The piece below appears courtesy Laurie Voss of Seldo.com, who wrote it in honour of the It Gets Better Project and speficially for gay teens in T&T
Hi. So I know this is several paragraphs long and you were born into the age of YouTube so you may not get to the end of this. In which case, here’s the summary: it gets better. It’s really bad now, it may even get worse, it will become unbearable, but somehow you’ll bear it anyway. And then it will get better.
To the editors and reporters of the Trinidad Guardian who might be reading this:
Hi. The Liming House here. Today I happened to catch the attention of the folk(s) behind @TriniGuardian. As I’m inclined to do whenever I read one of your pieces, I was engaging in some stream of consciousness invective, as below:
“most ‘Neediest Cases'”? Srsly? RT @TriniGuardian The Fund was organised to identify the ten most “Neediest Cases” in T&T…
Dear @TriniGuardian: you need to hire some bloody editors. http://bit.ly/9IeSJ4
And what is with this ‘Karen’ and ‘Anil’ nonsense? You all used to pitch marble? http://bit.ly/cUES62
In response to my indictment of the ‘charitable’ efforts of Virgin Atlantic and the Travel Foundation to turn a generation of young people in the Caribbean into fisherfolk and bee-keepers, a Virgin representative posted the following in the comments:
The Travel Foundation and Virgin Atlantic were concerned to read your comments on our work together in the Caribbean. We believe that the projects will bring huge benefits and stimulate entrepreneurship along with addressing pressing environmental issues. Here is further information which should allay any concerns and provide more information.
You are correct in saying that tourism is key to the region’s economy. In 2008, travel and tourism provided over 2.1m jobs and 15% of the region’s GDP but there is an opportunity to spread the benefits tourism brings further.
There are significant issues with youth unemployment in the Caribbean with as many as 30% of 20-24 year olds out of work.
The projects that we have chosen to develop may seem small, but they are very significant. They link to the globally-important environmental issues of waste management, fish and bee conservation – issues that are vital to food security.
By creating new, small-scale, local business opportunities many of the skills learned can be applied to any business which gives young people independence and choice.
These initiatives will offer choice, new opportunities and new skills for entrepreneurship with the aim that this will create new jobs and opportunities for income generation.
To which I have this to say:
Continue reading Virgin Atlantic and the Travel Foundation dig a deeper hole for themselves, continue to condescend to Caribbean youth
