TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Bahamas Blog International
Bahamas Blog International


« previous 5


HIV/AIDS Awareness Message Hits The Streets Of The Bahamas
Related to country: Bahamas
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

HIV/AIDS Awareness In Rawson Square:
By Sasha L. Lightbourne -
Nassau, Bahamas:



With HIV/AIDS on the increase among young persons in The Bahamas, one group felt it necessary to take the message of awareness and prevention to the streets.

Youth Ambassadors for Positive Living (YAPL) took to Rawson Square on Friday to educate and inform young people about the overwhelming epidemic of HIV/AIDS within The Bahamas.

Keith Kemp, chairman of YAPL, told the Bahama Journal that there was a need to take a different approach to awareness and prevention education.

"We are here in Rawson Square because we as a youth organization are moving our information from a classroom type setting or church or youth group in terms of presentation and are looking at bringing information to the streets to the average persons," Mr. Kemp said.

He said that his group has found that many young persons don’t attend youth groups and they don’t attend churches.

"They aren’t going to churches anymore where they can learn this information so what we are doing is a demonstration of many campaigns that we have coming up in bringing the information about prevention, about drugs, about sexuality, about HIV to the streets," Mr. Kemp said.

He said the reason his group chose to use Rawson Square was to come to an area where there are scores of people.

The group gave out care packages that included condoms and informative flyers.

Also on hand in Rawson Square were the Bahamas Family Planning Association, who gave out information about contraceptives, and the Bahamas National Drug Council, who handed out information about drugs.

"Our aim was to turn Rawson Square into an information centre but the first message of prevention is abstinence so we encourage persons who do engage in sexual intercourse to be faithful and if they can’t be faithful to use prevention," Mr. Kemp said.

On hand for the informative display was the U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas, Ned Siegel, who said it was a privilege to come and spend some of his time with the youth ambassadors.

"Last Thursday I had the opportunity to be with Prime Minister [Hubert] Ingraham and U.S. President [George] Bush and one of the major topics discussed was the president’s emergency relief for AIDS program," Mr. Siegel said.

"The president talked about how important it is to invest in youth and make sure they attain the necessary education and awareness not only on HIV/AIDS but on all subjects that affect their potential."

Mr. Siegel said President Bush commended all youth that are taking the time to participate and make a difference in peoples lives.

"Youth all over the world are changing how people think so to be here is definitely a privilege and an honour because the next generation are the leaders of tomorrow for the Bahamas and we need to protect them and educate them," Mr. Siegel said.

Mr. Kemp said that in the Bahamas young persons ages 15 – 19 are the fastest growing group of persons contracting HIV.

"Within that age group females outnumber males 2:1 and with new HIV infections the ratio is 3:1," he said. "We have also noticed in the country that persons between the age of 15-29, AIDS has become the leading cause of death."

YAPL is a branch of the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre and is a non-profit organization that seeks to deter sexual promiscuity among the nation’s youth and to encourage them to make healthy lifestyle choices.

The group conducts presentations and workshops on HIV and AIDS, decision-making, drug abuse and prevention among other topics.

March 29, 2008

March 29, 2008 | 6:30 PM Comments  0 comments


Bush in Heaven (II)
Related to country: United States
Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Reflections of Fidel:



TUESDAY, March 18 marked the fifth anniversary of the arrest of more than 70 quislings, the capos of imperialism's fifth column in Cuba who, paid by the U.S. government, violate the laws of the land and share the opinion that this dark corner of the world should be swept off the map. On that date, a Department of State spokesperson described the event as the “Black Spring”, a term with racist overtones. We could call it “White Spring.” Darkness does not exist in space, only in the mind. What a huge difference between the methods used by the government of the United States and those used by Cuba! Not one of the mercenaries was tortured or deprived of lawyers or trial, even if it was of a summary nature, provided by the law in cases of danger of aggression; they have the right to receive visits, access to family facilities as well as the other legal prerogatives of all prisoners; and if at any time their health seriously requires it, they are released, without the demands of imperialism and its allies having anything at all to do with it. We urge the United States to do with its prison population as we have done here in Cuba. The Revolution demands respect for sovereignty, not pardon.

With Wednesday, March 19 being the fifth anniversary of the stupid war unleashed in Iraq, Bush is grabbing hold of any Bin Laden declaration, either fictitious or real, even though in the case of the latter no date is supplied as to when it was made, nor can they assure us that it is his voice. They will investigate it, so they promise. Nobody ever took so much advantage of such materials to shape the opinions of the citizens of the United States and of many other countries in the world with similar cultures and beliefs, in order to justify the brutal and genocidal wars that imperialism needs so much. Time and time again he formulates and repeats selected words and phrases. The people and institutions referred to, without exception, find themselves obliged to respond, whether the declarations are true or not. Just observe how, year after year, from day one, Bush keeps on milking the events of September 11.

From the Bucharest conference, Bush will move on to that of NATO, and from there he will pole vault over to Croatia, which had disputes with Serbia, and whose president was tried and convicted by the International Criminal Court for the Kosovo affair. Did he really die a natural death in prison? What kind of peace will be attained from those strange twists and turns?

Swedish Hans Blix, who headed the UN inspectors team that diligently searched for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and who shares many of the ideas and lies of the empire's sinister philosophy, wrote the following on the occasion of the fifth anniversary: “The invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a tragedy for Iraq, for the United States, for the UN, for truth and human dignity. They could not succeed in eliminating WMDs because they did not exist. Nor could they succeed in the declared objective of aim eliminating al-Qaeda members, because they were not in Iraq. They came later, attracted by the attackers.”

The Association of Muslim Ulemas, the supreme religious Sunni authority in Iraq, made the following statement on the occasion of the fifth anniversary: “The occupier has entered our lands by force and he is not going to leave unless we use force. Any call made by politicians who acquiesce to working under the umbrella of occupation should be considered an invitation to surrender and capitulation. The occupation forces have turned Iraq into the world’s most dangerous zone. The era of occupation will soon end.”

Without giving himself a chance to recover from his exhausting meeting in Afghanistan with Karza, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney had talks yesterday, Friday, and today, Saturday, with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in order to secure his cooperation and that of the OPEP over oil supplies and to pay with devaluated dollars. In truth, there can be no war without oil, nor oil without war.

In the Latin American scenario, the Ecuadorian high command stated that the bombs used in the attack on Raúl Reyes’ camp were GBU-2/B Paveways, weighing more than 500 pounds, and with exact targeting precision thanks to advanced technology. There were 10 such bombs and they left craters 2.80 meters in diameter and 1.80 meters in depth.

In Western Europe, Sarkozy, whose honeymoon with the French electorate ended a few days ago, was impatiently awaiting McCain and his entourage of pro-Israeli Republican senators. McCain urged him to join the NATO mechanisms, defended the Iraq war and forcefully lambasted China. Meanwhile, Hillary and Obama are bleeding from attacks from the right, the left and the center. There is nothing more resembling a lunatic asylum. The candidates for the presidency of the United States are discussing certain war vs. probable war.

Today, Bush’s radio broadcast coincides with Easter. What is he thinking? A message that, although brief, needs quite a few paragraphs or phrases to catch his drift:

“This is the most important holiday in the Christian faith. And during this special and holy time, every year millions of Americans pause to remember a sacrifice that transcended the grave and redeemed the world.

“Easter beckons us homeward. This [...] is an occasion to reflect on the things that matter most in life: the love of family, the laughter of friends, and the peace that comes from being in the place you call home..."

“America is blessed with the world’s greatest military, made up of men and women who fulfill their responsibilities…”

“At Easter, we remember especially those who have given their lives for the cause of freedom. These […] have lived out the words of the Gospel: ‘Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend’…”

“Every year, millions of Americans take time to feed the hungry and clothe the needy and care for the widow and the orphan…millions across the world remember the gift that took away death’s sting and opened the door to eternal life…”

“Thank you for listening.”

Bush imagines that God will reward him for accelerating the day of the Apocalypse and the Final Judgment, after which he will seat him at His right, in a place of honor. Then perhaps he will abandon the odious gestures that accompany his speeches, so that he can dwell under the same roof as those souls of the human beings he exterminated in his war on terrorism, the great majority of them girls and boys, adolescents and young people, women and the elderly, those who have no reason whatsoever to be blamed.

The Old Testament speaks of archangels who were transformed into the enemies of God by ambition and who were sent to Hell. It is difficult to put aside the idea that the genes of some of those archangels are lurking in Bush’s head.

Today is Saturday. It is a slow day for political news. Reporters are resting.

Fidel Castro Ruz


March 22, 2008

5:19 p.m.