Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
S TATIA N EWS
V OLUME 1, ISSUE 8 J UNE 1, 2009
No vegetable oil on
Statia’s dump, page
2
Leatherback turtles,
page 7
In depth, appointing
a Governor, page 8
Today, Myrtle Suares (behind the yellow In this newsletter, you can read a lot
iglo cooler) of the Auxilary home, cele‐ about the new Governor. Kidney failure, page
brated her birthday. She took all the old 9, 10
people along with her to have lunch Things are not certain about the appoint‐
Pineapple, page 10
outside, under the grape tree near the ment of a new Governor.
airport. Children and grandchildren of
Tackle Diabetes
came to visit during their lunchbreak. Maybe a third person will be added to Now, page 11
She had music on: Elvis Presley and the list of candidates.
other singers from way back in time. Music; Dennis
Congratulations, Mrs. Suares! We will keep you informed. Amajan, page 12
Meanwhile, Statia is sunny, the July Enjoy the newsletter, Announcements,
trees are starting to bloom , the hills are Annemieke Kusters page 13
a luscious green and the people on this
island still live to respectable old age.
If it weren’t for the diabetes!
P AGE 2 L OCAL N EWS June 1, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Most of these taxes already exist, but on Statia for In general the proposed new tax regime looks like an
some of them the tariff is zero (like land tax), while improvement and could turn out to be beneficial to
others are simply not collected. In the future it is up to the inhabitants and businesses on the BES islands.
the island government whether they charge these This does not mean that one should have to take a
taxes or not. The income collected from these taxes closer look at the proposals. I have studied them and
can be spent by the island government as they see fit. have made an attempt to interpret them as well as to
It is noteworthy to mention that property tax is the highlight the good and the not so good sides of the
main source of income for municipalities in the Neth- laws. In the following editions of Statia News I will
erlands while in Statia at present this tax is not levied give my view on the individual taxes such as income
at all. & wage tax, immovable property tax, and the ABB.
Nadya van Putten talks to 4 havo students at the Gwendoline van Puttenschool.
P AGE 6 L OCAL N EWS June 1, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
B EACH C LEAN UP
Friday morning , May 29th,
All through the year, Stenapa
cleans up Zeelandia Beach
every month. During the turtle
season they have nightly pa‐
trols and when there is too
much rubbish, they clean it up
more often. If you want to see
a turtle that comes to lay her
eggs, please contact Stenapa.
P AGE 8 I N D EPTH June 1, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
S OME R ULES
AND R EGULATIONS ABOUT THE APPOINTMENT
OF A GOVERNOR
In the present, Antillean situation, a list with pro‐ You can find more information at:
posed names for the next Lt. Governor comes from http://www.arcocarib.com/assets/files/
the island council, from there, the Antillean Council knowledge_center/legal/constitutional_structure/
of Ministers and then the Dutch “Ministerraad” must memorie‐van‐toelichting‐wolbes.pdf
approve with the number one and two on that list.
That number one, if approved, will be the next Lt. The chapter on “Gezaghebber” ends with a para‐
Governor and the second one on the list, will be the graph that explains the necessity of a strong leader
acting Governor. With the Queens’ signature, the who has to be above all parties.
candidacy is a fact.
In the new situation, with closer ties to the Dutch, it
is stated in the Wolbes, that the Dutch Minister of
Internal Affairs (Binnenlandse Zaken) will appoint a
new Lieutenant Governor. Before this recommenda‐
tion, the island council can develop a profile for a
new Governor. The “Rijksvertegenwoordiger”, a new
position after the transition, like what Mr. Kamp is
now, will select candidates. The Island Council can
install a “vertrouwenscommissie” that can investi‐
gate the candidates the “Rijksvertegenwoordiger”
comes up with. This report, that is confidential, will
be presented to the “Rijksvertegenwoordiger”.
After this, the “Rijksvertegenwoordiger” makes a
motivated recommendation for one candidate. The
final decision is being made by the Crown.
The law for the nomination of a Lt. Governor is al‐
most the same as for a “burgemeester” in a munici‐
pality in the Netherlands. Some things differ because
of the size of our communities. Nice detail: Like a “burgemeester” in the Nether‐
lands, a “Governor” on a Bes island, will get some
As said, In the Antillean situation the number two on decoration. In the Netherlands, a “burgemeester”
the list of candidates will be acting as “acting Gover‐ wears a “ambtketen”, something like this will be
nor”. In the new situation, the executive council will designed for our future “Gezaghebbers”.
appoint an island council member to act as “acting
Governor”. In the Netherlands the general rule is that
the “gemeenteraadslid”, with the longest service in
the council acts as acting “burgermeester”.
In practice, there are made exceptions to that rule.
When a Lt. Governor cannot preside the council‐
meetings for a longer period, due to illness or other
circumstances, the “Rijksvertegenwoordiger” will be
acting Governor. This is the same as in the Nether‐
lands, where a “Commissaris van de Koningin” can
take over the presidium of a “Burgemeester”.
P AGE 9 H EALTH June 1, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
K IDNEY F AILURE
Thursday May 21. The Statia Health Awareness Foun‐ An important function of the kidneys is that they
dation started a series of health seminars with a sym‐ filter the blood. To test kidneys if they do filter the
posium in the Lions’ Den about kidney failure, or re‐ blood properly, Mr. Gardiner explains about the
nal failure. blood and urine test. In the urine, no traces of pro‐
tein, crystals and sugar must be found. If there are
traces, that means, these valuable elements are not
in your blood, so the filter does not work properly.
Kidneys have other functions as well. They regulate
fluid, make a hormone that makes blood cells,
modifies vitamine D for bone growth regulate the
“acid ‐ base – status”.
Mr. Gardiner explains that there are two kinds of
renal or kidney disease; acute and chronic.
The acute version is self limiting, it recovers with
treatment. It can be caused by a hypertensive crisis,
from infection, from toxics (in certain medications)
and by obstructive reasons; kidney stones of pros‐
Medical students were present to measure people’s tate disease.
blood pressure and blood sugar.
The chronic version is incurable. It has a slower on‐
Mr. Ishmael Berkel of the Health Awareness Founda‐ set and deteriorates over time. 51% of the cases of
tion explained the purpose of health seminars. He chronic kidney failure are caused by diabetes.
said that a lot of his brothers and sisters died of can‐
cer. Together with his daughter and sister, he once Both version hardly have any early symptoms.
went to a symposium about breast cancer. The per‐
sonal testimonies and the question that were asked Mr. Gardiners’ advice is to go to the doctor once a
at that symposium helped them in coping with this year to do a complete check up that includes the
illness. testing of your urine and blood.
After Mr. Ishmael Berkel, Mr. Randolph Marsden, One symptom in a later stage of the disease is swol‐
who suffers renal failure, told the audience the per‐ len feet. Mr. Gardiners’ advice: “If your feet are
sonal story of the development and treatment of his swollen, go see a doctor.”
illness. “It’s a rough road, but you have to keep your
faith and stick to your diet.” was his conclusion. From Mr. Gardiners point of view, diabetes is a
more life threatening disease than cancer.
Then Mr. Walter H. Gardiner, MD, had his lecture. He
thanked Mr. Marsden for his testimony, adding that He explains about the medications for kidney fail‐
it takes a lot of courage to talk about such a personal ure. All they can do is prolong your life. If you live
matter. long enough with diabetes, after 20 years, you end
up with kidney failure. He explains about dialyses.
Mr. Gardiner is medical director of the Kidney Centre “Every island on the Caribbean should have a di‐
in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands. He was educated in the alyses machine.” When your kidneys fail to filter
United States and has worked there in different ca‐ the blood, you need to be on a dialyses machine for
pacities; as a assistant professor in nephrology several hours every 48 hours. It’s better to be on
(kidney specialist) and as head of different dialyses the machine every night, because kidneys normally
clinics. do their filtering job 24 hours a day.
P AGE 10 H EALTH June 1, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
D ENNIS A MAJAN
Mr. Dennis Amajan is a music teacher from the Phil‐ your musical skills. All the young people from Statia
lipines. In 1995, he got his bachelors’ degree with that play in bands on Statia and abroad, have been
orchestration as his major, and from 1996 he has his students.
been working on Sint Eustatius. In 1999 he went back
to the Phillipines to finish his Masters’ degree and His approach is playful. “I teach music in a fun way.”
after he came back in 2003, he has been working for He plays games with the children and lets them
the Culture Department. know that music is all around them.
Twice a month, on Mondays he performs as a one
man band in Blue Bead and the Old Gin house. He
brings in different guest performers. Usually,
they’re his students. “Bringing out the young people
to perform helps develop their confidence. A lot of
students are very good in the classroom, and tend
to get very nervous when they have to perform.”
Dennis tries to encourage them and performing live
on stage also helps to encourage the parents to
support their children.
On Wednesdays, Dennis also performs at the Old
Gin house with the Colors Band. This band has pro‐
fessional players from different nationalities. They
play a variety of international music. It helps to
keep the night live going and is an outlet for tour‐
ists.
In the third week of June, there will be the Annual
Music Festival for the schools. It will be held at
Charlie’s Place. The theme will be “Statia’s Young
Beethovens in concert”. All schools will participate
and Dennis will be conducting.
Dennis Amajan is an arranger. He plays brass, string,
woodwind, percussion and for the culture depart‐
ment he directs music programs.
His major goal is to teach children to play music. He
teaches all the children at the Golden Rock and Gov.
de Graaffschool.
Mr. Amajan also has music classes at the Department
of Culture, because according to him, teaching music
in school alone, is not enough. To develop talents,
individual classes are necessary. Dennis Amajan conducting the Oranje Steelband. Part of
According to Dennis Amajan there is definitely a lot the band are Marcella Gibbs (head of the Department of
of musical talent on Statia. He provides a formal edu‐ Culture) and Nellie de Visser (wife of the island secretary)
cation, that is a necessary foundation for developing
P AGE 13 A NNOUNCEMENTS June 1, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
Vacancy:
Black Harry Lane, St. Eustatius Neth. Ant. fax # 599 318 2919
email: methchurchstatia@yahoo.com