community and political meetings Feb 10th 2009

[-eli-]

As many of you know we had a meeting last night under the banner "regular people for change". Many were invited and it was featured on the Observer Radio News and in their paper yesterday. No officials were invited to speak in an official capacity but the meeting was open for all to come and take part. (no officials came with the exception of a very interesting female police officer who is part of a new youth program). There were loads of notes taken and we will do a proper report and write about it soon. I think the meeting was productive with people being given a few minutes to speak about youth and community programs which aim to help our country be a better place. Many spoke of new ideas on this same track like community gardens, an educational lobby group, GED equivalent programs, and many more... The ideas and programs will be compiled into a proper report and then our second meeting will be one where the group leaders will be invited to speak about their programs. Hopefully we can have that meeting promoted in the schools and around Antigua by the media and by regular people like you and me. The object will be to get more people involved in community groups on both sides. I think the most important thing that will come out of this original meeting will be the formation of a education lobby. The government schools here have great funding in the form of the Educational Levy (tax) which pays for books, school meals, and uniforms.... These great things help kids and families, but they are failing in the long run when so many come through the school system and can't read and write properly let alone speak properly. I have a hard time myself and i went to a private school here! There is no proper teacher training and the teachers get paid peanuts. You have kids that didn't do that well in school teaching younger kids. There are not many counselors in Antigua and many of those that do exist are not properly trained. Most schools never have counselors at all. There is no proper sports program in the schools that I can see. The entire system needs to be radically changed and the only way this is going to happen is with a group pushing for it to be done. Graeme Davis will help set this up. Anyway, the meeting was from 7 and we finished just before 9 pm. There must have been about 40 people there i think but there would have been more if it were not for the many other meetings being held around the island last night. I had calls from all sorts of people telling me that they would love to have come but had meetings they couldn't get out of. We are on the verge of an insane election and both of the main parties are in a frenzied state of campaigning. This message came from a good friend who wanted to come to our meeting but felt they couldn't miss what was to be a very important meeting with the Prime Minister and his key ministers over in Falmouth. Here is their message (one echoed by several others from that side who called me today):

"How was your meeting tonight ? I hope it was better than the one out here !!?

OMG ..attending that so called "townhall Meeting" was painful ..listening to Bumbalumbu babble on was just more than I could take ..I had to leave ..I made it to after 9:30 [2 hours] ...[so I did well] !!

The ONLY reason I went, was to hear the PM , Com Bennett, Cort, & Derrick !I can't believe NONE of them showed up ! Kuedos to Lovell for making the effort, who arrived an hour late ..to the rest of them ..they did NOT gain any points with the community tonight !

One again ..it was nothing but lip service , reiterating & hashing over what we already know ! There was nothing proactive about the meeting at ALL ... I'm very disappointed I wasted my time, after a long day of work, then really hustling [without even eating dinner] , just to get there on time ;0 How SAD ..same old same old . Was really hoping this one would be different ..Bert Kirchner was there trying to get everyone to sign up [again] with bloody Heritage Security, & pay $150.00 a month for private security ! Lots DID sign up last year, & Heritage Security, closed their office out here ! They put in a Security System for me , & if I am in trouble ..they are all the way in St.Johns !It's a SHAM !!! Plus, the whole idea, is to get the local Police OUT of the T.V. room at their station ..& get them on the BEAT !!! There was absolutely NO MENTION of the Security issues we were supposed to be discussing . All the above mentioned [Ministers],names were even printed in a program, that was handed out to the attendees .. it was a sheer waste of time ..& I feel VEXED ! Plus , I went out of my way to invite a lot of people suggesting it was IMPORTANT ..I feel like I let them all down too ..that's the LAST meeting there I'm going to attend ..no lie .. Enough ..."


Like i said there were several other meetings last night. One of them was at the ZDK studio and as I ran over the FM stations on the way home i listened to the ALP leadership speak about the "persecution" their dear comrade Michael was facing. They were saying that the UPP administration were trying to destabilize the country by going after "alleged corruption" that took place when the ALP was in power. Listening to Asot cry foul was painful to say the least and i quickly switched the radio off.

God help us.