The Only Path to Serenity

Tags

Austerity, Calamity, Carbon dioxide levels, Federal budget sequester cuts, Insecurity, Politics, Serenity

Frankenstorm Sandy – NOAA/NASA GOES Image – 30 October 2012
Source: http://www.livescience.com

Negativity is bad for your health, a doctor once told me. And my life has had no shortage of negativity. So, to maintain a healthy, positive outlook, I start my day with a Psalm from the Bible and end it with a chapter from Lao-tzu’s Tao Te Ching. Chapter nine offered the following advice to attain serenity.

            Fill your bowl to the brim
            and it will spill.
            Keep sharpening your knife
            and it will blunt.
            Chase after money and security
            and your heart will never unclench.
            Care about people’s approval
            and you will be their prisoner.
 
            Do your work, then step back.
            The only path to serenity.

            Tao Te Ching, A New English Version by Stephen Mitchell, 1988.

I won’t lie. This last week, my bowl brimmed over with frustration at the latest scandals – pertaining to Benghazi, the IRS, and the Associated Press – brought against our President by dissatisfied senators in the opposition party. A faction is calling for his impeachment. The more I learn about American democracy, the less I understand. Instead of tackling the problems crippling our nation, our elected representatives spend most of their time obstructing the decision-making process.

Seasoned politicians seem to have learned how to flow with the current of dissent to get some work done. Perhaps, experience has taught them that obstructionists who keep sharpening their knives become irrelevant over time. Sadly, we the people suffer the consequences of their inaction.

Chasing after money and security is the privilege of the rich. With federal budget sequester cuts of about $85.4 billion, slated for this year, austerity is reserved for the low-paid, underpaid, unemployed, and retired working class. Money is scarce. Insecurity is a way of life.

Our recent failure to pass common sense gun control laws exposed senators who are prisoners of campaign donors, stifling their freedom to act in the interest of their constituents. Disapproval would end their political career.

Doing what is morally right takes courage. We have to be prepared to stand alone, to lose friendships, to lose our job. Shunned by our peers.

While our senators played political games of positioning for future elections, instead of doing their jobs, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere broke a three-million-year record (NOAA Release, 10 May 2013). The average daily level has now surpassed 400 parts per million. More calamities, like Frankenstorm Sandy, await us.

Lao-tzu said, Do your work, then step back. Our President appears to have a head start in this regard. Some political commentators accuse him of lacking forcefulness in handling the latest scandals. Who knows the minds of our leaders?

We must remain engaged in these matters that govern and affect our lives. We must each continue to do our part to bring about the changes we need. One step at a time. One day at a time.

With the prospects of greater austerity, insecurity, and calamity, I will definitely need a good dose of serenity.

The Best Mother’s Day Gift

Tags

Courageous mothers, Dona Lindu – Mother of Lula, Lula o filho do Brasil, Mother’s Day, Northeast Brazil, Struggling mothers

My Sons – Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil – 1992

When my two sons were kids, my best Mother’s Day gifts were the cards they made for me. I treasure these cards to this day. Now that they are young men, my best Mother’s Day gift is celebrating their achievements, large and small, as they work towards their individual goals in life.

Many are the challenges we mothers face as we raise and prepare our children to take their place in the world: to be kind, to make a difference, to triumph over loss and misfortune.

This Mother’s Day, I think of mothers who struggle to raise their children under adverse conditions. Mothers who labor at low-wage jobs in fast-food restaurants, retail stores, and hotels. Mothers who have lost their homes to foreclosure and raise their kids in cars and shelters. Mothers who have lost their jobs and must depend upon charitable and government assistance to feed their children.

When we are strong, our children learn to be strong too. There are countless, unknown, courageous mothers across America and our planet who can attest to this. Dona Lindu (photo below) from Pernambuco in Northeast Brazil, a woman who could not read or write, was such a mother.

Source: revistacrescer.globo.com

Here’s what one of Dona Lindu’s sons said about her:

I thank God for my mother’s courage. Do you know what I keep thinking? How is it that an illiterate woman like that…gather seven* children together and come to São Paulo, in the hope of meeting a husband that she had no idea what he was doing in life?… And succeeded in leaving this husband. And succeeded in raising seven children. Because, if it’s true that marginality is connected to poverty, my mother is the opposite of this. During a period of immense misery, my mother raised five sons that became poor men, but honorable, and three women that didn’t have to prostitute themselves. I think this is very noble. Because of this, I have an immeasurable respect for my mother [he cries].

… My mother had a very great desire for life. She didn’t get depressed or discouraged. She was not a woman who complained about life. I don’t recall my mother complaining about working too much. There was always something that caused her to say: “It’s great, everything’s fine!” Whenever we complained, she would say: “Tch, but there’re people worse off than you.”

* The eldest son had already joined their father in São Paulo.

LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA, PRESIDENT OF BRAZIL (JAN 2003 – DEC 2010)
Translation by Rosaliene Bacchus of interview in June 1993 with Denise Paraná, from her official biography Lula, o filho do Brasil (Lula, The Son of Brazil), Third Edition, São Paulo, Brazil, 2008.

Dona Lindu died in 1980. She did not see her son Lula inaugurated as President of Brazil on 1 January 2003. How could she have imagined that one of her sons would achieve such greatness?

Strong character arises from struggle. Our labor and sacrifices bear fruit of worth. What better gift could a mother hope for?

Success is Transitory

Tags

Brazil imports, Financial crises, Foreign exchange rates, Fortaleza/Ceará, Globalized economy, Job insecurity, Plano Real

Bairro Varjota – Fortaleza – Ceará – Brazil
Photo by Macilio Gomes (www.panoramio.com)

 

As Import Manager at Ceará Importers,* a successful and expanding young medium-sized company in Fortaleza, I thought that I had finally made it in Brazil. Gone were my days of struggle to raise the rent and my sons’ high school fees. We dressed better, frequented the cinema, and enjoyed holiday week-end outings. I also began looking for an apartment closer to my workplace and my sons’ school.

After relocating to his farm 52 miles away from the capital, a good friend offered to rent me his apartment in Bairro Varjota, an upscale neighborhood in Fortaleza. An evening after work, my sixteen-year-old son and I visited the apartment. Located on the eighth floor of a ten-story apartment building, it had a master bedroom with bathroom, two other bedrooms sharing another bathroom and self-contained quarters for a live-in maid. The view from the living room balcony took my breath away.

My son looked at me wide-eyed. “Mom, you’re dreaming. We can’t afford a place like this,” he told me.

“We can make it happen,” I said.

By cutting non-essential expenses, we were able to cover the doubly higher rent and condo fees. Change demanded individual sacrifices.

Four months and thirteen days after moving into our new apartment, the Brazil Central Bank announced a change in foreign exchange rates. The Brazil real, pegged one-to-one with the American dollar (R$1.00 = US$1.00) during the previous five years under the economic Plano Real (Real Plan), would undergo fluctuations. The measure aimed to defend Brazil’s foreign reserves that had suffered losses totaling over US$44 billion during the financial crises in Asia (1997) and Russia (1998).

The announcement that Wednesday in January 1999 caused havoc at Ceará Importers. The cost of our imports had increased overnight. Our products were no longer competitive with similar nationally produced goods. Sales plummeted with increased prices. The company began closing its retail stores, laying-off the employees. Tensions rose at the head office-warehouse-showroom complex where I worked.

Who would be next?

I floundered as the company lost its ground and battled to find a new direction for survival. I crumbled as colleagues I had come to know and love said their goodbyes.

By mid-year, I worked only half-days. Paying my rent became a challenge. Sleepless nights assailed me. My hunt for a job opening began anew.

As shipments came to a halt, I became irrelevant. My final days came in February 2000. Despite a number of job interviews, I hadn’t yet secured a new job.

When we are on top, we think that it will last forever. I learned that in a globalized economy, there is no job security. We never know when destructive winds will blow our way and sweep our success from under our feet.

* Fictitious Name

University of Guyana: Fifty Years Serving the Nation

Tags

Dr. Cheddi Jagan, Global economic crisis, Global unemployment, Higher education, University of Guyana

University of Guyana – Turkeyen Campus – Guyana
Source: Google Earth

Fifty years serving Guyana since its inception on 19 April 1963. A remarkable achievement for a young developing nation with a population of less than 800,000.

The University of Guyana is the legacy of a leader whose mother never went to school and father who left school before he was ten. Ignoring the naysayers, Dr. Cheddi Jagan, an American trained dentist, had pursued his vision for Guyana’s future as an independent nation. Together with other founding members, he initiated evening classes in the country’s top secondary school building and rented buildings around Georgetown.

Dr. Jagan knew that realizing a big dream started with small steps.

From a small beginning of 179 undergraduates, the university has grown to over 5,000 students at its Turkeyen Campus opened in October 1969.

Small beginnings did not mean low educational standards. Socialist scholars in the United Kingdom and the United States assisted in staff recruitment. Academics from renowned universities designed and assessed the curriculum.

The founders of the University of Guyana saw the crucial need for preparing Guyanese to take their roles in developing the nation after its independence from Britain. Very few citizens could afford pursuing higher education overseas. A nation needs qualified teachers, nurses, doctors, agricultural and industrial technicians, high-level public service professionals, scientists, and much more.

They also envisaged the university’s role in on-going research and as a means to creating a group of intellectuals capable of defining the goals of a young nation and finding solutions to persistent socioeconomic deficiencies.

Over the past fifty years, the University of Guyana has indeed played a vital role in the nation’s development.

As a member of the alumni, I can say that my years of study at the university have made an invaluable difference in my professional life and, as a geographer, the way in which I perceive the world and my role in contributing towards a better society for all.

Today, we live in different times. We have different needs. We face different challenges. Since 2008, the world struggles to recover from a global economic crisis. According to a news report from the International Labor Organization, global unemployment rose again in 2012. There are not enough jobs available for all the graduates leaving our universities. Private companies continue to cut labor costs to remain competitive. Governments have to tighten their budgets and reduce the number of civil service jobs.

University graduates cannot apply their knowledge in the service of their communities where job opportunities do not exist. Are they prepared to take control of their own careers? When they fail to obtain job placements, are they equipped to work freelance, start their own sole-proprietor or small businesses?

If high unemployment rates persist worldwide, will our young people still see a university education as a means to achieving their goals in life? Will the University of Guyana still remain relevant in its mission in serving the nation? Will it survive for another fifty years?

Earth Day 2013: The Face of Climate Change

Tags

America’s most endangered river, California, Climate Change, Colorado River, Drought in the USA, Lake Mead, Los Angeles, Planet Earth

The Colorado River from space on March 12, 2013 – NASA Earth Observatory
Source: http://www.livescience.com

On Monday, 22 April 2013, over one billion people worldwide will take part in the 43rd anniversary of Earth Day. The theme this year is The Face of Climate Change. We are invited to take a photo and tell our story of the way in which climate change affects us and what we are doing to be part of the solution.

In my corner of Planet Earth, the Colorado River is the face of climate change. On 16 April 2013, the annual release of America’s Most Endangered Rivers ranked the Colorado River as our nation’s number one endangered river. This lifeline through the desert sustains over 40 million people in seven Western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Our water demands are so great that this mighty river dribbles and dries up for some fifty miles before it reaches the Gulf of California.

Colorado River Delta – America’s Most Endangered River 2013
Source: press.nationalgeographic.com

Lake Mead reservoir behind Hoover Dam shows signs of the worst ten-year drought in recorded history along the Colorado River. A white mineral “bathtub ring” along its rocky banks lies 100 feet up from the current water line to the 1983 high-water mark.

Lake Mead Reservoir behind Hoover Dam 2009 – Colorado River – USA
Source: http://www.millennium-ark.net

American Rivers, the leading organization working to protect and restore our rivers and streams since 1973, warns that warmer weather and below average snowpack in the Rocky Mountains are expected to reduce Colorado River’s flow by 10 to 30 percent by 2050. Assuming a life expectancy of 80 years, my sons and all inhabitants of this region between 0 to 43 years old will face dwindling water supplies and subsequent effects on food production and industries.

During the first three months of this year, California experienced its driest first-quarter on record since 1895. And we are not alone. Sixty-seven percent of contiguous states are drier than normal and the population in some places still struggle with exceptional drought. The weekly updated U.S. Drought Monitor Map shows the extent of drought across the United States.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported in February 2013 that the 2012/2013 drought affected our nation’s agricultural production, river transport system, recreational enterprises, and municipal water supplies. America’s economic loss to drought is estimated at US$35 billion.

With its dependence upon the waters of the endangered Colorado River, will Los Angeles still maintain its glory as the nation’s entertainment capital a hundred years from now?

As an Angeleno, I am the face of climate change. I cannot claim innocence. I have to let go of my complacency. I have to change my ways and my habits. I have to conserve energy, gas, and water. I have to buy more locally grown food. I have to reduce my waste. I have to stop craving useless stuff that depletes Earth’s natural resources and heats up our atmosphere for its production. I have to walk and use public transport as often as possible to reduce my carbon footprint.

I am the face of climate change. I cannot claim innocence. I am the cause and the solution.

Community Gardening: Transforming Urban Food Deserts into Food Forests

Tags

Corporate control of government, Corporate personhood, Equitable and humane society, Gun control reform, Transnational corporations

Community Gardening – Oakland – California
Source: www2.oaklandnet.com

For yet another week, I have watched with mounting frustration our dysfunctional government’s failure to pass legislation needed to resolve the myriad and pressing problems facing our nation. Disenchanted am I to witness the leadership of the world’s greatest nation handcuffed and in stranglehold.

After conquering the world market and becoming powerful transnational behemoths capable of toppling governments of developing nations that fuel their growth, America’s great and admired innovative corporations are now intent in dominating the government of the Fatherland and commanding its armies. Think not that I exaggerate. Consider our current struggle against the National Rifle Association (NRA), lobbyists for our weapons manufacturers, to get common sense reform for gun control in our communities. Reform demanded by the majority of Americans, including gun owners and NRA members. Reform that will save lives. Our children’s lives. Your life. My life.

Our transnational corporations have morphed into Franken-corporations, feeding and fattening themselves until all is consumed, contaminated or destroyed. Despite obtaining personhood status, through their political clout, they have neither heart nor soul. Atop the heap of human deprivation and waste they leave in their wake – the underpaid, unemployed, homeless, sick, and hungry – they live in a world of excess and self-indulgence. They learn not from history. How could they? Corporations are not people. They are incapable of self-introspection.

On Friday, the unexpected happened to dispel my gloom. I watched two TED Talk videos, posted on the Guyanese Online Blog. I learned about the work of Ron Finley and Stephen Ritz in transforming their communities through community farming. This new urban garden revolution in America is a surprising development. I grew up in a poor developing nation where we maintained kitchen gardens out of necessity.

Ron Finley, a community activist in South Central Los Angeles, started growing his own food when he couldn’t buy healthy food in his neighborhood. As one of the founders of L.A. Green Grounds, he transforms neighborhoods once considered Food Deserts into Food Forests.

Stephen Ritz teaches at-risk kids in the South Bronx, New York. Starting in his classroom with an indoor edible wall, he works with students and their families in growing their own vegetables through community gardening, thereby transforming their lives and community. With growing interest in his green project, he founded the Green Bronx Machine to grow, re-use resources and recycle our way into new and healthy ways of living; complete with self sustaining local economic engines.

The seeds of transformational change have been planted and will continue to spread. I am now considering adding vegetable plants to my flower garden. Many more individuals across our nation are working to bring about real change in their battered communities. Others, through organizations like Public Citizen, are working to purge our government of corporate control. Given their social predatory nature, Franken-corporations will eventually self-destruct. In the meantime, we can each do our small part in building a more equitable and humane society.

Hope lives!

Rewards of Brazil’s Market for Perfumes, Toiletries & Cosmetics

Tags

ABIHPEC, ANVISA, Brazil imports, Cosmetics, Northeast Brazil, Perfumes, Toiletries

Perfumes Natura – Brazil
Source: naturavendas.wordpress.com

Brazilians adore perfume. In Northeast Brazil – the region with 42.5 percent of perfume sales – 79.7 percent of the population use perfumes, according to the Union for the Industry of Perfumes and Toiletries of São Paulo (SIPATESP). I was therefore not surprised to learn that in 2010 Brazil overtook the United States as the world’s largest market for perfumes with US$6 billion in sales (Euromonitor International).

At Ceará Importers,* we imported a wide selection of perfumes and toiletries of several popular American and European brands. Our suppliers provided us with the declarations of manufacturing and quality controls required by the Brazilian health authority for obtaining our import licenses. Translation of product labels from English to Portuguese, required for commercialization of these products in Brazil, became my responsibility.

When import regulations became more rigorous, we had secured contracts with two American manufacturers for retail and distribution of their products, one for toiletries and the other for Alternative Perfumes, throughout Northeast Brazil. Under the new regulations issued by the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) in Brasilia, importers in the sector had to obtain an Operational License, as was required for national manufacturers. This meant the provision of a laboratory and qualified technical staff for quality control, as well as special storage facilities (Portaria SVS/MS nr 71/1996).

While construction was underway, I became the contact person between our American partners and the pharmacist contracted to prepare the product dossiers for our registration applications. Without a chemistry background, I found translations of the chemical formulas from English to Portuguese a laborious task. The time-consuming process for regularization with ANVISA must have frustrated our American partners.

Current norms and procedures required by ANVISA for the registration of perfumes, toiletries and cosmetics – including the documents required for product registration – are set out in Resolution RDC 211/2005.

To avoid excessive delays or deferment during the application process, our firm’s directors contracted a health professional in Brasilia, experienced in working with ANVISA. When dealing with government bureaucracy, it pays to work with those who understand the system. It took time. We experienced setbacks, but it all worked out well in the end.

Regulations for importing products controlled by ANVISA can change without advance notice. I kept abreast with changing norms and procedures through daily perusal of the Diário Oficial da União which publicizes legal federal matters.

With more and more Brazilians entering the middle class, the demand has grown for perfumes, toiletries, and cosmetics. In their Panorama of the Sector, published in April 2012, the Brazilian Association of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Industry (ABIHPEC) demonstrated growth of 340.9 percent and 293.5 percent in imports and exports respectively during the period 2002 to 2011. Today, the Brazil market for this sector ranks in third place worldwide behind the United States and Japan.

* Fictitious Name

Reflections on Easter Sunday

Tags

Easter, Gospels of the New Testament, Love your neighbor as yourself, Teachings of Jesus

Kite Flying at Easter – Interior of Guyana

Photo by James Broscombe 2010 (jmbroscombe.blogspot.com)

 

Easter Sunday. Christians across the United States and around the world celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, three days after his death by crucifixion. In Guyana, the sky above the coastline vibrates with colorful kites of all shapes and sizes.

Growing up in a working class family in a British colony, I connected with Jesus’ life and world. He, too, came from the working class and lived in a country ruled by the foreign power of his day: the Roman Empire.

Accounts of Jesus’ teachings and work in the gospels of the New Testament reveal a man fearless in criticizing the excesses, self-righteousness, vanity, and hypocrisy of religious leaders in his community. They chided Jesus for mixing with bad-johns, women of ill-repute, people of other religions; and for disregarding their religious dictates. Through his actions, He made it clear that his mission was to serve the weak, broken, harassed, dejected, outcast, lost, abandoned, sick, and poor.

When his enemies brought to him a woman caught in adultery, a crime punishable by stoning to death, Jesus did not fall for their trickery. He made one request. The person who was free of guilt should throw the first stone. After the woman’s accusers walked away one by one, He did not lambaste her. Go home, He told her. Stop making such bad choices.

Jesus’ teachings continue to resonate with me. He advocated that we love our neighbors as we love ourselves. A tough one that is. My neighbor might be a rapist, wife-beater, pedophile, drug dealer, pimp, thief… My list of undesirable neighbors is long. Life is complicated enough when relating with those I love.

As to loving myself? That poses another challenge. I grew up with parents who fought constantly with each other. If love existed, I could not sense it. It took me years to learn to love myself with all my failings and weaknesses. Only then could I begin to accept and love others with their own frailties.

As an adolescent, it shocked me that a good person like Jesus could be rejected, betrayed, and executed. Goodness repaid with evil intent. As an adult, I learned that this is the reality of our day-to-day lives, even when dealing with decent people.

It heartened me to learn that after Jesus’ death, his disciples overcame their fear of also facing execution, and came out of hiding. They carried on Jesus’ mission, declaring that He had risen from the dead. Persecution, imprisonment, and death did not deter them. Love had conquered fear. Love had prevailed. The life, work, and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth – a small village on the fringes of the Roman Empire – spread across the world and have endured to this day.

Easter Sunday reminds me that love will prevail wherever and whenever Darkness wields its iron fists. Today, my soul soars high with the kites over Guyana’s cities, towns, and villages.

The Cashew Tree: Lessons in Facing Adversity

Tags

Cashew nuts, Cashew tree, Facing adversity, Fortaleza/Ceará, Northeast Brazil

World’s Largest Cashew Tree – Natal – Northeast Brazil

Source: braziltravelbuddy.com

Trees have always fascinated me. In my native land, Guyana, fruit trees abound and flowering trees lined the main avenues of our capital, Georgetown. They beautified our city and brightened my life. Before I was born, their robust trunks had withstood the forces of Nature. They will continue to stand tall and radiant long after I have passed away.

When we moved to Fortaleza (CE), I fell in love with the cashew tree: o cajueiro (ka-ju-ay-ru). Native of Northeast Brazil, it flourished in the hot tropical climate and sandy soils of the region – responsible for over 95 percent of the nation’s cashew production. They are cultivated commercially for the production of cashew nuts, one of the major exports of the State of Ceará to the United States. The shape, vivid colors, and nut of the caju (ka-ju) became a new fascination. The pseudo-fruit made a delicious juice rich in vitamin C, calcium, phosphorous, and iron.

Cashew Hanging from Tree (Source: afe.com.br)

Most of the cashew trees in our condominium rose to only two stories high. About twenty feet away from our third-floor apartment stood the largest cajueiro, four stories tall. During our early years, the tree seemed stunted: little foliage and no fruit. On sleepless nights, I would stand at my bedroom window and look out onto the still, quiet night. The cajueiro was my only companion: a witness to my desperation after I was left alone to raise my sons in a foreign country. Although it no longer bore fruit, the cajueiro stood tall and strong. If I were to succeed in providing for myself and sons, I had to remain grounded; to stand tall and strong.

Time passed. When afflicted and broken, I observed the cajueiro with its scanty crown. It reminded me that, when faced with obstacles and setbacks, I had to focus on building fortitude for survival and on developing as a professional.

Then one year, a miracle happened. A deluge inundated the canals and streets of drought-prone Fortaleza. The cajueiro came to life. New leaves and blossoms sprouted. Over the following years, its crown filled out and expanded. Fruit adorned its limbs.  Boisterous birds moved in.

The cajueiro extended its limbs towards my window, providing a curtain of foliage outside my window. During the caju season, I could reach out and pick the ripe fruit that hung within my reach.

I, too, had grown: as a mother, provider, and professional. When the opportunity arose for a better position, I was ready to move forward.

The Next Big Thing Blog Hop!

Tags

Atonement, Caribbean literature, Mainstream fiction, On Writing, Rachel Olivier, Rejected and abandoned

For those of you who follow my weekly blog posts on Sundays, this is a special post in response to an invitation from my writing friend, Rachel Olivier, who recently tagged me in a writer’s blog tagging called The Next Big Thing Blog Hop. The intention is to get readers interested in our next book in the making. Rachel and I worked together at the Miracle Mile Writers Club. She has played an important role in my journey as a writer. I enjoy her work and know that her next big thing, a modern take on Cinderella, will have some unexpected twists, thrills, and hard truths.

According to the regulations of this Blog Hop, I have to answer the following ten questions about my Next Big Thing. Here goes:

1. What is the title of your work-in-progress? Under the Tamarind Tree
2. Where did the idea come from? My response to the question: What had I done in life to deserve being thrice abandoned by people I love?
3. What genre does your book come under? Mainstream fiction
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie? I leave that task to casting experts. When I went in search of faces for my characters, I chose pictures of regular people I found online.
5. One sentence synopsis for your book. A man’s atonement for the deaths of his mother and eight-year-old brother.
6. Will your book be self-published, published by an independent publisher or represented by an agency? I would like to be represented by an agency.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? Four years
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? Caribbean literature. It is set in pre- and post-independent Guyana:  a period (1950-1970) marred by racial violence.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book? My reunion with my mother after 31 years of separation was a tsunami in my life. She was not the mother I had known and loved. During a year of soul-searching, I began writing as a form of therapy.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest? The main characters are people readers will come to love, despise or hate. They are not only capable of great sacrifice and generosity in times of crises, but also reveal traits of vindictiveness, jealousy, betrayal, infidelity, deception, despair, brutality, and even murder.

During the course of writing my novel, I learned that those we love can reject or abandon us when we fail to fulfill their expectations of us. We lose our value or importance. Such is the nature of conditional love. Richard B. Cheong, protagonist of Under the Tamarind Tree, learns this the hard way.

Now comes the part where I should tag another writer. Regrettably, the three writers I contacted prefer not to participate. If you are a writer and would like to share your writing project through this media, please feel free to tag yourself and take this forward. We are writers promoting our work and the work of other writers.