See, the way my account is set up...

My friend posted this video on Facebook. It features 20 year old Brendah Wacuka from Kenya speaking about financial literacy and it sparked the idea for this blog post. In an era of rampant consumerism and guerilla marketing, it's very easy to get caught up in the acquisition of material things instead of saving and investing. I would be overstepping my bounds by telling people what to do with their hard earned money but I can't help but point out the disconnect in wealth between those who consume indiscriminately versus those who produce, the chasm between those who spend frivolously and those who invest.

I'm sure in every Caribbean society there's the story of the poor man or woman who started out selling in a handcart or at the side of the road somewhere . They started small and plugged the profits back into the business until they either amassed a veritable fortune or spearheaded a formidable business empire. More often than not these people are Indian or Syrian or Chinese. There's a running joke about Indians and their ability to get rich ... Indians, Syrians, Chinese, everyone but people of African descent.

Is it that those ethnicities have an inherent knack for multiplying their money? Do they have innate skills for managing finances? Do they have secret networks and support systems that prop up their businesses? Is it that they have a sense of kinship with their brethren and share the gains, the hard work and the profits? Is it that they know how to work collectively? Is it that they are better at exploiting opportunities or taking risks? Who knows?

It is not my intention to ignore the historical and economic realities that have fostered the success of certain groups. Slavery was a handicap for us but how long are we going to focus on that.  Why aren't more black people  in the Caribbean creating wealth?  Is it that they are selfish, lack discipline and vision and are particularly susceptible to "crab in a barrell" mentality? I reject these stereotypes. I suspect the differences  lie in cultural upbringing.

When I worked at a commercial bank in Barbados I could never convince the Indians to take a loan or credit card, they scoffed at the idea of consumer credit and vehemently eschewed the idea of incurring debt.Loans, hire purchase and credit cards while seemingly a gateway to your dreams, are trojan horses because they come bearing interest. Interest payments escalate very quickly and may (if you're lucky) have you repaying up to 2 and a half times the money you initially borrowed. Are you horrified yet? Imagine if you were able to retain even half of what you paid to service that debt. I suspect the Indians are onto this secret. The Syrians and Chinese have similar ethics. I'm not sure how they get the money to fund their enterprises but they tend to be very frugal and big on entrepreneurship. You seldom find them slaving away in someone's office, they own their businesses. There must be some correlation between this and their financial success.

Some people don't save, and those who do, often don't know how to balance their saving with investments. Most people put away money for a rainy day but do not actively work on multiplying that money. The topic of financial literacy is important to me so I won't let racial stereotypes skew my discourse any further. Whatever your race or class  financial  habits whether good or bad are learned, so there is hope for us all. Saving is important but we must go beyond this. When you work hard for your money its important to put your money to work for you too. It is easy to develop a misguided sense of entitlement and blow it all by saying "I work hard for this money so I should reward myself with (insert whatever material commodity is hot right now)". Wise financial decisions are necessary, depreciating assets not so much. 

Notwithstanding, saving may not be all that it's cracked up to be. If you deposit your money in a commercial bank in St Vincent they will pay you an interest rate of  approximately 2.91 - 3% on your deposit.The bank will then use the money you have deposited to fund loans, but the banks charge an interest rate of  approximately 9% on consumer loans . That, my friends,is called arbitrage and that is how banks put your deposits to work and make money.  I am not saying not to save, having a cushion of savings increases the options available to you. Do the math, you would be well advised to put your money to work in something that's lucrative for you and not just the banks.

Good or bad financial habits are learned and therefore can be unlearned. Practical, straightforward courses at the grassroots level, which teach people financial literacy and how to monetize their skills and talents would be welcome especially here in the Caribbean. These are practical life skills that should be widely taught, wealth management shouldn't be some mystical, elusive goal. The children of the education revolution are returning from university, they are educated, enlightened (I hope) and they have spending power. Significant developmental gains would ensue if they are taught how to leverage this. At the very least, it would take some of the mystery out of money management  and would help people who can't avoid loans and other forms of consumer credit to make informed financial decisions.

 In the wake of the CL Financial fiasco and other economic meltdowns I have a healthy scepticism of financial institutions. I'm not trying to fritter away my money or give an unscrupulous money manager the opportunity to exploit me however I can't just throw up arms and bury money under my bed. My eyes tend to glaze over at the thought of stocks/shares, bonds, portfolios and net worth, it can be so abstract! The process of demystifying investments seems complicated and a bit daunting but I am committed to understanding wealth management and finance. I am no financial whiz but I am now widening my focus and considering entrepreneurship as opposed to mutual funds and stocks and bonds as future options for investment. I'm in the middle of getting a Legal Education Certificate but I find myself increasingly drawn to entrepreneurship, if I could find a way to combine both that would be perfect. I would be lying if I said I had it all figured out but it's a work in progress. One of my ultimate aims is to navigate my way to that perfect space where savings, investment and sheer entrepreneurial tenacity make me fulfilled, wealthy and debt free. Formidable, I know, but still achievable.

Trees without roots.

"A people without knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots "

Marcus Garvey

Every year the various territories at the Hugh Wooding Law school host a cultural night where the culture and food of the territory is displayed for our colleagues and lecturers. It's a great opportunity to showcase your culture and earn bragging rights for hosting the best cultural night.  I fall into the OECS grouping so last November for OECS night my colleagues and I had to represent Vincentian culture. We wracked our brains trying to thinking of unique aspects of our Vincentian culture to display.

We considered folk singing but being small in numbers and some (like myself) a bit tone deaf that didn't work out. In any case, I discovered to my surprise that the folk songs I knew and thought were indigenous to St Vincent were in fact Jamaican. We didn't know how to do the Garifuna Punta Dance or any Garifuna drumming or anything remotely fascinating or amazing. We drew a lot of blanks and I had a sinking sense of dread  that our colleagues coming to view our presentation would surely have surmised that we were a culture-less, talentless bunch. At the last minute we managed to pull it off I performed a dialect poem/monologue, another colleague performed a song tribute to St Vincent and another colleague performed a poem. Not disastrous, but not by any means a satisfactory representation of Vincentian culture. I was blown away by the Barbadian and the Guyanese cultural presentations, granted they are larger in numbers and had more resources to draw on, but all the same I was envious of the portrayal of their culture and their obvious sense of national pride.

 Since then I have been obsessed with finding out more about the Vincentian culture and the ways it can be preserved  for future generations. I realise I don't know enough about Vincentian culture and I know even less about how to capture and depict it. I am making efforts to correct that and I'm hoping that this blog will eventually reflect this.

Culture is something you live and you learn, it's not static so it evolves and can be made and remade.The issue is that the pervasiveness of foreign media means that it is easier to assimilate foreign culture which can result in a form of cultural imperialism and the eventual erasure of the indigenous culture. Case in point: many West Indian children today know all about Diego and Dora, Peppa Pig and the host of other characters on Nickelodeon  but know nothing about Anansi or any of the interesting folklore or the indigenous aspects of our culture.  This is worrying. We have to do better than this. Failure to preserve our cultural legacies makes us like the proverbial trees without roots, easily toppled by winds of foreign cultural imperialism. We cannot continue to allow ourselves to be defined externally. Where is our original programming and cultural content? Where are our West Indian animators? Where is the West Indian children's literature? We aren't we creating educational content which is reflective of our history, our traditions and our culture.  We need to start telling our stories, it's the most basic way to articulate and preserve our cultural legacies.

I read voraciously as a child but apart from my school assigned reading books I can't remember reading any West Indian Children's literature and I certainly did not see any West Indian cartoons on television. I read about winters and fairies and goblins and a lot of foreign things that stimulated my imagination but they were things I did not identify with.  I think that's why for me there is nothing like delving into a well written West Indian book, it evokes a visceral feeling that is comforting in its familiarity and reassuring in its authenticity. You know intrinsically what the author is speaking about, you feel that the characters can easily be your family.

I believe representation matters. It is necessary for us to see our cultural reality reflected in the stories we read and the programs we watch, it anchors us and shapes our identities. I think children who are exposed to indigenous culture and content will inadvertently grow up to be adults with a strong sense of identity and a strong sense of national pride. This is not only important for their personal development but for the development of our countries.

Long live our cultural legacies!

Imagine Caribbean

I will be launching an "Imagine Caribbean" feature soon. It will showcase people who are not only thinking outside of the box but people who refuse to even consider that there is a box.  People who are using their imagination and their creativity to create their own employment or to venture into  non-traditional careers. People who have been forward thinking and who have thought of innovative products, services and ideas to fill  the needs of Caribbean people.

Given our colonial history, we in the Caribbean have been conditioned to look externally and to mimic foreign tastes and value judgements. It's worrying that for people who celebrate independence and claim to be liberated, we seldom recognize talent or innovation unless it is foreign marketed and internationally sanctioned.It is time for us to start creating things of value, things suitable to our own cultural and societal contexts, things for our own consumption. The people of our region are equally talented and as brilliant as those abroad. The fact that many of our native sons and daughters distinguish themselves in their fields and receive critical acclaim is proof of this. More recently, the success of Anya Ayoung Chee on Project Runway, Tessanne Chin on The Voice and Nina Compton on Top Chef illustrate this. These were home grown talents that were to a large extent under appreciated or ignored until they made it on the world stage. It is doubtful that any one of these persons would have received the level of success or the appreciation they have received if they had stayed at home here in the Caribbean.

It is also worrying that we don't often take the time to relish in the talent we have or to exploit the unique opportunities for development that we have right in our own backyards. I admit that comparatively, we are deficient in resources and lack many of the catalysts which would have contributed to those persons' success. However, we need not adopt fatalistic attitudes nor place limitations on our capabilities. Their success on the world stage shows that being from the Caribbean does not have to be a handicap, the Caribbean was their incubator after all.  Also, apart from sheer talent and hard work, it was their "Caribbean-ness" that set them apart; lilting accents, affable personalities and the aspects of their unique Caribbean heritage which they reproduced in their art.

For every Anya, Tessanne and Nina there are hundreds more in every single field undiscovered or under appreciated.  I am creating this series because it's important for youth to see that there are alternative pathways to fulfilling careers and also to see that our region is ripe with potential and lucrative opportunities. It is also time that we expand our focus away from traditional careers such as  accounting, law, banking and medicine.These jobs are important but what we need are more historians, activists, poets, authors, dancers, film makers, chefs, culinary artists, fashion designers, musicians, artists, computer programmers, software developers, artisans, farmers, agronomists & entrepreneurs. That list is not exhaustive, our region desperately needs people determined to make a difference , people who are passionate about what they do. People whose purpose and vision of creating the societies they want to live in have made them come alive.People who have a strong appreciation for the societies they live in and who are driven to customise solutions which match our specific realities.  

Given the tough economic times the true test of our survival will be our ability to innovate. Not solely in terms of technology or products but in terms of our ideology, our vision and our philosophies. Our education systems should be conditioning students to think of ways we can use our scarce resources to add value and meaning to our lives. It should be incubating new talent & new ideas before they are snapped up abroad  and we are forced to accept what we have rejected when it comes back to us shiny with the polish of success and alienated from our reality. 

Colour me black, natural and proud.

Earlier this week, I took out my faux loc extensions and wore my natural 4c afro textured hair in a twist-out, I thought it was cute and funky and I was really feeling myself. However, as the day progressed (as afro hair does when there is oppressive humidity) my carefully coiffed waves began to puff up into a "twafro". In other words it began to look more like a 'fro than twist-out.

It was only a matter of time before 2 presumptuous souls deigned to ask what was going on with my hair, latent disaproval weighing heavily in the questions. I felt a twinge of annoyance, why should I be prompted to justify or explain why my hair was the way it was. If I was White, Indian or "mixed" as we like to say in West Indian parlance, I could let my hair down in its natural state and nobody would bat an eyelash or ask a question but for me to wear my hair in its natural state was unacceptable and seemingly incomprehensible...something must have gone wrong.

For some people afro hair is only deemed acceptable if your hair falls on the "mixed" end of the gradient of afro textured hair. Even naturals have fallen prey to this with their incessant quest for "defined curl patterns".   It is intrinsic in that assertion that if your hair does not fall into this category it is bad and  you must scurry away to the nearest weave shop or put relaxer in it because "natural hair is not for everyone". Well , if not you, the person from whose head this hair grows naturally, then who exactly is it for?

Incidentally, one of the fastest selling commodities in the Caribbean is hair weave.This is in no way an indictment of those who prefer relaxers or weave. I am not a "hair nazi", I celebrate every person's right to autonomy over their body. However, what I am acknowledging is that colourism and the black hatred inherent in it is an ugly and still very pervasive relic of our colonial past. This is a very live issue for persons of African descent and it has resulted in light or high brown skin and "mixed" or straight hair being seen by many as preferred beauty ideals. To be called black is an insult, passing as "mixed" is a compliment. These misconceptions invariably stem from internalised racism which has historically labelled characteristics of blackness as undesirable, inferior and ugly. Years after the abolition of slavery the easiest insult is still to call someone "black", "black and ugly", "tar baby", "dry head" or "picky head" or to speak negatively of thick lips, broad noses and bold eyes, characteristic traits of persons of African descent.

It doesn't help that black is infrequently highlighted as beautiful in the media. Growing up, those who rocked natural hair were generally frumpy, dowdy and timid, none of which I aspired to be. I hated my natural hair, I thought it was hard, unmanageable, uncontrollable and just plain ugly. It was nothing like anything I saw in magazines, in music videos or in the television shows or movies that I watched. None of the heroines in my books had afro hair, invariably they were blonde, brunette or redheads with green, blue or hazel eyes. I didn't have access to books with strong compelling characters described as beautiful with dark skin and afro textured hair. Barbie was white and blonde. Disney princesses were not black.When I happened to turn on my tv and see black people, those persons were light skinned, with either long curly hair or long  weaves. Dark skinned girls were not en vogue and most certainly not those with natural hair. As a result I would not have been caught dead without a fresh relaxer or slick weave. Back then, because of the images I had internalised I felt like I needed to have this "look" to be considered pretty.

This is why I was so elated at the meteoric rise of Lupita Nyongo as a dark skinned fashion icon who has embraced her natural hair . However, I long for the day when the Lupitas of this world become mainstream and not simply  regarded as anomalies or token black girls in their fields.  It is not just enough to have representation if representation borders on tokenism. I want to see dark skinned women with natural playing lead roles in television shows and movies.I would love to see multidimensional characters who experience love and joy and success. I am tired of stereotypical and caricatured roles, I am tired of seeing them in roles where they are suffering. I want to see fiesty dark skinned girls with natural hair in mainstream romantic comedies or playing roles in positions of influence and power. I also long for the day when afro textured hair is not regarded as unprofessional or as something to hide if you have any hope of being taken seriously as a professional. I want to see dark skinned natural haired women breaking glass ceilings in their fields.

I believe the lack of positive representation of dark skinned persons in mainstream media has been internalised and is reflected in our value judgements of beauty. If dark skin and afro hair was our beginning point of reference when we considered beauty I doubt these characteristics would be regarded as ugly or seen as undesirable.The natural hair movement is becoming more popular in the Caribbean. I believe that this is because of increased representation in social media and the showing of afro hair in a positive light.  This kind of representation has been affirming for me and for other women. It has been refreshing to see smart, beautiful , accomplished women, from different backgrounds embracing  their natural hair and looking fabulous while doing this. It has been uplifting to see black women rejecting antiquated notions of black inferiority and celebrating their beauty.

It is so important for us in the Caribbean to redefine and re-imagine beauty. I hope that the natural movement is more than a fleeting fad. I hope it is a signal that we are willing to shake off  colourism shackles and emancipate ourselves from learned black inferiority complexes.