Oscar Pistorius, the South African track star, was sentenced to five years in prison for killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.

Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa said a long sentence would lack “mercy,” while a more lenient sentence would “send the wrong message to the community.”

The athlete’s defense team said the law under which he was punished calls for him to serve only one-sixth of the prison term—10 months—before he can be placed on house arrest. He was also given a suspended three-year term on separate firearms charges.

After serving half the sentence, Pistorius can also apply for parole.

Ms. Steenkamp’s family said it was “satisfied” with the ruling, although the National Prosecuting Authority said it had not yet decided whether to appeal.

“I’m just glad it’s over,” June Steenkamp, the victim’s mother, told reporters outside the courtroom.

Mr. Pistorius’s family said it was not planning to appeal.

“We accept the judgment,” Arnold Pistorius, the athlete’s uncle, said in a statement, appealing to the news media to “let us move forward” and “give us some degree of dignity and privacy as we do so.”

“Oscar will embrace this opportunity to pay back to society,” the uncle said.

After a trial that opened in March, Pistorius seemed impassive as Judge Masipa ordered him to rise to hear his sentence.

Virtually since the moment of the shooting, Pistorius has been free on bail, living in his uncle’s luxurious mansion. But for now, Pistorius is a sentenced prisoner and will spend the night in a cell at Pretoria’s main prison. Live television images showed Pistorius being driven away from the courtroom in an armored police van. 

In September, Judge Masipa found Mr. Pistorius, 27, guilty of culpable homicide but she acquitted him on more serious murder charges.

The disabled athlete has admitted killing Ms. Steenkamp, 29, on Feb. 14, 2013, but he said he did so by mistake, firing four rounds from a handgun through a locked toilet cubicle door in the belief that an intruder had entered his home.

Months before the shooting, Mr. Pistorius, nicknamed the Blade Runner for the scythe-like curved prostheses he used while competing, became the first disabled athlete to compete against able-bodied contenders at the London Olympic Games in 2012. He also competed in the Paralympic Games.

The International Paralympic Committee said Pistorius would not be permitted to compete in its tournaments for the full five years of the term.

There were some indications that the sentence was seen by some South Africans at least as too lenient. People cramming the street outside the courtroom told reporters that Mr. Pistorius should have been jailed for 10, or even 20, years.

“They are only scaring him with this sentence,” Reuters quoted Johannes Mbatha, a 38-year-old minibus taxi driver in Johannesburg, as saying. “It shows our society hasn’t transformed.”

“If it was a black man, he would have never received such a light sentence,” Mr. Mbatha said. “But that’s how things are in South Africa.”

Sources: News 24, NY Times

Everything about chikungunya is painful. Even the virus’ name comes from a Kimakonde word describing the contortions of one suffering severe joint ache. Fever, rash, cramps, headache, nausea and fatigue are just some of the symptoms of the mosquito-borne illness.

Nor is tracking the spread of the disease across the Caribbean any easier. English-language reports on the virus’ transmission at the sub-regional level are put out by public health authorities, including the Caribbean Regional Public Health Agency (CARPHA), the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

But keeping up with information from all of these sources can be time-consuming, especially if you just want to keep an eye on the spread of the disease in your own country, or get a sense of the broader regional picture.

“It’s easy to point a finger and criticise but I thought it would be better to actually demonstrate that something better could be done,” said Vijay Datadin, founder and lead consultant at Guyana-based Caribbean GIS.

Datadin should know. He’s made a career of applying geographic information systems (GIS) to the complex interrelationships between human and natural resources.

“When I looked at the outputs of CARPHA, PAHO and even the CDC, I thought they could be enhanced. Specifically, PAHO is putting out data reports in PDF format, which is really less than ideal. Where there are maps, they could be made more informative and charts would help citizens understand the situation more easily. I felt it could be done better, because they’re still doing it in the old-fashioned way.”

Datadin is co-lead on a new open data project that aims to fix two major pain points associated with the “old-fashioned way” of sharing public health data. First, as a one-stop resource for official chikungunya numbers, the online tracker seeks to cut out the hassle of having to check multiple websites, in order to get the latest collated statistics on the spread of the virus.

The second pain point is how chikungunya transmission data are presented by the three leading public health agencies in the Americas. Modern public health sites like HealthMap aggregate news reports in real-time and push notifications to subscribers, filtering by relevance based on geolocation. They are built with responsive design to dynamically adapt to different form factors such as mobile devices, tablets and desktop screen displays. Plus they are mobile-optimised for lightweight browsing, and social-friendly for maximum user engagement.

By comparison, the regional websites are less impressive. The CDC website provides a static map showing countries where local transmission has been documented, and says that “chikungunya case counts are publicly released every Wednesday.” PAHO provides a weekly report every Friday afternoon of Chikungunya counts for most countries of the Americas and a static map showing countries with local and imported cases. CARPHA provides a weekly update of Chikungunya counts every Monday. The CARPHA site also has an interactive map with a useful timeline feature illustrating the progression of the disease through the region and mouse-over info boxes showing the number of cases in a country.

The region's public health services could learn from the open data approaches that are becoming the expected standard for providing public information, Datadin said.

“Around the world, public organisations are no longer simply publishing their data in PDF format or static maps but in open data formats and interactive maps. The value in doing it this way is that data scientists, researchers and other interested parties are then able to not just see the data but actually use it,” Datadin said.

His latest project, a joint initiative of Caribbean GIS and the T&T Guardian’s new media unit, brings to traditional public health reporting the transparency of open data formats and the interactivity of data visualisation. The end-product is an online map-based chikungunya tracker that makes it easy for anyone with Internet access to follow the regional diffusion of the disease, using public health data extracted from official sources. The tracker is online at http://www4.guardian.co.tt/map-chikungunya-caribbean.

Data for the map and charts on this page were extracted from PDF reports published by PAHO, reformatted and combined with a GIS base map. On the Caribbean GIS Health site the map is accompanied by other charts and timelines that provide historical context and make each country’s demographic situation easier to grasp at a glance.

The  improved Chikungunya dataset is also made freely available as a Fusion Table so that other researchers, students and citizen scientists can view, filter or merge with other data with just a browser, or download for further analysis. 

Mapping Caribbean Crime

The joint project isn’t Datadin’s first foray into data journalism. In 2003, Datadin founded Red Spider, a small web development startup, which today maintains the Guyana Crime Reports,  an open data tracker for several categories of serious crime in Guyana. The website is part news aggregator, part crowd-sourced citizen journalism platform.

In 2013, Guyana Crime Reports collaborated with the now-defunct Bullet Points, an earlier open data journalism project involving Guardian’s new media desk, which tracked intentional homicide as well as deaths caused by shootings involving police officers. Datadin, who was at the time working on Guyana Crime, worked with Bullet Points to develop a GIS-powered map of 384 murders in its 2013 dataset.

“I feel that the Caribbean is better off when its citizens are better informed,” Datadin said.

Following is the complete list of proposed 2014 scholarship recipients in the Caribbean Advance Proficiency Education (CAPE).
 

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 1 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 2 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 3 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 4 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 5 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 6 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 7 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 8 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 9 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 10 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 11 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 12 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 13 of 14

Proposed list of 2014 Scholarship Recipients 14 of 14

The death of a man described as mentally ill at the Centre for Socially Displaced Persons in Port-of-Spain on Monday points to a need to review and improve the quality of care for mentally ill outpatients.

Melvin Mc Intyre jumped to his death from the first floor and fatally struck his head. Mc Intyre was described as a “cool and quiet” patient who had been through several institutions and shelters but could not find the right fit at any of them.

Unfortunately, while the Centre for Socially Displaced Persons offers shelter, it does not have a mental health officer assigned to it and the staff are not trained to handle such situations. The manager, Roger Watson, acknowledged that his institution opened its doors to outpatients of the mental hospital but was unable to offer the type of medically-informed response needed in situations of relapse.

This is not the first time that someone with a history of mental illness or in need of specialised intervention has harmed themselves or caused harm to others.

Gordon Ferreira, 29, of Diego Martin, tried to rob a branch of First Citizens Bank at Four Roads in August 2013. Said to have a history of mental illness, he drew a cutlass from under his T-shirt at the bank and was shot dead by a security guard.

Wilton Thomas, described as schizophrenic, was arrested after it was alleged that he beat three people with a piece of wood in La Romaine. One victim, a 73-year-old man, suffered a broken jaw.

In May, a man said to be mentally ill ran in and out of a burning house with a cutlass at Boundary Street in Felicity, Chaguanas, eventually dying in the fire.

These tragedies should not readily recur. 

As early as January 2011, it was reported that demand for the services at St Ann’s had increased, with 315 new in-house patients arriving during 2010, at an average of ten new cases per month.

St Ann’s can house 1,042 patients, and more than 3,000 were being seen regularly at the institution, which is an ageing public hospital in need of refurbishment and repair. Walt Murphy, president of the Association of Mental Health Officers, estimated that the public healthcare system managed as many as 45,000 people seeking mental healthcare in 2011.

T&T Guardian columnist Caroline Ravello has been refreshingly and often startlingly straightforward in sharing her experiences as a person living with mental health issues in her Wednesday column Mental Health Matters.

In an April 2012 column she lamented that for “Over 30-odd years now, I’ve watched the State defer implementing a steadfast effort at educating the citizenry and providing support systems for mental health patients and their families.”

Leaving the mentally ill to fend for themselves when there is no family support for them is simply unacceptable.

Ms Ravello called for transition houses for evaluations and hospices where people living with mental illness might seek refuge.

Mentally ill patients who are known or suspected of having no fixed abode or known caregivers, and who require monitoring and medication, are a population that exceeds the capacity of the country’s lone mental hospital but that shouldn’t mean that they are to be abandoned.

Kim Johnson’s movie Pan! Our Musical Odyssey was one of the best-made Trini movies in a long time. It told its story in an original and absorbing way: a documentary following four pan players from different countries in present-day Trinidad interlaced with a fictional story of the origins of the instrument, following two characters through post-war Trinidad.

The contemporary pan players were drawn from Japan, the US, Trinidad and France. The stories of each culminated in the big night—the Panorama final—with a few twists and turns in between. One player’s band didn’t make it past the semis. One player was a 12-year-old, who made the point that he had to do his schoolwork. A key figure featured was Andy Narell, who arranged for Birdsong, who was introduced to pan by his father, who worked with delinquent boys in the US and used the pan to get them off the streets.

The fictional story begins in Port-of-Spain after the Second World War, where a young fellow (Goldteeth) steals a 55-gallon drum and uses it to create a larger pan than existed at the time. Apparently then, unlike now, the cops actually worked, so Goldteeth had to go down to the country to hide out till the heat dissipated. There, in the care of an aunt who is a Baptist/Orisha priestess, he refines the prototype of the modern pan. Goldteeth brings the pan back to town, and has it stolen from his posse by a rival gang. There’s some warfare, and his younger brother gets “done” (as they say in the UK), for stabbing a rival gang member.

The contrasting visual and narrative textures of the two stories make the movie interesting. Neither story (the fictional or the “reality”/documentary bits) is gripping, particularly, but their hybridisation is inspired, and should be shamelessly imitated by anyone who can think of a way to use it. The fictional part is meant to mime a historical recreation and the visual quality (black and white) conveys historical authenticity.

So, it’s original and sophisticated; what makes Pan! naïve? 

Once you get over the originality of the form, each storyline on its own seems banal. This isn’t a judgment on the movie, per se (where the storylines complement each other), it’s a judgment on the movie’s overarching story.

The story Pan! tells is the official story of the steelpan, that’s been told and re-told ad nauseam. It’s the one the vast majority of Trinis know and there isn’t really a counter—or alternative story. It’s the story of gumption, ingenuity, and originality from the bowels of the society, from the lower strata, known only for violence and misery. The violence among early pan sides is played up dramatically, then glossed over with a happy ending.

But the real story is the sub-text of the instrument’s creation myth. The pan wasn’t invented from a tradition of scientific curiosity or endeavour: it emerged from intuition, chaos and accident. Science relies on satori, but after the apple falls on the head, years of experiment, theory and experimentation follow. The former (intuition, emotion) are the qualities by which Trinidad and the Caribbean have demanded to be identified via Carnival, but not the latter (discipline and logic).

Certainly the stories of the invention of the pan involve the coalescence of several streams of effort and experimentation to derive the full range of notes and whatnot. But it’s not systematic; what drives the story of pan (and local knowledge) are chaos and magic (as in the Orisha ceremony Goldteeth attends). Absent are purposeful scientific methodology and logic. These absences constitute the chasm between primitive and civilised/advanced cultures. This is a form of reassurance to the metropolitan viewer.

And for all its sophistication in conception and execution, this is the story Pan! repeats. The steelpan is the result of accident and luck. It emerges from a space where rationality and order do not apply. That space has other qualities, the chief among which is revealed in an interesting moment where the Japanese character reflects that she was able to come to Trinidad and be accepted as part of the steelband orchestra, and wonders whether it would be so easy for a Trinidadian who went to Japan.

This is the other, complementary theme of the story: an almost promiscuous invitation to all and sundry. This blends with the mythology of T&T as the land of callaloo and Carnival: no conflict, happy natives making music. Great as part of a tourism marketing strategy. This is what many tourists want to be told. However, as a national mythology it is, to put it mildly, crazy, as the open gang warfare in Port-of-Spain, high illiteracy and persistent, insistent signs that all is not well with the country, relate.

None of this is the film’s or the filmmakers’ business. As a movie, Pan! is interesting, well-made, and commercially viable. This is a good model for future films. As a medium for nationalist mythology, it’s found an unusual way to re-tell a tiresome story. Indeed, much of Carnival’s “creativity” seems to be directed to finding ways to repeat the same story, and divert attention from difficult, and potentially toxic, sociological and cultural questions it implies.

Thus the naivete of Pan! lies under its sophisticated exterior; it tells a familiar tale of simple, happy people and society offering a respite from the sterile civility of the metropole (itself an increasingly transparent myth). As part of an artistic repertoire, the movie and instrument are valuable. As a materialisation of a nationalistic trope, not. 

But it’s not the only example of naivete. A much less interesting example is to be found in Sean Hodgkinson’s Wendy. 
​

(To be continued.) 

Shame! Shame! Shame! The West Indies players who slunk out of the back door of the tour of India have heaped shame and disgrace on the glorious tradition of West Indies cricket. 

Sharing in the ignominy are the West Indies Players Association and the West Indies Cricket Board. 

Collectively, they have succeeded in bringing the people of this great cricketing nation, the galaxy of cricketing greats from Challenor, Headley and Constantine, the 3Ws, Ramadhin and Valentine, Sobers, Kanhai, Hall and Griffith, Gibbs, Lloyd, Richards, the long line of irresistible fast bowlers of the 1980s, and the 1970s and 1980s greatest cricketing teams of all times into disrepute.

The pull-out from the Indian tour is an escapade ten times worse than when Lara, Hooper and others staged a protest (1998-1999) in London and threatened not to go on to a free South Africa over a similar money dispute with the board. 

Through two decades of spinelessness, indisciplined and thoughtless cricket, greed for money, for which they only rarely performed with distinction, this generation of players has dented West Indian pride and made the team and the people of the West Indies the laughing stock of the cricketing world. 

Already on the margins of the international tour schedule, thanks to the lack of consistency and quality displays on the field, the WI should not be surprised if the likes of South Africa, England, Australia and of course India in future are reluctant to engage the WI in tour arrangements.

Already the secretary of the Indian board, Sanjay Patel, has said that it would be “very difficult to play West Indies in bilateral series in future. They have to demonstrate the willingness that such situations never happen again. I would say that India’s next tour of West Indies is highly unlikely to go ahead in the current situation.” 

As they have done so consistently on the field, the players demonstrated little critical and analytical thinking in taking the decision to leave India.

Did anyone consider that this is India, the financial capital of world cricket today; that this is the home of the Indian Premier League—in which many of us have million-dollar contracts; that other boards around the cricketing world would be taking note of this behaviour, and this in the context of commitments to sponsors who put hundreds of millions of dollars into the game; that pulling out of the tour would leave hundreds of millions of cricket fanatics across India high and dry; and that what they are dealing with is a West Indian tradition in cricket going back to 1928, to which they have contributed little that is positive? Did anyone exercise his mind?

So too the fast-talking, jacket-wearing bureaucrats in the WICB and WIPA are guilty without reprieve for the degradation of this noble tradition which brought us out of the canefields and put the islands of the West Indies and our people on the international map of respectable nations. 

Once upon a time we blamed the white colonial establishment for the arrogance, incompetence and doh-care-damn attitude of the players. Well, the likes of Stollmeyer, Captain Short, Errol Dos Santos and others of that ilk have long withdrawn or been pushed out from the administration of the game.

After being petitioned by the captain and players, a proactive board would have discerned the danger and taken a team inclusive of the WIPA executive to have an eye-to-eye conversation with Bravo and his men. 

It would not have solved the problem, but it would have demonstrated care and concern for the players and could have bought time for talking and negotiating after the tour. 

Instead, board chairman Dave Cameron operated like the old colonial governor issuing a dismissive edict and mamaguy talk about playing through the series and picking up their grievances later.

WIPA president Wavell Hinds acted not like a trade union leader but like an employer, talking loftily about rights instead of consulting with the players. 

Working out the problems of the immediate future, the three groups must now contemplate how they are to engage each other to meet their commitment to the South African tour and the World Cup in early 2015. 

My gut reaction is to say that all three groups should be made to leave West Indies cricket now, never to return. But that leaves our cricket with the culture bereft of a solution because surely the already established way of proceeding will continue.

Professional assistance to find workable solutions to the problems of today and the immediate future in WI cricket seems a more potentially-rewarding exercise.

WICB, WIPA and the players have exposed the region and its people to the cynicism which segments of the cricketing world have of our people and region: “Brain-dead calypso cricketers”; “players and a people incapable of strategic thinking,” etc.

Sure, Cricket Australia, the BCCI and the English board have serious disagreements with their players over a range of matters, but they usually demonstrate a mature capacity to arrive at solutions and to avoid descent into this horrid display before the watching world.

Citizens of this country, probably numbering about 50, are engaged in the Middle East conflict. They are actively involved as combatants on the side of Islamic State (or ISIS/ISIL).

It is this reality, more than the co-sponsorship of a United Nations resolution on global terrorism by T&T, which has now effectively linked this country to contemporary global terrorism.

Several Islamic organisations in the country have condemned IS, labelling it as “terrorist” and “unIslamic.” Dr Mansoor Ibrahim, former president of ASJA wrote: “True Islam has nothing to do with such conduct.”

What Islamic scholars have failed to address is the widespread and worldwide manifestation of this type of fundamentalist Islam. In Africa we have read of the activities of Boko Haram and its atrocities in Nigeria. 

Somalia continues to be in a state of anarchy due to the activities of Al-Shabab. A citizen of T&T was murdered along with others in Nairobi West Gate Mall in Kenya in 2013. The partition of Sudan has its origins in Islamic extremism.

In South Asia a similar reality prevails with respect to the activities of several fundamentalist groups. The Taliban domination of Afghanistan has ended but it continues its campaign of death and destruction. The Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, along with other groups, has found sanctuary in remote areas of Pakistan.

Ayman al-Zawahri, head of Al-Qaeda, announced in September, 2014, that it had created an Indian branch with the objective of “bringing Islamic rule to the entire subcontinent…promising to storm your barricades with cars packed with gunpowder.” 

The Muslims of these fundamentalist groups are using “the Qur’an, the practices of Prophet Mohammed and his lifestyle” to provide the ideological underpinnings and inspiration to guide their behaviour.

A local Islamic scholar and leader wrote: “Living in an Islamic state or striving to establish one, is an Islamic obligation. Informed and committed Muslims agree on this point.” Is this not a clear expression of a political hegemonic idea?

Can the historical record on the rise of Islam in Arabia and its imperialistic expansion support the claims of these Muslim scholars. The thousands of followers of IS and similar groups are clearly reading Islamic history differently.

​

Kamal Persad
The Indian Review Committee,
Carapichaima

The HRM has been knocked down not once, not twice, but three times by the courts of our land! Their legal position is now confusing. They are taking their case to the Privy Council, clamouring for mediation and striking by not consuming water and food. 

Why didn’t the HRM first propose mediation with the Government? It is important to note that mediation and dialogue are two different things and the call for mediation came after losing in all the courts. 

The HRM jumped the gun and rushed to the courts certain of a victory. In doing so they lost a great opportunity to call for mediation. 

Mediation is a type of alternative dispute resolution used before parties go to court. They go to court if mediation does not arrive at an amicable solution. Dr Kublalsingh in his great wisdom or Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj in his great wisdom thought the court was the way to end it all and it has so ended.

It is foolhardy and naïve to think that the Government, after securing three victories in this matter, would agree to mediation. What incentive is there for the winner to mediate? Would the HRM have agreed to mediation had they won?

I don’t know who is advising Dr Kublalsingh and the HRM. I sure hope it’s not the person who advised the ILP to take a Bill that is before the Parliament to the courts!

Allan Hewitt,
Maraval

There was once a lonely old man who lived in a very poor section of town. Every afternoon a group of youngsters went to that section to play, beat cans and drums and made a lot of noise. The old man hated the noise and soon came up with a plan to deal with the young men. 

One afternoon he went to meet them and told them how much he enjoyed the racket and looked forward to their visits. He then said, “Each time you come here to entertain me I will give you $20. Here is today’s payment.” 

The young men took the money and thought it was a good deal. The next day they returned and played with great gusto. The old man then went to them and said, “I only have $15 today but I will give you $25 tomorrow.” Next day he told them that he didn’t have time to go to the bank and could only give them $5 but promised to make up the deficit on the following day. 

Angered by what they suspected to be a broken promise, the players refused the money and told him they would not entertain him anymore for just $5. They left immediately and never went back, not realising that the old man had outsmarted them.

Does this story have any relevance to the current conflict in West Indies cricket?

Dr Edward deBono, a world authority on lateral thinking, stresses that a better way to resolve conflicts must be found. He feels that there is no more important matter for the future of the world than conflict resolution.

In the last three weeks, opposing sides have been involved in bitter arguments about who is right and who is wrong, not realising that adversarial thinking intensifies conflict. It does not defuse it. As one side attacks the other side defends or counterattacks and tempers rise. Positions then become more rigid and the parties stop listening to each other. 

The drive to attack and defend precludes any creative or constructive thinking. Each side spends so much time attacking the other side that the credibility of both sides is damaged. To use this method of thinking as the first and only method for conflict resolution is a prescription for disaster. It is very difficult to solve a conflict with conflict thinking.

Negotiating or bargaining is preferable to adversarial thinking but it too has weaknesses. Negotiation is about compromise in which each side gives up something and finishes up somewhere between two existing positions. In this type of thinking we restrict ourselves to what already exists; we work within boundaries that exist rather than designing new ones.

Problem-solving is better than adversarial thinking and compromise but it also has its limitations. In problem-solving we analyse the problem, find the cause and put it right. But in complex human interactions there might be more than one cause. 

Identifying Wavell Hinds or Darren Bravo as the cause of the problem and removing him from his position might not solve the problem because there may be multiple causes, not just one. What happens if we can’t find a cause or if we find the cause but can’t remove it? What do we do then?

According to Dr deBono, design thinking is the preferred method in conflict resolution. Design thinking is not about compromise or removing a problem. Argument, compromise and analysis are about the past, what is already there, while design thinking is about the future, what is to be created.

In design thinking, opposing parties articulate a clear purpose, goal or outcome and then tailor their skills and resources to fit that purpose. The exercise is all about purpose and fit and usually results in win/win outcomes.

In resolving conflict we should start with the best—design thinking, because it is more productive. Problem solving should be next followed by negotiation which usually results in a fallback position. If these three approaches fail we might then have to go back to the fight method as a last resort. This is very different from starting the process in the fight mode.

I wonder what course this conflict will now take and what impact WICB’s decision to cancel the remainder of the tour of India will have on West Indies cricket, the relationship between the cricket boards of India and West Indies, the relationship between the IPL and its West Indies players, the relationship with sponsors, and the relationship with TV broadcasters who stand to lose at least 15 days of Test match cricket. 

It will also be interesting to find out if the Board’s decision was in fact unanimous and how much money will be lost as a result of that decision. 

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope that sanity and commonsense somehow find their way into the resolution of this conflict.

Dr Rudi V Webster,
former WI mental coach​

The term “chikungunya” comes from the Kimakonde dialect and means “to be contorted” due to the bent appearance of those who have it. So far, it’s infected about half a million people in the Western Hemisphere. If you are one of those unfortunate people, the bad news is that there are no antiviral medicines to fight it—yet. But hope is on the horizon: an experimental vaccine is getting good results. A small, early clinical trial by researchers at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (in Maryland, USA) found in August that a new, experimental vaccine was safe, and that it triggered a strong response from the immune system. (Lancet Journal, August 15).

This isn’t the first attempt at making a vaccine, however. Michaeleen Doucleff of NPR reported on August 18 that a team at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, in the 1980s had already created a vaccine with a live, weakened version of the chikungunya virus. That vaccine completed a Phase Two clinical trial. But scientists stopped development because there wasn’t enough funding. 

The virus, however is smart: it’s mutating and adapting itself to new hosts. Researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston reported in June that “the Indian Ocean lineage of chikungunya virus that has spread to the Indian Ocean Basin, Southeast Asia, Oceania and Europe continues to mutate and adapt to develop higher efficiency for transmission by the Asian tiger mosquito.” They found that “this mutation in the Indian Ocean lineage occurred through a single adaptive change in the virus' genetic code that alters one protein in the envelope surrounding the virus.” So more people will be at risk of infection, as not only the Aedes aegypti, but now the Asian tiger mosquito can carry the virus.

Riding it out
In the meanwhile, patients have little choice but to ride it out—enduring a week of feverish sweats, fatigue, and joint pains, sometimes searing aches that seem to attack whichever joints happen to be their weakest.  And then there are the rashes: very itchy ones, like mad ant bites. The good news? Chikungunya should only last a week. It won’t kill you. Conventional doctors can only prescribe paracetemol and sponge baths for the fever; and non-steroidal pain relievers such as diclofenac, celecoxib, naproxen, or ibuprofen for those aching joints. Beyond that, it’s a case of: stay in bed; get rest, do mild stretches; and drink lots of fluids. But there are lots of bush medicines and homeopathic remedies out there, said to help relieve the symptoms of fever and pain. 

From fever grass to jack-ass bitters
Prof Compton Seaforth is a noted T&T herbal chemist who, along with Dr Yuri Clement, Yasmin Baksh-Comeau and Rajesh Ragoo of UWI, did a survey in 2007-2008 to document the use of “cooling” local medicinal plants, as well as plants to treat fever, in 50 rural communities in Trinidad. The survey found that older women in the countryside (who were the ones mostly responsible for the family’s heath) used 44 plant species for “cooling” purposes—helping the body which has fever, or has rashes or hives, to achieve a balance. Cat’s claw, vervine, candle bush, caraille and shiny bush were the most used. For fever, the women also used lemon grass (fever grass) and jackass-bitters (sepi). The next step would be to test these village remedies scientifically. They are not cures, just ways to ease fever and rashes.

Indian sweets to the rescue?
Dr Suresh Shah, an Indian doctor who claimed to cure 1,300 patients during a major chikungunya outbreak in India eight years back, said: “The best way to treat chikungunya is to have home-made sweets like sukhdi, kheer, sheero and lots of liquids. Of course, paracetamol should be taken, but the main focus should be on home-made sweets.” He said patients needed energy as joint pain and viral fever make the patient weak.

Papaya leaf powers
But perhaps the most intriguing possible homeopathic remedy is papaya leaf juice. Don’t chug a whole glass: just a couple tablespoonfuls a day is said to work wonders. The ayurvedic practitioner Valerian Mendonca swears by papaya leaves. In 2010, he posted this on his blog: “If you or anyone you know has dengue or chikungunya or any illness which drastically reduces the blood platelet count of the patient, take one papaya leaf. Wash it in plain water. Discard the stem and the hard central veins in the leaf. Cut the green leafy portion into small pieces and run it through a mixer or pound it to a paste. If it is too dry, add a teaspoon of water, pound to a paste, squeeze the paste through a muslin cloth or a tea strainer. You will get about two tablespoons of nasty tasting green liquid. Make the patient drink it. The platelet count jumps within (three) hours.” And as a result, you can drastically reduce the fever, and radically shorten the disease length, he says. 

The natural health site www.naturalhealth365.com supports this view. It notes that the Japanese, the aboriginals of Australia and many traditional herbal treatments have all used papaya leaves. It states: “The phytonutrient compounds in papaya leaves act in synergy to display a strong antioxidant and immune enhancing impact in the bloodstream. Papain, alkaloids and phenolic compounds are responsible for their positive biological effects… The phenolic compounds, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, quercetin and kaempferol exhibit potent antioxidant effect. Papaya leaves are also high in minerals like calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron and manganese.”

The health site goes on to state: “The best way to consume the papaya leaves is in the form of tea. Prepare a tea infusion, by adding ten leaves to half a gallon of water—allow it to boil till the quantity of water is decreased to a quart. Cool and consume in small doses as needed to treat indigestion, for detoxifying, for immune-building purposes or as a general tonic.” Conventional science has yet to research this. But an August 17 article from Malaysia Today reported on the powers of the humble papaya leaf. A study led by Dr Soobitha Subenthran and team from the Institute for Medical Research in Kuala Lumpur found some remarkable papaya leaf juice healing effects for dengue (not chikungunya), the paper reported. The researchers discovered that Carica papaya leaf extract helped to significantly increase platelets in patients with dengue fever.

So there may be something to the papaya leaf’s amazing powers to heal. But of course, the only sure way to deal with Chikungunya is not to get it. That means stopping those pesky mosquitoes from reaching you, to bite you and infect you. See our article tomorrow on tips to do just that. • TO BE CONTINUED

ChikV Facts
• It is a viral disease. You get it when an infected mosquito bites you. 
• These same mosquitoes can transmit dengue, too, with some similar symptoms.
• Symptoms start three to seven days after being bitten.
• Main symptoms: high fever (40C, 104F); joint pains (lower back, ankle, knees, wrists, fingers).
• Other symptoms: joint swellings, headaches, muscle pains, rashes, nausea, fatigue. Can affect eyes (conjunctivitis, eye pain). Can also affect the brain (altered mental states), the nerves (nerve pain). In very rare cases, can affect the heart (inflammation of the heart muscle, irregular heartbeats).
• There are no antiviral medicines.
• Rarely fatal. Most people recover in a week. Since 2005, one in 1,000 chikungunya virus infections has resulted in a fatal disease. 
• The virus remains in your body for seven days and during this time, any mosquitoes that bite you can also become infected—and bite others in your household, possibly infecting them.
• Recovery confers lifelong immunity. (CDC and WHO)

IN BRIEF

• One shooter dead.
• Second gunman still believed at large in downtown Ottawa.
• Additional shots fired near Parliament Hill.
• Police going door to door in downtown core. Schools locked down.
• Canadian PM reported safe

A masked gunman dressed all in black shot and killed a Canadian soldier standing guard at a war memorial in the country’s capital Wednesday, then entered Parliament, where dozens of shots rang out, authorities and witnesses said. At least three people were taken to the hospital. A suspected gunman was also killed, police said, although Ottawa police Constable Marc Soucy said officials “believe there is more than one’’ gunman.

The attack came two days after a recent convert to Islam killed one Canadian soldier and injured another in a hit-and-run before being shot to death by police. The killer had been on the radar of federal investigators, who feared he had jihadist ambitions and seized his passport when he tried to travel to Turkey.

Canada had raised its domestic terror threat level from low to medium Tuesday because of "an increase in general chatter from radical Islamist organizations," said Jean-Christophe de Le Rue, a spokesman for the public safety minister.

Tony Zobl, 35, said he witnessed the soldier being gunned down from his fourth-floor window directly above the National War Memorial, a 70-foot, arched granite cenotaph, or tomb, with bronze sculptures commemorating World War I.

"I looked out the window and saw a shooter, a man dressed all in black with a kerchief over his nose and mouth and something over his head as well, holding a rifle and shooting an honor guard in front of the cenotaph point-blank, twice," Zobl told the Canadian Press news agency.

"The honor guard dropped to the ground, and the shooter kind of raised his arms in triumph holding the rifle."

Zobl said the gunman then ran up the street toward Parliament Hill. Shots were also fired at a shopping mall near Parliament, police said. All three sites — the war memorial, Parliament and the mall — are within less than a mile from each other.

Cabinet minister Tony Clement tweeted that at least 30 shots were heard inside Parliament, where Conservative and Liberal MPs were holding their weekly caucus meetings.

"I'm safe locked in a office awaiting security," Kyle Seeback, another member of Parliament, tweeted.

The top spokesman for Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Harper was safe and had left Parliament Hill.

Ottawa Hospital said it received three patients, two of them listed in stable condition. It would not comment on the condition of the third patient, the soldier shot at the memorial.

Top-ranked Caribbean and Central America teams, T&T and Costa Rica, will lock horns tonight in search of a place in the final of the Concacaf Women’s Championship, and more importantly, a spot at next year’s Fifa Women’s World Cup.

The teams will open a semifinal double-header at PPL Park, Chester, Pennsylvania, from 5.30 pm, before Group A winner, USA and Group B runner-up, Mexico, clash from 8.30 pm.

Tonight’s semifinal opens three opportunities for the local women, fondly dubbed the Soca Princesses, to secure their first ever spot at a Women’s World Cup. A win will guarantee that while a loss will mean T&T will try again in Sunday’s third place playoff.

The winner of the third place match will also qualify for the World Cup, while the loser will earn a “half spot” in a two-match intercontinental playoff against Comnebol’s Ecuador for the final qualifying spot between the two confederations.

But coach Randy Waldrum and his charges would be keen to see his team secure that much desired World Cup berth in one go.

“I think the spirit is really high. The girls are focused and it’s been that way for all three games so far. I think they are confident but respectful of Costa Rica for sure,” he said ahead of tonight’s fixture.

“I’m extremely pleased with the team’s performances. I think they were outstanding against the USA with playing the way I wanted them to. And then against Haiti, they showed great resilience and fortitude to get the points with a player down and then we came out and did a great job against Guatemala. We’re not yet close to where I’ll like the team to be but we have gotten better with every game,” Waldrum added.

Tonight, T&T, which advanced from a runner-up finish in Group B with one loss (1-0 to the USA) and two wins (1-0 to Haiti and 2-1 to Guatemala), will match up against a Costa Rica team which has scored three times more goals—nine, and has conceded two after three straight wins, one of which was against Mexico.

Like T&T, Costa Rica was a cut above the rest in its qualifying tournament. The team won each of its matches prior to the Concacaf event, including a 3-0 victory over host team Guatemala in playoff/final.

And, while Costa Rica has proven to be a tactically sound team, it has its own reservations regarding T&T. The team’s technical assistant, an observer in T&T’s prior matches, admitted T&T’s strength and speed and quality in the likes of forward Kennya Cordner, newly converted winger, Ahkeela Mollon, and captain Maylee Attin Johnson could be a problem. “Trinidad is similar to Jamaica: very fast and strong. It has a system similar to that seen in the tournament with 4-3-3. We must further strengthen the analysis and enhance our strengths,” the technical assistant was quoted as saying in La Nacion, a news source of Costa Rica.

Costa Rica’s line-up boasts a number of potent attackers in the likes of Caronline Venehas (9) and Raquel Rodriguez Cedeno (11). Venegas scored the lone goal in Costa Rica’s win over Mexico and another pair against Martinique in the team’s 6-1 win, while Cedeno scored the winning goal against Jamaica and another two goals against Martinique only three minutes after coming on as a late substitute. Another player to watch is two-time UEFA Champions League winner, Shirley Cruz Traña, a marshall in Costa Rica’s midfield.

On the other side, T&T received a boost in the return of starting goalkeeper Kimika Forbes, who served a one-match ban after her expulsion against Haiti. A handful of players who suffered slight injuries before and during the tournament including Tasha St Louis, Janine Francois, Karyn Forbes and Ayanna Russell are said to be fit to play, while Cordner, the team’s top scorer, Mollon, assist leader, and other starters have gotten ample time to recuperate after playing their three group matches in five days.

More info

Fixtures

Costa Rica v T&T, PPL Park, Chester, Pennsylvania, 5.30 pm

USA v Mexico, PPL Park, 8.30 pm

T&T Squad

Kimika Forbes, Tinesha Palmer (GK); Ayanna Russell, Rhea Belgrave, Arin King, Liana Hinds, Brianna Ryce, Khadisha Debessette, Lauren Hutchinson, Patrice Superville (Def); Khadidra Debessette, Maylee Attin Johnson, Janine Francois, Karyn Forbes, Anique Walker (Mid); Mariah Shade, Dernelle Mascall, Tasha St Louis, Ahkeela Mollon, Kennya Cordner (Fwd).

CANBERRA—West Indies Women’s team management say their side will not be distracted by the storm of controversy surround their male counterparts.

The Windies women arrived here last week to face hosts Australia Women in a bilateral series, even as West Indies men’s one-day side took the unprecedented step of abandoning their tour of India over a pay dispute with their union, WIPA.

However, captain Merissa Aguilleira said while her team were aware of the issues, they were remaining focused on their upcoming matches.

“We’ve been following it, it’s been hard, but we don’t want it to be distracting us. We came here to represent the West Indies and we want to make sure our fans aren’t disappointed,” Aguilleira said.

West Indies men walked out on the tour of India last Friday following the fourth One-Day International in Dharamsala, upset over new contracts they have claimed would result in a drastic reduction in their earnings.

The move sparked an angry response from the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) who have since announced they would sue the West Indies Cricket Board for losses and also suspend future bilateral series with West Indies.

Women’s coach Sherwin Campbell said he hoped the issue could be resolved amicably but stressed that his side would not be affected by those developments.

“We are separate teams and separate tours and we are focused on that,” said Campbell, a former West Indies vice-captain who played 52 Tests. You don’t want to see teams not being able to go to events, so hopefully they can resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”

West Indies Women face Australia Women in four Twenty20 internationals and four ODIs starting November 2. (CMC)

The Quadrangular Games will be held on Thursday and Saturday next week at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.

The Games was launched at the Quadrangular House, Long Circular Road, St James, yesterday.

The event involves participation by members of the defence and protective service organisations.

Chairman of the Games, vice chief of Defence Staff, Brig Gen Anthony Phillips-Spencer described this year’s event as something special.

“The historical significance of the Games must be remembered. The more mature members of our national community may recall the original version which was last held in 1978. 

“At that time the Games was held annually and involved participation by members of the Defence Force, Police Service, Fire Service and the Prisons Service,” he said.

He noted, however, that based on the revised and Cabinet-approved model, Quadrangular Games 2014 will include athletic competition in four categories: Primary Schools and Secondary Schools, both to be held on the first day of the Games while the National Security Youth Clubs and Groups Category, as well as the original Inter-Services category, will take place on Saturday.

Brig Phillips-Spencer said by including primary and secondary school athletes, as well as the members and trainees of the youth programmes operated by the Ministry of National Security, Defence and Protective Service Divisions, and the Trinidad and Tobago Cadet Force, the Games will support the achievement of strategic goals such as: ‘Crime Reduction and Containment and Citizen/Public Security’. 

The schools will have a new event which is an 8x200 metres relay. This was done to facilitate the time of pre-season of the athletes of the country.

Kelvin Nancoo, who represented the Ministry of Education, complimented Phillips-Spencer for involving the schools. 

He said, “The Ministry of Education has worked in collaboration with the Ministry of National Security, Justice and Sport to ensure this Quadrangular Games come to fruition. Clearly, one will understand that Ministry of Education is a partner and stakeholder as the Games is fondly referred to.”

Nancoo noted that the Tobago House of Assembly was also on board and Tobago will be represented. 

“As you will know, Tobago is the Secondary Schools Champions while Port-of-Spain and Environs are the Primary Schools Champions. In this Games there will only be relays and one would know how exciting relay events are.”

The Primary and Secondary Schools will perform from 1.00 pm on the opening day. 

Among the athletes expected are: Tyriq Horsford, Akani Hislop, Janae DeGannes, Ethan Forde, Caliyah Wallace, Ashton Gill, Jad Barker, Jeminise Parris, Kershel McIntyre, Xavier Mulugata and Kayelle Clarke.

Patron of the Games is President Anthony Carmona.

Boxing resumes after a year at the Jean Pierre Complex at 7.30 pm this evening.

Fine Line Fight Factory presents a four-bout card with the main event being the WBC CABOFE Super Lightweight Title up for grabs between Prince-Lee Isidore (T&T) vs Revlon Lake (Barbados). 

Both boxers laid bold claims and are confident about coping the prestigious title. This event would include an additional three supporting professional bouts along with four amateur boxing bouts.

In the middlewight division, Sherwin Wilson will match gloves with Michael Maloney while Selwyn Guy and Joel McRae battle in the cruiserweight and Kenneth Bishop and Denzel Salazar square off in the heavyweight class.

The Port-of-Spain and Environs Education be host the semifinals of the Atlantic sponsored league today at the Hasely Crawford Stadium beginning at 9.30 am.

Diamond Vale Government will take on Eastern Boys Government on Ground A while ‘giant killers’ Dunross Preparatory School will meet last year’s runners up Newtown Boy’s RC on Ground B. A new champions will be crowned as 2013 champions Sacred Heart Boys RC did not make it to the play-off.

In the Boys Under 15 category, Port-of-Spain and National champions Eastern Boys Government School will meet Newtown Boys RC at 11.30 am.

fixtures 

​Under 12 Boys  
Diamond Vale vs Eastern Boys Gov’t (9.30 am)

Dunross Preparatory vs Newtown Boys RC (9.30 am)

Under 15 Boys 
Carenage Boys Gov’t vs Nelson Street Boys RC  (10.15 am)

Newtown Boys RC vs Eastern Boys Gov’t  (11.30 am)

Surinamese FIDE Master Roger Matoewi is among regional and local chess stars invited to participate in the First San Fernando Open Chess competition that runs from today until November 2, at District Scout Headquarters, Embacadere, San Fernando.

Matoewi, who top-scored for his country at the recent World Chess Olympiad in Tromso, Norway could be the favourite to lift the National Workers Union (NWT) trophy and walk away winner of the $3,000 first prize in this inaugural San Fernando Open tournament.

Leading the charge will be FM Ryan Harper, national champion of T&T, FM Mario Merritt, CM’s Frank Sears and Cecil Lee, among others. 

Organised by the Southern Chess Club (SCC), under the aegis of the Trinidad & Tobago Chess Association (TTCA), this Swiss-style tournament is being sponsored by National Workers Union (NWU).

It will feature dozens of players from all over T&T, including students and former active chess players of the SCC.

The tournament evolved from last year’s “Sears Summer Swiss” which was hosted by the SCC, in honour of Frank Sears, a former Caribbean Chess champion, who received the National Master Title from the TTCA recently. He conceptualised the format, got the SCC to agree to host it and encouraged the National Workers Union (of which he is President), to guarantee a total $10,000 prize fund to this tournament as part of the Union’s ten year anniversary celebration package in October.

Play will begin at 7 pm today and continue daily. The tournament director is Courtney Lee, a former top national chess player and four-time Olympian.

Giselle Laronde-West, former Miss World of 1986, won the gold medal in her kata category of female adults 35 years and over when the Shotokan karate international federation of Trinidad and Tobago (SKIFTT), led by head instructor Neville Mason, represented T&T at the 20th annual New York Open traditional karate do championships on October 12.

The tournament was held at the Westchester community college in New York. 

Each of the five competitors returned home with a trophy.

Laronde is a third dan black belt and has been competing in karate for over 20 years. She placed fourth in the SKIF world championships in Greece in 2009 and obtained a bronze medal at the same competition in Australia in 2012. 

The team, which was led by head instructor Neville Mason, also brought home bronze medals through Renauldo Gordon, Chennise Charles and Kristoff West.

Gordon (2nd dan) was able to secure the bronze trophy in both kata and kumite, while C Charles (2nd dan) and West (Shodan—son of Giselle) also received a bronze trophy in kata, in their respective divisions.