Statia News No. 07

INDEPENDENT NEWSLETTER

MAY 18, 2009 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 7

STATIA NEWS EDITORIAL

After a long period of draught that brought skinny cows and yellow fields, and little children, told not to run be‐cause of the dust, after a long period rain broke through. Last Monday and Tuesday rain fell all day long. Rain gives energy. It makes the children more active and the rest of us releaved. When the blasting sun came back on Thursday, the island looked more ferti‐le. The cows were grazing and the fields and hills were green again. Thursday morning someone said: “The dogs were barking in the night, maybe an earthquake will come.”

That earthquake came Thursdaynight on “Talkin’ Blues”. Joshua’s guests: Nora Sneek and Rueben Merkman, the topic: GVP school. (page 2) Friday was a day of music (page 13) and a night of celebration (page 4) and in the early morning of Saturday the news came through that Curacao says YES. Sunday the rain started again. And now it’s Monday. It will probably rain for a few days. Schoolexams start. This rain is very fortunate. No airconditio‐ning is necessary. It will be easier to con‐centrate. Good Luck! May you enjoy the newsletter, Annemieke Kusters

Talkin’ Blues: the GVP school, page 2 Farming on Statia continued, page 3 Laurens and Gers-hon farming page 3 Tax Office in the make, page 4 Family Day cele-bration, page 4 Introducing Hem-mie van Xanten, page 5 Compulsary Educa-tion Day, page 6 Soka/zouk Night, page 7 The Way I See It, by Lady Alida Francis, page 8 Education, page 9 Opinion of a con-cerned parent, page 10 In depth Mary Sea-cole, page 11 Health, page 12 Tackle Diabetes Now, page 13 Music, page 14 Announcements, page 15

TALKIN’ BLUES: THE CONTINUING STORY OF THE CRISIS AT THE GVP SCHOOL

PAGE 2 FEATURED STATIA NEWS

Merkman said that management dictates without con‐sulting teachers. The sphere is tense and the pupils deserve better than that. In this community, the learning surroundings are very important, especially when children do not get that at home., he added. He said that there are two things the GVP school needs: Planning and communication. He said that as a local teacher, who also worked in Hol‐land for a couple of years, he has decided to speak out. To know more about the relationships between the local government and the schoolboard, Statianews is trying to get the cd with the minutes of the island council meeting on May 4th, where the crisis at the GVP school was on the agenda. At that meeting, that was broadcasted on Statia’s local radio, Mr. Roy Hoo‐ker was not present, Lt. Gov. Hyden spoke on behalf of him. More about the GVP school, see page 9 and 10.

Thursday May 14th, Talkin’Blues was memorable because Nora Sneek, ex member of the board of the GVP school, explained how local Government and management make decisions about the GVP school without consulting the schoolboard. One example she gave is the fact that manage‐ment has a bank account and handles money wit‐hout giving a financial report to the board. Rueben Merkman, who is a teacher at the GVP school gave examples of the failing management of the GVP school. One of the examples is this: The pupils of the ZVAT examclass presented a letter on April 27th to management. They were not able to prepare themselves for a “herkansing”. That “herkansing” was scheduled on Monday, while the last “schoolexamen” was on Friday. It is impossible to prepare yourself for a “herkansing” if you don’t get a chance to look at the mistakes you made in th “schoolexamen” with your teacher. Manage‐ment send these kids away and did not want to discuss the matter.

LAURENS DUIVEMAN AND GERSHON LOPES FARMING

PAGE 3 FEATURED STATIA NEWS

the animals. This year, the production starts. They have dug a 145 ft. deep well. The waterlevel starts at 110 ft. deep. It is

42 degrees and now has been send to Holland to see what elements are in it. The salt is 880 parts per mil‐lion. In Holland they grow with a salt percentage up to a 1000 parts per million. The ph value of the water from their well is too high: 8,4. The value has to be 6 ph, which we call “neutral”. Duiveman and Lopes need to add citric acid, which is a natural product to the water. This ph value is important, because the vegetables and plants can’t get the minerals that feed them out of the soil when the ph value is not neu‐tral. Water management is very impor‐tant for farming. The water Gebe

offers has a ph value of 9,4, which is much too high for farming and some of the wells give water that is too salt. For some crops, like tomatoes that is no problem, but other crops need less salt. About the Spatial planning for agriculture: The lland around the area where Duiveman and Lopes are farm‐ing should be in use for intensive agriculture. Other areas that were originally used intensive agriculture should be investigated. Is there enough water and what is the quality of the water? Intensive and exten‐sive agriculture must be separated. No animals next to crop. Food for the animals must be grown. Duiveman and Lopes think the elephantgrass should be intro‐duced. Soon Duiveman and Lopes can harvest. They grow egg‐plant, courgette, different melons, squash, cucumber, stringbeans, bushbeans, paksoi, tomatoes, collard greens, sweet pepper, cilantro, banana’s and papaya’s. Other crops and herbs are grown and developed in the greenhouse behind Duivemans’ house. They will work with others towards a honey production. The bees are very important, because they pollonate the flowers.

Greenblend is the name of the cooperation founded by Laurens Duiveman and Gershon Lopes. They have a partner, a farmer in Holland by the name of Huub Winters.

Their farm is situated at the Man 0’ war planta‐tion, near the airport. According to Mr. Duiveman, farming on Statia is difficult, but not impossible. Statia needs to have farming as one of the economic pillars. Two young men are working on Duiveman and Lopes farm as a stage for the GVP school. They have math and languages at the GVP school and do their practical education on the farm. “We need green educa‐tion”, says Duiveman. They are planning to add “farming and landscaping” to the “sociale vorm‐ingsplicht” program. Mr. Lopes went to the MBO for agriculture. He worked for LVV in Curacao. Mr Duiveman studied biology and from 2001 – 2005 he worked for a large producer of biological repellents. They want to farm biologically, with natural repel‐lents and fertilizers. They also use organic seeds for their farming. For two years, they have been working on developing good seeds. To their opin‐ion, LVV should be the place where a farmer gets his seeds, repellents and fertilizers and food for

TAX OFFICE IN OLD GEBE BUILDING

PAGE 4 LOCAL NEWS STATIA NEWS

about taxes can step in the office. Two people from Holland will work there and two more people will come soon.

When everybody in the church was feeling united, mostly because everybody took each others’ hands and sang “Happy the Home”, people started to look around. “Who is in church sharing this experience with me?”, they appeared to be asking themselves.

Pastor Maurice Howard was doing the closing prayer. This prayer was a prayer of forgiveness, and he said that we are all equal in the eyes of our Father. This made everybody feel even better. It was time to go home. And with the church moving out of the benches, the band started to play.

This music did the trick. It was so joyous, that it made you want to celebrate. The bass was flickering and peo‐ple were shaking hands, hugging each other and smil‐ing. And outside the church everybody had a word to say: “wonderful, beautiful, very nice, very good!” One lady even said: “Things are changing for true here on Statia!”

Working hard to finish the new tax office. It will be situated in the old Gebe building. June first it will be opened. Anyone who has any questions

Friday night, May 15, Marcella Gibs acting head of the Department of culture had organized a “Family Day celebration” at the Methodist church. Memorable! The church was packed and the mu‐sical contributions were very professional. Pastor Royston Philbert who comes from Antigua and preaches in Sint Maarten, held the whole congregation at the tip of the churchbench with his vibrant preaching. His message to the families on Statia was: Be a rolemodel, let your children know what the house rules are and encourage your children: don’t be disappointed in them; don't fail them. In the stories he told to illustrate his message, he touched the people. Be proud of your name, be proud of your culture and heritage and if you’re married; stay married!

Rev. Florence Daley prayed for the families that came forward and she asked all the churchmen to bless the families.

FAMILY DAY CELEBRATION IN THE METHODIST CHURCH

KWARTIERMAKER ONDERWIJS STATIA EN SABA


cational policy, when things are not handled ac‐cording to the educational laws. Saba asked Mr. van Xanten to do that job, because they know him. For nine years he worked on Saba, first as a teacher and then as the head of the Sa‐cred Heart elementary school. He went to Malaysia to be head of the Shell school, and now he’s de‐cided to return to Saba. Mr. van Xanten will visit Statia nearly every week and can be reached via the Regional Service Cen‐tre. This office is situated at Mazinga Square, you can reach it by this telephone number: Mr. Van Xanten will be here again from May 27. Because he is a civil servant, Statia‐news could not have an interview with him and so we do not know the content of his meetings with different stake‐holders. For more information about what has been de‐cided pertaining to education in November 2008, you can read the agreement on this webpage, you can copy and paste this link: http://www.arcocarib.com/assets/files/knowledge_center/legal/constitutional_structure/besluitenlijst‐nederland‐bes‐20‐11‐08.pdf It is in Dutch.

INTRODUCING MR. HEMMIE VAN XANTEN Hemmie van Xanten became head of the depart‐ment of education in Saba and “kwartiermaker on‐derwijs” for Saba and Statia. He was on Statia Wednesday, Thursday and Friday May 6, 7 and 8th and he had meetings with board and management of the Gwendoline van Puttenschool and also with Lt. Gov. Mr Hyden Gittens. Wednesday, Thursday and Friday May 13, 14 and 15th, he met with the different elementary schools. The Netherlands decided that Saba and Statia needed to start with a kwartiermaker already. Bon‐aire’s kwartiermaker will start in July. Mr. van Xanten’s job is to prepare education for the transition in January 2011. Until then, the Antillean Government is still responsible for education. But the three commissioners of education of the Bes islands have signed an agreement that gives the Netherlands the authority to intervene in the edu‐

COMPULSARY EDUCATION DAY


Millicent Romney‐Lijfrock., and more people were smiling when he told about these days. The children would get milk, an apple, and davitamon vitamins, they would sometimes have school in the after‐noons and they were also remembering some of the teachers. Not so long ago, Statia had two elementary schools, the Golden Rock Catholic school and the Gov. de Graaff public school. In the old days, no other lan‐guage but Dutch was allowed on the school prem‐ises. When you were 12, you’d had to leave the island for further education. Most of the children went to Aruba in these days. The Golden Rock school was run by the nuns and the Methodist and SDA schools were kindergartens. Nowadays, the two kindergarten schools have be‐come complete elementary schools, so we have four elementary schools. The Gwendoline van Puttenschool developed from a two year technical school into the mavo—havo school it is now.

All children from all schools were assembled at the Fort. The children had to sit in the blasting sun for hours. Most people thought that this was a little too much to ask of the little ones.

Friday May 8, Fort Oranje

Lt. Gov. Mr. Hyden Gittens talked about the old days when a law for compulsory education was not neces‐sary: everybody took care of each other: if parents would not bring there children to school, neighbors would, or aunts, or uncles or grandparents. He ex‐plained about the history of compulsory education and mentioned that in the old civilizations of the Maya’s en the Inca’s there was already compulsory education. He stressed that compulsory education keeps a society from backdropping.

Mr Floydd Woodley was one of the principals that told about the history of his school. His school, the Governor de Graaffschool, is the only public school on the island. He pointed out that many succesfull Statians present at this gathering, had their first edu‐cation at the Gov. de Graaffschool. Mr. Hyden Git‐tens, Ms. Alida Francis, Mrs. Clasina Rivers, Mrs.

ZOUK SOCA NIGHT


They are raising funds and the Zouk/Soca night with DJ SENCE was organized for this purpose. It was held in the Community Centre and hopefully they will do this again. They started too late, so some people missed it. Very late at night, the party really began. Next time more people should come!

The social compulsory education project has stu‐dents that do “administratie”, “horeca” and “zagen en schaven” (electronics and carpentry). They are planning to add “zorg” (care) and “lassen” (welding) and “landbouw” (agriculture and landscaping), but have to get an OK from Holland for funding. The students that are organized in their own “3‐step production” want to go to Curacao next year to see how compulsory education is han‐dled there.

’THE WAY I SEE IT’ ’ BY LADY ALIDA FRANCIS

PAGE 8 COLUMN STATIA NEWS

Promote over dependence on government, causing the demise of a resilient entrepre‐neurial spirit we once knew.

One good thing about the new “When the Dutch comes” ideology is that it will help to gradually eradi‐cate many weaknesses in our system which stem from the “From the womb to the tomb” ideology. Let us take a more positive look at what “When the Dutch comes” can mean for Statia”. The Way I See It, “When the Dutch comes” in 2011:

Politicians will no longer be afforded the lux‐ury to sit in the Island and Executive Councils simultaneously.

There will be better social welfare conditions for the disabled, children and the elderly.

Education, sports & recreation will be appro‐priately funded.

We are already witnessing intense fast tracked prepa‐rations by the Dutch. Inventories and assessment of needs are taken for education, social welfare, sports & recreation, environment, public administration, taxes etc. It is clear, there is no turning back. Now is the time to negotiate hard ensuring specific agreements and commitments are detailed. The Way I See It, change will come and we won’t al‐ways understand or agree with. It is in Statia’s best interest that our leaders remain vigilant, focused and alert. They must scrutinize all efforts and plans to en‐sure these benefit we the people and, that they fit within the realities of a small island in development. The Way I See It, “When the Dutch comes” should build new hope where people can actively participate and not depend wholly and solely on their leaders. The Way I see It, “When the Dutch comes” should give new meaning to”power and progress to all the people”.

“When the Dutch comes” has fast become a phrase commonly used by our leaders and widely accepted by the community. Are our leaders herewith admitting exhaustion or incompetence to deal with the Dutch? Is the community here‐with expressing lack of confidence in the ability of their leaders to get things done? The Way I see It, although “When the Dutch comes” could mean improvement in many areas, Statia has not benefited from under the constella‐tion of the Netherlands Antilles, there is reason for concern regarding building new false hopes to replace old ones. The people using this phrase most are our lead‐ers. Is this any indication they will not pursue much further, rather adopt a wait and see atti‐tude until the Dutch comes? Sadly, “When the Dutch comes” is all too much a reminder of the old political ideology “From the womb to the tomb” implanted in the mind of several genera‐tions. That very “From the womb to the tomb” political ideology promoted for the past 40 plus years forms part of the reason Statia is today faced with numerous challenges. The Way I See It, the “From the womb to the tomb” ideology has helped to:

Kill the natural zeal for work resulting in low productivity in the public and private sectors;

Stifle the quest for excellence, whereby too many Statians settle for medioc‐rity;

Promote lack of interest for higher edu‐cation, which today place Statians in a relatively weak position as we pre‐pare to enter a new constitutional relationship with The Netherlands;

FOLLOW UP ON THE APRIL 1 EDUCATIONAL CONFERENCE

PAGE 9 EDUCATION STATIA NEWS

chosing some teachers without consulting the rest of the staff is not a good way. This incident even became of bigger proportions when other teachers decided to go on strike for that very same reason. The two experts from Holland who lead the conference are supposed to make a report that summarizes the difficulties we are facing and the solutions we will be working on. Untill now, Mr Merkman said in “Talkin’Blues” Thurs‐day May 14, teachers did not recieve any information about the outcome of this conference.

The intention of the educational conference that was held in the week of April the first, was to ma‐ke a plan of action for all of the schools. For that purpose a steering committee was set up. Three weeks before the conference all the teachers of all the schools got the schedule for the confe‐rence and the fact that a steering committee was to be composed out of management and teachers to make an action plan was mentioned in that schedule. During the conference, management of the GVP school appointed a small group of teachers to represent the GVP school in that steering commit‐tee. Mr. Merkman stood up and made clear that

WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT IN EDUCATION

A simple explanation of how things work with edu‐cation under the Antillean law Every year the local government presents a budget to the federal government in Curacao. When the budget is being accorded, the money goes to the different islands. The local government is then responsible for the spending of this money. The department of education falls under the local government, so the department of education gets money out of the budget. This is not much, because the department of education does not have a lot of costs, money is spend for traveling and salaries. The commissioner of education is responsible for the department of education. The department of education has to make sure that the educational laws are being followed. The minister of education of the Dutch Antilles makes the educational laws.

The schoolboards are responsible for the hiring and firing of personnel (except the Gov. de Graaffschool, because that is a public school). The department of education does have the obligation to check the qualifications of teachers before a defi‐nite position is given to them. The department of education can give advice, but can not make decisions for the schoolboards. The schoolboards are responsible for the manage‐ment, teachers and pupils of their schools. The different schoolboards get money for their schools. They have to present a budget to the local government for that every year.

OPINION OF A CONCERNED PARENT

PAGE 10 OPINION STATIA NEWS

This process must be carried out by the competent authority, the one in charge. I do believe that is the foundation. If the board of the foundation is not capable to manage the school then the first step should be to put a board in place that can take control of the situation. The board can install an objective committee of ex‐perts to carry out the process. Or, my preference, an external expert can be hired in. The important thing is that the facts should be objec‐tively analyzed and fast corrective actions need to be taken. If we truly value the education of our children then we owe it to them to stop the political bickering and line up facts for everyone to see and take the difficult decisions. This is the opinion of Mr. Ernie C. Simmons who is a concerned parent.

Please permit me the opportunity to present a possible course of action to solve G. v. P. School dilemma. Take it Step by Step. 1. Approach it with an open mind and don’t

disqualify any actions beforehand, as the only issue of importance is the welfare of the students. Detail in writing a vision of how we see the organization functioning in the future. What do we want to achieve. Is it just an ok school, a mediocre school, the best school in our region??? Make it clear what it is that we want to achieve. This will help us to focus on what is truly important and give our leaders the conviction to take the required decisions.

2. Diagnose the problems. Check all existing reports, and interview stakeholders and make a list of the pro‐ blems; Listen to both sides of the story; Make a short one page summary detailing the factual problems; Feedback diagnosis with stakeholders and give them opportunity to comment. 3. Prescribe real cure for problem. Detail actions to be taken. Actions must lead directly to solution of the problems. Detail which party has the authority to carryout which actions. Set a timetable and evaluate process. 4. Detail future actions that will avoid this type of problem in the future.

WEEK OF THE NURSES

PAGE 11 IN DEPTH STATIA NEWS

under Florence Nightingale, were three days sailing away from Crimea, but Mary did her work under the heat and danger of battle. She often went into the ac‐tual battlefield, and her courage and nursing skills made her well known. After the war, Mary was awarded several medals for bravery. At the time, she was as famous as “the lady with the lamp”, but after her death, she was forgotten for almost a century. Today, she is noted as “a woman who succeeded despite the racial prejudice of the Vic‐torian Society”. Her autobiography “Wonderful Adven‐tures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands” (1857) is a vivid account of her experiences, and is one of the earliest autobiographies of a mixed‐race woman.

(Wikipedia and www.maryseacole.com)

May 12th, Statia was celebrating Nurses Day. An opportunity to remember Mary Seacole, the black woman who invented modern nursing. Born Mary Jane Grant in 1805 to a free‐black Ja‐maican, her mother run a boarding house for Brit‐ish soldiers and sailors in Kingston. Her mother, known as doctress, passed the arts of Creole medicine onto Mary. Hardly anything is known about her father except that he was a Scottish army officer who had been posted in Jamaica. In 1836 Mary married Edwin Horatio Hamilton Seacole, godson of the British naval hero, Lord Nelson. After 8 years of marriage, Mr. Seacole died. After travelling to many countries, Mary was concerned about the welfare of soldiers she had known in Jamaica who were now serving in the Crimean war. She applied to the war office and asked to be sent as an army assis‐tant to the Crimea. She was refused, mainly because of prejudice against women’s involvement in medicine at the time. The British Gov‐ernment later decided to permit women to travel to the affected area, but she was not included in the party of 38 nurses, chosen by Florence Nightin‐gale. She made her own way to Turkey where she set up the British Hotel at her own cost. Here she provided nourishment and care to her beloved sol‐diers whom she re‐ferred to as “My sons”. The hospitals set up by the British, The only known photograph of Mary Seacole. She wears her medals of honour.

RENAL (KIDNEY) FAILURE SEMINAR ON ST. EUSTATIUS

PAGE 12 HEALTH STATIA NEWS

Statia Health Awareness Foundation is a community

health education seminars program. The team is com‐

prised of medical staff, health educator and lay mem‐

bers of the St. Eustatius community. The vision and

goal is to help listeners make informed decisions about

causes, symptoms, and treatments of many types of

life‐threatening diseases and ailments.

Statia Health Awareness Foundation™ Make Informed Decisions community health seminar series, Lynch Plantation, St. Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles. Contact: Ishmael Berkel at 599‐318‐2338 [email protected]

The first health presentation of a series will be

held at the Lions Den on Thursday, May 21, 2009.

Free blood pressure checks will begin at 6PM.

At 7PM guest speaker, Dr. Walter Gardiner—

Medical Director of Virgin Islands Kidney Center—

will be presented. All are invited to come pre‐

pared to participate in the Question & Answer

segment after his lecture topic: Renal (Kidney)

Failure—causes, symptoms and treatments.

Come and learn how to make informed decisions

about your health and/or the health of a family

member.

An Excellent Source of Betacarotene, Vitamin C and Fibre

Low in calories and high in dietary fibre, mangoes are packed with vitamins, antioxidants and miner-als. Recent studies suggest they are also powerful cancer-fighters. Originally from India, mangos have been around for over 4,000 years. According to legend, Buddha found peace in a mango grove. In modern day India, mangoes are considered a symbol of life. Mangoes are one of the best sources of betacaro-tene, quercetin and astragalin. These are powerful antioxidants that neutralise free radicals. Free radicals can damage cells and lead to heart dis-ease, cancer, premature aging and degenerative diseases.

Vitamin Powerhouse One small mango provides a quarter of your recom-mended daily allowance for vitamin C, nearly two thirds of your daily quota for vitamin A, good amounts of vitamin E and fibre. They also contain vitamin K, phosphorus and magnesium. Mangoes are particularly rich in potassium which can help reduce the risk of high blood pressure. Pectin Lowers Cancer Risk Mangoes also contain pectin, a soluble dietary fibre, which has been shown to lower blood cholesterol levels. Recently, scientists at The Institute for Food Research, discovered that a fragment released from pectin binds to, and inhibits galectin 3, a protein that plays a role in all stages of cancer progression. Other population studies, including the European Prospective Investigation of Can-cer, have identified a strong link between eating lots of fibre and a lower risk of cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Low Calorie, But High In Sugar Mangoes are a considered a ‘high volume’ food which means you get a lot of food for a relatively small amount of calories – one mango contains around 135 calories. However, they are quite high in natural sugar with one mango containing around 30g.

Read more: http://food-facts.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_health_benefits_of_mangoes#ixzz0Fomv8QLT&B

HEALTH BENEFITS OF MANGOES

TACKLE DIABETES NOW!

PAGE 13 HEALTH STATIA NEWS

Column written by Joyce Wijshake. Project leader “Tackle Diabetes Now!”

One of things “Tackle Diabetes Now!” wants to establish is healthier eating patterns. They way you eat has to change.

How do you do that?

Two main rules are;

Eat varied and sensible (= eat to feed your body and make a meal planning; pay attention to the nutrition facts!)

Consume the right amount of calories. When you put something in your mouth, always ask yourself; do I need it?

Is it feeding me?

It is about discipline; don’t eat more than you need! Sensible eating is always better than dieting!

Instead of eating less it would be wiser to eat more regular.

Besides the energy for your rest ‐ (basal) metabo‐lism, which is sleeping, eating, breathing, keeping body temp at 37 degrees, we need extra energy to work or sport.

To keep all these body processes going we need fuel in the form of food.

Food contains energy which comes out when it is digested and burned (used). Not every nutrition delivers the same energy amount when burned;

1 gr carbohydrates delivers an average of 4 kcal (17 kJoule) energy

1 gr protein delivers an average of 4 kcal (17 kJoule) energy

1 gr fat delivers an average of 9 kcal (37 kJoule) energy

1 gr alcohol delivers an average of 7 kcal (29 kJoule) energy.

Like temperature is measured in degrees, energy is measured in calories.

When you use your muscles, you burn energy. This is also measured in calories.

More food intake than burning means à gaining weight Food intake and burning is equal à weight stays steady More burning than food intake à lose weight (We burn less calories than we think; 1 hour walk, in an easy tempo = 2 slices of bread with something on it.

Don’t start a “hunger diet”!

Overweight can also develop when you suddenly start to eat too less.

Your body ‘thinks’ that it will go on a hunger‐strike. Therefore as a body‐emergency reaction it will de‐crease the metabolism AND ‘hold on’ to the facts. (Think of certain diets; they don’t have a long lasting effect...)

Metabolism is heritably defined.

Not everybody uses the same amount of calories for the same activity. According to the nutrition centre it is measured that adults between 30‐50 years of age need in general 1800 kcalories (for men) and 1400 kcalories (for women).

Heritance, gender, activity level, stress and the amount of muscles are determining how many calories you need to stay healthy.

To learn more about the Tackle Diabetes Now! Pro‐ject, call 318‐4304 (physical therapist) or register yourself right away for the program via your doctor. Learn more details about the positive advantages of this active lifestyle program.

SHOOTING A VIDEOCLIP

PAGE 14 MUSIC STATIA NEWS

Friday, May 15th, a videoclip was made. Three professionals from the United States came to Statia to do this. The vid‐eoclip will accompany the song “Save The Children”. This song, written by Mega D. and performed by a big group of Statia’s musicians, says we should care for the children, because the children are our future. It sounds a little bit like “We are the world”, the Christmas hit with Mi‐chael Jackson. We will soon see the clip and it will probably appeal to the younger kids and teenagers, because it relates to them and because Mega D. is in it. Mega D. will soon return to the States. He has done a lot of good things for Statia in the short time he was here. Two songs, both motivating kids to stay in school, two great parties and a schoolagenda for the GVP school for next year. The people singing in “Save The Children” are a mix of our community. People from the medical school, children and their teachers from the different schools, policemen and other rolemodels. The choir is great and the solo’s are great. We look forward to the clip.

FACE PERFORMING WITH THE REBELS BAND JUNE 3

Face, son of Lord Gene, who started the Rebels Band together with “Daddy Wayne” Spanner and Taatchi (Ricardo Fortin) in 1991, will be performing with the Rebels Band in the Old Ginhouse on June 3rd. After spending 6 years in Aruba, he is back on Statia. In Aru‐ba, he went to school and he wrote songs and arran‐ged music for several bands. He played music nearly every weekend. Everytime he came to visit Statia he brought a cd with new songs. His songs, like Ragtime, Boatride, Ton‐ton, How Can I and Without You are well known. He will be performing with Daddy Wayne, Mikey, Base it (Malvin Timber), Strings (Clyde Spanner), Genelio (Showtime) and Junior (Problem Child). Check out the new video “Bumpa”with Valentino King at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y6ODtgzfJA

SWIMMING LESSONS AND SPAY AND NEUTER CLINIC

PAGE 15 ANNOUCEMENTS STATIA NEWS

⇒ Spaying or neutering your animal helps to decrease Statia’s pet overpopulation

⇒ In a female dog’s lifetime, she can have up to 450 puppies!!!! By spaying her, she will have none!

⇒ Female dogs who have excessive amount of puppies are at increased risk of breast cancer...yes dogs can get breast cancer

⇒ Male dogs who are neutered are calmer, more obedient, less irritable and urinate less.

⇒ No unwanted mess associated with female reproductive cycle and unwanted male suitors

⇒ Saving Statia’s animals from a life on the streets

⇒ Saving YOU the headache of finding homes for unwanted puppies or having to spend $$$$$ to feed and care for them!

REASONS TO SPAY AND NEUTER STATIA’S ANIMALS

WHY YOU SHOULD SPAY OR NEUTER YOUR PET???

SPAY AND NEUTER CLINIC

INFORMATION

Statia News No. 07

Documents

Transcript of Statia News No. 07