By Anil Bedasie
On Saturday, May 27th, the Queens Book Fair series, which is the brainchild of Dr. Dhanpaul Narine, held an event titled “A Celebration of Indo-Caribbean Heritage,” showcasing successful Indo-Caribbean immigrants in line with Guyana’s Independence 2023 celebration.
The event featured a number of items, such as poems by a number of the community youths (Selena Khelawan and Shivaaya Diya Ramdial), a musical number by Son Son Sonipersaud, who is a very popular and humble vocalist in the community and supports fundraising events by donating his talent.
Other young students showcased the lives of a number of Indo-Caribbean politicians, like Trinidad’s Kamla Persad-Bissessar, presented by Amelia Persaud, and President Chandrikapersad Santokhi of Suriname, presented by Mohini Shibsahai. Ariana Narine’s speech focused on the late Dr. Cheddi Jagan, a working-class hero who is popularly known as “a son of Guyana”.
A surprise item was a phone call during the program by the former prime minister of Trinidad, Basdeo Panday, who congratulated the participants in the event just after Jelecia Blair spoke about Mr. Panday’s life. This call was made possible by Trinidadian Mr. Deo Gosine (the founder of the Shiva Mandir in East Elmhurst, Queens NY), who commented on the need for youths to get involved in their community.
There was a presentation by Melissa Deokie on the Hindu Secondary School located at Cornelia Ida, WCD in Guyana called the Saraswati Vidya Niketan, and its founder and principal, Swami Aksharananda.
There were two medical presentations. The first was by Anita Sanehi who spoke about the programs in place at Richmond Hill High School, specifically in mental health and how it affects the community. The second presentation was by Dr. Mirza Rahman, a Guyanese who serves as the Chief Safety Officer at Organon Pharmaceutical Company, who provided valuable health and well-being pointers. He opined that as human beings, we dream of long, healthy, and functional lives, so we need to focus on our health goals. The simple goal of clinical preventive services such as vaccines and screenings, is the correction of problems like Td, COVID, flu, and pneumococcal disease. Colonoscopies, mammograms, Pap smears, cholesterol, and BP & DM checks are also recommended. If you have some medical problems, then Dr. Rahman recommends you get checked regularly to prevent things like CHF, kidney failure, MI, blindness, etc. His six principles of Lifestyle Medicine involve eating, sleeping, moving, stress, substances, and social connections. Dr. Mirza Rahman will donate two scholarships to Richmond Hill High School students who plan to pursue higher education at a college/university level.
Local political aspirant Rusat Ramgopal opined that as a community, we are still too divided to be recognized at the political level, which needs to change for immigrants to have a brighter future here in the USA. There is an event planned on June 11th, 2023 at the Citi Palace restaurant for Mr. Ramgopal, who is running for NY City Council District 28 next month.
Veena Bedasie presented a speech on six successful Indo-Caribbean women who are making a difference in our community and their success stories.
She profiled Mala Panday (Principal of NYC The Young Women’s Leadership School), Jennifer Bisram (reporter for CBS New York), Judge Karen Gopee (1st Indo Caribbean judge of the NY Supreme Court), Judge Andrea Ogle (Civil Court Judge of Queens County NY), Dr. Kamini Doobay (Mount Sinai Emergency Room Attending Physician), and Shamela Karrim (radio personality (RJ) of WPAT AM 930). Each of these successful professionals opined that our youths need to be strong in their efforts to dream big, for failures can come along the way, but they must use negativity as their motivation in their journeys to become future trailblazers in our community.
In my presentation, I said that our Tri-State community needs more of these events to highlight the talent of both current Trailblazers and upcoming ones. We often see too many cultural events that showcase other areas of our rich cultural heritage, but few that focus on the academic side.
The vote of thanks was done by Indi Mohan. The next event in the Queens Book Fair series will be held later this year.