The St. Kitts and Nevis delegation to the 2019 Pan Am Games are in Lima, Peru and ready to compete. The Games officially opened on Friday night at the National Stadium in Lima, following the flag raising ceremonies last week Wednesday and Thursday. The Flag of St. Kitts and Nevis was raised last Thursday. There are four athletes representing St. Kitts and Nevis primarily in athletics in the coming days. Reanda Richards is a 400m hurdler, Shenel Crooke will compete in the women’s 100m, Jason Rogers in the men’s 100m and Jermaine Francis in the high jump.

After Thursday’s flag raising ceremony, Rogers, participating in his third Pan Am Games, was very confident that he will perform well at the games. “It’s always an amazing and exciting feeling to represent my Federation at this kind of level. So I just want to go out there and give it my best shot,” Rogers said. “We have been here a few days and everything is going well; everything is going as planned so I am just hoping for a good competition and a good meet,” he added. Rogers has been coming off an injury and has not yet competed since the start of the year. Despite this, he is hoping to get a good opportunity in these games. “Training has been going very well and I am feeling very strong so I am going to use my confidence and experience to get me through whatever I need to get through,” he said.

For Shenel Crooke, this is her second time at the Pan Am Games. “So far, it has been a good experience. (Last week Thursday) is my second day of training and I am getting acclimatized to the cold weather and so far I have been enjoying myself in the village. The people have been nice and I am looking forward to very good Games this year,” Crooke said.

400m hurdler Reanda Richards is competing in the Pan Am Games for the very first time. “My preparations have been going pretty well. I have been training…getting myself acclimatized because (of the high altitude of Lima). I am looking forward to see what else I can do with my race when it all happens,” she said.

The only high jumper from St. Kitts and Nevis in these games Jermaine Francis is looking forward to the games. “I am feeling very confident at my very first Pan American Games. I am going into this event with a very strong committed mind and I am trying to make my country very proud,” he said.

Dennis Knight, is acting as president of the St. Kitts and Nevis Olympic Committee (SKNOC) in these Games as the actual president Alphonso Bridgewater is functioning in his executive role on the Panam Sports, the organizers of the Pan Am Games. Mr. Knight said the temperature is cold, but the athletes are in good spirits and are settled in the Athlete’s Village. “I think we got a good team. A small one on this occasion—only athletics. Last time we were able to have table tennis,” he said. “It’s cold and therefore challenging for the athletes. We have a couple of first timers and that is going to be interesting too but Coach Lonzo Wilkinson has expressed a lot of confidence in the newbies,” Knight said. “We look forward to really good performances and as usual for our team to represent us well.”

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Wednesday 31st July 2019) –With young people in S.Kitts-Nevis being interested and involved in the global plastic-free movement geared towards reducing environment pollution issues caused by single- use plastic, activists and other supporters on the local scene are of the view that the future regarding this subject matter looks positive.

On the morning of Saturday 27^th July, individuals who collectively accepted the challenge to march for a Plastic-Free SKN, organised by the St.Kitts Sustainable Destination Council (SDC), took to the streets of Basseterre with most wearing the solidarity purple colour in the annual procession as part of the Plastic Free July month-long campaign.

Some of the placard messages saw: “IT’S ONLY ONE STRAW/PLASTIC CUP/BAG/STYROFAOM/BOTTLE…SAID 50 THOUSAND PEOPLE!!’, ‘Choose To Refuse Any Single Use PLASTIC!!!’, ‘Save the Turtle and the World’ and ‘HAPPINESS is a destination free of PLASTIC POLLUTION.’

The SDC informs that single-use plastic refers to disposable plastics that are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled such as grocery bags, food packaging, beverage bottles, straws, containers, cups, and cutlery.

Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism Carlene Henry-Morton spoke with this reporter following the march.

She described the young children as agents of change.

“I was very happy to see that there were a number of young children in the march and very often these are the agents of change. Some of us when we are older we are already stuck in our ways but the young children are looking on and we are pressing this message very much in our tourism education programme and so on because we believe in the next five to ten years we’re going to see a dramatic change in the kinds of containers that we use and the kind of receptacles that we use and the way we go about doing our shopping; we’re going to see a dramatic change in that area so we’re on a mission and we’re seeing results and we intend to make sure that we keep the message going.”

According to her: “The march was not a very big march but I think it was very impactful, you can see as we went along the route that we had that persons were paying attention, persons were waving to us and giving us basically the nod that they support the whole mission and the mandate that we are trying to build awareness about.”

She continued: “So I don’t think it’s going to be very long now where even if it’s not legislated right away, I think that the message is resonating with the general public and you’re going to find more and more persons willingly skipping the single use plastic bags and choosing to use the reusable bags whether they’re made out of cloth or whatever material. Some persons might do what we use to do years ago and make out own bags; people use to have their own bread bags…crocus bag and so on. So some persons might become creative again and begin to recycle old jean material whether it’s a trouser or skirt or whatever and begin to be very practical and but very stylish with how they eliminate the single use because really the onus is on all of us, it’s not just on government and we don’t have to wait on government all the time to legislate things for us to do what we know is the right thing.”

Meanwhile Tricia Greaux of the Department of Marine Resources who is also an SDC member shared thoughts about youth interest on the topic of plastic-free also.

“This means our future. This means creating a good legacy. This is why we’re doing it; we’re doing it so that they can have a better tomorrow and so we really have to encourage the youth. A lot of the volunteers for the St.Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network Camp came from the Department of Marine Resources in the form of beach and marine conservation officers and so a lot of the youth that we saw today came out of that camp and they plastic-free ambassadors. It is incredible to see how they have really absorbed the information and then they are regurgitating like crazy.”

Vincia Collins, winner of the 2019 Plastic Repurposing Contest believes that such a movement: “It’s a wonderful idea because we really have to save our planet by recycle plastic. A lot of us look at plastic as trash but really and truly when you do something with plastic and you see the transformation, you realise that there is so much you can do with plastic. Be creative…make stuff; there is so many things you can do with plastic.”

Some of the items made by her were vases made from big water bottles and also a bag and mini hats using Island Hopper plastic bags.

As gathered from the SDC, over 2 million persons from 159 countries participate in this challenge each year.

It is said that while Plastic- Free July is a month-long campaign, the movement aims to raise awareness and motivate individuals and organisations to reduce single-use plastic use throughout the year.

Following this year’s march, which ended at the National Museum archway on the Bay Road, individuals were invited to sign a petition which supports the local plastic-free movement.

Notably, well-known community activist, Dr. Terrance Drew who is the Chairman of the St.Kitts–Nevis Labour Party Opposition also signed that day.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 26^th July 2019) – 25-year- old Jalicia ‘Ja’ Benjamin of Jalicia’s Hairstyles, a well-known local braider branded with the hair industry term ‘plaitologist’, who has over the years become synonymous with getting international social media spotlight and overseas bookings for her skills and techniques, has now gained more adoration having successfully hosted her first annual hair and fashion earlier this week.

Dubbed ‘Cultural Flavour Hair & Fashion Show, on Sunday 21^st July scores of supporters, clients and other well-wishers assembled at the St.Kitts Marriott Hotel for a night of fashion and fun.

Braided afros, funky Afrocentric artsy looks, bangs and colour-splashed braided depicting the St.Kitts-Nevis national flag as well as that of Trinidad were among the up, down and side dos which captured the collective themes-African, Caribbean and the Orient while the models rocked pieces from Kiwie Dan Couture and Twinkle Boutique and finished with outfits they personally chosen to rock.

Speaking with Benjamin following the event, when asked for her impression on the support she received, she commented “Oh, it was more than what I expected.”

“I’ve always liked fashion shows and modelling shows and being a braider I felt I needed contribute braiding into the industry that’s how I came up with the idea about a fashion and braiding show,” she remarked when asked about the inspiration to put on a show of that nature.

At least 14 models strutted their stuff rocking Jalicia’s hair dos, and as shared by her, “I did all in five days. It was tiring. Yeah, I didn’t sleep last night but I know it was going to be worth it.”

As understood, she has been inspired by her mom Malicia Benjamin who has been in the business for almost 30 years having started at the age of 15 picking up the skill in her home community of Trafalgar village.

Benjamin (Jalicia) started braiding at the age of four “just learning, teaching and helping and now I’m here.”

As a young girl, “what really caught my attention first was just to see her (my mom) doing hair for so many hours to the culmination and that just pushed me to elevate not just hair but anything at all…”

Her mom expressed: “I’m very very proud because that’s my fruit and I feel good that she’s carrying on…As a teenager she grew a love for it and I’m really proud because things I didn’t get to do, she’s doing and that makes me feel really good…”

This media house spoke with a few of the attendees and here is what they had to say:

Teshari Liburd

“It was awesome. It was spectacular. The cast was amazing; she couldn’t have chosen a better group of girls. It was just awesome! Everything was excellent. I am so looking forward to next year.”

Jason Amory

 “I am so happy that I came out tonight. It was a lovely well put together fashion show. What I love is the hair on the different models and the models did a really, really good job. The models complemented the hairstyles well. I loved the different hairstyles; her first event was really nice; I have nothing negative to say. It was really nice.”

Unoma Allen

 “I think first of all the audience was extremely appreciative of what came before them, they were very enthused ad you could tell there was excitement coming from within them because they really wanted to see what sort of hairstyles would be on show this evening…they all were very into the show. You can tell… people were applauding, people were cheering and there were actually some people you could hear ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ when certain hairstyles came out. All of the hairstyles were extremely exquisite and you really have to commend the plaitologist herself Jalicia for what she has put together. She wanted to have a cultural flare to this event so she had to have St.Kitts-Nevis. We saw the model with the colours of our flag in braid and Trinidad also. She wanted to do other Caribbean islands…. she had the orient and she had of course Africa and according to her eighty per cent of the styles she has never done before so we saw some unique end products coming from her.”

Jermaine Alexander

“It’s amazing to see that she has followed in the footsteps of her mom and look at her now-She’s the master of it all! She is really good and the show was really good; she has to do a follow-up because she definitely can’t do just one and let it go; it was really good.”

Other show sponsors were Chop Shop, Dremay Deco, SL Lighting, Digital Plus, JFX Studio, Well Point and Oncology Center and Mulley Media.

Entertainment was provided by Dejour and DJ Flames while Umona Allen and Kimarah Isaac were the hosts.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 26^th July 2019)- An authorised professional tour guide is cautioning both visitors and locals alike against going on hikes and other related outings without being accompanied by a trained and qualified guide certified by the Tourism Authority.

“…for safety, protection of the environment and the whole enhancement of the experience, it’s better you go with a guide and never go by yourself,” he explained during an exclusive interview with this media house.

In light of the last week’s injurious fall incident at Mount Liamuiga involving a newly-wed US couple, this media house reached out to that tour guide professional on the subject matter.

“It’s imperative that they go with a qualified and trained tour guide. They definitely should not go on their own because there are certain protocols that you should follow once you are going into those areas, apart from the safety aspect, there are certain things that you need to do like the principles of ‘Leave no trace’; you cannot be going and breaking off certain trees and even in the event that you get lost and you start breaking down certain trees and so on, you’ll be destroying the environment in that way.”

He continued: “The other thing is that you can’t just get any guide also; that’s how important it is. Let’s say that you are going with a guide-that’s not enough because you must know that the guide is  trained and qualified because  it’s not all guides who are capable…so you might end up going with a guide who is just doing it because of the money and when you look half way up the trail that guide become physically unwell so you’ll be lost with a guide in jeopardy so that’s why it’s even more important to not go by yourself and if you are going then use a qualified and trained guide. One of the things about these trained guides is that they have to keep themselves fit and healthy and they also take all of the different security precautions and they also have their first aid kit and everything to administer, and the protocols to administer these things. This is how deep it is so if you are thinking about going by yourself forget about doing so.”

According to him: “The Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism have a list of people who does that because they have to do these things because a trained and qualified guide would be licensed by the Tourism Authority and the Tourism Authority every year does refresher course for these workers and require certain things like safety kits and knowing how to administer these things.”

“Apart from the safety aspect, certain things you would pass by, an experienced guide would be able to give you information and interpretation about certain plants among other things and so your experience would be enhanced if you go with an experienced guide-so for safety, protection of the environment and the whole enhancement of the experience, it’s better you go with a guide and never go by yourself,” he stated further.

Additionally, he informed that just recently there was a bulletin board notice for such a refresher course.

“It is mandatory to attend the training course or else they would not be issued the new permit so once the permit is up to date, you’ll know that the person is keeping up to the requirements of the Tourism Authority.”

He encourages individuals to ask tour guides for their credentials and license.

Clay and Acaimie Chastain of Indianapolis, a husband and wife on their honeymoon who came to the island the day after their wedding in Crawfordsville, Indiana and did the outing four days after on Thursday 18^th July according to information gleaned from the Indianapolis Star media house.

The two hiked two miles up to the dormant volcano and Clay fell some estimated 50 feet inside the volcano after wanting to get a better view of the lush greenery. It is suspected that a rope snapped.

e was, however, able to climb out and with the support of his wife walked halfway down from the mountainous area and called 911 for help.

He reportedly suffered a concussion and cracked vertebra, a fracture in his skull and loss of hearing in his right ear. Furthermore, it was revealed that air also entered his brain tissue, which prevented the Chastains from taking a commercial flight home.

 Via GoFundMe, they reportedly raised more than $35,000 on Tuesday evening last week for medical expenses and transportation to Florida and then Indiana

As gathered, the couple left the island on Wednesday 24^th July.

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Thursday 25th July 2019) – The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) is presently focused on carrying out a blockchain technology exercise geared towards testing the digital version of the EC dollar within financial companies on a regional scale including the Federation of St.Kitts and Nevis.

At an informational teleconference held on Friday 19^th July at the bank’s headquarters in Bird Rock, media workers from around the region were engaged on the topic of the bank’s Digital Currency Pilot Project. The venture is currently in its fifth month of a development and exploration phase before moving on to the course of the next 18 months.

ECCB Governor Timothy Antoine talked about the project as part of the bank’s strategic planning as he pointed out that a lot of what is being done at the bank is about transformation.

“…modernisation, innovation for transformation, and that is our relentless pursuit. We want to see transformed economies, and I make this point because we want to put into context everything that we do…A lot of what we do here is focused on how we transform the region.”

According to the top ECCB official: “As we speak, there are several are several central banks around the world which are now seriously considering central bank digital currencies, and I want from the outset to make it very clear we are not here speaking about crypto currencies; they are very different, and we need to be clear about that. What we are speaking of is currency issued by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in the very same way that we issue our current polymer notes at this time; one is physical [and] the digital is digital-they’re both cash.”

He added: “This is very important distinction that has to be made because a lot of the discussions around digital currencies have been around Bitcoin for example… Litecoin, Ripple among others but they have issues, and I think one of the reasons why central banks are getting very involved in this phase is because they recognize the real benefits to be had from the digital currency; on the payment side-efficient payment …financial inclusion, reducing the use of physical cash and those are our main motivation but they’re  also real concerns about crypto currencies as they currently exist; they’re unregulated, they are not issued by a central bank, their value fluctuates and people could get hurt and have gotten hurt so while it is true that some people have made quite a bit of money from say Bitcoin, it is also true that some people have also lost a lot of money ,and  we have had an occasion to issue two advisories I believe in the last  year or so  cautioning the public to be very careful way about the use of crypto currency.”

“We have gone beyond cautioning to take a proactive stance where we lean in and look at the technology; in this case blockchain and determine whether and to what extent it can be used by us at the ECCB for our currency union,” Antoine also noted.

Research Officer of the Strategic Planning and Projects Department Kieran St. Omer shared that with blockchain technology, one of the key benefits is data handling and trust.

According to her, it helps in intermediation and can provide high value opportunities in retail banking. She also touched on fraud prevention and risk scoring of customers as it relates to maintaining integrity.

As gathered, the project will be mainly deployed in at least four pilot countries- Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St.Lucia and also St.Kitts and Nevis.

“…and those selections were made based on interest from financial institutions within the region as well as we’ll  be deploying the actual use of the digital currency  over a six month period in a controlled live environment . So currently we’re in the fifth month of the development and exploration phase where we’ve been having several stakeholder engagements-bilateral engagements- to not only external conferences but we’ve been meeting with our stakeholders and ecosystem partners namely the financial institutions-banks, credit unions and other financial regulators throughout the last five months to educate them and for us to find out what would be their key requirements for using such digital currency. So, it’s a very important learning exercise for us at the ECCB.”

St. Omer said the key objectives “are really to create value in banking, protecting our customer data and convenience outcome compliance solutions is another major objective for us within the ECCU.”

She also shared that the Digital EC Pilot project focuses on three key components “where we’ll be focusing on the minting and issuance of issue of highly secured digital currency. Like as it is right now in terms of the paper base- or notes and coins- the ECCB is the sole authority in terms of the issuance of currency and that will remain in terms of us issuing that digital currency…payments and transfers within the ECCU territories, be it domestic or regional payments and transfers so persons will be able to get involve in real time payment processing…”

In strengthening the ECCB Governor’s point about the type of currency, she said: “It is not a crypto currency, it is not a private token that involves any mining. It’s a legal tender, a digital version of our EC dollar that we use every day so it’s just another form of our cash currency.”

BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Wednesday 24th July 2019)–In trying to keep up with nowadays competitive options regarding entertainment and TV-watching, The Cable has upgraded its services which include 59 extra channels being added to its 16-channel basic package having recently launched Ultra TV, effective next month in offering better value to customers.

“Ultra TV is a one flat tier tv service that everybody will have…the key message is there is something for you, finally there is something that works. If you have a box, it will work [and] if you don’t have a box, it will work. We’re responding directly to your complaints and paying points, remarked Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pat Walters speaking at the product launch ceremony held on Thursday 18^th July at the Royal St.Kitts Hotel located in Frigate Bay.

She continued: “Way back in December, we did market research and we wanted to hear from hundreds of our tv customers what they wanted from tv. Some of you may have answered some of the questions in the research but that was the foundation for coming up with what we’ve come up with today in this journey to the ultimate tv product.”

Walters also informed that the channel numbers are changing but everybody will receive a letter.       

“Every single one of thousands of customers with the new channel guide and that’s just the start; it’s one flat tier. It’s all types of programming-it’s for entertainment, it’s kids,…for the youth from music to entertainment, do-it-yourself and sports of course. It’s an unbeatable package and when you look at the channels it’s not just free to air and music channels, they’re solid channels that people in the market research have said they want.”

Among the listing are popular networks with the respective channels such as WPIX (13), CNN (17), BET (24), Lifetime (42), Lifetime Movies (43), Boomerang (45), Nickelodeon (46), Disney (47) and ESPN (77).

Pertaining to 15 channels provided with the basic package, customers who currently pay $37 which amounts $43.29 with VAT “will now get 75 channels; they will get 59 channels more.”

The Cable CEO also shared: “We realised that $37 to $60 is a big jump so these customers [will be] very fortunate; once they’ve paid their bills up when we cut over, they’ll stay at $37 dollars for one year.

Branded with the tagline ‘$60 for 75’, subscribers are expected to pay a total of $70.20 (VAT inclusive) monthly when Ultra TV comes on stream from Thursday 1^st August.

The other packages for the Ultra tv service are: Premium Tier 1, Premium Tier 2, Premium Tier 3 and Super Premium.

“Everybody knows that the way we watch tv it’s completely changed to when we launched almost 36 years ago when we were the leading edge in the region. We are not there now but I can promise you that we will be on this journey of transformation so over the past 35 years and more importantly I would say over the past five to ten years, the whole entertainment and viewing culture of how people watch entertainment and entertain themselves through tv has completely changed,” Walters expressed.

According to her: “Consumer habits have changed so it’s binge watching, it’s watching on demand and it’s watching the show that I want to watch when I want to watch them on a platform that I want to watch it’s not necessarily the tv but on mobiles etc. And we’re going in that direction but we’re just not there yet so today we’re going to reveal to you our next step in the journey of getting the Federation to that point.”

In responding to this media house during the question and answer segment, The Cable CEO highlighted what existing customers can expect during the transition phase.

“On the 29th of this month, we will start cutting over some of the new channels…so in the 29^th there may be some channels going in and out but by the end of the 29th, 66 of the 75 channels should be up so by the 1st, everybody should have that first 66.”

As understood, all 75 channels should be in by September.

When about what customers should do with their cable boxes if they choose not to use them, Walters replied: “We don’t anyone to do anything with the boxes just yet because we want them to wait until all of the 75 channels are on and then as we visit for whatever reason whether it’s to put new outlets in rooms or to provide internet, we will take the boxes back.”

As many customers are aware, the government is a shareholder of The Cable.

Minister of Communications Vincent ‘Juicy’ Byron Jr., during his remarks, commended the company for providing a full service at home “without having these boxes, and so we are happy that this Ultra new service does that.”