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Frame Your Eyes With Eyeni

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BY: DELLIA RISMAY

If eyes are the window to the soul, what you choose to put around them is especially important. Our eyes have the ability to express so much: joy, sadness, attentiveness, seriousness. That being said, it’s no surprise that in recent years, eyewear has become a major expression of someone’s fashion tastes. Gone are the days of being bullied for wearing glasses, or being forced to wear awkward, clunky-looking frames. In short, wearing glasses has finally become cool. Similarly to how many people will spend hours and hours looking in shops and online for the perfect pair of shoes, for example, shopping for the perfect pair of glasses has become almost like an obsession. However, those cute, brand-name frames you may have had your eye on for a while probably also come with a not-so-cute price tag. What’s a trendy eyeglasses wearer to do when they don’t want to put their bank account into the red just for a nice pair of frames? Eyeni founder Ananda decided to come up with her own solution and start her own eyewear collection.

In 2014, Ananda was having a hard time finding fashionable, high-quality, affordable eyewear. What she saw on the market was either too expensive or if it was affordable, the quality simply was not up to par. “I couldn’t find affordable eyewear that was still high-quality, and still fashionable, like the high brands like Gucci or Prada. So, I ended up saying ‘I’m going to develop my own line,’” she says. Ananda has always been interested in both fashion and eyewear, so she says it only made sense for her to begin this venture. “I love fashion and specifically eyewear. I’ve always liked glasses—I had a million before I started my own line, so it made sense to me to do eyewear,” explains Ananda. And, good news if you’re one of the many people thoroughly enjoying the comeback of 90’s fashion; Eyeni’s glasses and sunglasses are heavily influenced by that era. “I like the old-school gold frames, vintage type of glasses. I’ve always liked those. So, growing up, seeing that type of fashionable eyewear on celebrities and in magazines and all of those other things, that made me love eyewear.”

Aside from the unique styles and low price point, what makes Eyeni stand out from other retailers who sell glasses is the commitment to customer service. As we all know, a good or bad experience with a retailer can determine whether or not you return to do more business. At Eyeni, Ananda makes sure you’ll enjoy both her products and your experience shopping with her. “It’s great customer service and high-quality eyewear. You can’t really find that a lot,” she says. A big factor in a good customer service experience is how easy it is to actually buy a product, and Ananda makes sure it is easy to get your hands on a pair of her glasses. The frames can be purchased on the Eyeni website, through the Eyeni Instagram page, and at pop-up events throughout the city.

Ananda also provides a personal shopping option, where clients can book an in-shopping session with her. “People will come over for a date, for a couple of hours for them and their girlfriends to try the glasses on themselves versus shopping online,” she explains. Though Ananda’s target audience is those aged 25-40, which is a demographic that typically enjoys online shopping, she saw the value in being able to provide a way for clients to see the glasses in person, as Eyeni does not currently have a physical location. When it comes to online purchases, it can be easier to make a purchasing decision if you can physically try on the product; deciding on a pair of glasses would be one of those times when it helps to see what you look like in the frames.

Ananda aspires to one day expand Eyeni and be able to have a brick-and-mortar store. She currently works in the corporate world as an accountant while she runs Eyeni. As her passion is for all things fashion and eyewear, she says she hopes to be able to have Eyeni as her primary business and focus, and accounting as her secondary focus. “When I was about to finish my final year in college, I was always thinking about what I’m going to do after I’m finished. Obviously, I knew upon finishing my accounting program, I would eventually go into the corporate world—which is fine because I like that environment—but I also knew that I wanted to combine the two things. For myself, I always wanted my own business, so with the business mindset and love of fashion, I just birthed Eyeni,” Ananda says.

The road to owning her own small business has come with its share of challenges for Ananda. She says that getting people to become aware of her product has been something she’s been working at. “I would love my business to be on a different level, but to be honest, I can say that it’s been growing since I started back in 2014. Even though I want things to happen overnight like all business owners, it takes time.” But, with the growing popularity of people making an effort to discover and support local businesses, it seems like Eyeni may soon be on the brink of more widespread exposure. In the meantime, though, Ananda encourages people to continue to look into their local small businesses, and see what they have to offer. “Toronto has a lot of talented designers and artists, and we should all support each other,” she says.

Whether you’re into trendy shades or more classic glasses, Eyeni has something as unique as you. Visit shopeyeni.com to see what lenses are waiting for you.

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Jamaica’s Back-to-Back CONCACAF Gold Cup Final Appearances

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Jamaica, a small island in the Caribbean, may not be one of the first countries that come to mind when you think of soccer. However, in recent years, the Reggae Boyz have been making waves. And following the underdog stories unfolding at the current African Cup of Nations, the Jamaicans may well feel that success is just around the corner.

2024 – A Big Year For International Football

In the Ivory Coast this winter, AFCON has been making waves following the stunning early exits of almost every heavy hitter. The likes of Algeria, Tunisia, and Ghana all bowed at the group stage, while Egypt and Morocco followed them in the round of 16.

But it isn’t just Africa that has a continental competition taking place this year. Both the 2024 European Championships and Copa America will take place, tournaments that online sports betting sites have made England and Argentina the favorites to win, respectively. Caribbean involvement will have to wait until next year when the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup gets underway, and Jamaica will be hoping to channel their success from years gone by into action.

2015

The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was held in Canada and the United States, with Jamaica competing against some of the best teams from North and Central America. Despite being underdogs in many matches, the Reggae Boyz managed to make it all the way to the final. Inspired by the performances of former Premier League wingers Jobi McAnuff and Gareth McCleary, the Caribbean outfit defeated the highly-rated Costa Rica to top Group B.

That set up a meeting with Haiti in the quarterfinals, and a goal from former Derby County man Giles Barnes was enough to secure a narrow 1-0 victory. In the semifinals, they met a much fancied United States in front of 70,000 raucous fans at the Georgia Dome. But they weren’t intimidated, racing into a two-goal lead before clinging on for dear life in the second half and eventually running out 2-1 victors. Unfortunately, they were ultimately downed 3-1 by Mexico in the final, but not before they had captured the hearts of North America.

2017

Two years later, in 2017, Jamaica once again found themselves in the final of the tournament. This time around they faced the reigning champion Mexicans in the group stage, holding them to a goalless draw. Victories against Curacao and a draw with El Salvador were enough to seal their spot in the knockout round however, they headed into the latter stages as an unfancied side once more.

In the quarterfinals, the Jamaicans duly brushed aside Canada thanks to goals from Shaun Francis and Romario Williams. That set up a meeting with Mexico once again, and this time around, they would have their redemption. Fullback Kemar Lawrence scored the only goal of the game in the 88th minute, leaving El Tri stunned and sealing the Reggae Boyz’ spot in the final.

There, they faced off against the hosting United States at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California – home of the San Francisco 49ers. The Jamaicans were hoping to repeat their heroics of two years prior and come out on top, however, this time around it was the Stars and Stripes that ran out victorious. With the contest level at one goal apiece, Seattle Sounders striker Jordan Morris popped up with an 88th-minute winner to secure the victory.

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Victim Services of Durham Region invites Ontario schools and youth to Youth Violence Prevention Symposium

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BY PAUL JUNOR

Victim Services of Durham Region (VSDR) is committed to educating and informing young people with the knowledge and education they need to make informed decisions regarding critical issues that affect their lives.

In order to fulfill its mission, it will be hosting its annual online Youth Violence Prevention (YVP) Symposium. It will take place over a two-week period on Monday, February 26th and Friday, March 8th, 2024.It will be geared to Grades: 7, 8 and 9 students who will be able to access it using the online learning platform, Learn Worlds.

VSDR has been active over the years in the Durham Region where it has provided a range of services to help those affected and impacted by crime, or sudden tragedies. It is the only one of its kind that offers specialized services and support 24/7, 365 days per year to these individuals.

Their vision is to have a safe community where people are supported, empowered and thriving. The press release states that they provide trauma-informed, anti-oppressive crisis intervention services, including emotional support, safety planning, and financial assistance. In addition, there are translation services available in over 300 languages to those who need them. Case management services are also available, which assist individuals to bypass bureaucratic roadblocks with available:

subsidized housing, income support, medical and police services.

VSDR provides tailored support to survivors and witnesses of all crimes; 85% of its clients have experienced gender-based violence, including: survivors of intimate partner violence, sexual assault and human trafficking.

Some of the programs VSDR offers are:

  • Crisis Response
  • System Navigation
  • Victim Quick Response Program
  • Human Trafficking Prevention/Intervention
  • Youth Prevention Workshops
  • Professional Training
  • Hotel Staff Training

The symposium will consist of accessible online modules that will be broken down into educational content, specific videos and in-class activities that are grade specific and align with curriculum targets. The six modules per grade are:

  • Consent & Healthy Relationships
  • Human Trafficking
  • Online Safety, Cyber Bullying and Image Sharing
  • Teen Dating Violence
  • Gang Violence & Peer Violence
  • Empowerment & Self-Care

The following are aims of the symposium:

  • Protect and empower young people.
  • Engage with issues like human trafficking, consent, healthy relationship, sextortion, teen dating violence, gang awareness, and cyber safety.
  • Provide insights on vulnerabilities and risk factors through activities and presentations.

Through partnerships with schools and educators it has been possible to:

  • Provide interactive online modules, games and videos.
  • Focus on learning in a safe setting.
  • Information on where to seek support provided on the event day and beyond.

Since 2020, the annual Violence Prevention Symposium has made a significant impact in the lives of young people as its program evolves from just focusing on Anti-Human Trafficking to issues that reflect emerging youth trends.

Some of the Impactful Results are:

  • Youth knowledge increased from 35% to 97%
  • Over 300% decrease in the number of youths educated since 2020
  • 48 disclosures received in 2023 as a result of symposium education.

VSDR is anticipating great things from the 2024 symposium. They will continue to adapt and adjust the programs and services they deliver in light of the changing landscape and rapidly evolving world of teenagers.

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The Caribbean Is becoming like the Wild West: Thanks to the US Gun In Barrel Scheme

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Photo by Karolina Grabowska

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

While it’s impossible to know how many weapons are successfully smuggled, US investigators admit that the number of guns illegally smuggled into the Caribbean has increased in recent years, and so have violent crimes.

As a Caribbean man, it is not a good feeling to read a report that states that of the 10 countries with the world’s highest homicide rates in 2022, half of them were in the Caribbean.

The gun wars have become so prevalent in the islands now that once relatively quiet islands like the British territory of Turks & Caicos, have seen homicide rates rise by 150% since 2021, according to Insight Crime, a Washington-based research organization that studies organized crime in the Americas.

It is estimated that around 90% of the guns used to commit crimes in the Caribbean are guns bought legally in the U.S., and then smuggled into the Caribbean region.

According to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, when the guns found at crime scenes are traced to their source; of the 9,000 Caribbean crime guns that were recovered and traced from 2017 to 2021, only 724 had been legally exported from the US, the rest were smuggled into the islands.

The Caribbean homicide rates in 2022 far exceeded US and global averages. Here is a small sample of the gun crimes by Islands when compared to the U.S

The Bahamas 31.2%, Dominican Republic 12.4%, Puerto Rico 17.6%, Antigua & Barbuda 10.7%, Saint Lucia 36.7%, Barbados 15.3%, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 40.4%, Trinidad and Tobago 39.5%, and Jamaica 53.3% homicide rate per 100,000 population. These figures came from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

As the above figures show, Jamaica now ranks first in the world with an overall homicide rate of about 53 per 100,000, according to the UN. That’s more than eight times that of the US.

Amid all the stats and fancy wording, there is a sad point to be made here. Caribbean leaders say that they have pulled millions from their already small budget to help the U.S. fight their war on drugs and are now looking forward to the U.S. doing the same with the island’s gun problem.

“As we have assisted them in the war on drugs, they must assist us in the war on guns,” Andrew Holness, the Jamaican Prime Minister said.

If the U.S. does not reciprocate, the Caribbean could and might become like Mexico where law enforcement officials estimate that organized criminals who are heavily armed with US-made weapons control a sizable portion of that country’s territory.

Is America complicit in all this? Oh yes. It is well documented how U.S. weapons that are legally exported to other countries and end up in the wrong hands have caused devastation on a massive scale to those importing countries.

Does America care? I digress. Behar, a former ATF agent, recalled a former supervisor’s reaction when he suggested they needed more support for international investigations. He said, “Look, the gun left the US — what the hell do I care about it? It’s not my problem.”

Some officials from the US and Caribbean say the system effectively protects gun dealers and makers from accountability while leading many smuggling investigations to dead ends.

Caribbean leaders who mistakenly keep looking to the U.S. for help with their gun problems at home, need to take a second look at the U.S. and their policies.

According to Graham Husbands, a firearms examiner in Barbados for nearly three decades, “Even by the ATF’s accounting, it’s failing to meet its goal of inspecting each of the country’s 78,000-gun dealers and makers once every three years. The agency reported in 2022 that it would need more than double its inspector ranks to reach that target.”

There is no quick and easy way to solve the gun problem as even the U.S. are now finding out. ATF inspectors showed up to inspect a gun shop in Atlanta but were met by a congressional delegation.

In America’s case, the delegation was only protecting their Second Amendment rights. It is said that these rights were put in place to make sure the public had protection just in case the government decided to turn rogue. Has America’s government gone rogue? That is a subject for another article.

One thing is clear, as Philip Davis, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, put it last year at a law-enforcement conference, “The right to bear arms in the United States does not mean that there is also a right to traffic those arms to Caribbean countries.”

On the subject of gun crimes in the islands and looking to the U.S. for help. The Island politicians must surely realize by now that “You just do not ask a pussycat if he or she ate the slice of cheese.”

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