By Jean H Charles From Menafin

The Caribbean people at home and in the Diaspora have lost a giant, a Mapou (it is a giant tree that lasted centuries) to use the colloquium in the Creole language.

For the many years that I have been privileged to write a column for Caribbean News Now, I did not have the opportunity to meet de visu with Barry Randall, yet our many calls, chats and e-mails made us close friends who trust each other and know and caring about each other.

When the former editor of Caribbean Net News passed away some ten years ago and Barry took the command of the journal under the label of Caribbean News Now, we found the same integrity, the same passion and the same kindness towards those writers who gave their time and their skills, gratis pro Deo to instruct and inform the public about the Caribbean in the new editor.

Last December, Barry informed me he was going under treatment for liver failure; I send him from Haiti some leaves of artichault, a Haitian staple tisane remedy to clean the liver. I was worry though because I knew the liver, this sewer cleaning lady is without pity if she is not given the means to work properly.

Caribbean News Now is now the proper vehicle for officials and ordinary folks to know about the pulse of the Caribbean on the home front as well as in the many diaspora sites, in the United States, Canada, Europe Africa and Asia. I am certain, Caribbean News Now will continue with the same standard of excellence and of service to the people of the universe.

Not informed about Barry’s passing, I sent him an e-mail about my last issue: Cape Haitian at the eve of its 350 anniversaries. As usual my first version is followed by a new version with an add on. Barry was already meeting his Maker. With no worry, I believe the associate editors who were schooled by Barry will continue to deploy the same mat of hospitality to the writers with their strength and their weakness, diminishing their weakness and magnifying their strength.

Caribbean News Now, an institution like the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal shall live forever, with the colleagues who shared my commentary week-end spot like Ambassador Ronald Sanders, Antony L Hall, Adrian Loveridge , David Jessop as well as all the other devotees commentators during the week.

May my friend Barry Randall enjoy the company of the Saints and those who spent their lives on this earth seeking and meeting their divine mission of rendering this earth a better place to enjoy and grow children as God demanded upon each one of us!

May we, Caribbean people, understand the privilege given to us by God to live in a paradise like setting with the obligation to protect, embellish and transmit to the next generation a much better Caribbean, where our children have no need to migrate to New York, London or Toronto to pursue a life full of possibilities to fulfill their cherished dreams.

This is the best gift we will bestow on Barry, he did command us to elevate our aspirations to that hill.

(MENAFN – Caribbean News Now) Jean H Charles LLB, MSW, JD, is a regular contributor to the opinion section of Caribbean News Now.

For more on this story go to: https://menafn.com/1098669869/Commentary-Barry-Randall-a-Mapou-from-and-for-the-Caribbean-has-passed-away