An air of elegance greets you as you enter through the tall polished door. Racks of tastily designed outfits with matching accessories are attractively displayed. Custom designing has been her trademark for decades. Distinguished for haute couture and fashionable millinery, Hannah Janoura is dressed in simple style, her patterned yellow trouser outfit and matching straw hat are as cheery as the smile that greets me.

As a young 17-year-old, Hannah “had enough of school” and entered the working world. She has never looked back and is now a very successful businesswoman. But more than this, she is a dynamic force in the arena of fund-raising for charitable causes, especially those related to children. An excerpt from her recent appeal letter to raise funds on behalf of the Trinidad and Tobago Cancer Society stated: “I am sure that every one of us has had a member of our families or someone close to us stricken with this dreaded disease,” and she pleaded for assistance in purchasing a 25-seater vehicle to transport patients from remote living areas to the cancer treatment centre.

 A donation box with the Cancer Society logo is placed strategically at the entrance to her store for, as she says, “every dollar, $5 or $10 count and help me to achieve my goal”. Hannah’s very first large-scale project was raising funds to purchase two ambulances for the St John Ambulance Brigade about 35 years ago. Later on, she became acutely aware of the needs of the Cancer Society and so, in 1986, when Dr George Laquis dared her to raise sufficient funds for a mobile unit for the society, she readily accepted his bet. This tiny livewire lady aggressively pursued her goal: through the media with letters, telephone calls, personal contacts, word-of-mouth advertisement and an aura of confidence, Hannah accumulated $86,000 — just 15 per cent short of her target of $100,000, but she bought that bus with extra donations from friends.

Last July, in response to her appeal letter to replace this now old bus, Republic Bank Ltd approached her with an offer to donate the vehicle. She was now in a quandary. She wondered what to do; she couldn’t return the contributions she had already accepted, so she decided to acquire two buses instead. “I thanked God for this windfall. Here I was desperately working to afford one bus and now we have two new buses.” These buses are operated by the Cancer Society to transport patients from places like Siparia, Princes Town, Point Fortin, Sangre Grande, Fyzabad and other far-away points from their homes to the treatment centre at St James and back to their doorsteps. The society even supplies lunches to patients on treatment days. Hannah is high in praise for the work done by Laquis and the Cancer Society.

Her disciplined and organised method of handling projects coupled with her ability to work individually, have been a great asset in other fundraisers. She recalls one such event to defray medical expenses for bandleader Wayne Berkeley. Proceeds from an annual bazaar at the Hilton go to the Cyril Ross Home for children with AIDS. This year she was able to purchase a printer, computer table and scanning machine for this home. For the past five years, through fundraisers, she provided wheelchairs to children at the Princess Elizabeth Centre. Aptly dubbed “the energiser” by her brother, Hannah is in church every morning at 6 am and is at her business place soon after for a long day, constantly on the move.
 “Lunch?” I queried. “Sometimes a sandwich or a cup of tea right here. I like to deal with my clients personally. I find going out to lunch takes too much time.” Every evening after work, the “energiser” spends time with her three “surrogate” children before going to her home. “Those children are the love of my life. I have to see them every day and enjoy some fun time with them. Right now they are out of the country and I received five calls from them yesterday alone!”

Ironically, while Hannah was doing yeoman service for the Cancer Society, her own mother was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. She laments the fact that the word “cancer” still carries great stigma in our society. Regrettably, many cancer patients do not want their friends or neighbours to know of their affliction. Attending support group meetings would naturally help them to come to terms with the disease and deal with it differently. She compliments the efforts of the Cancer Society. The “Tree of Life” at its headquarters in Woodbrook, bears testimony to generous donations towards their building fund and other expenses. Donors’ names are engraved on a leaf or branch of this copper tree, which stands imposingly on a wall in the foyer of the building. As part of a very close-knit family of five girls and two boys, Hannah gets their full support in all her projects. She is the livewire in their weekend brunches and dinners, being the organiser and instigator of many family fun events. Her brother George especially encourages and supports her in all her endeavours. “My sister and I chat every night, don’t ask me what we chat about, but we chat sometimes until 11 pm,” he chuckles. “I am a Trini to the bone. There’s no place like home. Of course I played Carnival, on Monday with Playboyz and Tuesday with Masquerade. Now that Carnival is over, I have another mission. My concern with our youths has impelled me to try and devise a plan to help our young people.

 “I am offering my help and appealing to the relevant ministries to do something positive for our young people — lead them in a direction that will benefit them. Open a camp in Chaguaramas and offer them skills training, anything that will occupy their time while preparing them to be gainfully employed afterwards.” Hannah’s pride in being instrumental in acquiring these two buses is only exceeded by her mission…to raise funds to purchase a mobile unit at a cost of $100,000. This unit would be used to do screening, pap smear, mammogram, breast and genital examinations of persons who do not want to come to the treatment centre; it will go to districts throughout the country. “I am hoping to realise this amount by the end of this year. Already planned is the preview of the film Johnny English at Movietowne. Cost per ticket is $150, and all proceeds will go towards the purchase of this mobile unit. Please support.” Her petite stature belies the strength of this very pleasant lady. Her entire focus is on raising funds for charity. For Hannah Janoura, the joys of giving are manifold. The “energiser” concludes, “My life is entirely about helping others, especially children. I find time for anybody and anything. As long as my health will allow me, I will keep on doing work for charity.”

Beauty queen Lisa Dookie is devoting her time to learning the finer points of East Indian classical music and vocals.  And, she is polishing her skills under the tutorship of top sitarist Mungal Patasar at the Caribbean School of Indian Arts.

Lisa, a finalist in the Miss Fem India TnT beauty pageant, is an accounting assistant with Sasha Cosmetics. Apart from focusing on the pageant and developing her artistic skills, she is also pursuing accounting and management studies on evenings. “I believe the times are getting harder and it is difficult to survive in the midst of ever-evolving worlds,” she said. “One must prepare themselves by first acquiring good education. This will open many doors, therefore if one is shut in the face, there is always something else to turn to.”

Being a devout Hindu, she spends many hours doing devotion to Lord Shiva who she says, has given her the inner strength to conquer the odds and move on at a fast pace in life. “I would spend 30 minutes on mornings meditating on the eyes of Lord Shiva and somehow I am drawn to him. I know that a bigger force that is spiritual is helping me through life, and this gives me the extra push I need to get through the day.”  She said devotion is the key to disciplining the mind and focusing on your goals. Lisa who loves to do classical singing for her audiences is critical of what passes for music and noted that there is too much noise associated with songs while the real emotion associated with the lyrics is lost. “When one studies classical music only then you realise that a song is written based on a ‘raaga’ which is an emotion that will depict either sorrow or happiness.

So you see the singer who attempts the song must first know the ‘raaga’ or the mood the writer is trying to capture,” she said. Focusing on soca singers she noted that while their ambition is to make people dance and become happy, the real messages are short and sometimes without meaning. However, Lisa is not a Carnival person and does not enjoy the festival because she prefers to live a religious life.

When TT’s youngest chutney singer Roger Maharaj performed at the Triangle in Aranguez recently, he surprised the crowd with his command of the stage.

Twelve-year-old Roger took the mike, bravely asked the audience if they were having a good time, then launched into his soca chutney “Jumping Till Morning”. “I love it when I see people of all the different races jumping and dancing. Only then I know that there are no problems and everything will be okay,” Roger said. Show promoter Simbhoonath Kumar says Roger has the ability to become a big name in entertainment. “I have seen many children perform in my time but Roger has the voice and style that are unique. He is a brilliant, positive and confident young man with a mission to entertain,” he said. Kumar said Roger reminds him of Machel Montano. “Montano grew up on stage and the entire country was like his family watching him grow,” he said.

Roger is the son of well-known composer Ramdeen “Falko” Maharaj. Like his father, he is also penning his own tunes. Entertaining people is one of the things this Sangre Grande Government School pupil says he loves to do. The young composer admits that it took a lot of concentration for him to create songs. “I see my father playing with a lot of ideas. He would come up with a point about anything and he would start rhyming right away and I always wanted to do that,” he said.

His mother Kamla has been very supportive of him and said he always brings happiness to their home. “If he finds that the living room is too quiet he will think of something that will make everyone laugh. He tries genuinely to make people happy,” she said. The youngster is already getting the attention of promoters and is booked for several shows for which he will have top class back-up music provided by Triveni.

Neisha Smith must have sounded quite contrary, to some, singing a semi-pop song at a Carnival event. Singing calypso and soca are not her forte, “I don’t think I have a voice for that,” said the multi-styled singer. So, imagine her surprise when she was booked and paid too, for a performance at Powergen’s media lime a few weeks ago.

It was the first time that the TTEC senior accounts clerk received money for a gig in her 20 years of singing. Winning Best Female Vocalist backed up by the now defunct band “Rainforest” at the 2002 Anchorage Pop Rock Music Awards, too was a welcoming reward.
Singing at school, in the church choir and at weddings was a natural progression. “From age 13 I have been singing. I always liked it.” She never received any formal training but believed she was born with a gift. “The only time I doh sing is when I’m sleeping.” She’s thinking of taking some lessons on the keyboard, however. “I could strum a little thing on the guitar but not if my life depended on it,” she laughed as she leaned back in her swivel chair. But singing on the whole isn’t her first priority. Her son and only child, ten-year-old Daniel is. Neisha, 33, is a single parent and like many, has found a way to earn some extra cash by doing something she loves.

After it occurred to her that “I could make money off my voice” she ventured into the commerical light. She didn’t plan to follow in her mother’s (Susan Blanc) footsteps but she has found that her lifestyle very much mirrors that of her mother. Blanc also sings. “She is a boss (good) singer but doesn’t like crowds,” Neisha said. Like her son, Neisha grew up in a single parent household. She was the only child. Her father (Peter Blanc) died when she was two years old and the only memory she has of him is that of pictures she possesses.

There’s no telling, working an eight to four job on a full-time basis, caring for a household and raising her son are no easy tasks. She said: “It’s tough having to cope with working all day providing your son with the lifestyle you’re accustomed to. It’s finishing a job at 4 pm and picking up another — cooking, cleaning out, washing my own car, when it needs repairs taking it to the mechanic. “It has taught me a lot of things. It has taught me not to be taken advantage of… I have lots of family support, lots of cousins who would babysit. They’re very accommodating.” Though it’s time-consuming, she enjoys every moment spent with her son — sitting with him to do his homework, helping him get chores done and taking him to the movies. “I’m always having to tell him to move his towel. ‘Doh leave yuh clothes where yuh take it off.’ I’m trying to get him to clean the room. He’s doing well with making his bed,” Neisha added. “I tell him ‘it’s just you and me kid’. He’s seen me at my lowest and at my highest.” Neisha grew up in Westmoorings and later moved to Diego Martin where she now resides.

She’s a former student of St Joseph Convent, Port-of- Spain. At age 18, she secured her first job at TTEC, where her mom was an executive secretary. She moved from temporary clerk in the Payroll Department to permanent clerk in the Field Office, Billings Department and now, senior accounts clerk in the Budget Department. Looking back on her 15 years at TTEC she described it as “rewarding. The work is challenging and I like it. Staff  is like family and I feel very comfortable.” She enjoys teaming up with staff for “talent sharing”, a biennial concert event. She’s fond of singers Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick, R&B, pop, jazz and alternative music. At last talent sharing she, together with two guys, lip-synced to a medley of songs including Madonna’s “La Isla Bonita”. Neisha also models for print, television and radio advertisements. It was another means of taking advantage of her natural beauty. “People always telling me ah have a pretty face so I took advantage of that. I sent my pictures to all the agencies… The money comes in handy to pay school fees and repairs to my car,” she said.