Honour awards for Hernandez, Kamachee

The National Women’s Action Committee (NWAC), the women’s arm of the National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) will be honouring Denise L J Hernandez and Asha Kamachee at the National Calypso Queen Competition this evening at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA), Port-of-Spain. Denise L J Hernandez continues to have an impressive career as a teacher and pannist since returning from studies in Canada. Her original intention was to go into her family’s business, as there were no jobs available in her graduate field of biology and chemistry. In 1979 she found an alternative in teaching and her choice has served the country well. She has been a stalwart of the PTA movement and is an active member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) in Alexandria, Virginia, US.

Hernandez is now a school principal who has been recognised as an innovative educator in both music and the natural sciences. She is a member of the Neal & Massy All Stars Steel Orchestra and a former member of the Arima Nutones. She has led school steelbands in National Junior Panorama, Music Festivals, San Fest, Sanskrit Sangam as well as overseas tours. Hernandez was an education officer of Pan Trinbago and at one time co-hosted the Pan for the People Programme on the defunct Radio Trinbago. Asha Kamachee has had many triumphs in life. She was born in 1973, premature and blind. She attended the School for Blind Children in Pax Vale, Santa Cruz where she began her primary education and also learnt the basic skills to function in the world of the sighted. She then moved on to Lakshmi Girls’ Hindu College to pursue her secondary education. In 1990 she was certified in voice and speech from the University of the West Indies.

Kamachee started singing in public at the age of 13, appearing on the popular television show, Mastana Bahar. As a lead singer of the band Visionary Sound she and her fellow musicians pleased audiences all over Trinidad and Tobago. Asha Kamachee has reached 13 finals—five times in the Indian Cultural Pageant, five Chutney Soca Monarch and one independent chutney competition. On the 61st anniversary of Indian Arrival Day, Kamachee was honoured by the Ministry of Education for her contribution to culture. She was selected by Radio 90.5 to be honoured as the Woman of the Year for 2006. Asha is now a broadcaster on an Internet radio station. For further information, call 623-5470/222-3471, or visit NWAC’s Offices, 40 Duke Street, Port-of-Spain.