I know I haven't been posting lately, however I am dedicated to start posting again.
I have been asking myself the question: are you still a patriot if you leave your country to study elsewhere but in order to come back and to contribute to your country? It is a discussion that I believe is not easy to answer with a yes and a no.
I am asking this because I have been strugling to leave to study elsewhere....I love my country very much.....and I don't want my fellow ctizens to think that I am betraying them or leaving them to rot. I am in a dillema right now.
I am a very active young guy and I don't want start all over again when I come back after several years.
Well I think this is not an easy question. It has been keeping me busy for while but I'll get through eventually.

bless, from sweet Suriname.

By the way..I have to thank Tanja for supporting me..thank you sweetie!!

Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope u have enoyed the recent pictures. I promise that I will start posting again as soon as I have more time to work on my blog.
Blessings from sweet Suriname

Saturday is the big day, the elections will be held at 7 p.m. After the elections I will get back at you with the results. I will keep u updated. BTW it's not to late to react on my call for collaboration.
Greetings from sweet Suriname

Hi friends. As I have anounced, I am the most likely candidate to win the Caricom Youth Ambassadors election next week. So I am seeking colaboration with different persons and or organizations from around the world. So if you are interested in such a colaboration just drop me a note and we will work something out. I can tell you that the office of Caricom Youth Ambassador is a very prestigiuos youth position in Suriname and has great resources both financialy as socialy. So don't let a good cooperation pass us by like that.
waiting for your response from sweet Suriname:

regards,
Guillermo

Suriname is very multi-ethnic and even though we have our differences sometimes, still different religions can live peacefuly amongst each other. this picture stands as a symbol in our country for peaceful religious coexistence.

This mosque is the largest in our country, I need to get more information on its background etc. but I can tell you that it is built right besides a synagogue. For us it represents that in our country all religions can live peacefuly amongst each other. I will also post the picture of the synagogue.

I noticed that I am almost at 2000 blog visiters . I hope you all have enjoyed the few images of Suriname I exposed. I promise that I will post more of them and keep you up-to-date. Rite now I am preparing full speed for the Caricom Youth Ambassadors elections which will be held on january 20th in a special Youth Parliamant meeting. I am the most likely candidate to win. So that's why I am trying to get more support from the Youth Parliamantarians themselves(25 in total). Some other time I will unfold my strategy if or when I become Caricom Youth Ambassador. Have a splendid week. BTW this week I am resuming my study (int'l law) at the University after a well deserved x-mas vacation. And for all of you resuming your study too...be blessed!!

Corantijn River

Bauxite (Alcoa plant)

"I am Gold" ltd

The St. Paulus and Petre Kathedral

Blache Marie waterfall

I will be showing some pictures of typical Suriname objects and subjects....hope you will enjoy them

The time has come and time has gone....we welcome 2007 and say goodbye to 2006. I wish you all a happy new year.

I just saw on the news the execution of the former dictator....man that was very weird, seeing such a once powerful man going down like that. I hope the Iraqis will find relieve in this execution and that they will now recognize that they have to move on and stop the ongoing violence. I pray for Irag that they will stand up and be a proud and prosperious nation on this earth. Be blessed Iraq!!

happy new year's eve everyone. The countdown to 2007 can finally begin at full speed. 10...9....8...7....6....5...4....3...2.....1....Happy new year!!!!!!!!!!

If I would recommend anyone on their trip abroad for old year, I would advice Suriname. I bet there is no place like Suriname when it comes to celebrating old year. It's one time of year I think it tops all other tourist destinations. And it is not because I am a citizen of Suriname but because many people from Europe and even the US have stated that indeed Suriname is unique when it comes to old year. An example: Suriname imports fireworks on a large scale which makes the country the biggest firework consumer on the South American continent ( almost US$ 4,- a person), a total of US$ 2 million just on the import of fireworks for a population of just half a million people.

That was just an update on the way we celebrate old year. As i promised I will be keeping you informed on the old year's situation as it unfolds and keep in mind that I will be posting more pictures of the celebration in Suriname (as you enjoy the ones below)

ciao for now

Just scroll down my blog and enjoy the pictures. You can comment or ask questions about them

Hi guys I will be showing you some nice pictures on how we in Suriname celebrate Old Year and New year. enjoy

I just have to thank a few people on TIG for there fantastic support this past year and ofcourse their great friendship. I would like to thank Axel for involving me in the whole TIG business and accepting me as a voluteer with the translation programm....hartelijk dank Axel (Thank you in Dutch)
And ofcourse my best friends here at TIG: His excellency Ayman and His Majesty Victor, thank you guys for your friendship...and I like to thank my mom and God.....oh no...this is not the grammy's right hehehehe...
Merry X-mas everyone and a blessed 2007!!!!!!!
from sweet Suriname

I'd like to wish each and everyone the happiest holidays seasons ever. I want to express my gratitude towards all the 1000+ TIG members who visited my Blog spot. I am glad that I decided to start writing often. I will also keep you up to date on the developments in Suriname and the Caribbean region (and ofcourse my Caricom Youth Ambassador's candidature) in 2007.
I hope from the depths of my heart that you will recieve all the blessings from above in the new year and may God's grace and warmth be with you where ever, who ever you are.

Authorities in Suriname are confident about the outcome of the hearings in the long-standing border dispute with Guyana. Both parties began presentations Thursday before an Arbitration Tribunal established under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The oral pleadings are being held behind closed doors in the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington, DC, and will last until December 20.

“I am confident that the Surinamese team is well-prepared for the oral pleading, that the Surinamese interests will be looked after vigorously and I expect that the Tribunal will judge the Surinamese positions on its merits,” said Suriname Foreign Affairs minister Lygia Kraag-Keteldijk from Washington, DC.

The same sentiments go for president Ronald Venetiaan. Earlier this week he also noted Suriname’s readiness for the procedures. “The Surinamese side is thoroughly prepared and is going with a good spirit and good feeling towards this arbitration procedure,” said the head of state. About the outcome, however, he is more cautious. “At this moment there is no reason to speculate on the outcome,” he responded to questions from journalists.

In February 2004, Guyana formally submitted to the Government of Suriname a Statement of Claim invoking Article 287 and Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea in relation to its maritime boundary dispute with Suriname.

Annex VII of the Convention sets out the rules and procedures for the establishment and functioning of an Arbitration Tribunal under the Convention. These procedures allow for disputes relating to maritime boundaries between adjacent States which are Parties to the Treaty to be submitted for binding resolution to an Arbitration Tribunal established under the Treaty.

Pursuant to the requirements, the Government of Guyana also gave notice of its action under the Convention to the President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. It has done so similarly to the Secretary General of the United Nations.

After a lull for three decades, the border tensions between Guyana and Suriname flared up again in June 2000 after Surinamese gunboats evicted an oil rig from Canada’s CGX Energy Inc. from the disputed maritime area on the Surinamese coast. CGX was granted an oil exploration contract by the Guyanese government in 1998 for the area in dispute.

Between June 2000 and October 2002 several efforts, including high-level talks between the presidents of both countries, failed to bring about a resolution. Both countries have claimed ownership to the Tigri Area (called by the Guyanese the New River triangle) in the south, while there is also a dispute over the maritime border. Guyana's President, Bharat Jagdeo, says he is looking forward to the matter being settled once and for all.

Standard & Poor's on Monday raised its long-term foreign currency sovereign credit rating on Suriname to "B" from "B-" on government efforts to address its payments to bilateral lenders and solid growth prospects.

A team from the international rating bureau visited Suriname several weeks ago and held talks with monetary officials.

In a response Tuesday to journalists, Minister of Finance Humphrey Hildenberg said the monetary policies of the government have proved positive. Since the country is paying off its foreign and internal debts on a regular basis, the “rating was being adjusted”.

“The outlook is also positive because Stand and Poor’s is expecting the situation to improve further,” the official added.

For the moment the government doesn’t have any specific policy measures to implement in order to further improve the economic situation and in doing so facilitate further improvement of the credit rating.

“We (the government) will monitor the situation and where necessary we will adjust the policies to maintain the current situation or to assure that it doesn’t get worse,” said the Finance Minister.

Standard & Poor's also raised its long-term local currency on the CARICOM country to "B+" from "B", and affirmed its "B" short-term sovereign credit ratings. The outlook on the foreign currency rating remains positive, while the outlook on the local currency rating was revised to positive from stable.

Minister Hildenberg disclosed that in January a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will visit Suriname to assess the economic performance of the country. The official expects a positive outcome of that assessment.

Hi everyone, I just want to give you an update on my ambitions to become the next Caricom Youth Ambassador for Suriname.
There is a very good chance I will be elceted end of this month as the new ambassador for the Caribbean region. It is all up to the elctions which will be held in the National Youth Parliament. This is really exciting and very challengng considering that this is my first real race to public office.

I promise that when I become ambassador I will most certainly use TIG as a forum, personaly, to discuss certain issues and to establish worldwide partnerships and collaborations.
I will come back at this point as soon as the results are in from the elctions.
So just pray for me that I get the opportunity to make something good out of the period of 2 years that will be granted to be ambassador.

Thank u,
And I look forward to any kind of response or suggestion even now

1. The WTO Is Fundamentally Undemocratic
The policies of the WTO impact all aspects of society and the planet, but it is not a democratic, transparent institution. The WTO rules are written by and for corporations with inside access to the negotiations. For example, the US Trade Representative gets heavy input for negotiations from 17 "Industry Sector Advisory Committees." Citizen input by consumer, environmental, human rights and labor organizations is consistently ignored. Even simple requests for information are denied, and the proceedings are held in secret. Who elected this secret global government?

2. The WTO Will Not Make Us Safer
The WTO would like you to believe that creating a world of "free trade" will promote global understanding and peace. On the contrary, the domination of international trade by rich countries for the benefit of their individual interests fuels anger and resentment that make us less safe. To build real global security, we need international agreements that respect people's rights to democracy and trade systems that promote global justice.

3. The WTO Tramples Labor and Human Rights
WTO rules put the "rights" of corporations to profit over human and labor rights. The WTO encourages a 'race to the bottom' in wages by pitting workers against each other rather than promoting internationally recognized labor standards. The WTO has ruled that it is illegal for a government to ban a product based on the way it is produced, such as with child labor. It has also ruled that governments cannot take into account "non commercial values" such as human rights, or the behavior of companies that do business with vicious dictatorships such as Burma when making purchasing decisions.

4. The WTO Would Privatize Essential Services
The WTO is seeking to privatize essential public services such as education, health care, energy and water. Privatization means the selling off of public assets - such as radio airwaves or schools - to private (usually foreign) corporations, to run for profit rather than the public good. The WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, includes a list of about 160 threatened services including elder and child care, sewage, garbage, park maintenance, telecommunications, construction, banking, insurance, transportation, shipping, postal services, and tourism. In some countries, privatization is already occurring. Those least able to pay for vital services - working class communities and communities of color - are the ones who suffer the most.

5. The WTO Is Destroying the Environment
The WTO is being used by corporations to dismantle hard-won local and national environmental protections, which are attacked as "barriers to trade." The very first WTO panel ruled that a provision of the US Clean Air Act, requiring both domestic and foreign producers alike to produce cleaner gasoline, was illegal. The WTO declared illegal a provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires shrimp sold in the US to be caught with an inexpensive device allowing endangered sea turtles to escape. The WTO is attempting to deregulate industries including logging, fishing, water utilities, and energy distribution, which will lead to further exploitation of these natural resources.

6. The WTO is Killing People
The WTO's fierce defense of 'Trade Related Intellectual Property' rights (TRIPs)—patents, copyrights and trademarks—comes at the expense of health and human lives. The WTO has protected for pharmaceutical companies' 'right to profit' against governments seeking to protect their people's health by providing lifesaving medicines in countries in areas like sub-saharan Africa, where thousands die every day from HIV/AIDS. Developing countries won an important victory in 2001 when they affirmed the right to produce generic drugs (or import them if they lacked production capacity), so that they could provide essential lifesaving medicines to their populations less expensively. Unfortunately, in September 2003, many new conditions were agreed to that will make it more difficult for countries to produce those drugs. Once again, the WTO demonstrates that it favors corporate profit over saving human lives.

7. The WTO is Increasing Inequality
Free trade is not working for the majority of the world. During the most recent period of rapid growth in global trade and investment (1960 to 1998) inequality worsened both internationally and within countries. The UN Development Program reports that the richest 20 percent of the world's population consume 86 percent of the world's resources while the poorest 80 percent consume just 14 percent. WTO rules have hastened these trends by opening up countries to foreign investment and thereby making it easier for production to go where the labor is cheapest and most easily exploited and environmental costs are low.

8. The WTO is Increasing Hunger
Farmers produce enough food in the world to feed everyone -- yet because of corporate control of food distribution, as many as 800 million people worldwide suffer from chronic malnutrition. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, food is a human right. In developing countries, as many as four out of every five people make their living from the land. But the leading principle in the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture is that market forces should control agricultural policies-rather than a national commitment to guarantee food security and maintain decent family farmer incomes. WTO policies have allowed dumping of heavily subsidized industrially produced food into poor countries, undermining local production and increasing hunger.

9. The WTO Hurts Poor, Small Countries in Favor of Rich Powerful Nations
The WTO supposedly operates on a consensus basis, with equal decision-making power for all. In reality, many important decisions get made in a process whereby poor countries' negotiators are not even invited to closed door meetings -- and then 'agreements' are announced that poor countries didn't even know were being discussed. Many countries do not even have enough trade personnel to participate in all the negotiations or to even have a permanent representative at the WTO. This severely disadvantages poor countries from representing their interests. Likewise, many countries are too poor to defend themselves from WTO challenges from the rich countries, and change their laws rather than pay for their own defense.

10. The WTO Undermines Local Level Decision-Making and National Sovereignty
The WTO's "most favored nation" provision requires all WTO member countries to treat each other equally and to treat all corporations from these countries equally regardless of their track record. Local policies aimed at rewarding companies who hire local residents, use domestic materials, or adopt environmentally sound practices are essentially illegal under the WTO. Developing countries are prohibited from creating local laws that developed countries once pursued, such as protecting new, domestic industries until they can be internationally competitive. California Governor Gray Davis vetoed a "Buy California" bill that would have granted a small preference to local businesses because it was WTO-illegal. Conforming with the WTO required entire sections of US laws to be rewritten. Many countries are even changing their laws and constitutions in anticipation of potential future WTO rulings and negotiations.

11. There are Alternatives to the WTO
Citizen organizations have developed alternatives to the corporate-dominated system of international economic governance. Together we can build the political space that nurtures a democratic global economy that promotes jobs, ensures that every person is guaranteed their human rights to food, water, education, and health care, promotes freedom and security, and preserves our shared environment for future generations.

12. The Tide is Turning Against Free Trade and the WTO!
International opposition to the WTO is growing. Massive protests in Seattle of 1999 brought over 50,000 people together to oppose the WTO—and succeeded in shutting the meeting down. When the WTO met in 2001, the Trade negotiators were unable meet their goals of expanding the WTO's reach. The WTO met in Cancún, Mexico this past September 10--14, and met thousands of activists in protest and scoring a major victory for democracy. Developing countries refused to give in to the rich countries' agenda of WTO expansion - and caused the talks to collapse!

Whatever you want to do and achieve, go for it. Take a step forward today towards your goals in life. Only some days will you feel inspired, moved and focussed enough to achieve your goals.

Make today one of those days and pursue what you want with all your heart, body and mind. Believe in yourself and your abilities, focus on your goals. For today, let your desires and ambitions shine. Steel yourself for action and make today great.

It is never easy to face your fears, self-doubts and gain the confidence to pursue your dreams. But it is harder and sadder to look back with regrets tomorrow and in future years on what you didn't do when you had the chance. Your time is precious, so throw caution to the wind. Just for today, achieve your secret dreams and desires, and trust in yourself. To paraphrase Walt Disney, 'Don't dream it, do it'.

Each year since 1990 the Human Development Report has published the human development index (HDI) that looks beyond GDP to a broader definition of well-being. The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity, PPP, income). The index is not in any sense a comprehensive measure of human development. It does not, for example, include important indicators such as inequality and difficult to measure indicators like respect for human rights and political freedoms. What it does provide is a broadened prism for viewing human progress and the complex relationship between income and well-being.

The HDI for Suriname is 0.759, which gives Suriname a rank of 89th out of 177 countries

Known as Dutch Guiana, the colony was integrated into the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1948. Two years later Dutch Guiana was granted home rule, except for foreign affairs and defense. After race rioting over unemployment and inflation, the Netherlands granted Suriname complete independence on Nov. 25, 1975. A coup d'état in 1980 brought military rule. During much of the 1980s, Suriname was under the repressive control of Lieut. Col. Dési Bouterse. The Netherlands stopped all aid in 1982 when Suriname soldiers killed 15 journalists, politicians, lawyers, and union officials. Defense spending increased significantly, and the economy suffered. A guerrilla insurgency by the Jungle Commando (a Bush Negro guerrilla group) threatened to destabilize the country and was harshly suppressed by Bouterse. Free elections were held on May 25, 1991, depriving the military of much of its political power. In 1992 a peace treaty was signed between the government and several guerrilla groups. In March 1997, the president announced new economic measures, including eliminating import tariffs on most basic goods, coupled with strict price controls. Later that year, the Netherlands said it would prosecute Bouterse for cocaine trafficking.

Tomorrow, November 25th, my country celebrates 31 years of independence from the Netherlands!!!

The Dutch forced independence upon Suriname in 1975, but the bonds between Suriname and the Netherlands remain strong. The Netherlands, rather than any neighbouring country, is still Suriname's largest trading partner. Suriname is dependent upon mining and foreign aid for foreign exchange. About 200,000 people of Surinamese descent live in the Netherlands. These people informally contribute a large proportion of Suriname's foreign exchange every year, and their wealth, knowledge and connections are a valuable resource for Suriname.

Suriname's Environment, People and Development

Suriname has about 100 million acres, or 150,000 sq. kilometers, of forest in the amazon basin. About 90% of the country's surface area is under tree cover; 80% is covered by primary mangrove, swamp, and rain forests. There are some known 4,500 species of plants, 674 species of birds, 200 species of mammals, 130 species of reptiles, and 99 amphibians. The trade in wildlife and endangered species is widespread, with preferred species being parrots, macaws, parakeets, songbirds, and a variety of reptiles, amphibians and orchids.

Despite clear evidence that logging will prove uncontrollable and bring little revenue to the state exchequer, it is clear that the present government continues to see resource exploitation in the rainforest interior of the country as the primary means of "development." The New Front government negotiated a number of contracts for immense logging concessions in favor of multinationals with dubious reputations. Only about 6% of the forests within the Forestry Service's area of operation were considered to be `managed' or `partly managed.' Marcus Colchester of the World Rainforest Movement wrote in 1995 that the government "embarking on a rapid expansion of logging when the country cannot even police its existing forest concessions is economic as well as environmental madness."

General statistics and prevalenceAt the end of 2005, an estimated 330,000 people were living with HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean. Some 37,000 people were newly infected during 2005, and there were 27,000 deaths due to AIDS.

In three of the seven countries in this region - the Bahamas, Haiti and Trinadad and Tobago - more than 2% of the adult population is living with HIV. Higher prevalence rates are found only in sub-Saharan Africa, making the Caribbean the second-most affected region in the world. More than half of adults living with the virus are women.

AIDS is now one of the leading causes of death in some of these countries, with Haiti being the worst affected. An estimated 16,000 lives are lost each year to AIDS in Haiti, and tens of thousands of children have been orphaned by the epidemic.

Trends and transmission routes
The predominant route of HIV transmission in the Caribbean is heterosexual contact. Much of this transmission is associated with commercial sex, but the virus is also spreading in the general population, especially in Haiti. Cultural and behavioural patterns (such as early initiation of sexual acts, and taboos related to sex and sexuality), gender inequalities, lack of confidentiality, stigmatization and economic need are some of the factors influencing vulnerability to HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean.

Haiti's prevalence levels have been very high since the late 1980s (the estimated rate in 2005 was 3.8%). With very low condom use among young people, and about 60% of the population under 24, much scope exists for renewed growth in Haiti's mainly heterosexually-transmitted epidemic. On the other side of Hispaniola Island, in the Dominican Republic, previously high prevalence has declined due to effective prevention efforts that encouraged people to reduce their number of sexual partners and increase condom use.

Provision of antiretrovirals
Countries in this region are making efforts to slow the epidemic and to limit its impact, most obviously through their efforts to provide antiretroviral drugs. In 2002, the Pan Caribbean Partnership against HIV/AIDS signed an agreement with six pharmaceutical companies to provide access to cheaper antiretroviral drugs. However, actual access to these drugs remains unequal across the region as a whole, partly due to wide differences in drug prices.

Access to antiretriviral therapy is provided to all those in need in Cuba, and the Bahamas and Barbados are advancing towards this goal. However in Trinidad and Tobago, barely more than a third of those in need of treatment for AIDS were receiving it at the end of 2005, and rates were even lower in Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

AVERT.org features further discussion of treatment and other issues connected with HIV & AIDS in the Caribbean, and information about treatment targets and results.

Estimated HIV/AIDS prevalence and deaths due to AIDS, end 2005


country All people Adult (15-49) Deaths due to
rate % AIDS during 2005
Bahamas 6,800 3.3 <500
Barbados 2,700 1.5 <500
Cuba 4,800 0.1 <500
Dominican Republic 66,000 1.1 6,700
Haiti 190,000 3.8 16,000
Jamaica 25,000 1.5 1,300
Trinidad and Tobago 27,000 2.6 1,900
Total 330,000 1.6 27,000

It should be noted that the above figures are estimates and are made with a large degree of uncertainty. For example, the number of people living with HIV in Haiti is estimated as being between 120,000 and 270,000, and the figure for the Bahamas lies in the range 3,300 to 22,000.

AVERT.org has many other HIV & AIDS statistics pages and a guide to understanding the statistics.

If your usual jungle is urban, you will be stunned by the contrast of Suriname, which offers some of the most beautiful natural habitats in the world.

This compact nation nestled on the north-west coast of the South American Caribbean has a population of fewer than 500,000 persons. They are an amalgamation of peoples of European, African, Indian and Far Eastern descent who joined the Amerindians who came to Suriname more than 5,000 years ago.

Most Surinamers live in the strip of land next to the Atlantic coast, half of them in Paramaribo, the capital. The capital has buildings dating from the British and Dutch colonial periods, and cuisine that reflects the backgrounds of the many peoples who brought their cultures to Suriname. The official language is Dutch, but many people speak English.

Venture deeper south from the capital and you will find untouched nature in 16 reserves and parks that include the swamp land leading to the mountainous rainforest. Suriname has a tropical climate with temperatures ranging from 70F (21C) to 90F (32C) and plenty of rainfall, most of it occurring between December and April.

On a typical morning in the jungle you will be awakened by the sound of the howler monkey calling piercingly from his sleeping perch in the trees, and a dawn chorus drawn from some of the 700 species of birds that thrive here.

You can take a walk in the jungle or be taken by water in a traditional korjaal, with the opportunity to spot some of Suriname's 400 species of mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

There are spider monkeys, tarantulas, toucans, boa constrictors, frogs, jaguars, macaws, bats and ocelots. In the water you can find alligators, piranhas, and electric eels. There is so much plant life that scientists are still struggling to classify it.

Experience Suriname, and you experience nature in its original splendor - an abundance of plant life and wildlife in a dense, unspoiled Amazonian basin rainforest.

Paramaribo

Relics of Suriname’s colonial past, especially from the Dutch era, as well as evidence of pre-Colombian and earlier Amerindian people, make Suriname special. The Old City of Paramaribo, part of our Capital and your gateway to Suriname, is now undergoing loving restoration, so history comes alive in Suriname.

Paramaribo

Suriname’s capital city. Now its historic old heart is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Wander through narrow streets lined by historic buildings from past centuries of English,
French and especially Dutch origin. Discover the largest wooden Cathedral in the western hemisphere, as well as impressive temples, mosques, synagogues, churches and other places of worship. Explore the 17th century Fort Zeelandia set in a picturesque setting along the Suriname River amongst neatly renovated buildings frome days gone by. Walk around many of the restored houses which were built in past centuries. Discover the local markets, or sip a drink on Waterkant (the Waterfront) as you watch the busy life on the Suriname River go by. The Palm Garden, the back yard of the Presidential Palace at the lawns of Onafhankelijkheidsplein (which translates as Independence Square) is a place to spend a pleasant hour. Make sure you plan for several days in Paramaribo during your trip. For further details on historic Paramaribo and Suriname’s cultural heritage, visit the website of the Suriname Cultural Heritage Foundation:www.heritagesuriname.org

This is a poem I wrote. I dedicate it to all the people in the world that are struggeling with lifes' problems.


You feel judged by society because you are different
because you refuse to behave as written
I give myself

You are struggling with lifes' challenges
because you are not that fortunate to have riches and wealth this world offers
I give myself

You can't get a job
because of your skin color or because you are not from a certain status
I give myself

You are rejected by this world
because you made mistakes and became a drug addict
I give myself

You are discriminated
because you have an infection that can not be cured
I give myself

I give myself
to all those struggling with
the rejection of this world
to all those who feel like they need a shoulder to lean on
or waiting for a prayer to get answered

I give myself
to all the children without parents
to all people living with HIV/AIDS
to all people having to fight poverty
minute by minute

I give myself
to make a change
to help
to listen
to make a difference

I GIVE MYSELF !!!!!

When ever I am on the TIG website I wonder how long it will take for youth, in my country and maybe elsewhere, to realize that they hold the future. For instance: Suriname is a developing country with a GDP of US$ 1.7 billion and a pupulation of 500,000 which makes US$ 3700 per capita. Actually not that bad, but you also need to consider that wealth is divided very unevenly. Suriname is ranked as the 17th richest country in terms of natural resources.
Still with all these positive figures many suffer poverty. It's also a fact that more as 70 % of the population lies between the age 0-30. however more as 90 % of the cabinet members, parlementarians and high ranked government officials are over the age of 40.

This means that young people are still not participating enough in the political system. What can be done to involve these young minds?
We need a new wind in our political system and only young people have enough drive to create such circumstances. The power of unity is underestimated!!!

I just recently came up with a theory that might give some new perspective on how to get developing countries out of their ever lasting missery. Developing countries are almost 100% former colonies of European countries. In those days the Europeans tried to run the colonies by their rules, laws and systems. Now here it is: When most of the colonies achieved their independence after world war II, they were left behind with loose administrative, social, economic and cultural links. The ex-colonies tried to fill in the missing links with their own visions on culture, administration etc... With that we now have in most of the developing countries a system that is for some part European and some part native. I believe that such a system will never work because a blend can sometimes work for the better, but in the way it happened in these countries most of the time: out of control. I also know that if we should believe my theorie, developing countries should try to replace the pieces that do not fit in the system with pieces that are more likely to adjust to the local circumstances. It is also true that the developed countries have great political and economical systems and that sometimes we could copy techniques, but still we have to adjust them to our own circumstances.

I would really appreciate it if You would reply to this blog and give me your views on this subject.