Author Archives: donalddeanchambers

Arising to the dawn today, I remember it’s August 6, Jamaica’s Independence Day!  To be honest, I prefer to celebrate Interdependence Day! Independence from the colonial legacy of Independence and Individualism influenced by a Eurocentric thinking, “I think therefore I am” (Descartes).  Let’s divorce this thinking and remarry the African philosophy of Ubuntu that says,Continue reading “Happy Interdependence Day!”

I am sitting precariously on the six-inch concrete block in a dilapidated shed at the edge of a cliff. At the base of the cliff are crashing waves, hitting the coastline like an angry boxer. Protruding from the side of the cliff is an orchestra of coconut trees dancing to the instructions of the wind.Continue reading “Clouds and Feelings”

Today, I woke up with one thing on my lazy Saturday morning mind: Watching the finals of the Tokyo Olympics women’s 100 metres finals.  As the finalists lined up, I felt anxious and nervous. My heart pounded like a vibrant and energetic Tassa drummer “beating the daylight” out of the drum.  The wait seemed eternal.Continue reading “100 Meters: Emancipation Day Gift”

I was alone watching the evening news. Suddenly, I screamed. I yelled.  I gasped. Feelings of sadness and of being distraught blanketed me. I felt a mother’s and a father’s pain in my belly bottom.  Three children in the Burke’s family in Maraval, Trinidad perished in a house fire. They were trapped like prisoners byContinue reading “Children”

Retreats – spiritual, business or leisure – are necessary and beneficial.  I received this healing opportunity for three days. It was incredibly refreshing, renewing, and rejuvenating. The coastal town of Blanchisseuse, Trinidad, was the therapeutic hospital for my renewal. Three days of sleep, old talk, board games, eating, reading, writing, reflecting, with a mix ofContinue reading “Retreats and Renewals”

I never knew my grandparents.  I don’t know what they look like. I don’t know the entire story of their lives. I don’t know their personality traits or mannerisms.  I simply just don’t know.  They were dead before I was born. Growing up, I listened with sadness to the stories of my friends’ grandparents, orContinue reading “Grandparents!”

I received this 1930 cartoon from Archbishop Jason Gordon.  Look at it carefully.  Remember, it’s around 1930s. I thank God for the wisdom of my parents. Their wisdom saved my life and the lives of my siblings. Diligently, they carried us to the public clinic to receive all our vaccines – polio, mumps, small pox,Continue reading “Vaccination”

I stood at the edge of the cliff overlooking the greyish blue waters of the Caribbean Sea on Trinidad’s north coast.  The waves marched restlessly and chaotically towards the jagged coastline. The slopes of the cliff were littered with coconut trees heavily loaded with ripe and half ripe coconuts.  I stood under its shady canopyContinue reading “Simple Living”

Today, I had a ha! ha! moment. A moment rooted in newly acquired information. “Banana plants,” says Neil, “are self-fruiting, producing fruits from the female ovaries without the need for male pollen or another plant to help pollinate the flower.”  In a word, the banana plant doesn’t require the intimacy of two different sexes toContinue reading “Disingenuous Plot”