Nevis News

Nevis news – local Nevis news, and regional Caribbean news.

Curator Of St. Kitts – Nevis Museum holds UK Workshop

St. Kitts – Nevis
Thursday September 06, 2007

Curator of the National Museum in St. Kitts – Nevis, Hazel Brookes is currently in Liverpool, United Kingdom, where she has been sharing information on the horrific Trans Atlantic Slave Trade and its impact on the lives of Caribbean people today, with students in a workshop on “Life in the Caribbean”.

Her audience comprises high and primary school students from Chepstow who have registered for the workshop.

Chepstow Museum, the host of the programme, has previously featured a Kittitian ex-slave, Nathaniel Wells, who went on to become the first black Sheriff in Britain, in the 1800s.

According to Brookes, no other Caribbean museum is taking part in this programme, “Signalling yet another first for St. Kitts/Nevis,” she said. The importance of this first?

She believes that it will give a louder voice, in the field of heritage, to the National Museum here.

“I am currently writing about a particular slave who lived in St. Kitts,” she said, “that will be published at a later date and is featured in the International Slavery Museum.”

Brookes’ visit coincided with the opening of the International Slavery Museum, which took place on Slavery Remembrance Day, 23 Aug., which is celebrated in Liverpool annually.

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St. Kitts – Nevis Develops New HIV/AIDS Strategy

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
September 06, 2007

A new five year strategic plan addressing HIV/AIDS in St. Kitts and Nevis is being crafted at a three-day national consultation at the Ocean Terrace Inn.

On Wednesday, 60 persons from the public and private sector began considering ways to reduce the spread of the pandemic and associated issues such as stigma and discrimination for the period 2008 to 2013. Unique insight on the issues is being offered by persons living with the disease, who are attending this important session.

Clinical Care Theme Coordinator in the Ministry of Health Dr. Kathleen Allen-Ferdinand told SKNIS that it was important to continue involving stakeholders in such consultations so that full participation could be garnered.

“We’re trying to get the public to recognize that every citizen has a responsibility [to contribute in] how we tackle this HIV/AIDS situation,” she explained. “It is now time for us to truly embrace a national expanded response and so hopefully in the coming years we will see the football teams and the basketball teams [as well as several ministries] getting involved and helping to reduce our incidence.”

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St. Kitts – Nevis To Open New Medical University

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
September 06, 2007 (CUOPM)

A new medical school is to throw its doors open in St. Kitts and Nevis in January next year.

An agreement to charter and establish the University of Medicine and Health Sciences of St. Kitts has been signed between St. Kitts and Nevis‘ Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas and Dr. Robert Ross of the United States to accommodate a maximum of 1200 students.

Witnessing the signing were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, Hon. Sam Condor and Attorney General and Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs, Hon. Dennis Merchant.

The University of Medicine and Health Sciences of St. Kitts will be engaged in the business of providing medical education for qualified students from around the world, providing medical related services, and in general providing educational programmes and courses.

Government grants the University, subject to accreditation by the Accreditation Board, the charter for a school of medicine with the right to confer the degree of Doctor of Medicine and other appropriate degrees, including without limitation, post-graduate degrees to holders of the Doctor of Medicine degree.

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St. Kitts – Nevis Looks For Alternative Energy Sources

Basseterre, St. Kitts – Nevis
September 05, 2007

The government of St. Kitts and Nevis is exploring alternative energy sources to cope with the volatile price of crude oil on the international market, which cost a record price of US $78.40 per barrel in July 2006 on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX).

Consistent increases over the past couple of years have been dramatic when considering that four years ago a barrel of crude oil cost under US $25.00: a 200 percent rise over today’s average of US $75.00 per barrel.

“The government has taken the cost of energy very, very seriously,” Minister of State for Sustainable Development Hon. Nigel Carty said during a radio interview on Tuesday’s edition of SKNIS Perspectives. “The government has therefore taken a very proactive step in ensuring that we are able to make an impact in the cost of energy here in St. Kitts and Nevis, by ensuring that we get a mix of locally produced renewable energy sources.”

A stakeholder consultation was held last week to explore two research documents on the renewable energy possibilities in St. Kitts and Nevis. Representatives from agencies such as the Organization of American States (OAS), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), and the International Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) participated in the forum. Locals from the private and public sector also played a valuable part in the one-day meeting.

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Nevis Premier Delivers Speech On New Academic Year

Charlestown, Nevis
September 05, 2007

Good evening Nevisians and all those who are listening to Choice and NNC and VON.
Monday, the third of September all of the primary schools and the two high schools on Nevis commence the school new year. I must say that before the start of the school I met with most of school heads and at least one of the high school heads. We discussed a number of matters, including discipline in the schools and gang related crimes.  I express the need for the teachers to be vigilant and to work with the parents to encourage good discipline in their children and to also get them out of these gangs.
 
On the island of Nevis, it appears to me, that everywhere children in some primary schools and the high schools are becoming obsessed with the red ribbon movement and the blue ribbon movement. It makes no sense it leads to misbehaviour, it leads to fights and a breakdown in discipline. I am calling on the parents to work with the teachers to get the children to concentrate on work and to concentrate on good behaviour and stay away from these gangs.

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