Mahogany CoConut Blog

One Caribbean Nation. National Flag of Jamaica Relatives shocked at how 13-year-old girl met her demise BY TANESHA MUNDLE   WHEN 13-year-old Shanoya Wray left home quietly on the night of July 15, her relatives — who quickly reported her missing — had no clue she would not return home alive. Not once during the week in which they awaited her return did they think that she would have turned up dead and that her alleged killer would be Trinidadian teacher, Sanju Maharaj, who is currently before the court on a sex charge with her as the complainant. “I thought she would come back home; I wasn't thinking that [she would be dead] at all,” said Wray's mother, Shana-Hay Hall, who was in tears as she spoke with the  Jamaica Observer  yesterday from her family home on Tavern Drive in Kingston. The teen's grandmother, Sylvia Campbell, who was also in tears, said, “Everyday we call Biffy (Shanoya), even though she nuh answer. [It seemed] the ph...

One Caribbean Nation. Nobel Prize-Winning Author V.S. Naipaul Dies at 85 By  The Associated Press Aug. 11, 2018 LONDON — V.S. Naipaul, the Trinidad-born Nobel laureate whose precise and lyrical writing in such novels as "A Bend in the River" and "A House for Mr. Biswas" and brittle, misanthropic personality made him one of the world's most admired and contentious writers, died Saturday at his London home, his family said. He was 85. His wife, Nadira Naipaul, said he was "a giant in all that he achieved and he died surrounded by those he loved having lived a life which was full of wonderful creativity and endeavor." His friend and fellow author Paul Theroux said that he had been in poor health, but had taken pride in having his work recognized. "He will go down as one of the greatest writers of our time," Theroux told The Associated Press during a telephone interview Saturday, citing his mastery of writing about fa...

One Caribbean Nation. THAT OFFENSIVE OMEGA CURRY ADVERTISEMENT Submitted by Dr Kumar Mahabir The Omega 3-6-9 Complex advertisement on the nation’s highways – and now on TV – is an out-of-place, outright attack on all curry consumers. Indeed, it is an ethnic form of aggression on a group of people in multi-culinary Trinidad and Tobago. This billboard advertisement suddenly appeared at various points on the highways with the tagline: “I like my Curry, but I  love  my heart.” The product being advertised is the Jamieson’s brand of Omega 3-6-9 Complex. The caption is followed by additional texts claiming that the tablets have been “Clinically proven to REDUCE Cholesterol.” The caption is accompanied by an Indian woman with two tresses of long, flowing, black hair. She is serving a plate of paratha “buss-up-shut” roti with pumpkin, curried channa and aloo, curried chataigne [breadnut] and curried mango. The public should be warned that the claim about the ...

One Caribbean Nation. by the Mahogany Coconut Group Charles Herbert                                   Chris Rogers Walter Prescod Barbados,  a small island with a predominantly Black population, has been thrown into a frenzy, with the rare charge against two prominent white businessmen , for drug trafficking. The island is now in full debate mode, regarding the legal embattlement of these two corporate high flyers: Charles Herbert and Chris Rogers. Herbert being the Chairman and Rogers a director, of the hugely successful Goddard group(GEL) of companies. The intrigue continues to grip the island, because Herbert, literally broke with white political tradition, and was heavily involved, in the ouster of the recently defeated Democratic Labour Party (Elections were May 24th 2018). He is known to be a great supporter of the newly elected, and first female Prime Minister, ...

One Caribbean Nation. By  Elizabeth Heath |  May 29, 2018 8:00 pm Vincent Van Gogh sold just one painting during his lifetime. He toiled in obscurity and poverty, only to be appreciated after his death. Once art collectors started to realize the value of his work, it was scooped up, and now a Van Gogh piece rarely comes on the market. Fifteen years after a little-known Caribbean rum distillery shut down for good, it’s having a Van Gogh moment. The Caroni Ltd. distillery in Trinidad was a state-run distillery, producing heavy rums made from its own sugarcane crops. At its height, the sugar refinery and distillery employed more than 9,000 workers. Caroni was the preferred rum of the British Navy, but the lads apparently didn’t drink enough of it to sustain Caroni’s labor-intensive, unindustrialized methods of farming, processing and distilling. After years of being subsidized by the Trinidad and Tobago government, the sugar-growing industry on the island collaps...