But not the things people normally hoard like old documents, haberdashery and knick-knacks. No, she has been hoarding memories.

“I am normally the type of person who gets rid of things quickly.

But after my dad died, I find that in my work I hoard all these sentimental things,” Huggins says as we chat on a British Airways flight from Trinidad and Tobago bound for Northern Ireland.

“I am always looking for a memory of something, a feeling, something I would have felt once. It feels like you are always trying to chase an impossible memory. There is always some baggage from the past attached to it.” Huggins is one of the artists whose work was featured in the ground-breaking exhibition Caribbean Queer Visualities staged at Belfast, Ireland in early November as part of Outburst, the queer arts festival which has been making strides. One online poster for the show featured Huggins’ photographic diptych Is that a buoy? The eye is drawn to two floating objects. But one of these is a human head, barely discernable, rising from the water. The other is a buoy, floating like a serene planet between sea and sky. We are given little to signal gender, race or anything that might mark the human figure: the artist has muted colour, submerged the form and rendered the face as a silhouette, with the slightest suggestion of eyelashes.

We are made to question what we see. It’s a work that challenges us to cross boundaries, something that seems to resonate with Huggins’ own life.

Of her father, who was an architect among many other things, Huggins says, “He was a strange person, he had very unusual habits and ideas. He was very counter to the norms, against what a small island would expect of a person. He used to design his own Carnival bands.

“He passed away in 2006, he was an alcoholic. He suffered from depression as well. It tied into his feeling of not being accepted.

Which is funny because that is something I also battle with: feeling like an outsider, not feeling a sense of belonging in your own home, in your own country.” QUEER DISAPORA Huggins was born in Trinidad on January 28, 1984. But her parents moved around a lot, including to countries like the UK and Barbados.

Eventually, they returned to St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Years later, she moved back to Trinidad (which she calls the “New York of the Caribbean”) on her own.

So where is home? “That’s a very difficult question,” Huggins says. “St Vincent and the Grenadines still feels like home. It’s where all the nostalgia exists right now. Mom is in St Vincent. You never realise a place is home until you leave it.” Home is a concept that many members of the LGBTI community in the Caribbean – like the rest of the world – grapple with given the economic, social and political barriers to equality there.

Caribbean Queer Visualities deals with this question of belonging.

It was curated and co-ordinated by: David Scott, Erica James, and Nijah Cunningham, with assistance from Colette Norwood of the British Council Northern Ireland and Annalee Davis of British Council Caribbean. The show was put on at the Golden Thread Gallery and supported by Ruth McCarthy, director of the Outburst festival in Belfast.

“I am blown away that we’ve got something of this quality in Outburst,” McCarthy says in a Skype interview, taking a break from her busy festival responsibilities. “This is an important exhibition.

We really wanted to create a space where there could be LG BTI persons having a voice; a self-determining space. The theme of our festival is home which is fitting as I think that a ‘queer diaspora’ is really important. So many people leave home in order to be themselves. Many in the UK move to London, for instance. I think queer people leave home at rates much higher than straight people.” Huggins certainly identifies with the perspective of the outsider. Even if she does not consciously set out to explore questions relating to gender, sex and sexuality, her work implicitly challenges us to ask questions on that level, whether through her stunning self-portraits to her photography work more generally (which often features human forms submerged in yet apart from their landscape).

FREEDIVER

Huggins is ready to free dive. As our flight progresses, she looks admiringly at the cover of an in-flight magazine which bears a photograph of Chizuko Nakamura, 63, one of the last members of Japan’s elite group of tough female divers who, year-round, plumb depths as deep a 65 feet, holding their breath for up to two minutes.

“I’d like to do that,” she says.

The idea of free diving might seem a strange thing for her to discuss while we are seated thousands of miles up in the air. But in many ways what Huggins does in her art is just as daring as anything the Japanese ama do.

Melanie Archer, writing in Caribbean Beat, says her work shows, “a keen observational eye, a mastery of composition that heightens the drama of a moment, and atmospheric tones that hint always at an extra layer — something present but not quite said”. Hugo Howey describes her work as “gritty and primal”; “young and mature”; “dirty and innocent”.

The Designer Island website says the work is, “sometimes dreamy sometimes gritty but always uniquely Caribbean.” Is that a buoy? has something most in common with three of Huggins series of photographs: Black and Blue; Circa no Future and Fighting the Currents.

In Black and Blue, boys are pictured on a beach at Canaries, Saint Lucia. They are placed out of focus, rendered as shapes, forms, silhouettes. So rendered, they seem to have been painted by El Greco or sculpted by Alberto Giacometti. The seeming distortion of the human body is a tool used to get us to project our own questions into the frame.

What makes us one thing or another? Huggins is at once asking what is distinctive about our own roles and also challenging that idea of the human spirit being boxed into performing the same functions.

In Circa no Future the boys are brought back into focus and the terrain of the coast – that liminal space where earth and water meet – is rendered more clearly.

Yet, all distinctive Huggins erasures are still there, be it bubbles that block a face, or shots taken in a perspective that renders the human body distant or anonymous – the human face is sometimes just out of the frame. This time, though, this process of masking is balanced with an epic sense of adventure, as though the heady thrill of having fun in the sea is what matters most: joy that renders individuality irrelevant.

In a sense it was only natural that the artist would next place herself into the frame within this coastal environment that she is so evidently drawn to.

It is a space that embodies the pull and tug of currents, both within and without, that she has had to fight. Even in works that look at seemingly tangential aspects of the sea terrain (like The fishermen; Vendors and Pulling the net) there is a sense that what we are looking at is not just what we are looking at. These are remnants of a childhood feast – part of a landscape of freedom.

Along with Fighting the Currents, Is that a buoy? is an important moment in Huggins’ body of work, the point at which she presents herself most vulnerably, even if mediated through shadow, water and coastal masque.

“I am trying to come to terms with not being accepted growing up in a place like St Vincent, a small island,” Huggins says of Is that a buoy? as our flight to Belfast continues over the Atlantic. “I have always felt a little bit of resentment for small island society. Growing up I was a tomboy. Going to the beach people would come to me and ask me: are you a boy or girl?” “It’s this idea of not understanding what you are looking at, who you are looking at.

When looking at something at a distance it looks exactly the same.” I think of her side-project, Every horizon looks the same – a website where she invites people to submit photos of the horizon.

While she seeks to assert the universal within, she also places emphasis on the individual’s uniqueness. She adds, “It’s a discrimination that happens.

That’s what it’s about people not spending time to look at you and understand.” Our conversation is interrupted when a flight attendant comes back to give us an update on the US presidential election (our flight had left Port-of-Spain before the first results became known, signaling Donald Trump’s victory).

Huggins takes in the information silently and we continue our conversation. She recalls making the empowering decision to shave her head when she was 17-years-old, just as she had been diagnosed with alopecia or chronic hair loss.

“Those years were super difficult.

I used to get teased a lot, called a zammie or lesbian. At the same time this all came as I was dealing with the fact of being bisexual. With the hair loss, even if I could conceal one thing about me I could not conceal that.” “I’ve always felt nature had a different idea for me. It kinda forced me into this box of being perceived as wanting to be masculine. I always wanted to be a woman. Whatever that is.

I didn’t want to be tied down with labels. I never wanted to meet anybody’s expectations.”

“Our analysis of the economic environment as far back as 2015 helped us identify a growing customer need for tools that would help them save,” says Natasha Mustapha-Scott, CEO of TruValu, “Coupons are a tried and tested mechanism, but we wanted to introduce them in a new way that delivered added value, so we came up with Lime Magazine.” Lime Magazine, which is distributed quarterly in the Newsday newspaper and in TruValu’s five supermarkets, combines useful content, like recipes and tips for healthy living and budgeting, with a special ‘clip and save’ section packed with coupon deals which can be redeemed on the spot in-store at TruValu.

Couponing is big business in developed markets and Mustapha- Scott says it is catching on at TruValu quickly, with the number of grocery deals growing all the time. On average a Lime Magazine has close to $200 in coupon deals per issue, but such has been the popularity of the initiative that the recently released Christmas 2016 issue has more than $425 in savings on offer.

“Some of the savings are very significant, with discounts anywhere between $15 and $40 off wine and spirits for Christmas,” says Mustapha-Scott, “but savings cut across the entire grocery spectrum, including basic items like detergents and toothpaste, and even vital supplies like Crix!” TruValu advises customers to plan ahead to make the most of their coupon savings.

“Coupons are just like money, and smart shoppers spend some time preparing to shop,” explains Mustapha Scott, “To really take advantage of coupons it helps to go through the Lime Magazine and match coupons with your grocery list. And keep your coupons. They don’t expire right away and you never know when they might be useful.” Consumers can also benefit from coupon offers in other ways — for example, coupons allow the customer to try new foods or products without paying full price.

And coupons are especially good for canned and boxed foods that have long shelf lives, so stocking up makes a lot of sense.

“You can even use special coupon offers to change your family’s meal plans,” explains Mustapha Scott: “By switching to lower- priced foods when they go on sale you can keep the family guessing about what’s for dinner while serving delicious foods that may be a treat for them.” Lime Magazine is available, while stocks last, at all five TruValu Supermarkets, in Long Circular Mall, El Socorro, Trincity Mall, Diamond Vale and Valpark

As communist regimes collapsed across the world, Castro kept the red flag flying right on the doorstep of his greatest enemy, the United States.

A divisive figure, his supporters praised him as a champion of socialism, the soldier-politician who had given Cuba back to the people.

But he faced accusations of brutally suppressing opposition and pursuing policies that crippled the Cuban economy.

Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was born on August 13, 1926, the illegitimate son of a wealthy farmer, Angel Mar?a Bautista Castro y Argiz, who had emigrated to Cuba from Spain.

His mother, Lina Ruz Gonz?lez was a farm servant who became his father’s mistress, and later, after Fidel’s birth, his wife.

Castro attended Catholic schools in Santiago before going on to the Jesuit-run El Colegio de Belen in Havana.

However, he failed to excel academically, preferring to spend his time in sporting activities. It was while studying law at Havana University in the mid-1940s that he became a political activist, honing his skills as a passionate public speaker.

Marxism His targets included the Cuban government, led by the president Ramon Grau, which was mired in accusations of corruption.

Violent protests became the order of the day and Castro found himself targeted by the police. He also became part of a plot to overthrow Rafael Trujillo, the right-wing leader of the Dominican Republic but the attempt was thwarted after US intervention.

In 1948, Castro married Mirta Diaz- Balart, the daughter of a wealthy Cuban politician. Far from encouraging him to join the country’s elite, he turned increasingly to Marxism.

He believed Cuba’s economic problems were a result of unbridled capitalism that could only be solved by a people’s revolution. After graduating Castro set up a legal practice but it failed to prosper and he was continually in debt. He remained a political activist, taking part in a series of often violent demonstrations.

In 1952 Fulgencio Batista launched a military coup which overthrew the government of the Cuban president, Carlos Pr?o. Batista’s policy of closer ties with the United States and the suppression of socialist organisations ran counter to Castro’s fundamental political beliefs.

After legal challenges had failed Castro formed an organisation called The Movement, which worked underground in a bid to overthrow the Batista regime.

Cuba had become a haven for the playboy rich, and was run largely by organised crime syndicates. Prostitution, gambling and drug trafficking were endemic.

In July 1953, Castro planned an attack on the Moncada army barracks near Santiago in order to seize weapons for use in an armed uprising.

The attack failed and many revolutionaries were killed or captured.

Castro was one of a number of prisoners who went on trial in September 1953.

Castro used his court appearance to expose atrocities committed by the army which further raised his profile, particularly among members of the foreign press who were allowed to attend the hearing.

Guerrilla warfare He was sentenced to 15 years in prison but was released in a general amnesty in May 1955 having served just 19 months in relatively comfortable conditions. During his short time in prison he divorced his wife and immersed himself in Marxist texts.

As Batista continued to crack down on his opponents, Castro fled to Mexico to avoid being arrested.

There he met a young revolutionary named Ernesto “Che” Guevara.

In November 1956, Castro returned to Cuba with 81 armed companions on board a leaking cabin cruiser designed to carry just 12 people. The party took refuge in the Sierra Maestra mountains. From this base Castro launched a twoyear guerrilla campaign against the regime in Havana.

On January 2, 1959, the rebel army entered the Cuban capital and Batista fled. Hundreds of Batista’s former supporters were executed after trials that many foreign observers deemed as less than fair.

Castro responded by insisting that “revolutionary justice is not based on legal precepts, but on moral conviction”.

The new Cuban government promised to give the land back to the people and to defend the rights of the poor. But the government quickly imposed a one-party system.

Hundreds of people were sent to jail and labour camps as political prisoners. Thousands of mainly middle class Cuban’s fled into exile.

Castro insisted his ideology was, first and foremost, Cuban.

“There is not communism or Marxism, but representative democracy and social justice in a wellplanned economy,” he said at the time. In 1960, Fidel Castro nationalised all US-owned businesses on the island. In response, Washington put Cuba under a trade embargo that was to last into the 21st century.

Invaders Castro claimed he was driven into the arms of the Soviet Union and its leader, Nikita Khrushchev, although some commentators say he entered the USSR ’s embrace willingly.

Whatever the motive, tropical Cuba became a Cold War battleground.

In April 1961, the US attempted to topple the Castro government by recruiting a private army of Cuban exiles to invade the island.

At the Bay of Pigs, Cuban troops repulsed the invaders, killing many and capturing 1,000. Fidel Castro had bloodied the nose of a superpower and it would never forgive him.

A year later, American reconnaissance planes discovered Soviet missiles on their way to sites in Cuba.

The world was suddenly staring into the abyss of all-out nuclear war.

“A series of offensive missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island. The purpose of these bases can be none other than to provide a nuclear strike capability against the Western hemisphere,” warned President John F Kennedy.

The superpowers stood eyeball to eyeball, but it was President Khrushchev who blinked first, pulling his missiles out of Cuba in return for a secret withdrawal of US weapons from Turkey.

Soviet ties Fidel Castro, though, had become America’s enemy number one. The CIA tried to assassinate him, most infamously with Operation Mongoose.

Getting him to smoke a cigar packed with explosives was one idea.

Others were even more bizarre, including one to make his beard fall out and make him into a figure to be ridiculed.

The Soviet Union poured money into Cuba. It bought the bulk of the island’s sugar harvest and in return its ships crammed into Havana harbour, bringing in desperately needed goods to beat the US trade embargo.

Despite his reliance on the Soviets’ help, Castro put Cuba at the head of the newly-emerging Non- Aligned Movement. However, he also took sides, especially in Africa, sending his troops to support Marxist guerrillas in Angola and Mozambique.

By the mid-1980s, however, global geopolitics were shifting. It was the era of Mikhail Gorbachev, glasnost and perestroika, and it proved catastrophic for Castro’s revolution.

Moscow effectively pulled the plug on the Cuban economy by refusing to take its sugar any more.

Still under the US embargo and with its Soviet lifeline cut off, chronic shortages and empty shelves in Cuba were inevitable. Tempers grew shorter as the food queues grew longer.

The country Fidel Castro called the most advanced in the world had, in fact, returned to the age of ox-drawn carts.

By the mid-1990s, many Cubans had had enough. If earlier waves of exiles had been as much about politics as economics, thousands were now taking to the sea in a waterborne exodus to Florida and the dream of a better life. Many drowned but it was a crushing vote of no-confidence in Castro.

Caribbean communism Yet Cuba registered some impressive domestic achievements. Good medical care was freely available for all, and Cuba’s infant mortality rates compared favourably with the most sophisticated societies on earth.

In later years, Castro seemed to have mellowed. 1998 saw a ground-breaking visit by Pope John Paul II, something which would have been unthinkable even five years earlier. The then Pope condemned Cuba for its human rights abuses, embarrassing Castro in front of the world’s media.

Fidel Castro had created his own unique brand of Caribbean communism which, in his last years, he was forced to adapt, slowly introducing a few free-market reforms to save his revolution.

On July 31, 2006, just days before his 80th birthday, Castro handed over power temporarily to Raul after undergoing emergency intestinal surgery. His health continued to deteriorate. Early in 2008, Castro announced that he would not accept the positions of president and commander-in chief at the next meeting of the National Assembly.

In a letter published in an official communist newspaper, he was quoted as saying: “It would betray my conscience to take up a responsibility that requires mobility and total devotion, that I am not in a physical condition to offer.” He largely withdrew from public life, writing articles published in the state media under the title Reflections of Comrade Fidel.

He re-emerged in July 2010, and made his first public appearance since falling ill, greeting workers and giving a television interview in which he discussed US tensions with Iran and North Korea. The following month Castro gave his first speech to the National Assembly in four years, urging the US not to take military action against Iran or North Korea and warning of a nuclear holocaust if tensions increased.

When asked whether Castro may be re-entering government, culture minister Abel Prieto told the BBC: “I think that he has always been in Cuba’s political life but he is not in the government. He has been very careful about that. His big battle is international affairs.” President Barack Obama’s announcement in December 2014 of the beginning of an end to US trade and other sanctions saw the beginning of a thaw in what had been half a century of hostile relations between the two countries. Castro welcomed the move stating it was it was “a positive move for establishing peace in the region”, but that he mistrusted the US government.

While many Cubans undoubtedly detested Castro, others genuinely loved him. They saw him as a David who could stand up to the Goliath of America, who successfully spat in the “Yanqui” eye.

For them Castro was Cuba and Cuba was Castro.

This was the position given in a Report On The Local Government Elections 2016 by H.H.B. and Associated Ltd. The report also showed division in terms of ethnicity and religion as to who should win the elections; a consensus that the existing local government system needs to be reformed; most voters being unaware of what that reform should involve; a feeling that burning national issues have not been addressed by any of the political parties contesting the elections and a general disinterest by the public in national politics.

These results are based on a national random telephone survey of 398 persons drawn from each of the 14 local government municipalities in Trinidad. The survey was conducted between November 24 and 25. The sample was derived from a larger panel which was recruited by face to face random sampling methods.

When asked which party they think would win the elections, 42 percent of respondents said the PNM, 36 percent said the UNC while 21 percent were unsure. Only one percent of respondents each believed the Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) and the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) would win the elections. Two percent of respondents thought other political parties in the race (such as the Congress of the People -COP and the National Solidarity Assembly – NSA) would be victorious on Monday.

The opinion varies by race and religion (which are highly correlated) as to who would win the elections.

The report said 56 percent of Afro Trinidadians would like to see a PNM win in their electoral areas as compared with ten percent of Indo Trinidadians who would like to see a PNM win.

With respect to religion, 67 percent of Hindus and 57 percent of Muslims would prefer to see a UNC win in their electoral areas. However 63 percent of Baptists, 44 percent of Roman Catholics and 37 percent of Anglicans would prefer to see a PNM win in their electoral areas.

The report said age and gender do not appear to influence voting preference.

With respect to voter preference, overall, 38 percent would like to see the UNC win in their areas while 30 percent would like to see a PNM win. The report said 28 percent of respondents were undecided.

The report tabulated voter preference in all 14 local government corporations but stressed, “it should be noted that given the very small sample sizes, this data cannot be used as a forecast of who will win the elections.” The tabulation with respect to voter preference showed the PNM winning the Port-of-Spain City, Diego Martin Regional, San Juan/ Laventille, Arima Borough and Point Fortin Borough Corporations ( for a total of five corporations).

However in this same table, the UNC retains the Chaguanas Borough, Princes Town Regional, Siparia Regional, Couva/Tabaquite/ Talparo, Penal/Debe Regional and Rio Claro/Mayaro Corporations while winning back the San Fernando City, Sangre Grande Regional and Tunapuna/Piarco Regional Corporations which it lost in 2013 to the PNM (for a total of nine corporations.) In 2013, the PNM (then in Opposition) won eight local government corporations while the UNC (as part of the then People’s Partnership government) won six corporations. In the 2010 Local Government Elections, the PP won 11 corporations while the PNM won three corporations.

The report said 69 percent of respondents reported they intended to vote while 23 percent said that they would not do so. The report said this seems very unlikely since historically turnout has been very much lower __ averaging around 30 percent for the last local government elections. HHB adjusted the voting intention figures by looking at the data on “interest in politics and current affairs”. That data shows that 57 percent were “somewhat” or “very” interested in politics and current affairs and 25 percent were not at all interested.

When an adjustment is made for for “interest in politics and current affairs” (somewhat arbitrarily) “we get a voting intention estimate of around 41 percent. The intention to vote is higher among Indo Trinidadians (77 percent) than among Afro Trinidadians (71 percent). Voter intention is also higher among Hindus (79 percent) and Muslims (71 percent) than among Christians (60 percent). Voting intention does not vary significantly by age, gender or education.

“Civic duty” was identified as the first declared intention to vote for 39 percent of respondents and the second intention was”for the betterment of my country”.The top four reasons for not voting were that “politicians do nothing for me” ( 15 percent); “my vote will not make a difference” (14 percent); “nothing is going to change regardless of who is in power” (13 percent) and “I only see politicians during election time” (12 percent).

The HHB report found that 80 percent of respondents believe the system of local government needs to be improved “quite a lot” or a “great deal.” The report said 15 percent of respondents believed that the current system of Local Government either “works extremely well” or can be fixed with only minor adjustments.

Regarding the PNM’s local government reform plans, 29 percent of respondents said they had heard either a “great deal” ( eight percent) or a “fair amount” (21 percent) about government’s plans for local government. However 41 percent of respondents said they had not heard very much and an additional 28 percent had heard nothing at all about Government’s plans.

In terms of support for the PNM’s local government reform, 46 percent of respondents either “strongly support” (20 percent) or tend to support (26 percent) Government’s plans for reforming local government.

HHB said this support exists, “in spite of the fact that 69 percent had heard little or nothing at all about Government’s plans.” The report said 12 percent of respondent “tend to” or “strongly” oppose Government’s plans while 42 percent are unsure.

When asked about national concerns, 73 percent of respondents believed things in TT are going “in the wrong direction” while 16 percent believed things “are going in the right direction and 12 percent are unsure.

This feeling that the country is going in the wrong direction is high in all of the municipalities in Trinidad.

The top three issues identified as being important in Trinidad are crime (90 percent), unemployment (52 percent) and rising prices (44 percent). The report found that only four percent of respondents identified corruption in government as being a major issue.

“There is no better way to trigger the motivational process of police officers than by enhancing the environment in which they work,” Williams said in his remarks at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.

“The very presence of this room allows the police service an opportunity to further our engagement with the community.

It also provides that clear linkage to our operating plans to the enhancement of our communication with communities through (the) station council.” Williams said the station council is geared towards bringing key stakeholders together with the police so they can look at ways and means of improving the community.

“I can envisage that this police station will enhance the performance of the police service in the community,” Williams said.

According to speakers at the ceremony, the station, located on corner of Abercromby Street and the Eastern Main Road, has the best in modern equipment, making it a major asset in the fight against crime.

Some of these features include a first aid room, identification parade rooms with two-way mirrors, dormitories and changing facilities for both male and female police officers, holding cells for offenders, and containment rooms for offenders under the age of 18.

Of all the features, the one that was most appreciated was the community meeting room, located near the reception area of the station.

Sunday Newsday understands police officers will be moving from the old station on the corner of Abercromby and Market Streets to the new one within the next coming weeks.

This grant, provided by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is for a regional project entitled, “Development and Implementation of a Sustainable Mechanism for Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in the Caribbean.” TT is one of eight selected Caribbean countries which include Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Suriname, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines and St Lucia.

Planning Minister Camille Robinson- Regis said participation in this regional project will enable TT to develop mechanisms for the environmentally sound management of persistent organic pollutants, thereby reducing and eliminating the threat they currently pose to the lives of citizens. TT will benefit from this project via: the enabling mechanisms for the effective implementation of the Stockholm Convention on POPs; the assessment of contaminated sites to determine the level of contaminants present and impact monitoring and evaluation of the activities conducted to manage those sites.

TT acceded to the Stockholm Convention on POPs on December 15, 2002.

This country will also benefit through the establishment and implementation of direct interventions nationally, some of which include the remediation of the Guanapo Landfill site, which has been identified as a contaminated site in need or urgent remediation. This is a collaborative project with the ministry involving the University of the West Indies (UWI), the Solid Waste Management Company Ltd.

(SWMCOL) and the Public Utilities Ministry through the Water and Sewage Authority (WASA).

As a signatory to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), TT is committed to reducing its national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), submitted to the United Nations as its commitment under the Paris Agreement, as well as aimed at developing sustainable capacity as part of ongoing climate change related initiatives.

Governmental representatives from TT also participated as an observer in the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22) to the UN Framework on Climate Change held from November 7 to 18 in Marrakech, Morocco.

A statement issued by the Parliament on Friday said the event was organised by the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association UK for first time parliamentarians and newly appointed procedural/ committee clerks from across the Commonwealth.

The objectives of the programme included highlighting current best practices and explaining how parliaments adapt to changing domestic and global political environments.

In a separate statement, the Parliament advised that the Parliament Channel is currently undergoing urgent maintenance and this may result in an intermittent loss of video and audio signal on the Channel. The Parliament advised that its proceedings can still be followed on its YouTube channel, Facebook and Instagram. There were no sittings of Parliament this week.

The House of Representatives next sits on December 2 from 1.30 pm. Debate is expected to resume on the Tax Information Exchange Bill 2016 at that sitting.

The bill is crucial to ensuring this country is FATCA compliant.

Born in Tobago, Carissa moved to Trinidad at the age of 20 to pursue her first degree in Psychology. She started her first business at the age of eight and over the span of her life founded six more, including a food retail business, virtual bookstore, an outdoor events company, a lifestyle management company and a coaching practice.

This personal knowledge of the inner workings of business lends to her passion for helping others on similar quests. Her clients hail from various industries including the Arts & Culture, children’s educational books, hospitality, beauty, and events management – and that’s the short list.

She works alongside clients to hone their confidence and focus, improve their bottom line, increase brand visibility and widen their networks of influence to achieve positive outcomes in their companies and personal lives. She says seeing great results keeps her motivated to continue her work.

“I am extremely fortunate to have been born into a family of entrepreneurs; one might say entrepreneurship is in my DNA,” she shares of her earliest inspiration to enter the sphere of business.

She continues that over the years she has born witness and experienced firsthand “the great highs and the many, many lows my family experienced while building and growing their businesses.” Coupled with her own familiarity of the field, these experiences further motivate her to assist entrepreneurs transform their businesses into thriving hubs of innovation and creativity.

“The name ‘The Business Radical’ was purposefully chosen as a measure of radicalizing and changing the distorted, self-serving, modern day viewpoint and purpose of entrepreneurship: that is, to make tons of money and to facilitate the lavish ‘lifestyle of the entrepreneur’,” Carissa explains the reasoning behind her business’ name and aim.

While she agrees that moneymaking is an integral element of any business she doesn’t believe it’s its only purpose. In her words, money is a small fraction of the reward and influence of being an entrepreneur; she says such misguided thinking attributes to the poor levels of customer service in the region as businesses are owner centric as opposed to customer centric.

Her belief is entrepreneurs are problem solvers, creators, disruptors, and providers and therefore integral puzzle pieces in society. “A true entrepreneur recognises and realises that their idea or business serves a need or desire that is not only self-satisfying but satisfies the needs and desires of others,” she voices, adding that society depends on entrepreneurs to make lives easier, improve standards of living, and enhance overall happiness.

Against this background, Carissa invokes The Business Radical was born to characterize and symbolize an iteration of the entrepreneur that is a fusion of purpose, passion and profit.

Knowing at a young age she wanted to help others through her profession, Carissa has studied formally and extensively to that end. Her academic achievements include accolades in Psychology, Human Resources, Mediation and Life Skills – all with a focus on elevating others. She doesn’t think self-mobilisation through formal education is the only path to a successful career, though.

“While my educational pursuits have resulted in academic achievements, I cannot honestly say [they] are high on my list of personal fulfillments.

“Education is not limited to [academic qualification] but can also be attained from life experiences, mentoring, books, and learning from others.” She highlights that passion, gumption, a willingness to learn, and determined and disciplined sights on ultimate goals are paramount to formal training – although she does acknowledge academic pursuit has its place in the world.

“There are many accounts of renowned entrepreneurs who did not have formal education … which shows that academic accomplishments do not determine entrepreneurial success. It was Mark Twain who said, ‘I have never let school interfere with my education’,” she quips.

Her services at The Business Radical focus on growth, in keeping with her vision. One-onone coaching sessions are tailored to the client’s specific needs, while group coaching sessions are designed for business owners who “need or want the accountability, along with the insight, training and support” to enhance their lives and businesses. She also appears as a speaker and workshop facilitator and offers small business consulting where she assists small business owners in creating intuitive and effective systems customized to their business type.

“Let your main reason for starting a business always be to serve others,” she begins, speaking of the key to success in entrepreneurship. She says the other keys are to follow your passion, never stop learning, growing, and developing both personally and professionally, keeping tight focus on goals, and maintaining customer centric business cultures.

As for being a woman in the world of enterprise, she boldly says she has never seen herself different to any man – or woman. In her opinion, we each have exclusive offerings to share with the world, something unique to only us. She does, however, note that women bring fresh perspectives and experiences to the party and deserve a seat at all tables toward the world’s advancement and development.

Finally, she speaks of the change she would like to bring. She hopes to empower and create a community dedicated to inspiring and uplifting entrepreneurs to make mindful decisions and profound developments in society through value-driven businesses. She describes her approach at The Business Radical as holistic, offering resources to help entrepreneurs develop both personally and professionally. “I recognise that synergy of both is essential to their success,” she urges of the manner in which the business owner and the business are intricately linked.

“We aim not only to help entrepreneurs excel in their current companies but also empower them to master their entrepreneurial art which can be applied in any business venture and throughout life.”

It is characterised by uncontrollable, unwanted thoughts and repetitive, ritualised behaviours you feel compelled to perform.

I’ve had it for as long as I can remember.

I’m constantly checking doors to ensure they are locked and the stove to make sure I turned it off. I frequently find myself silently counting everything – steps, heartbeats, you name it. I avoid stepping on cracks or any type of soiled areas on the sidewalk. You should see how gingerly I make my way along the sidewalk on the eastern side of RBC on Broadway in Port-of-Spain. Yes, the one that a number of homeless people use as their bedrooms and adjoining bathrooms.

I cannot go to sleep at night if there are dirty dishes in the kitchen sink, and I can never leave home without making up my bed.

But I think the symptoms that have distressed me the most since I have become a parent is the need to be constantly cleaning everything and everywhere, and trying to keep order – everything in its place.

For the past eight years, it has been an uphill battle. The toys strewn everywhere which way; the hand, foot and other body parts prints on the walls; the wet towels on the flooded bathroom floor, toothpaste and other unidentifiable substances lingering in the bathroom sink. Not to mention the always rumpled bed, the ant-covered droplets of ice cream on the kitchen counter and floor, and the trail of mud on the tiles after a “fun” time digging for treasure.

And in as much as I love being a parent, I have to admit it has been distressing because it seems that for the past eight years most of my life has been spent cleaning and picking up after my son, sometimes to the point where I get physically sick because I can’t relax. I just can’t function in mess of any type and my guess is that I’m not alone on this. So, what do members of the OCD parenting club do? The way I see it, parenting is hard enough as it is, and since I can’t or don’t really want to get rid of the boy, my best bet is to take on my OCD head on.

According to the experts, apart from medication, people with OCD need to invest in a bit of self care. Regular exercise, meditation and relaxation techniques, getting enough sleep, and staying in contact with friends and family can help.

Another powerful strategy is to eliminate the compulsive behaviours and rituals that keep the obsessions going. In my case, instead of cleaning the house first thing in the morning before I can do anything else, maybe I could engage in something a bit relaxing before I act on my compulsion. Well anything but Facebook, because that is another story by itself.

I recently embarked on a mom cave project that I think will be of tremendous help. The cave is not as big as I would like it to be, but it will work for now until the boy moves out and I can use his room as part of the development.

The wall colour is cool and airy, the couch is comfortable and I have little stereo system that is over 15 years old but still works. Except that it freezes up when the volume is turned up too loud, which works well for me because loud music is not my thing. There is enough space for yoga, and it is air conditioned. But the most important thing is that it is OFF LIMITS to anyone else in the house so it ALWAYS stays neat and clean. A retreat of sorts, where I will be spending many a day and night re-learning how to relax, at least after the dishes are washed and my bed is made up.

You didn’t expect me to quit cold turkey, did you?

Often, when you look up “smokey eyes”, your browser will fill with a multitude of eye looks, and you’ll notice that most of them look nothing alike. This creates a lot of misinformation, and as a result, the term has become vague over time. So, if you go to a makeup artist and ask for a smokey eye, you may not get what you were expecting.

Let us clarify. What exactly is a smokey eye? I consider it to be darkest in saturation at the lashes, fading up to a light shade. The edges should be blended and blurred to create a soft, smokey effect. There should be no harsh lines. Smokey eyes can be any colours you desire, once the deepest hue surrounds the eye and lightens in gradient as you move outward.

I know that reading all this information without pictures can be quite confusing, so today, I’ve put together the ultimate smokey eye guide for you, accompanied by a picture tutorial! Smokey eyes can be incredibly smouldering and sexy; excellent for nights out, parties and special occasions.

So let’s learn how to master this ever popular technique. Firstly, select the colours you want to work with. I’ve chosen a deep, blackened eggplant fading to soft wine as my colour palette.

For tools, you’ll mainly need a fluffy blending brush and a flat eyeshadow brush.

1. Apply an eye primer to prevent your eyeshadows from creasing or fading throughout the day.

Tip: Since you’ll be working with darker colours, don’t apply your foundation or concealer until your eyes are complete, to avoid any eyeshadow fall out messing up your face makeup.

2. Apply a mid-toned brown colour to your crease.

This doesn’t need to be perfect, as it will just serve as a guideline. You just want to ensure this colour is visible when your eyes are open, so you’ll know what shape to follow with your other colours.

3. Using a lighter shade, in my case, a dusty mauve, apply it just above your mid toned brown to soften the colour and begin the hazy effect; this is your transition shade. Blend upwards until you can’t see any harsh lines where the shadows were placed.

4. Apply your deepest shade to the mobile eyelid.

Cover the entire eyelid, making sure you get the colour as close to your eyelashes as possible. This also doesn’t need to be perfect, since you’ll be adding more colours and blending later.

5. Do you see the harsh line between the deepest shade on the lid and where we placed the first mid toned brown in the crease? In that space, called the inner crease, apply your blending shade. This should be a hue between the lid and crease shade, in my case, a soft wine. Using what we call “windshield wiper motions” move your fluffy blending brush back and forth on your inner crease to fill the blank space.

6. Using the same inner crease colour, apply this onto your lower lash line with your flat eyeshadow brush. Use the dusty mauve transition shade on your fluffy blending brush to soften and diffuse the wine colour under the eyes.

7. Apply dark eyeliner to the waterline, and smudge using the flat eyeshadow brush or a cotton bud, so the line won’t be so harsh. Also, apply a dark eyeliner to your upper lash line. This will ensure that you get the smouldering effect I mentioned, where the colour is most saturated near the lashes. Again, this doesn’t need to be perfect since you’ll be taking a similar dark eyeshadow on your flat eyeshadow brush, and blending the line until it fades into the colour you originally placed on your eyelid. Apply a generous coat of mascara.

8. False lashes are optional, but in my opinion, they really complete a smokey eye. Having so much darkness around your eyes can make your eyes appear smaller and your real lashes tend to disappear. False lashes add definition and lift back to your smokey eyes.

As a finishing touch, especially for a night out, I like to add a little dab of a fine glitter to the centre of the eyelid.

This won’t make the area lighter, which could lessen the smokey effect, but will still make the eyelid appear more prominent. This is especially great for those will hooded or smaller eyelids.

Once your eyes are done, clean up any eyeshadow that fell onto your face, and then apply your face makeup and lip colour of choice. This look will be sure to turn heads!