My sights are on 2012 being my next visit to Dominica – this time with the kids rather than on my own – unless someone wants to invite me back to speak of course which is always a pleasure to do on any Caribbean island.

This is the talk I gave on the day.

My visit to Portsmouth with a whole bunch of family that I had only just met

I was always obsessed with the view and took loads of video of the moutains and surroundings – great for me – boring for anyone else!

Next time I will make sure I take loads of photos too because I didn’t get any and I still have a few more videos to put together which show Fond St Jean – the place I will be setting up home in Dominica.

Sixth Form Sisserou Singers performing at the 2010 nature island literary festival and book fair Commonwealth of Dominica

I have met first generation Diaspora members moving “back home” to the land of their parents and having a happy and fulfilling life in the Caribbean. For many, simply getting away from their concrete birth land is a big enough relief.

In England we are raised to enjoy life on a “treadmill” that the government want us to follow.  This treadmill involves us going through education, work, marriage, loans, mortgages, insurance payments, kids, credit cards, more loans, before retiring, illness and death. This is the life for a large majority of people and some of us will never get off the treadmill.

So why do we stay?  While fear might be one major factor for keeping us stuck in our birth place there are also a number of things we will miss about the country we have grown up in and call home. Things like:

Family. The biggest reason to stay is family – but should life stop to accommodate others even if they are family?  Is it right to stay in England waiting for circumstances to become better before leaving?  Family will be the thing that makes our decision difficult for us and we will need to way up our desire for a change in circumstances against our commitment to family.  We will wonder if we should wait for the kids to grow up, or until they are settled and married but at some point we will need to question how much of our life must stop because of family.
Income. I have spoken to many Diaspora members who would LOVE to be living in Dominica but can’t because their level of income could never be matched. Our income has provided us with a certain standard of living and of course finding work that matches that level might be quite difficult unless one is already connected in Dominica. For those of us who are self employed or work freelance we will be used to having to find our income and starting a business will not seem too daunting but is still a major gamble.

Health service. Free health care has to be one of the biggest gifts the UK healthcare system has given us and being taken care of in this way makes it harder to accept that suddenly something that is available for free (all be it not as easily as it used to be) now has to be paid for via health insurance.  Some returnees still keep their citizenship open in England because they know if they become ill they can return and take advantage of the health service system.

Property. Without a doubt there is a great opportunity to own property that will grow in value as the years go by – many returnees to Dominica were able to build large houses because they owned property in England that they bought in the 60s and which is now worth 50 times the amount they paid for it!  For those of us far from retirement age who don’t want to wait another 20 years for our property to mature our only option is to rent it out while we are gone or sell it.

Those were the biggest objections I could think of for any first generation Diaspora member who really wants to move to Dominica while they are in their 40s and 50s and as big as these obstacles seem to be even they can be overcome with a little forward planning, imagination and determination. Property can be bought and rented, health insurance can be paid for, self employment/starting a business could be a real consideration and family can be spoken to on Skype and Facebook.  Thanks to the world wide web we are never really too far away from anyone. The world has become a smaller place.

In the end the only thing that will really stop us from making this move will be our own doubts, fears and excuses.  I know to make this move myself plans will have to be made and regular visits taken to ensure that this is really what I want to do but outside of that I can’t think of anything else that might stop that move happening. Can you?

I spoke on using blogs, video and being found online and I had 12 people registered but as you can see from the photo below several more showed up.  There is a real interest in this topic especially for authors because they have a real opportunity to get their work found online and to enjoy selling their book to a world wide audience even if they are not published.

Thanks to Kindle and similar applications it is very simple for an author to create an ebook and sell it online via their blog or website and my desire is to return to Dominica and show more professionals how to use the internet in this way.  I managed to give them an idea of what’s possible but to actually show them HOW to do it I will need to run at least a two day workshop.

Dominica Nature Island Blogging Workshop 2010

Photo Source : Courtesy of  © Greg German – see other photos of the book festival on Facebook

Internet Business Instructor Diane Corriette speaking at the University of the West Indies Dominica

What I need to get back to run training sessions in Dominica is sponsorship and I am thinking about the end of October 2010 – if not April 2011 is my next option. I guess when it is meant to happen it definitely will and I will continue to build links in the meantime.

It was such a pleasure speaking at the University of the West Indies in Dominica and something I won’t forget!  Before leaving Dominica I spent my last night at Harmony Villa and had a great evening with the Armour extended family and friends including Alwin Bully and his brother Colin who invited me back to the festival next year – being able to run something again and maybe this time a longer session with computers will really be excellent.

Harmony Villa would also make an excellent venue for a writers retreat – or a lovers retreat too if you need to rekindle love because the place is totally peaceful and so very magical. Nothing beats being around mother nature for inspiration.

With thanks to Greg German for letting me use his photos – he also gave us some valuable information about using images on the internet and if you don’t want to appear in an image what you can do about it, which was go tell the photograph not to include any photos of you.

Blogging, Video Marketing & Getting noticed online workshop Dominica

In the afternoon of the same day I got together with other Dominican Diaspora Poetry Group members for “Hands Across the Sea” where we read poetry we had written. You can read the two that I read CLICK HERE

I am really not a poet but it was nice to be a part of it – i just love words and will put them together from time to time. My fellow sisters though are magical poets and Lola Louis really was expressive in her delivery, she even got the audience joining in. It was a wonderful day

Dominica Literary Festival & Book Fair Poetry Reading

To join the Nature Island Literary Festival Facebook Group click here

Do you know the nature island?
Only those who have had the pleasure can understand.
More beauty than heaven itself.
Its mountains, the rainforest, the boiling lake.
Non stop sightings of whales and dolphins.
If paradise was an island, it would be called Dominica.
Capture the beauty, enjoy the food and let the locals spoil you.
Anyone who visits Dominica will surely return.