Hummingbird Newsletter - January 1, 2023

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January 1, 2023

The Hummingbird Newsletter

A Word from Our President

Happy New Year!

New Year! New YOU!

As we enter into the New Year, I hope that you are feeling energized and ready for what this year has in store for you or for a fresh start. I want to thank you for your support to The Trinidad & Tobago Association of GA over these past few years as it has been incredibly overwhelming.

This holiday season, please know that YOU have been one of the key players in moving the Association forward and continuing the drive to produce a better organization for members and the Georgia community at large. In 2022, we were able to host numerous events. A heartfelt thanks for your support.

Since COVID-19, there has been a surge of positive attitudes towards building better camaraderie

Increase motivation and productivity
Increase participation on the zoom meetings
Building morale and bringing teams together

So, where do you start?

It starts with you. You are the key to helping TnTGA members feel valued and engaged. You have given of your time and supported us at our events.

Please join us every third Sunday of the month for general meetings via zoom.

What You Gain When You Work with TnTGA

When it comes to the TnTGA, we want an objective assessment of strengths and strategies to

address and improve membership commitment. Consider becoming a member of TnTGA.

The year 2023 is a BIG year for TnTGA. Election of officers will be held in November, so if you are interested in being part of this outstanding organization, please become financial.

I hope you will join us to ensure that TnTGA will continue to be successful

I look forward to sharing more with you in 2023

Happy New Year and Happy New YOU,

Blessings to the families, members and friends of

TnTGA

Click here for 2022 Picture Callery

Featured Trinbagonian

Dr. Andre Cropper Trinidad and Tobago Icon

DOB: August 4, 1961

Dr. Andre Cropper Trinidadian Inventor. Invented the OLED screen technology used on the flat screen TV, the slim screen on your laptop & your cell phone screen.

He is the mastermind behind a Flat Panel Display Touch Screen made from thin layers of laboratory produced diamond called Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED).

The display emits light and will allow display screens such as those in televisions, computers, and mobile phones to be made as flat as a copybook and almost as light. They will be portable and need very little electrical power. Dr. Cropper holds two patents for the inexpensive manufacture of OLEDs for use in TV displays.

Andre Cropper was born on August 4th 1961. He grew up in St. James, Trinidad. His curiosity was not discouraged at Newtown Boy’s RC School or his parents. At Fatima College, his secondary school, he was excited by mathematics and fascinated by physics. He knew he wanted to be an electrical engineer.

His agile scientific mind was balanced by his dedication to swimming. His days began at 4:30AM at Flying Fish Pool where he swam laps before he went to school. He represented Trinidad and Tobago on its swimming teams in regional and international games during the 1970s.

At Howard University in Washington DC, He was an outstanding student who was once asked to teach a graduate laboratory course. Although he was eligible for the Trinidad and Tobago swim team to the 1984 Olympics, he declined in order to complete his master’s degree.

He taught at Norfolk State University in Virginia and began research on the use of OLED as a semi-conductor. He presented his work to NASA (National Aeronautical Space Agency) which was impressed by the idea, but required that he have his PhD. In 1995, he obtained his PhD in Electrical/Materials Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia.

He returned to Trinidad to teach at the University of the West Indies in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He then joined the Eastman Kodak Company in New York in 1999 to work on OLED applications and their varied uses in industrial and communications technologies.

Dr. Cropper has shared his knowledge through conferences and partnerships in several counties. He likes to engage young people in science through workshops at schools, universities and companies in the USA and his homeland. He enjoys swimming scuba diving, reading, dancing, travelling, nature walks, and the fine arts. He advises students to “nurture a curious mind, ask questions on why and how and seek to find the answers… go to the library and read.”

Article courtesy of NIHERST (National Institute of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology), Trinidad and Tobago

Dr. Andre Cropper with his daughter Iala and wife Natalie

Thanks to our Sponsors

Covenant House Volunteers

Thanksgiving / Christmas / New Year

Covenant House Volunteers

Thanks to the members and friends of the Trinidad and Tobago Association of GA, Inc. who provided meals for the young adults at Covenant House.

Thanksgiving Day

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

New Years Eve

New Years Day

Holiday Celebrations

Celebrated from Dec 26 - Jan 1

Kwanzaa is a week of festivities honoring African American culture and heritage. Each day is meant to emphasize one of the seven principles – the Nguza Saba.

Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more

beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Kwanzaa celebration with Kwanzaa founder Maulana Karenga and others

Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago

With Christmas preparations beginning from mid December, Christmas is more of a social event than it is a religious event in Trinidad and Tobago.

On Christmas eve, some families may choose to go to church, while on Christmas day both children and adults go from house to house collecting food and drinks.

In anticipation of the festivity, some people often either renovate their houses or deep clean.

Caroling (parang) is very common; groups go from neighborhood to neighborhood serenading houses with drums, guitars, horns, tambourines, and any other musical instrument capable of producing sounds.

The Trinidad and Tobago Christmas season is often filled with parties and other social events.

Nativity Scene

A nativity scene takes its inspiration from the accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel. One narrative describes an angel announcing the birth of Jesus to shepherds who then visit the humble site where Jesus is found lying in a manger. The other narrative tells of "wise men" who follow a star to the house where Jesus dwelt, and indicates that the wise men found Jesus some time later. The wise men and the angels are often displayed in a nativity scene with the Holy Family and the shepherds