Dead man's chest

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Contrary to popular belief, the Caribbean's history is older than the 1492 discovery as claimed by Christopher Columbus who believed that the chain of islands he discovered was the Indies. He went to his grave with this belief that he had reached the Indies by sailing West, but upon realization of this mistake, it was eventually named the ‘West Indies’. The earliest inhabitants consisted of various Amerindian tribes. In fact, can we really say that Christopher Columbus discovered this region? If you ask me, I believe that this 'New' world had civilization  just that it was not known to the other parts of the world. So this leads me to my next question, did Christopher Columbus invade an existing society and claim discovery? hmmm food for thought, Invasion or discovery...Early Caribbean history revealed a litany of half truths, so this means historical accuracy is important to defend our heritage.

The truth is in the dead man's chest.

Better late than never

Summer 2013 was approached by adversity, as I eagerly aspire to embark on building my professional repertoire. To mirror my experience with the popular quote, “All misfortune is but a stepping stone to fortune” by Henry David Thoreau, an invitation by a ‘perfect stranger’ to the ARDYIS Web 2.0 Training and Exchange Workshop at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill campus, fueled my endeavors.

Immediately accepting such a fortunate offer, I awoke the Saturday morning at exactly 8.00 am, which was surprising because I slept through the 6 am wake up call, I guess because I had an eventful night/morning (which I enjoyed). Regardless of limited time to prepare a meal, and little rest, I was not about to waste a good opportunity. I was present at about ten minutes after the ninth hour. To excuse my tardiness, I maintained in my mind “better late than never”.

My escape to this seminar came with great expectations for myself, my country and the region. High expectations are usually met with high achievements and that is exactly what I anticipate. Blogging is new to me, I hope to be introduced to new social networks and mass media to aid my personal development in writing, or overall communication skills for current academic purposes and build my professionalism. Also, to utilize these tools for more than reuniting with friends and family as I do on the popular social network of Facebook. The essence of the workshop is of interest, as it will boost my entrepreneurial desires to own and operate a farm based manufacturing business. From this workshop I will improve my social presence, while at the same time being an advocate for a worthy purpose; embracing agriculture and promoting Agri-business where white collar jobs are scarce. I hope to take away with me insights on agriculture as it relates to technology, the environment, and the economy to name a few.

The urge to be positively interactive, becoming a role model for excellence without compromising my privacy is something I always wanted to do. I trust that at the end of this workshop, my mindset would be changed from ‘ I’ll do that someday’ to getting a head start towards my goals.

I am so excited to be a part of a regional initiative which in my belief can marry the individual countries en route for Caribbean integration. I wish to overcome an identified weakness which is self confidence. During interactive activities with nationals from varying Caribbean countries, I will lessen, or hopefully stop insecurities, being hesitant, and achieve authentic confidence and success.

I am beyond grateful to this ‘perfect stranger’ whom I may now refer to as a friend indeed. I believe in paying it forward, so I’ll be a voice and lend an ear to the youths and industry professionals. In sum, this workshop is expected to renew my life’s visions and be more resilient, discipline my management skills, advance my career path, develop entrepreneurship and create long lasting relationships through integration.