PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten—Last Poet, Abiodun Oyewole, will be visiting the young poets of Soualigan Fyah on Thursday, June 26, at 6:30pm at the Philipsburg Jubilee Library in Philipsburg.

Oyewole’s visit is a collaborative venture between Art Saves Lives Foundation, Soualigan Fyah (Foundation 5 Square Miles St. Martin) and Be The Change Foundation. This is the second year that the three organizations have worked together to facilitate such an evening.  Last year the young poets were stunned by performances from, international poet and performing artist, Queen GodIs.

“We are extremely happy that Nicole DeWeever decided to continue with the community outreach part of the Art Saves Lives Summer Intensive. Our youngsters benefit tremendously from being exposed to artists such as Queen GodIs and now Abiodun Oyewole, so we definitely look forward to this experience,” Lysanne Charles-Arrindell, founder and coordinator of Soualigan Fyah said.

Oyewole rose to fame as a part of the politically charged, black power group The Last Poet during the late 1960s in the United States of America. The group, which is thought to be one of the forerunners of Hip-Hop, went on tour throughout the US and Europe. They have recorded about 20 albums in the last 40+ years.

Charles said that the event, which was open to the public free of charge, would start with the Soualigan Fyah poets reading and an open mic, before going over to the performance and workshop aspect with Oyewole.

According to Charles, Soualigan Fyah is a youth poetry group dedicated to creating a vehicle where youngsters can give voice to their emotions and ideas, encouraging youngsters to be aware of and critical of what is happening around them and to encourage the continued development of poetry and spoken word amongst the youth of St. Maarten. The group meets once a month, usually on the last Friday at the Philipsburg Jubilee Library. Once a year the group also hosts the Soualigan Fyah Youth Poetry & Spoken Word Competition, an event where a Supreme Young Poet is crowned after 4 rounds of verbal sparring. The winner for the past two years has been Jenice Forbes of the St. Maarten Academy. Some of the youngsters have also traveled to Tortola and Anguilla to perform at poetry and spoken word events held there.

“Every year we are growing and more importantly the young people and their works are growing. So we invite the public to come out and hear their voices and also share this learning experience with master poet Oyewole with us,” Charles said.

For more information about the event and Soualigan Fyah Charles encourages people to visit the group’s facebook site at: https://www.facebook.com/SoualiganFyah and like the page.
  

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Recently the Rotary Club St. Maarten installed the first Tourism Awareness Sector banners along the Walter Nisbett Road on the Pondfill.

The objective of the Rotary Club St. Maarten is to profile and highlight the importance of the tourism industry for the country’s economy and all those who are employed directly or indirectly.

The awareness campaign is geared at helping everyone understand just how important tourism is to our economy and to help promote a greater understanding of tourism in our community.

Ministry TEATT is also busy with its own public tourism awareness program that will also be launched shortly.  The campaign is exactly in line to familiarize the public with the benefits of tourism to the country’s economic development and for the social coherence.

“As Minister responsible for Tourism, this effort by the Rotary Club of St. Maarten is a commendable one.  Tourism is our main pillar of the economy.

“Tourism is an important vehicle for socio-economic development and has led to the advancement of country Sint Maarten during the past five decades,” Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications Hon. Ted Richardson said on Sunday. 

International tourist arrivals grew by five per cent in 2013, reaching a record 1,087 million arrivals, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

Despite global economic challenges, international tourism results were well above expectations, with an additional 52 million international tourists traveling the world in 2013.  For 2014, the UNWTO forecasts four to four and a half per cent, again, above the long term projections.

International tourism export earnings in 2013 reached US$1.4 trillion.  Receipts earned by destinations from international visitors grew by five per cent to reach US$1159 billion, while an additional US$218 billion was earned by international passenger transport.

Minister Richardson added that international tourism which country Sint Maarten is part and parcel of, employs millions of people around the globe, and therefore is also a very important pillar of the global economy as well.

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Development and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI), hereby announces there will be interruption to the traffic flow on Back Street June 22.

The civil works will start on Sunday, in the evening at 8.00pm until 5.00am.

There will be a temporary road closure of Back Street between the intersection School Steeg/H. Beaujon Steeg and Weduwen Steeg.

The civil works entails the sewage connection to Lot #128.

Motorists and pedestrians are requested to be vigilant and observant for the traffic directional signs indicating what works are underway in the respective area.

Ministry VROMI apologizes for any inconvenience that this may cause.

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten - The St. Maarten Lions Club recently served the community by donating to the highly anticipated summer program of Dow’s Musical Foundation headed by our pan maestro Sir Isidore York, which will be once again held in at the Oranje School premises. The Lions Club sponsored some US$ 1050,- towards the program which will allow less fortunate children be able to participate in the summer program.

The musical foundation headed by the Sir Isidore York aka Mighty Dow has truly saved the art form of steel pan on the island and the Lions Club wanted to ensure that kids not able to financially pay for these lessons aren’t excluded of learning this great art form.

According to Lion president Claudio Buncamper and chairperson of the Youth committee PDG Lion Claudius Buncamper of the St. Maarten Lions Club whom both have never really played steel pan but love its sounds stated that young person’s get a chance to develop themselves their empowering themselves and that one of the themes of our president which was Youth Empowerment” through the various activities available on island.  

The St. Maarten Lions Club is proud to once again be associated with the Dow’s Musical Foundation and be given the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the youngsters on the island.

The St. MaartenLions Club has 52 members and meets on every 1^st and 3^rd Tuesday of the month at the Lions Civic Center at 7.00 pm. Lions clubs are a group of men and women who identify needs within the community and work together to fulfill those needs. For more information or to get involved with the St. MaartenLions Club, please contact Lion Claudio Buncamper at 5200250.

Lions Clubs International is the world’s largest service club organization with more than 1.3 million members in approximately 45,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas around the world. Since 1917, Lions clubs have aided the blind and visually impaired and made a strong commitment to community service and serving youth throughout the world. For more information about Lions Clubs International, visit the Web site at www.lionsclubs.org.