Kofi Walker - My online portfolio!

Dear Parents, Guardians and Friends,

Due to circumstances beyond my control I have had to change the venue of the activity to:

Ecole Primaire Dominique Mignon

8, Village de Concordia

St. Martin

I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. Hoping to see you next week and I will have the schedule ready at the beginning of the week.

The maximum participants I will work with for this event is 15 children between the ages of 4 - 12 years.

Lunch is 6 Euros per day per child; please indicate asap if you wish to order lunch for your child.

For information or quires please contact me at the numbers listed below, email or keep visiting my website for updates!

________________________________________

Mr. Kofi Walker

Dance Choreographer, Events Coordinator, Personal Trainer

Phone: (590) 690 22 92 59 * Fax: (590) 590 27 63 83

My IrieSM Page / Facebook / Slideshare / Email

Life is beautiful (LIB!) Lauri Shram? Thank you for reminding me of how desperate I was back in the days in England traveling for miles in the middle of nowhere, dancing with you for a student union party. In our passion for dance and entertaining people, we were loosing ourselves, wigs and all, because we love to make people happy. Moreover, we were having fun doing it.

At a time when so much chaos is around us, to see the beauty in life is almost impossible. There is a lot of trouble around us and is reason for concerns; but truly if there is no life then there can be no desire to struggle, fight, love, eat, have sex and still have dignity. Life is beautiful.

Yesterday I was truly blessed, I did my usual ritual, coffee at the Cupe a coy market café, did not go to the market for fish and ground provisions, instead I went to the barbers. After which I joined mourners at a funeral visited my friend who survived a bike accident and is now nursing a fractured leg. During that visit I also went to his neighbours house for a cup of rum this is in Sandi-Ground, rushed from there to joined an old flame for champagne and celebrate our friends new deal on a well deserved contract to rent a new home for their family. Later I dashed home for a quick shower; as it is valentine and knowing me…! I am all excited to go out and party with my lover; we went to some friend’s restaurant whose service was so bad that even though I was famished, and having not eaten a thing since yesterday… I told my better half to enjoy the meal without me. Like a true Josephine Baker Diva with a touch of Jamaican arrogance; I wheeled out of the restaurant and join some older women at the Lolo (Local bar and restaurant), drank beers and had a good laugh! Life is beautiful!

To condense my day in a paragraph is difficult because its so full. I am immensely touched by days like this; it evokes numerous emotions and allow for reflection on the beauty of life. I have been reciting Gandhi’s phrase all this week, which says… “The best way to find yourself… is to lose yourself in the service of others.” There is so much love in this statement that it is overwhelming once you really understand it. The beauty of this statement is to experience it!

So to really understand where I am going with this; I refer back to my third paragraph. I have been to more funerals this year than I have been in a long time and I do not have a fetish for these kinds of things. When it is hitting close to home you cannot help but being and becoming un-nerved. Prior to that though I was spending time at the barbershop. Jamaicans, Spanish, French, Haitians; and God alone knows what else, but multi-lingual; o yes! All having a good time and if you were not familiar with languages and naïve enough you would think that people were speaking in tongues… especially the Jamaican barbers who have to carry on more extra than all the nationalities in the house. I just love that. The duality in the experiences is something else really, at the hairdressers I go to cut and shave; at the funeral you go to celebrate the life and finality of a love one who will never experience re-growth. Thus, my friends life is beautiful.

My friend who is nursing a fractured leg also reminds me of my car accident that I was lucky to walk away from and so is he in this instance. He also reminded me of the moment when I fractured my arm. Despite the regurgitation of these traumatic experiences, there is a little 5 maybe 6 year old child (his daughter Maiell) who out of no-where would say to him… “Daddy I love.” To experience dynamic moments like this is worth noting that life is beautiful.

I also mentioned the neighbour; she fosters children, many of whom have been through severe and sad experiences, yet they are eating, laughing and sharing with each other. As I sat in her home holding this 4 month old child in my arms, soothing his discomfort; his gaze was not only captivating but there was no prejudice directed my way. He looked in my eyes and it was so touching. How can one not appreciate the beauty of life in the eyes of these children. Life is beautiful…!

The old flame; that’s a good laugh… well maybe it is not so bad that the flame is old… my grandmother use to keep a live coal burning in ashes from the night before to relight the fire in the mornings. This is a life long learning too. While I observe this of my grandmother, my mother also reinforced this with the saying “Never throw away your stick until you cross the river.” Again, I am one to give you many praises if I think you deserve it; but I will quickly rebuke you for your fallacies. To cut a long story short, this old flame was telling me how bitter I was in the past; I on the other hand was thinking; “yeah and what an ass-hole you have been in the past.” Wow and come to think of it… it seemed that we reflected or mirrored each other… at that time! Life is really beautiful.

The restaurant experience was the best. A little white-French-dutty-foot-boy see me dressed all in white; while him courting a teenager, have the audacity to tell me to “pass by his place of work for a chat.” Now to put things into perspective, some people are so nasty, dirty, unimportant and lacks sophistication (not that I have a lot!) but in an effort to look important they make erroneous mistakes. I sometimes form the fool to make others happy, this certainly does not mean I am always a clown. Well I ended up leaving the restaurant with my dignity in tact. O yes I did fix his business, but quietly; I think his date will run after me in future, I will wait to see. If it never happens I will not lose a thing, but I will bitch him about it in the event he pass his place with me again.

Nevertheless, when you think of where you have been, where you are at and what you hope to do in the future… with the little precious time we have, it would have been senseless for me to waist my energy negatively. To constantly remind myself that I need to redirect my energy in a positive way is a learning process and doing this is uplifting. Learning how to do this effectively makes my life more beautiful. Hence… I cannot help but to say it again LIB; LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. RIP to the dead… Encore to the living!

I really want to see this movie and perhaps I should read the book. Two year ago a local paper printed "Gay Teacher Sent Home," in bold on their front page. Because they sensationalized my lesson plan that was entitle "The Sound of Silence”, I ended up losing my job. I was very close to committing suicide and with the help of my partner, his kids and friends; I was able to pull through what had and still has been a very difficult period. Today students from the school still ask me when I am planning to return... Hmmm :-)

I live on a very small island; hence, it is not surprising that as a result; this story has now ostracized me to the extent where I am having difficulty finding new employment. The real horrors and disadvantages that I was experiencing on the job and with my superiors were quickly swept under a rug in favour of hate towards my sexuality, my confidence and self-esteem. This has not stopped me from teaching; no… I have been barred from having a regular income yes, but I have found a way to give my lessons voluntarily at a primary schools and around the community. Not having a regular income is difficult; but overcoming the stigma and being able to still teach gives me a reason to be optimistic; and is a resolution to what had cause me much harm both physically and emotionally...

Stories such as this one makes me realize that I am stronger than most and that I have every reason to defend and maintain my integrity. I have come to realize that many people including my own family are quick to judge me when they themselves have contributed little to community, society and sometimes to their own lives. You can follow some of the details of this saga on this website. In the mean time you can follow this link to learn more of the book and movie starring Sigourney Weaver in "A Prayer for Bobby." http://www.prayersforbobby.com/  

I am very touched by this! Keep prayeing not just for me but for yourselves and others.

Ashé

I can sometimes understand why people would prefer to help support feeding the homeless animals rather than human. I feel this act feeds the mind and spirit and there is much pleasure to be gained than disappointments. The gratitude of an animal certainly surpasses that of humankind.

So Fresh & So Clean Doggie wash:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=61172826824&ref=nf

To all my dear friends, forum members and welwishers,