INDEPENDENT NEWSLETTER

S TATIA N EWS
V OLUME 1, ISSUE 11 J ULY 13, 2009

Summer Special, the

E DITORIAL story of Françoise
and her Roses, by
Walter Hellebrand,
page 2 to 4

RSC and Young

Beethoven, Page 5

Civil Servants
Agreement, Page 6

Koos Sneek: New

Tax Laws for the
Bes islands 4, Page
7

Aviation Pioneers
of the Caribbean,
Page 8

The Untiy Youth

Concert, Page 9

Rootsriders on Sta-
tia, Page 10
Summerholidays  have  started.    A  lot  of  In this issue, the final article about taxes 
smiling  faces  on  Statia.  A  lot  of  good  by Koos Sneek  and our summer special:  Letters to the editor,
looking  young  people  walking  around,  Part  ONE  of  THREE  of  the  story  of  page 11
home for the holidays.   “Françoise  and  her  Roses”,  written  by 
  Walter Hellebrand.   Announcements,
Congratulations to all the students that    page 12/14
graduated.  You  can  find  the  pictures  Also  two  valuable  contributions  in 
that  were  made  at  the  GvP  graduation   “Letters to the editor”. 
party here:   
 h t t p : / / p i c a s a w e b . g o o g l e . c o m / Still  working  on  an  article  about  the 
rickenmiek/GraduationGVP2009   plans for health care.  
   
Congratulations  to  teacher  Anke  en  Please,  keep  on  helping  Statianews  to 
teacher  Bart  with  their  baby  born  yes‐ grow;  put  everybody  on  Statianews’ 
terday:  JULES  mailing list.  And write or ask Statianews 
  to write!  
Last  Sunday  motorcycle  races,  impor‐  
tant part of Statia’s culture.  Everybody   
take drinks and food and enjoys a day at  Enjoy, Annemieke Kusters 
the races.  Statianews has no pictures of   
this event, next time: send them in!  . 
P AGE 2 S UMMER S PECIAL July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

F RANCOISE AND HER R OSES : A W OMAN B EATING THE

O DDS IN THE 17 TH C ENTURY C ARIBBEAN - P ART 1
By Walter Hellebrand  born in Rio Grande (now Natal) in what was then 
  Dutch Brazil, in about 1645. The Portuguese, intent 
Amongst those of you who used to read my articles  on regaining their colony, managed to chase the 
in the Daily Herald, some already know that differ‐
ent views of the respect a newspaper should have 
for its readers and contributors mean that I do not 
feel comfortable seeing my articles appear under 
the heading of The Daily Herald. And for those of 
you who were wondering, now you know the rea‐
son. 
 
However, there are other ways of sharing the rich 
and fascinating history of Statia and its neighbours.  
Statia News is a recent alternative that has been 
launched just at the right time and I hope and trust 
it will continue to grow. 
 
French Guyana 
 
Françoise was born in Rio Grande, pictured on this 
I have just come back from a trip to French Guyana 
17th century print (Walter Hellebrand Collection) 
where I attempted to find the locations of the Dutch 
fortifications that were constructed there in the 17th 
century. The local archaeology department was very  Dutch out in 1655. An exodus followed: of Dutch 
happy with my visit and with the help of their facili‐ settlers, those closely associated with them, and of 
ties and contacts, I succeeded.   Jews. The Dutch in Brazil had always welcomed the 
  Jews but the Portuguese had a different policy. The 
During the course of my research there, I also came  refugees went to New Amsterdam (now New York), 
across a story with a Statian connection that I  Cayenne (which became a Dutch colony that year), 
thought was very interesting and perhaps a little dif‐ Curaçao and Statia. They took their knowledge of 
ferent. It is different because it is a 17th century story  sugar cultivation and processing along with them. 
with a woman at the center instead of the men that  The Vaz family, including little Françoise, chose to 
normally dominate historical accounts of that era. I  go to Statia. 
therefore thought I would share it with the readers   
of Statia News.  Françoise’s childhood and teenage years on Statia 
  were likely to have been peaceful. The island was 
It is the story of an energetic woman who was deter‐ left to prosper under the Dutch flag. However, as 
mined to be a winner ‐ whatever blow history dealt  she entered adulthood, Statia’s first 28 years of 
her. It also illustrates how one woman’s life got  peace came to an end and a period of repeated flag 
caught up in the ups and downs of Dutch colonial  changes followed. The British (with their King 
power and in the European struggle to get as large a  Charles II first and foremost amongst them) were 
share as possible of the potential the America’s had  envious of the growth of Dutch wealth and power 
to offer.  and tried to break the Dutch hold over international 
  trade by force. In 1664, the British rear‐admiral 
Françoise Vaz  Robert Holmes raided Statia (and Dutch Tobago) – 
  in plain peace time. The aim was not to take the 
The information we have about Françoise Vaz gives  island (no war had been declared after all), but to 
us a rare insight into the unpredictable turns in the  ruin the island’s economy and commercial poten‐
life of a woman trying to get ahead in the uncertain  tial. The Vaz family must have suffered the same 
colonial world of the 17th century. Françoise was  fate as the other inhabitants: they were robbed of 
P AGE 3 S UMMER S PECIAL July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

F RANCOISE AND HER R OSES

their merchandise and stripped of everything of  thing and in 1665 the Second Anglo‐Dutch War 
value.   broke out. On 23 July of that same year, the Gover‐
  nor of Jamaica sent out Edward Morgan (uncle of 
Fort Oranje surrendered to buccaneers  the infamous filibuster Henry Morgan) to Statia, 
  together with 329 buccaneers. They forced Fort 
Still recovering from this blow and trying to rebuild  Oranje to surrender.   
the island, the next year Françoise and her fellow 
Statians were shocked to see another army fleet of 
26 ships approaching their shores. They could breath 
a sigh of relief: it was the Dutch Vice‐Admiral Michiel 
de Ruyter who had been sent out to restore Dutch 
power in the region. All the excitement about enter‐
taining the crème de la crème of the Dutch navy was 
rudely interrupted by an enemy of a different kind: a 
hurricane. It may have been the first one Françoise 
experienced as the previous ten years seem to have 
been a relatively calm period in this respect. The hur‐
ricane chased away De Ruyter’s ships. 

The infamous buccaneer Henry Morgan whose 
uncle Edward captured Statia in 1665 

 
The English deport Statia population 
 
Françoise’s family must have been with the 19 
Dutch nationals (men, women and children) who 
switched allegiance to the English or they may have 
The monument commemorating the visit of Admiral 
claimed Portuguese nationality because all other 
De Ruyter in 1665 
Dutch citizens (250 in total) were robbed of their 
possessions, transported to St. Maarten and later 
The next armed fleet to appear before Statia’s coast  ordered by King Charles II to be deported to Barba‐
did not receive a joyous welcome. It signalled the  dos as forced laborers for the plantations there.  
start of a rapid succession of flag changes and diffi‐  
cult times for the Vaz family and other Statia resi‐ The fact that the loot of the British included 300 
dents. The continuous British harassment of the  cattle, 50 horses, 500 sheep and goats, 50,000 
Dutch on all seas and shores could only lead to one  pounds of cotton, 840 slaves plus the sugar works 
P AGE 4 S UMMER S PECIAL July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

F RANCOISE AND HER R OSES

About Walter Hellebrand 

Walter Hellebrand is a historian who was born and 
grew up in Statia. His parents lived here and worked 
as teachers at the Governor de Graaffschool in the 
sixties and Walter was born here. When Walter was 
seven,  the  family  left  for  Curacao.  Walter  always 
kept a special feeling for Statia and for Statia’s his‐
tory.  He  studies  the  history  of  Dutch  overseas  ex‐
pansion  all over the world. A lot of Statians enjoyed 
his articles in the Saturday editions of the Daily Her‐
ald.  These  articles  gave  insight  into  aspects 
of  Statia's  heydays  when  the  island  was  known 
Refugees from Dutch Brazil introduced the sugar  as “The Golden Rock”. He also wrote letters to the 
processing technology to the Caribbean islands  editor about Statia’s history and heritage. Different 
(Walter Hellebrand Collection)  views  on  editorial  policy  (especially  concerning  let‐
ters to the editor) led to his decision to  stop  writ‐
(boiling vats, distillery kettles, iron crushers etc) of six  ing for the Daily Herald.
sugar plantations, is an indication that the island had 
quickly recovered from Holmes’ raid the year before. 
The British left another member of the Morgan fam‐
ily, Thomas, as Commander of the island. 
 
A bizarre situation that occurred the next year, 1666, 
would determine the rest of Françoise’s life. How, we 
will find out in the next installment of “Françoise and 
her Roses.” 

Walter Hellebrand 

Walter  Hellebrand  designed  Statia’s  coat  of  arms 

and recently he compiled the proposed monuments 
list.  He will not participate in the follow‐up that will 
lead to the proposed objects and buildings becom‐
ing  actual  monuments  because  that  would  be  a 
conflict of interest as he made the proposed list.  It 
is  unclear  what  the  continuation  of  the 
“monuments  traject”  is  going  to  be.    Walter  Helle‐
brand explained to Statianews that the descriptions 
of the monuments by the monuments council have 
to comply with the Dutch regulations about describ‐
ing  monuments.    Different  specialists  must  be  part 
of that council. 
P AGE 5 L OCAL N EWS July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

RSC R EGIONAL S ERVICE C ENTRE

One of the directorates of the Ministry of Internal  Education 
and Kingdom Affairs is “Government and Kingdom  The kwartiermakers  work in  the RSC. Hemmie van 
relations” (bestuur‐ en koninkrijksrelaties) . It’s task  Xanten is one of them and he started to coordinate  
is the coordination and development of policy for  education for teachers.  Five professionals in the 
the cooperation with the “Kingdom partners”. The  field of education have shown interest to finish 
main focus for the reforms that are going on now is  their education. The Hogeschool Windesheim in 
the improvement of the well being of the people in  Zwolle will provide the curriculum for secondary 
the Dutch Antilles.   school teachers and the Pedagogische Academie of 
  Emmen will do so for elementary school teachers. 
For Statia, Saba and Bonaire, the Regional Service  Exams will be done in the Regional Service Centre.  
Centers are handing over tasks to the different   
Dutch Ministries. The Regional Service Centre is re‐ Henk Kamp 
sponsible for all the “rijksambtenaren BES”, civil  On August  the  6th, from 2 ‐ 4.30 pm, you can con‐
servants that work in assignment of the different  sult Mr. Henk Kamp, the Bes commissioner, who is 
Dutch Ministries, or that are detached to work for  here  to  facilitate  the  transition.  If  you  have  any 
independent civil services on the BES islands.  There  questions  concerning  “What  will  happen  when  the 
will be approximately 150 of these civil servants.     Dutch come”, you can make an appointment at the 
  Regional  Service  Centre.  Each  consult  will  take  ten 
The RSC is a front office for tasks that will be done  minutes, there is room for 12 people. On Saba this 
by Dutch organizations or by organizations on other  same  sessions  will  take  place  on  August  the  4th. 
islands outside of the BES. The RSC is a back office  The  contact  numbers  of  the  Regional  Service  Cen‐
for tasks executed by different Dutch Ministries.  tres are:  
Statia: 3183370, Saba: 4163934 

Y OUNG B EETHOVEN
Great  performances  at  this    musical  event.  All  stu‐ The  trumpet  played  by  Shevon  Timber.  He  started  
dents that play music were participating in the annu‐ playing  three  months  ago  and  clearly  has    a  musical 
al musical event to end the schoolyear. This year the  talent. 
concert was called: Statia’s Young Beethoven.  
 
Highlights of the show:  
 
The  anthem    played  by  the  little  Packard  girl,  who 
came  to  live  on  Statia  with  her  musical  family.  She 
studied the anthem in 3 weeks and the performance 
was flawless.  
 
The Oranje Steelband:  Dennis Amajan arranged mu‐
sic to fit the steelband.  A Beatles song, an Elvis song 
and  more.  The  Steelband  is  getting  better  all  the  ti‐
me. 
 
The trombone played by one of the Packard family.    
  If    you  want  more  pictures,  send  statianews  an  
The  recorder group, in Dutch that is “blokfluit”, un‐ email: 
der  direction  of  Teacher  Brenda  of  the  Methodist  mailto:info@statianews.com
School. Heart warming.  
P AGE 6 I SSUE July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

C IVIL S ERVANTS A GREEMENT

On June 24th, Mr. Julian Woodley, commissioner for 
constitutional Affairs, signed an agreement about the 
transition of civil servants.  
 
In  Statianews,  a  summary  of  this  agreement.  If  you 
want  to  read  the  entire  document  in  Dutch, 
mailto:info@statianews.com 
 
All the people that work for the island territory of St. 
Eustatius and for the country “Nederlandse Antillen” 
on Statia, will be transferred to the public entity.  
 
Agreements have been made under what conditions 
the Netherlands will take over the workers.  
 
Local government will make a list of all the civil ser‐
vants and send it to the Regional Service Centre.  
Personal  data,  as  well  as  data  about  the  job  and 
about the salary will be on that list.  
 
One  month  after  the  making  of  this  list,  all  the  em‐
ployees  will  receive  a  confirmation.  This  is  called  a 
“uitgangspositie”.  
 
Three months before the transition, the Netherlands   
will  confirm  the  intention  to  take  the  workers  into  Educational Personnel 
civil service. Someone who works for the island terri‐  
tory and does not fulfill his or her task to the fullest,  At  the  moment,  the  Netherlands  is  not  appointing 
can be offered a new job.   people to work in the educational field, but will be 
The Netherlands and the island territory of St. Eusta‐ responsible for the money spend on education. The 
tius will make the judgments about the fulfillment of  personnel  expenses  make  up  most  of  the  costs, 
tasks  in  government  jobs.  The  Netherlands  will  de‐ therefore  it’s  necessary  for  St.  Eustatius  and  the 
cide  if  people  that  started  working  as  a  civil  servant  Netherlands to make further agreements about the 
after  December  8,  2007,  will  be  transferred  into  personnel ‐  and organizational policy until the date 
Dutch service too.   of transition.  
   
What jobs are in local service or in Dutch service will  For  educational  personnel,  the  above  mentioned 
be  decided  upon  by  the  executive  council  and  the  first list will be made and send to the Regional Ser‐
Netherlands.   vice Centre.  
   
Once the Netherlands has given this intention, a dos‐ All new personnel for the schools must be approved 
sier of all employees will be worked out in more de‐ by the Kwartiermaker or the director of the RSC. 
tail.  In  this  dossier,  not  only  the  personal  data,  but  St. Eustatius will not make any changes in the legal 
also  financial  data  and  data  concerning  the  job:  job  status  of  the  educational  personnel  without  the 
description,  assessments,  approval  for  extra  activi‐ approval  of  the  kwartiermaker  of  director  of  the 
ties, sick leave, etc. will be described.  RSC. 
   
The opportunity will be given for workers to look into 
that dossier. 
P AGE 7 D ISCUSSION July 13, 2009
N EW T AXES FOR THE BES I SLANDS ,
By Koos Sneek
In the previous editions of Statia News I have dis-
cussed the immovable property tax and the ABB as
worked out in the 3rd concept tax laws for the BES
islands. In this issue I will discuss the income tax.
The income tax (and also wage tax) will be 10% over
the board. This means that everyone will pay the same
percentage. This is an improvement since presently
we have a progressive tax regime. The higher your
income the higher percentage (up to 33%) of that in-
come you pay in taxes. It is clear that a flat tax tariff
of 10% will first of all benefit the persons with higher
incomes, since they are now paying the highest per-
centage.
However, also the threshold will be increased to US $
10,000. This is Nafl 12,660 presently. As long as your
salary is no higher then approximately US $ 916 (Nafl
1,500) per month no tax need to be paid.
It is the intention that the wage tax as much as possi-
ble will be an end tax. Together with introducing a
10% tax for all incomes above the threshold also most
deduction and the need to declare additional income
(like rental income) will disappear. Deductions that
will remain are paid interest on home loans up to US
$ 15,363. and study cost for children up to 27 years.
Property insurance premiums will be deductable up to
US $ 559. This amount is rather low taking into con-
sideration the high insurance rates charged for hurri-
cane insurance, presently up to 1.2 %.
Rental income from homes and apartments will be tax
free. This is also an improvement. Under the present
tax regime 65% of this income need to be added to the
taxable income. Making it tax free is basically legaliz-
ing the present custom of many if not all private own-
ers of homes and apartments, who do not declare any
rental income.
A director/owner of a company (N.V., B.V. etc.) is
obliged to have a taxable income for the income tax
of at least US $ 30,000. This is not a requirement un-
der the present system.
First of all I wonder what this amount is based upon.
I believe that in reality there are very few company
director/owners in Statia who are making this amount.
In my opinion before establishing a minimum taxable
income research need to be carried out to establish a
realistic taxable income.
S TATIA N EWS
PART 4
There are business owners who are director/owner of
more than one company. Is this minimum taxable
income applicable for all companies?
If your company is a sole proprietorship you will fall
under the income tax. Under this tax, deductibles as
depreciation and investment deduction will remain.
In the present system “investerings af-
trek” (investment deduction) is 12% on buildings
and 8% on equipment etc. in the first two years. In
the new system it is 8% over the board. Here the
incentive for investment is clearly lowered. I wonder
why.
If you use the deduction you cannot sell a building
within 15 years. Presently this is 10 years. 15 years
is a very long time.
When you use a company car, 15% of the value,
when the car was new, needs to be added to the in-
come. This is 20% now so this is an improvement.
It is not clear to me if there are special tariffs for
instance for overtime and vacation pay and if there
are any, how high are these. High tariffs generally
do not stimulate extra output.
As I have stated in my first article in general the lay
out of the proposed tax laws looks like an improve-
ment and beneficial to the public and business sector
on the islands. There are however a number of arti-
cles in each of the drafts that are of serious concern
and may negatively influence the cost of living as
well as the investment climate and doing business on
the islands. I sincerely hope that these issues will be
addressed.
P AGE 8 L OCAL N EWS July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

A VIATION P IONEERS OF THE C ARIBBEAN

Oranjestad,  St.  Eustatius  –  On  Saturday,  July  11th  The Foundation has a number of projects underway 
2009, the Aviation Pioneers of the Caribbean Founda‐ set  to  launch  in  August  and  November                                  
tion  elected  a new  Board.  Terrance Rey  was  elected  of  this year  and,  with  the  new  team  on  the  Board, 
as  the  new  president,  taking  over  from  Elizabeth  expects  to  initiate  several  more  to  highlight  the 
(Elly) Delien,  founder  of  the Foundation  and partner  pilots who opened up the sky for the northeastern 
of  Winair’s  legendary  pilot,  the  late  José  Dormoy,  Caribbean islands. 
affectionately  known  as  “Pipe.”  Rey  is  managing  di‐  
rector  of  AirStMaarten,  a  company  specializing  in 
Founder of the Aviation Pioneers of the Caribbean 
private charters throughout the Caribbean. 
Foundation,  Elizabeth  Delien,  handing  over  the 
 
‘chairman’s  propeller’  to  Terrance  Rey  of 
Walter  Hellebrand,  historian  and  communications 
AirStMaarten. 
professional, was newly elected to the board and will 
take on the role of secretary. Elly Delien stays on as 
member of the board in the capacity of treasurer and 
the  Board’s  former  secretary  Nyna  Burright,  a  ship‐
ping  coordinator  working  for  St.  Eustatius  Port  Ser‐
vices,  was  also  reelected.  She  will  act  as  substitute 
secretary.  
 
The  Foundation  was  established  on  February,  12th 
2008 by Elly Delien to preserve and promote the his‐
tory of aviation in the Caribbean ‐ in particular in the 
Windward  Islands  –  and  to  pay  tribute  to  the  pio‐
neers  who  opened  up  the  islands  to  the  outside 
world  and  thereby  played  an  important  role  in  their 
development. Some of the ways by which the Foun‐
dation  tries  to  achieve  its  purpose  include  research 
and  exposure  of  the  history  of  aviation  as  well  as  Acknowledgments 
projects  to  create  more  interest  in  the  aviation  his‐ Elly  Delien  expressed  her  thanks  to  all  the  former 
tory of each individual island.  board members for their assistance with the estab‐
  lishment  of  the  Aviation  Pioneers  of  the  Caribbean 
When José Dormoy passed away in 2007, Elly Delien  Foundation  and  especially  acknowledged  the  sup‐
was  left  with  a  virtual  treasure  chest  of  documents,  port of Claudie Banare; film maker Pierre Brouwers, 
information and images relating to the early days of  Jerry  Casius;  Leontien  Durby;  Michael  Ferrier; 
aviation in the Windward Islands, an eventful past in  Faustin, Denise and Robert Ledée; Michel Martinon; 
which her partner of many years played a very active  AirStMaarten, Mazinga Giftshop and Xerox. 
role.    She  thought  “Pipe’s”  personal  archive  would   
make a valuable beginning of a collection of informa‐ The  Board  would  like  to  encourage  everyone  with 
tion  about  the  history  of  aviation  in  the  islands  that  stories, material or images relating to the history of 
was  worth  sharing  with  everybody.  She  therefore  aviation  in  the  northeastern  Caribbean  to  contact 
decided  to  start  the  Aviation  Pioneers  of  the  Carib‐ the Foundation so that scans or copies can be made 
bean Foundation.  in order to increase the knowledge of its fascinating 
  development. 
Projects   
In its first year, the Foundation’s sizable archive was   
inventoried and organized. Also, displays commemo‐ For further information:In St. Maarten: Terrance 
rating the aviation pioneers were arranged for Saba’s  Rey – 581 9740 / terrance@caribserve.net In St. 
airport and Winair’s sales office in St. Maarten.   Eustatius: Elizabeth Delien – 523‐4485 / apot‐
carib@yahoo.com 
P AGE 9 M USIC July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

U NITY Y OUTH C ONCERT

Saturday July 11, Fort Oranje
A musical evening presented by the Mega D Youth
Foundation. A nice atmosphere, a lot of music and
dance and a lot of laughter, especially when Fernando
Clark made jokes. Fernando Clark was the surprise
guest presentator, a well known comedian from St.
Maarten.
It was the grand premier of the videoclip “A Helping
Hand” that was made in cooperation with over 20
local artists.
More people become involved in the activities of the
Mega D. Youth Foundation.
The Simon Doncker club, Stenapa, Statia Youth
Soccer, the Aloei Dancers and the Innovation Bu-
reau had presentations.
MYF has a lot of plans, you can read all about it on
their website:
http://mega-dyouthfoundation.org

The heavenly voice was heard of Naldo Courtar, lccal police officer. 

A lot of these artists were performing.

Amongst them Lenaldo Courtar, Alicia Redan, Cam-
berley Berkel, Joey & Friends, the Bethel Methodist
School Choir, the Simon Doncker Club, Michael Da-
niel and the Aoei Dancers.

This evening was also the introduction of the Mega D.

Youth Foundation.

This foundation is structured to focus on the youth, its

main goal is to educate, motivate and encourage the
youth of St. Eustatius. Mega D. is aksing all of us to be part of the move-
ment: be “A Helping Hand”
P AGE 10 M USIC July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

R OOTSRIDERS ON S TATIA , A UGUST 5, L IONS ’ D EN

The Roots Foundation present Rootsriders on Statia.   various tours in Africa over the past 2 years. The 12 
The band, with singer Shirma Rouse from Statia, will  brand new songs feature the best of African talent 
be playing at the Lions’ Den August 5.  Rootsriders  teamed‐up  with.  The  band  performed 
The  proceeds  for  the  tickets  will  go  to  the  auxillary  in over 15 countries outside their home territory of 
home  and  chapel  piece  recreational  center.  the Netherlands. 
    
About the Rootsriders  On  stage  the  band  combines  the  classic  Marley 
  tunes  together  with  their  own  repertoire  in  a 
If  you're  a  lover  of  the  music  of  Mr  Robert  Nesta  unique  blend  of  fresh  reggae‐flavored  music:  It's 
Marley,  then  you  will  be  invigorated  and  energized  this  combination  of  Marley's  popular  &  recogniz‐
by  the  classy  and  skanky  sound  of  Dutch/Caribbean  able  songs  and  their  own  vibrant  &  catchy  tracks 
collective  Rootsriders.  Their  homage  to  Bob  Mar‐ that make their fun‐filled performances such a must
ley  celebrates  the  life  and  times  of  the  finest  and  ‐see experience.  
most  influential  reggae  artist  of  all  time  in  a  spec‐  
tacular  fashion.  Born‐to‐perform  front  man  Philip  Tribute2BobMarley live at Melkweg Amsterdam 
'Junior' Tecla is backed by a band of top‐notch musi‐ December 9, 2008:  http://www.youtube.com/
cians, all well‐known on the Dutch music scene.   watch?v=TzSvEoSLNHs 
   
In  the  Netherlands  Rootsriders  released  an  album‐ Tribute2BobMarley ‐ Jamming (ft Leona, Irepeat 
mixtape on which they collaborated with many popu‐ and others): http://www.youtube.com/watch?
lar Dutch rappers to show that Marley's music isn't a  v=IooiY0434LI 
phenomenon  from  the  past  only,  but  that  his  music   
and words are still valid for even the youngest of mu‐
Rootsriders in Africa: http://www.youtube.com/
sic  generations  of  today.  They’ve  just  finished  work‐
watch?v=eKg‐I4C4scc 
ing on their new album ‘So Much More’, recorded on 

Tribute 2 Bob Marley, photo by  Ilja Meefout 
P AGE 11 L ETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Statia spread your wings
and fly.
Dear editor,
I applaud the efforts of the Dutch as it pertains to my
island, Statia. However, I feel that the affairs of Statia
are the responsibility of the people of Statia. It is by
no means a bad thing to have the Dutch take over the
responsibilities from the Netherlands Antilles as it
pertains to the BES islands. However, I firmly believe
that this should be a temporary situation. There should
be a transition period during which careful thought
should be given to those tasks that can be transferred
to the local government of Statia. However our repre-
sentatives should be equipped for such a responsibil-
ity.
In life there is no greater bond than that between a
mother and her child. The mother nurtures her child
while the child learns about that thing called life and
the ways in which she can survive on her own once
she reaches adulthood. As the child grows older she
internalizes all that she has learnt and she of course
forms opinions of her own. She realizes that she must
learn to spread her own wings. This is a scary process
but it’s a thing she must do in order to become the
woman she was destined to become.
So Statia when will we muster up the courage to
spread our own wings and fly?
A critical Statian, living in the Netherlands.
The educational system on
Statia
Dear editor,
On Thursday, July 2nd the results of the Gwendoline van Put-
ten exams for the year 2009 were made public. The results were
not good. All sections of the GvP school scored around 30%.
Only the havo scored about 60%.
At the graduation ceremony, Commissioner Hooker laid the
blame for the poor results flatly at the feet of the teachers of the
GvP school. He also said that clever teachers should be able to
achieve better results even without books. He then went on to
mention that he had spent millions on education and that these
millions had been taxpayers money. Well let’s try to analyze
the whether what Mr. Hooker said has any merit.
First of all the commissioner is responsible for making educa-
tional policy on the island. We’ll examine that first. The choice
was made to have English as the instruction language at pri-
mary schools while making the students do Dutch exams at the
secondary level. That in itself is a recipe for failure. Students
July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
start 6 years later (actually 12 years later!) in Dutch than their
Dutch counterparts, but they have to take exactly the same
Dutch exams. So that way students that barely master the
language enter the gates of the GvP school and then have to
learn the language in half the time that they would in Holland.
Clearly one cannot blame the teachers for the results that are
obviously going to be worse than in Holland. It’s policy that
is flawed.
In the second place: books are the instrument of learning for
schools. Maybe the commissioner has made use of them him-
self when he was enjoying his education and maybe he real-
izes that they do help in educating students. To mention to
Statia society that you’ve spent millions of their taxmoney
without succeeding in obtaining books, is, to say the least,
embarrassing. Where is the money spent on if not on books?
The Innovation Centre spends lots of money on all kinds of
educational courses. That is not wise educational policy. Gov-
ernment needs to get the educational priorities right. Hard-
ware and software should come first. And by that I mean
books, well equipped classrooms and computers. They consti-
tute the learning environment for the students. Expensive
courses can come after that.
So, all in all, it might not be a bad idea for commissioner
Hooker to do a little soul searching, before, unjustly, putting
the blame on the GvP teachers. In fact he should praise the
teachers and the students that passed their exams for achiev-
ing what they did in these unfavorable circumstances.
What can be done to remedy the situation? Two things basi-
cally.
First a choice must be made for Dutch exams or English ex-
ams. This purely a political choice. If government feels stu-
dents have a better chance with English exams than they
should copy Saba’s system. Saba made the choice for English
exams and they are pleased with their choice and things are
going comparatively well. If on the other hand government
chooses Dutch exams (maybe because students can then study
with the financial help of Dutch government in Holland), then
they’ll have to stick with that. But choices bear consequences.
If Dutch exams is the choice, then the language of instruction
in the primary schools also will have to be Dutch. Otherwise
it’s not fair to the children. You can’t have it both ways. Fail-
ing to choose and then blaming teachers or asking Holland for
help is not fair nor is it serving any purpose.
In the second place, money spent on education needs to be
prioritized correctly. It makes no sense to send management
or teachers to expensive courses if children have no books and
computers. It is also essential to involve teachers in the proc-
ess of determining where money needs to be spent to enhance
the quality of education. The way it is done now, teachers are
not involved. Often they hear one day before start that they
have some kind of motivational program. Balloons are thrown
in the air and everybody is supposed to feel good. But the
problems are not solved and teachers do not feel committed if
management/board/government do not listen. In this way it
works just like a company. The workers need the right tools.
If management gives them the wrong tools you’ll get the
wrong product.
Rick Kusters, teacher at the GvP school.
P AGE 12 A NNOUNCEMENT July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS

SPAY AND NEUTER CLINIC

INFORMATION

W HY YOU SHOULD SPAY OR NEUTER

R EASONS TO S PAY AND N EUTER S TATIA ’ S A NIMALS

⇒ Spaying or neutering your animal helps

to decrease Statia’s pet overpopulation
⇒ In a female dog’s lifetime, she can have
up to 450 puppies!!!! By spaying her, she
will have none!
⇒ Female dogs who have excessive
amount of puppies are at increased risk of
breast cancer...yes dogs can get breast can-
cer
⇒ Male dogs who are neutered are
calmer, more obedient, less irritable and
urinate less.
⇒ No unwanted mess associated with fe-
male reproductive cycle and unwanted male
suitors
⇒ Saving Statia’s animals from a life on
the streets

DO N’T LITTER! SPAY OR

NEUTER YOUR CRITTER!
P AGE 13 A NNOUNCEMENT July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS
P AGE 14 A NNOUNCEMENT July 13, 2009 S TATIA N EWS