SIX members from the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force (RSLPF) recently completed a Basic Mandarin Course offered by the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Saint Lucia.
They are Assistant Superintendent Annathar Wilson (Major Crimes Unit), Corporal 680 Edna Descartes (Immigration Department), PC 347 Kimthur Smith (Police Marine Unit), WPC 255 Rochelle Lubin (Criminal Investigations Unit), WPC 363 Magna Joseph (Criminal Investigations Unit), and Tarisha O’Neil, Administrative Secretary in the Office of the Commissioner of Police.
The objective of the Functional Mandarin course was to help the police officers acquire basic Mandarin skills for regular verbal communication in their line of work. The course was facilitated by Mr. Andres Chi, a Mandarin teacher from Taiwan who is based at the Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM) in Saint Lucia.
Through listening exercises, dialogue practice, group discussions, role-play, and problem-solving, the police officers were able to improve in the following areas: vocabulary, grammar knowledge, and speaking confidence.
On Tuesday, March 12, 2024, a special ceremony was held at the Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Saint Lucia to award certificates of completion to the six police officers. During the ceremony, which was attended by other members of the RSLPF, the course participants performed a song, while others expressed their journey, and another performed a poem — all done in Mandarin!
H. E. Peter Chia-Yen Chen, Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saint Lucia, congratulated the participants for demonstrating dedication, enthusiasm and balancing work and family time to complete the course. He also recounted attending the opening ceremony of the Saint Lucia Semi-Pro Football League two days earlier, where, upon leaving the venue, a police officer told him “goodbye” in Mandarin. That police officer was PC 347 Kimthur Smith, one of the course participants.
“This simple greeting lets me see the positive results of this Mandarin course and I also felt the warmth when I interacted with that police officer,” Ambassador Chen said. “This Mandarin course was initiated by Embassy of the Republic of China (Taiwan), in collaboration with the Royal Saint Lucia Police Force as well as TaiwanICDF, aimed at enhancing police officers’ communication capability and promoting cultural exchanges.”
Ambassador Chen added: “As we recognize the police are the backbone of public security, Taiwan is proud to continue supporting this Mandarin course and other training initiatives for the police. Here I wish to thank Commissioner of Police Crusita Descartes-Pelius and her team for their staunch support in making this Mandarin course successful.”
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police, Crusita Descartes-Pelius, also spoke at the certificate ceremony, stating that, “The job that we do is very challenging, is very important, and it takes a lot to make us successful based on the services that we give. Communication is very important; if we cannot communicate, we cannot be of good service to the people that we serve.”
“With what’s happening today with crime, the challenges we face, and the people we have to serve, it’s important that we can communicate effectively with them,” said Descartes-Pelius. “If we cannot communicate, we cannot serve them.”
She added that the police force welcomes similar training from other embassies based in Saint Lucia, so that police officers can become fluent in multiple languages.
“Saint Lucia is our country and we would like visitors and other persons who come here on business to be safe and be able to communicate — whether it’s for medicine, whether just to have fun, or whatever issues they may have — on a holistic manner to be comfortable in our country,” the top cop said.
Commissioner of Police Descartes-Pelius noted that Saint Lucia has benefited tremendously from Taiwan’s generosity in many areas over the years, including medicine, education, and sports. The police force, she said, has benefited in the areas of forensic science and cyber-crime, which have contributed to the RSLPF being more successful and effective in its crime-fighting measures.
Mandarin is the official language in Taiwan, but it is more than a language, as it also opens the door to a huge job market in all of the countries where Mandarin is the language used in commerce.
CONGRATULATIONS
School days are now gone grown men and women you’ve become, the education taught to you by your teachers, parents, and peers will propel you forward to achieve the impossible.
The basic foundation of success is endeavoring to achieve what is said to be difficult going through life’s bivouac, Having no fear discipline, and courage are some factors to achieving one’s goal, the fact that you have dared to tread into unknown waters, and have safely reach the other side, calls for rejoicing to a job well done.
I wish to congratulate you all who were fortunate to have been selected, but most of all your commitment to excellence, it is a proud profession (RSPF) and to be in the service of your country, is an added plus, to one and all congratulations are in perfect order.
Recently in St. Lucia’s jubilance, the nasty period of crime and violence poprated by its sons and daughters, a voice of reason came up to bat, namely the Royal Saint Lucia police force top cop. Happy to know she still positively holds the reins, the leadership she portrays, and the choices she makes will benefit St. Lucia, and eventually harvest a crop of top individual police personnel
To the remaining diamonds in the making be patient your time will come, serve your country with distinction in the capacity you have, do your duty with devotion and your job will not go unnoticed, Twaine has never been my choice of intervention into my St. Lucia, nothing wrong with furthering intellectual in ways that will benefit a nation
So thanks to the Twanise for their benevolence, could be I was wrong about them, still, I remain deterministic.
Dark Shadows/
Kenvil Atkins Lewis the poet