Rowley was confident that most of this country’s citizens are caring people .

However, he expressed disappointment at the uncaring attitude of some over Government’s proposal to waive immigration regulations to allow Dominicans to stay in TT for six months, as their country rebuilds .

In a television interview, Rowley said Dominica was totally devastated and its people need help .

“In that situation, TT has a duty of some kind to extend a hand of friendship and help…and I daresay caring…in so far as we are able to.” Rowley said this was a question of humanity and he believes most, if they are able to, would put their own personal reservations aside and try to help .

Rowley reiterated that if there were Dominicans who have relatives or friends in TT, who are willing and able to help them, “then we at the level of the State will not be an impediment to those persons’ way.” He continued, “We will allow them to extend that hand for six months.” Rowley said within this specific period, the numbers of Dominicans who may come TT will not be huge .

The Prime Minister said many Dominicans may choose to stay in their country and rebuild. He said those who choose to leave could go to other Caricom countries besides TT. “When I see people talking about political repercussions and who coming here to vote, I was disappointed,” Rowley said. He appealed to these people, “to not see race in every thing that we do in TT.” Rowley said the Immigration Act and this country’s treaty arrangements with Caricom, “allow Dominicans to come here by virtue of being citizens of the Commonwealth of Dominica.” He continued, “When they get here, they can ask for an extension and that extension can be granted.”

These visual signifiers are expected, particularly as the film’s Trinidadian-American director Vashti Anderson no doubt hopes that foreign audiences will engage with the film outside of its trinidad+tobago film festival (ttff) run.

But beyond those ubiquitous nautical and agricultural indicators, Moko Jumbie may surprise cinema goers in this part of the world and further afield.

Lead actor Vanna Vee’s appearance, for one, is startling. Her character, Asha, arrives from London lipsticked and eye-shadowed like an 80s-style New Romantic. Some suspension of reality is required to believe that Asha is actually British, despite Vee’s valiant attempt at the accent.

Born to Trini parents, Asha is as unfamiliar with the island as she is with her Indian roots.

She doesn’t fit in back home in England either, and the theme is autobiographical. In Anderson’s own mixed-race background growing up in Wisconsin, she felt her difference to the white community around her and her outsider-status on holidays to Trinidad.

Belonging and identity are things we are told humans require, though not all possess.

Staying with her aunt and uncle in far-flung Cedros, Asha senses their detachment from the national identity too. Uncle Jagessar, a captivating performance by Dino Maharaj, speaks of another universe where his grandparents never left India and where he eats chapati every day. Wistful escapism aside, the family is, perhaps unwillingly, rooted in Trinidad and though deep in the bush, they are not sheltered from its troubles.

Though a wearied Jagessar may be losing his marbles and carries about him an unplaceable attachment to the spirit world, he retains a sense of fun. Aunt Mary on the other hand is governed by her distrust of all people – especially the black family living across the street.

Asha becomes fascinated with them, especially Roger (Jeremy Thomas) – a striking young black fisherman. Mary warns her to steer clear and a series of events ratchet up the neighbourly tension.

It is through food, another well-trodden Caribbean filmic meme, that we understand just how British Asha is (she’s never heard of crab and dumpling) and how detached she is from her Trini roots. Food also allows her to flirt with Roger and to bond with his relative Gloria, played by the mercurial Melvina Hazard.

Shark, pepper, chadon beni, fry bake, rice, heat, sweat… It certainly beats fish and chips, sausage and mash, roast beef and gravy. But while food is unquestionably a cornerstone of Caribbean culture, must it be omnipresent in cinema? It’s very hard to watch a film without one’s stomach rumbling, even here in the face of Gloria’s unorthodox culinary methods.

A little calypso dancing and a pan rendition tick more boxes on the checklist of “things that make us, us.” The eponymous moko jumbie is seen fleetingly and eerily.

Things take a surreal turn, politically and spiritually. A powerful, tear-drenched scene on the beach speaks movingly of the Indian experience in Trinidad while Anderson skilfully wreathes scenes in the folkloric haze of African obeah tradition.

While Vee and Thomas make a watchable pair whose passion grows accordingly, it is Hazard as the insouciant, wily mystic and Maharaj as the transcendentalist uncle that elevate the film to a higher level of consciousness.

Moko Jumbie will have its Caribbean premiere today at 8.30pm at MovieTowne, Port-of Spain.

The song and its colourful music video has received more than 31,000 views on YouTube since it was published on September 5.

The responses have been mostly positive including comments like “this tune bad it bad it bad” and “Good vybes. Know this song by heart already. Love it.” The two singers spoke about the single during a recent visit to Newsday’s Port-of-Spain offices.

St Rose said that the song was about spreading love and unity, and teaching young people about it.

St Rose recalled that she went to producer Kyle Phillips with the concept and when Ayoung heard it in studio he liked it. The song was written by Phillips, Lani K, St Rose and Ayoung, produced by Lani K, Keyonn Jemmott and Phillips and mixed and mastered by Flex GLR.

She said that everyone came together and that good vibes transferred to the music.

The lyrics include, “The calypso music starting from deep down inside, something like a burning fire for we to survive” and “The spirit of soca music will live on and on, uniting all different races together as one.” St Rose was born in Trinidad and Tobago but grew up in the US. She studied music at the Baltimore School for the Arts for music before enrolling at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia for music. St Rose then completed her undergraduate degree in business management and music at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, and then decided to return to this country and pursue a music career. She returned home in September 2015 and her songs include Get it from Mama and Roll it Back featuring Jay Cube.

She performed Get it from Mama at the International Soca Monarch as part of a prize package as winner of the inaugural NLCB “Scratch Soca Airplay” competition. She also won $15,000 cash and a session with a “top producer and writer” for her 2017 soca song. St Rose’s genre of music is a new fusion of international flavour that can be described as afro-soca.

On Love of the Music St Rose said that she wanted to represent the country to the fullest and was glad to work with Ayoung, “a living legend” who was creating music before soca was invented.

With a career spanning more than four decades Crazy is the pioneer of parang soca, composer of numerous pan songs and known for hits like Madness is Gladness, Doh Try That, Nani Wine, De Party Now Start, Cold Sweat and won the 1985 Road March with Suck Meh Soucouyant.

During the interview Ayoung said that he wants the song to educate young people about the history of soca and that it started with Ras Shorty I, who he mentions in the song along with Superblue, Machel Montano and Bunji Garlin.

St Rose hopes to take the song into schools and recalled that a year ago she participated in a school tour with Synergy. “I love doing things like that.” The song is for the 2018 Carnival season and they also plan to enter it for competitions including the International Soca Monarch.

Speaking at the San Fernando ASJA Mosque during ‘juma’ prayers, Sulaimani saluted Rowley’s stance saying people are duty- bound to help and especially those in the Muslim community, even if it meant people having to facilitate a family in Dominica in their respective homes .

“People do not have food, drinking water and their houses have been destroyed,” Sulaimani told the congregation. He called on Muslims to begin putting together their Zakaat to send to Dominicans and they must be at the forefront in initiating such a drive .

“Muslims must not be holy only during the month of Ramadaan .

What has happened to our neighbours, is a test for us. Or, it is a punishment depending how we look at it from an Islamic perspective .

It is public knowledge that some of these islands are filled with lewed activities, for tourists. They commit sin. But, it also serves as a test for us here, for we are not to blame others, but reform others using the best way,” Sulaimani said .

The mosque was packed to capacity and included Local Government Minister Kazim Hosein, former House Speaker Nizam Mohammed, Justice Robin Mohammed and retired judge Shahfeyei Shah .

Sulaimani said that the calamities that befall some, is a test of faith for those who have not yet been affected by hunger, thirst and the forces of nature .

“Nationals of this country must never lull themselves into a false sense of security, in believing the winds will not destroy us, for we are told as Muslims, to seek refuge from the evil of the winds and the very water which cleanse us.” With this in mind, Sulaimani said, Rowley made a bold declaration for nationals of this country to sponsor a family, relative or friend they may know who have lost their home in Dominica .

“That is why I salute the prime minister. Let us not play politics with this. The prime minister understands the effect on the one who gives, at a time, to the one who is in need.”

Angela Ramjattan, a ward at the Christ Child Convalescent Home in Diego Martin, was last seen at her Diego Martin school last Thursday, at about 2.45 pm.

She was last seen wearing her school uniform – a white shirt and a plaid skirt. Ramjattan is five foot two inches tall with a brown complexion and black hair.

She is of East Indian descent.

People with information on her whereabouts can contact the police at any station or dial 999, 555, 911 or 800-TIPS.

Speaking at a function at City Hall on Thursday night to commemorate World Day of Peace and make San Fernando a “Peace City,” Kokaram said the legal system which had been fostered on a people to resolve disputes instead served in most cases to exacerbate broken relationships.

“An adversarial system which sanctions civilised warfare between disputants. A system which has recoded physical violence for a far more insidious type of violence, of language which is socially acceptable and socially destructive.” Taking some responsibility for the system which he represents and symbolises, Kokaram pointed out that the system made it socially acceptable for someone to stop talking to their neighbour and instead send off pre-action protocol letters.

“It is a system which tells you don’t talk to your opponent, let your lawyers do that, conditioning you to remain in your private silos. impervious to alternative realities.” He cited real examples of family disputes between parent and child which had reached the court, and lamented the need for both parties to be respected and acknowledge each other’s importance in the family unit.

“Who is having that conversation?” he asked.

“Institutionally, the legal system as the force of the State compels people, orders them to do things. The force of the law legitimises violent acts such as the destruction of homes, the removal of crops, the laying of oil pipes in forests, the taking of a life.

“We live in an adversarial society. We have been conditioned to the view that to achieve peace there must be a war of attrition of rights. To achieve an increase wages there must be strikes, to achieve respect there must be inflammatory language, to achieve better conditions of life there must be protest.” His audience included San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello, Australia’s smiling policeman and Rotarian Geoffrey Bernard William Little, District Governor from Suriname Waddy Sowma, Basheer Mohammed, president of the Princes Town Rotary Club which initiated the commemoration.

Kokaram said simple issues had mushroomed into national controversies because of missed opportunites for working peace plans.

“The highway reroute conflict, the judiciary controversy, the ferry fiasco, the Couva hospital: all of these national controversies have mushroomed from simple desires to better the human conditions but that desire is now lost in our conditioning of positioning, leveraging, The judge knocked the celebration of peace in the face of humanitarian atrocities such as the persecution of the Rohingya Muslims, the Isis campaign declaring war against established order, the sabre-rattling of the United States and the North Koreans, human-rights atrocities in Venezuela and the violence which erupted in St Maarten in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma, with groups turning on each other, “the proverbial man crab betraying the social inequalities that existed under the mascaraed of the island paradise in the Caribbean sun.” Saying the system was outdated and there was need for a new way of doing things, Kokaram suggested that peace be the centre of focus in a new paradigm.

“Instead of doing things to people, institutions should devise a way of working with people. Our jurisprudence and our system of justice should work with people and not against them, towards finding results which allows them to enrich their lives and not destroy it.” He said the system should be more human and more humane.

After the function, the audience, led by the cadet corps, joined in a candle-lit peace march around Harris Promenade, which ended in front of City Hall, where Regrello planted a peace pole to mark San Fernando as a “Peace City.”

“Go to school and do well, work hard to achieve your goals because you cannot be successful in life if you do not put in the hard work.

You cannot be successful in your studies by playing games and watching a lot of television,” Duncan advised students at a ceremony in her honour at the school.

Duncan, who passed for her first choice St Joseph Convent, Port of Spain, said she felt very proud and honoured.

“I want to encourage others that despite what challenges you may have, keep working hard because I did not reach here by watching plenty of TV. I worked very hard and I am thankful for the support from my aunt Renna Duncan.

“My aunt played a magnificent role in my studies and dedicated all her time and energy to help prepare me for the SE A exam. I must also praise and thank my teacher Miss Miranda Sakawat.” Interim Rector of the Holy Trinity and the school’s manager Carl Williams said it is an important time for the school and thanks must be given to God for its achievements.

He boasted that every year, St Catherine’s places in the top 20 overall in the SE A. “This year we have a student who placed first in Port of Spain and environs and 16th nationwide. It is an appropriate time to give thanks and celebrate.

“I believe parents are disciplined at this time to know the importance of education for their children and it is important to have a principal who is always thoughtful,” Williams said. He added that the annual award ceremony gives students an incentive to work harder as they prepare for their exams.

The company is also extending free credit to help mobile customers communicate with family and friends. The island’s infrastructure, including its communications networks, suffered significant impact from Category 5 Hurricane Maria, which made landfall in Dominica on Monday night.

Afterwards there was little or no news coming from Dominica to allay the fears of families and friends overseas.

The partial restoration of its mobile network means for the first time that many concerned families and friends will be able to check on their loved ones in Dominica.

John Reid, C&W’s CEO, said, “I’m hugely proud of our employees, who have worked night and day to begin to bring our mobile network back online.” While the situation on the ground in Dominica was grave, he said, “The passion of our employees to restore our mobile services enabling critical communications, as well as helping the broader relief efforts, has been truly inspiring.” A release from the telecommunications provider said customers with access to the internet are asked to monitor social media and to listen to local radio stations currently on air for important updates on the progress of restoration efforts and additional services that Flow will be able to provide once its store re-opens.

The event was filled with expectation and excitement as winners of the various categories and champions of the various disciplines that make up the games took their seats to be a part of this award function. Nikosi Mc Leish, feature speaker, reflected on his time as an awardee at a previous event and had this to say, “The bottom line is we came out and we competed and we are here to celebrate winners!”

At the post-Cabinet news conference on Thursday, Young said Mark attempted to mislead the public when he was questioning suspended acting TT Inter-Island Transport Company CEO Leon Grant about an e-mail address. He said Grant’s e-mail address, as listed in a document which Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley read into the record at the hearing, was “leong@patnt.com.” Young said Mark claimed the e-mail address was leong@patt.com.

On Thursday, Mark said it was a syntax error.

However, speaking before he left the Caribbean Security Forum at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain, Young said there was no consistency between Mark’s explanation and his actions at the hearing, and anyone who examines the video footage would see that Mark “was the one leading the question.” Young said, “I think the population must measure Senator Mark.” On Thursday, Young rejected Opposition Leader Kamla Persad- Bissessar’s claims that he acted improperly in accompanying Rowley to the JSC hearing. Young said it demonstrated that Persad- Bissessar did not understand the role of an MP.

Rowley described Mark’s actions as reprehensible and said had Parliament not been prorogued on Thursday, a matter of privilege would have been raised against him.