Successful Visit to Jarikaba

By Jonathan Liu--High School Senior and member of Business Class

On Wednesday December 14, 2011 the AlphaMax Academy business students went to Jarikaba Stichting Behold Bananen Sector (SBBS). The students left school at 8:00 am and arrived at the Jarikaba banana plantation forty five minutes later. When they arrived to the plantation Mr. Barsingh -the head of agronomic and research department- greeted the student with a warm welcome.            

After a long trip with the bus the business students arrived at the banana plantation. They then rode three more minutes to the banana field. Mr. Barsingh described the field and the banana plants.  Jarikaba has three farms and each farm has a manager and two supervisors.   

                                                                                                             

The banana field is 1280 hectares long. One hectare has 1900 banana trees .The banana are covered with blue plastic bags, so that the pests cannot get to the banana.    

                                                                                                                       

The field has an old sprinkler system to water the banana trees when the field is dry (mostly on hot days). They are trying to put a new sprinkler system. The banana trees are 1.65 M away from each other and are planted in a triangular pattern, so that each tree can get the same amount sun light.

After the field trip the students went to the packinghouse. There is where the bananas are packed in boxes and shipped to other countries. In the packing house the bananas are examined to see if the bananas are too ripe or not ripe. If the banana is not so ripe they are going to export it and if the banana is ripe the going to sell it to the Suriname local market.           

                                                                                                                                             

After the examining the bananas they are then thrown into a pool of water with soap to wash the latex off the banana. The workers then examine to find out if some of the bananas are rotten. If there are rotten bananas they throw them away.  The workers throw the bananas back in to another pool of clean water to wash out the soap .When they are clean the workers pick them up for packing.   

                                

The workers pack the bananas in boxes with two different colors- green and red.                                                                                       

The green boxes are for small bananas and the red box for larger bananas. Further on, the air in the boxes with banana is sucked out, so that the bananas won’t ripen during shipping.

After a long day Mr. Barsingh invited the business students to sit down and gave the students something to drink and to eat. He also told the students about some future plans for the banana sector. It was time to go back to school so the AlphaMax Academy business students thanked Mr. Barsingh for the tour. The students also got some bananas to bring back home.

                                                                

Business Students to visit Jarikaba Banana Plantation

On Wednesday December 14^th, 2011, the AlphaMax Academy business students are going on a fieldtrip to the Jarikaba banana plantation. 


The trip was organized by teacher Sylvana Dankerlui . 


The purpose of the trip is to get the business students to learn how the owners of the plantation set up a business there. From their example, the business students may learn how to make a business plan of their own.  


Jonathan Lui - High School Senior and Member of the Business Class

End of Term Field Trips

AlphaMax Academy is organizing an educational fieldtrip for High School History students to Fort Zeelandia on Tuesday the 13th December, 2011. The departure time will be at 7.45am and the students will be back at school approximately 9.30am.

There will be a fieldtrip for the High School Business students on Wednesday the 14th December, 2011. The students will be going to Jarikaba. They will leave at 7.45am and return to school at approximately 12.30pm.

Staff Tutor Ms. Sylvana Dankerlui will be in charge of both trips.

Tagore Awards Ceremony

The Suriname Rabindranath Tagore Creative Arts Awards Ceremony was held on Tuesday, November 22^nd at 5:00 p.m. at the University Guesthouse on Leysweg.

This important event celebraedthe work of more than 30 Surinamese student- and adult-artists.

The wife of Ambassador Harvey Naarendorp  (Suriname Ambassador to the EU based in Paris)  handed out awards to over 30 creative artists from Suriname who won school and national competitions in creative art and writing (prose and poetry) competitions.

The competition, which was launched in May 2011 by the Suriname Tagore Celebrations Committee, attracted more than 135 entries from students and adults in Suriname. Judges for the national competitions included members of the Schrijvers Group'77, Art Vibes United, and the University of Suriname. There were more than 75 creative writing and art entries from students attending schools in Paramaribo, Wanica, and Commewijne.

The prestigious Tagore Art Competition was launched to mark the 150^`" Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, the first non-European and person of color to win a Nobel Prize (1912). Born in 1861, Tagore was a prolific writer, dramatist, poet, artist, philosopher, and international humanist. Across the world, national and international competitions are being held to uphold values in creative excellence in celebration of Tagore.

Ten AlphaMax students were among the 40 prize winners in the first Tagore Creative Arts competition in Suriname.

AMA tutor Sylvana Dankerlui guided the packed audience through an enchanting program that celebrated Rabindranath Tagore’s influence on the world and in this special case on Surinamese young people. Mrs Dankerlui  gave a passionate and delightful account of Tagore and how his ideas influenced others.

This was followed by a song done by the ICC singing teacher. She sang one of Tagore’s compositions. Her performance held the audience’s rapt  and they gave her an enthusiastic round of applause.

The highlight of the evening was the reading presentation   of the winning entries in the writing competition. The audience was thoroughly impressed not only with the ideas and style of writing but with the confidence and poise of all the winners as they delivered their pieces. Many commented later on the kaleidoscope of Surinamese faces of all races and the range of artistic expressions.

Parents and friends commended the organizing committee for an unusually delightful evening which placed the creative work of young Surinamese at the center of national interest. All the winning art entries were placed along the walls of the auditorium and in front of the audience.

 See pictures posted on Facebook  by Indian Embassy