catholic countries this day is a Public Holiday and is seen as a holy Day of Obligation meaning that one is required to attend Mass.  In other countries, the day is moved to the nearest Sunday.  Countries and cultures have different ways of acknowledging and celebrating this feast.  In Spain, Portugal   and Mexico offerings are made.  In Belgium, Hungary and Italy flowers are brought to the graves of dead relatives.  In other parts of Europe such as Austria, Croatia, Poland and Romania it is customary to light candles which are placed on the graves.  In parts of Asia such as The Philippines it is also observed.  Relatives go to the graves of the dead, clean and repair them, lay flowers and light candles.  In France,   church services are held but by evening the focus has moved towards the dead.  People crowd cemeteries and there is much cleaning and lighting of candles.  All Saints is closely tied to All Souls' Day, held on the 2 November which is dedicated  to prayers for the dead who are not yet glorified.  

'All Saints' is not a public holiday in Trinidad  but the tradition of the living, visiting the family grave in preparation for the 2 November, is strong and very much part of its culture.  On the  night of the 1  November,  some Trinidadians still put lighted candles in their windows carrying out the age old belief that 'lost souls' will be able to find their way home. 

This evening I am preparing for a family lunch tomorrow as it is my husband's birthday which happens to fall on All Souls, another Feast Day.

PM: No interference by PP Govt

We are in so much trouble here in Trinidad.  



PM: No interference PM: No interference by PP Govtby PP Govt

Capital Punishment - For or Against?

This post is not pretty.

I am tired, so tired of the crime in this country. 

Less than a week of the Sate of Emergency being lifted, I learned from the tv news this evening that the husband of a friend of mine was murdered in his own home yesterday in broad daylight. The rest of the family were tied up and beaten. I'm not an advocate of capital punishment but I am seriously beginning to wonder if I have the right attitude. Add to that another couple I know well who live in the same area, being attacked by intruders whilst sleeping at 2am even though the downstairs of their home is burglar proofed. I have attended too many funerals of people I know who have lost their lives brutally and some I couldn't attend because it was too overwhelming.

God help this country where life has become so cheap, where we allow criminals to rule and literally get away with murder, where school children carry knives, where innocent people are losing their lives, where people believe the world owes them a living so take instead of earn, where corruption is rife, where we live behind barbed wire, burglar bars and gated communities with guards at the gates, where rapes are every day occurrences, where one doesn't feel safe in an open car park and where people who care and those who are affected are crying for justice and getting no answers.

Bee's Blog: Part of my Job

Bee's Blog: Part of my Job: EVANGELIZATION FIRST ‘A NEW WAY AHEAD’ On the 10 September 2011. 88 volunteers of the Evangelization Commission gathered under a...

Repost of Simone Leid - The WomenSpeak Project

October 27th, 2011 at 12:21AM

OUTRAGED! Rape of a Child is NOT Entertainment!

On 25th October, 2011, the local television program “Crime Watch” which airs on TV6 at 6pm in Trinidad and Tobago, aired video footage of a 13 year old girl being beaten and raped. The host of Crime Watch, also had the child’s mother on set and asked her questions about how she felt on hearing the cries of her daughter as she is being raped by several men on the video.
I cannot sit idly by and merely shake my head at this abomination. That the rape of a child is aired on a television show that is notorious for sensationalizing, and packaging criminal activity and trauma of victims as entertainment, signals that we have reached an all new level of barbarianism.
In a country where the cries of a child being raped can be aired at prime time, and then again at night, and again the next day, and again the next night - is it any wonder that we are a country whose rates of murder of women by domestic partners and rape are amongst the highest in the world?
For if we can reduce someone to a sound-bite, a headline, a statistic, then it becomes easier for us to forget they are human beings. They become ‘the other’, ‘a number’, ‘not one of us’. And when we are fed violence as entertainment, we become desensitized to the chopping, the burning, the raping. Suddenly a woman who is ‘just’ battered is no big deal.
WomenSpeak was created to give these ‘statistics’ a human face. To give women the opportunity to tell their stories of abuse, harassment, discrimination, in their own words. To encourage every man and woman in the region to take responsibility for sharing the message that discrimination against women is a disease that is rotting us from the inside out. That we stand as Caribbean men and women, boys and girls who believe in the dignity of all human beings. And we DEMAND higher standards of decency, empathy and justice for women and girls.
We each have a voice. Let us use it. If we are fed up of the exploitation, denigration and dehumanization of our women, men  and children, please exercise your conscience and let the Telecommunication Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, Crime Watch and TV6 and its affiliates know what you think of it’s degrading ratings ploys; of this violence perpetrated by the local media upon it’s citizens.
CALL.WRITE.SPEAK OUT.REPOST.RETWEET.
For my part, I want Crime Watch OFF THE AIR. PERIOD.
Below are contact numbers and links

Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago  (click link for complaint form)
#5 Eighth Avenue Extension, Off Twelfth Street, Barataria, Trinidad and Tobago.
Phone : 1-868-675-8288
TV6  
35 Independence Square , Port of Spain, Trinidad, WI
Telephone 1-868-627-8806
Trinidad Express Newspapers 
35-37 Independence Square, Port of Spain, Trinidad, WI
1-868-623-1711/8
Hott 93 Office
#5 Rosalino Street, Woodbrook
Port Of Spain, Trinidad, W.I.
Phone: (868).625.8426, (868).623.7605
Fax: (868).624.3234

 Simone Leid - The WomenSpeak Project


Learn more about the WomenSpeak Project’s Mission and Objectives here http://womenspeak.tumblr.com/tagged/Mission
and here http://womenspeak.tumblr.com/tagged/objectives