“Rebuild Dominica Inc,” a non- profit relief organization based in Washington DC, helping to rebuild Dominica after the devastation caused by Tropical Storm Erika last weekend staged a successful solidarity weekend with Dominica at the forefront.
The events began on Thursday, November 19 with a meet and greet cocktail reception at the law offices of Dominican Attorney and Founder of the Rebuild Dominica organization, Gabriel Christian.
At that event, Dominicans resident in the Washington DC area got an opportunity to welcome officially the Legendary Cadence-Lypso Gordon Henderson and his wife Shannon who flew in from Paris to attend the 22nd Annual Caribbean American Heritage Awards.
The occasion also presented an opportunity to meet with directors of the Caribbean Agricultural Network (CAN) which is in the process of spearheading a major chocolate making project involving Dominican cocoa farmers.
On the morning of Friday, November 20, members of Rebuild Dominica Inc, and management of the Caribbean Agricultural Network (CAN) met at National Harbour for the official launch of Chocolat de La Dominique by Spagnvola.
CAN’s partner and CEO of Spagnvola Eric Reid spoke highly of his mission to Dominica in February 2015 at which time meetings were held with Dominica’s cocoa farmers, private sector entities, Ministry of Agriculture officials and other government officials including the Hon.Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit.
It was during that visit that harvested cocoa beans from Dominica were fermented and later shipped to Reid’s Chocolate factory (Spangnvola Chocolatier) in the Dominican Republic.
Today the first batch of Chocolat de La Dominique is ready for consumption and is available for retail in Washington at US$20 a bar. Dominicans attending Friday’s official launch of the 70% Chocolat de La Dominique were engaged in a chocolate tasting exercise which convinced them about the premium and exquisite quality of the chocolate authentically made with Dominican cocoa beans. The plan is that proceeds of the sale of these sought after chocolates will be reinvested into Dominica.
Meanwhile on the evening of Friday November 20, Gordon Henderson joined seven other outstanding Caribbean American nationals and was presented with the 2015 Trail Blazer Award at the historical Caribbean American Heritage awards gala at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Washington DC.
Henderson also performed on Saturday, Nov. 21st at Irie Grille Caribbean restaurant in Lanham, MD during a “Dominica benefit Showcase” presented by Rebuild Dominica Inc!
The showcase also featured live music from the musical genius of IMAGE BAND and many great Calypso & Reggae artists such as Super L, Desii Hyson, Tronada, Jerome Austrie, and more and was well attended by Dominicans from the Washington DC area, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Canada and Dominica.
The weekend celebrations climaxed with a church service on Sunday, November 22nd spotlighting Dominica with “Rebuild Dominica Inc” at the Evangel Assembly, Temple Hills MD.
The service was conducted by Dominican Reverend Dr. St.Clair Mitchell and punctuated with a fitting tribute provided by Gordon Henderson written after Tropical Storm Erika dubbed “leve’ Dominique, Stand up Dominica”.
One of the many highlights of the church service was the 2016 mission pledge by members of Evangel Assembly, proceeds of which will go towards relief efforts in Dominica post Tropical Storm Erika.
Among the patriotic Dominicans attending the Church service clad in variations of Dominica’s national wear included Dominica’s US Ambassador to the OAS H.E Hubert J. Charles and his wife, Founder of Rebuild Dominica Inc! Gabriel Christian his wife and children, Associate member of Rebuild Dominica Inc, Fitzroy Bertrand, his wife and family, publicist of Rebuild Dominica Inc, Ladana Drigo, former Manager of DAPEX and Director of the Caribbean Agricultural Newtwork (CAN)-Dominica, Errol Emmanuel and his wife, Angela Sylvester of the Dominica Emerald Organization of New Jersey and seasoned Dominican Journalist and Television personality, Tarnia Green.
Since the passage of Tropical Storm Erika, Rebuild Dominica Inc, has made significant contributions and donations to Dominica towards its rebuilding and recovery efforts.
For more information on Rebuild Dominica Inc, log on to www.Rebuilddominica.org
Has anyone stopped to look at the value chain? Dominica will produce the cacao beans, which will then be shipped to the factory in Barbados for chocolate production. Essentially, all you will have retained is the skills and value to be derived from planting and selling cocoa. With its abundance of water, fresh fruit, a labour force that can be trained and the making of a viable cacao-producing industry, what stands in the way of making this a totally Dominican undertaking that produces in addition cocoa mixes, plain and flavoured chocolates, chocolate-flavoured beverages, chocolate-covered fruit?
I haven’t seen a rebuild yet in DDominica ,The donations is helping those in need,Some infrastructure should start happening,That’s Dominica never advance to rebuild,Some countries sent construction supplies to the government they should start rebuilding already with the supplies they have received from the
countries who donated the supplies, I guess the government is depending for these countries to send money as well.
Good Job guyes. Wish you all the success. The cocoa programme is an awesome idea, but you all have to face heavy competition from established corporations. Because it is a food product, it will be heavily regulated. So be prepared. You can do it.
I hope future plans include a factory in Dominica to serve the Caribbean region, because shipping primary products limits economic development.
Thank You ! Thank You! Dominicans on the go real nice,keep up the Great job. God bless you all.
Labourites say it with me…”Labour Ka Twavay’!!!!!!! That says it all!
It is not a question of Labour or Freedom. It is a question of Dominica’s Development. I just hope that partisian politics is not involved.
20 US dollars sounds quite expensive to me for a chocolate bar! I hope that it catches on in the market and I wish them all the very best of luck!! I applaud the initiative!! Good luck guys……
20 dollars for a bar of chocolate? How big is it?
Nice work guys. We can use all the help we can find.
A quick question: what qualities do the chocolate derived from the Dominican cocoa beans have that separates it from other 70% chocolate from other countries or companies? I don’t know how ours is different from the others? Just asking.