DOMINICA - Life Unscripted on the Nature Island

Any country that depends heavily on any form of tourism for the survival of its economy must know that it has to stay particularly alert and make every possible effort to ensure that its product is a versatile, solid and SAFE ONE.

Along with all of this, they would want to always ensure that visitors to the country are made to feel very welcome and very safe at all times.

There are some countries, however, that continue to have their tourism product tested, sometimes by natural disasters, but quite often these industries are threatened by indiscriminate acts of violence against visitors by the very citizens and residents of the country who are dependent on the visitors for their livelihood.

There are some tourism destinations that make a concerted effort to ensure that bad news related to the visitors’ experiences are kept very low-keyed. I’m not expecting the Newspapers and the Media houses to abandon their responsibility to carry the news as it happens, but there must be some type of understanding - where the lines need to be drawn. Every Dominican should making a constant effort to protect, to enforce, to do damage control so that the tourism product can continue to do well.

Tourism officials need to make it their business to make sure they find a way to let visitors that the very same things that happen in their neighbourhoods at home can happen everywhere else in the world and that they need to be aware of their surroundings at all times. We can’t wait until something bad happens to start educating visitors, by then it would be too late…much too late to save our fragile tourism industry.

There must be consistent tourism programmes aimed at getting the people to understand they need to try and preserve the industry, and that everyone has a role to play in ensuring all visitors to the Dominica are made to feel very welcome and very safe at all times, whether it is cruise or stay-over visitors.

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On the Sun’s front page article last week, station’s programme director, Shermaine Green-Brown stated that will not be the last time that the state-owned station will deem a song inappropriate for broadcast.

Of course, some persons criticised DBS’s decision, and conveniently ignore the fact that the station has a responsibility to protect itself against being sued for libel and that its management would be extremely irresponsible to act contrary to professional legal advice.

The State-owned radio station was also considering banning of two politically charged songs, which accuse the ruling party of corruption: Yakima’s “Looking for your pocket’ and Prosper’s “Ma Dominique’s garbage bin”. But after a bitterly contested general election, Dominicans are just slowly recovering and cannot be blamed for coming to the conclusion that politicians had a hand in the decision to quarantine these songs.

Nevertheless, Dominican authorities must pay close attention to other lyrics which glorify guns, drugs, violence or deviant behaviour. Calypso, as a art form have tremendous influence on the behaviour of youth, in particular, and governments have a responsibility to ensure that the values of society are respected and maintained.

And If such is the case, shouldn’t the government demand that Jamaican artists who are invited to our country to perform at various concerts have to be forced to respect our anti-narcotics laws. As far as we are aware, ganja is still an illegal drag; recently a Jamaican artist who performed at the Harlem Plaza strutted onto stage with a large ganja plant. Or does the law only pertain too certain individuals?

Dominican Artists, please take note.

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Amy is a 20 year old gem from the picturesque and tranquil community of Riviere Cyrique and is honored to make representation for the South-Eastern District in the 2010 Carnival Queen Pageant.

Born and raised into the care and affection of her extended family Amy has blossomed into a well-mannered, charming, fun-loving, pleasant lady with a gentle disposition and an infectious ever-present heart-warming smile.

Becoming Miss Dominica has always been Amy’s dream. It all began at the Morne Jaune Primary School where she was first introduced to the stage.

She acquired her secondary education at the Castle Bruce Secondary School. Amy distinguished herself through being an exemplary student. In her final year of high school, Amy was honoured with being crowned Miss CBSS 2005. At her graduation, she was recognized as the Student of the Year and captured the awards for School Spirit, Leadership and that of the Most Disciplined Student.

Miss Amy Sasha Polypore continued to make her mark on stage when she was crowned pageant queen, Miss South East 2006. She also furthered her education at the Dominica State College from which she graduated in 2008 with an Associate Degree in Business Administration.

Amy loves singing, folk dancing and drama and finds exquisite delight in writing poetry. She is an active member of the Sisserou Singers group, and presently serves as the secretary of the Morne Riviere Teen Club. She is also a member of her church choir.

Currently employed at the First Caribbean International Bank as a Client Services Officer, Amy aspires to pursue studies in marketing, especially as it relates to the banking industry. She is a people’s person! Increased knowledge in that field, she believes will equip her with the skills required to offer more specialized advice to persons on products which will benefit them from the wide-ranging services available at banking institutions.

Amy thrives on the positives and takes pride in overcoming challenges. It is that well cultured, good-natured, free spirited, ever friendly personality that drives this Nature Island beauty towards the attainment of the coveted, Miss Dominica, 2010 title.

AP
Bio courtesy of the Dominic Festivals Commission.

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