Combining the normal Sunday attendance plus the expected seasonal extras – the main hall and overflow areas were filled to capacity. Led by Pastor Dale Cuckow from the US, we enjoyed singing a number of traditional carols surrounded by an indoor winter wonderland of twinkling lights and a grand Christmas tree with a bright yellow star perched on top. There was a heart-warming segment where a couple of Sunday school teachers dressed up as Old Testament characters Abraham and Sarah with many of the congregation’s children sat up front listening to the Christmas story unfold.

In addition to Miranda’s friend Connie, we also had two of our friends join us – Sunni and Lee, both who are Chinese but of Swedish and Norwegian nationalities respectively. Miranda had decided to avoid the overly priced western restaurants opting instead for a locally run Chinese joint for lunch. It was already 1pm and as most Chinese love to have lunch early (11am), the place was pretty empty by the time we sat at our circular table.

Despite the obvious linguistic disadvantage, Lezil rapidly transformed into a ruthless player even beating Connie – the master – at her own game. Both skill and luck are honourable elements in Chinese culture and that afternoon, Lezil combined the two taking home eight games in the five hours we played. No one could quite believe it. I joked with Connie telling her that I will be grooming my wife to be a champion mahjong player, ready to win us some big bucks.

A table spread of Caribbean dishes awaited us at our friend’s place. Camille, a teacher from Jamaica, has long been our partying buddy, especially at every party organised by the Caribbean Association in China. It was already late but Camille was gracious enough to have kept some food aside for us. Having stuffed ourselves twice that day already, all we could muster was a nicely seasoned vegetable broth and homemade apple pie courtesy of the lovely Christal who is also renowned for her Caribbean Banana Bread.

The other guests left shortly after we arrived. So it was just the three of us – Lezil, myself and Camille. Making ourselves comfortable on her large furry rug, we talked about the year that was 2012 and expectations for the coming year. Personally, I am more of a fan of one-to-one or small group conversations. I find you get to really experience more depth and insight into a person’s thinking. Camille is one such person who is so vibrant and positive that you can’t but help feel inspired to grab life with both hands and get the most out of it. And that had to be one of the best gifts she could have shared with us. Plus, we left Camille’s apartment with enough Jamaican dishes for lunch and dinner the following day. What a Christmas Day!

Together with her French flatmate Alex, they had organised an intimate Christmas Eve dinner for eight people. And it was a right multi-cultural mix of nationalities from Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Haiti, Zimbabwe, USA and of course Lezil and I.

The warm heating in their spacious apartment had hints of oven baked potatoes wafting from the kitchen. Dinner was in the last stages of preparation and as an appetizer, bowls of avocado mix with tortilla chips were washed down with bubbly cups of champagne. The dining table had been decoratively laid out in Christmas-themed colours and snowmen napkins. And on each plate was a neatly wrapped present with a personalised tag. “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without opening some presents,” laughed Alex as we sat in our appointed places.

Suddenly we had all become like kids excitedly opening our unexpected gifts. Each gift had been thoughtfully chosen - they couldn’t have got it more right. For me, I was given a bright neon-green tie (yes, I like my bold colours!) and Lezil a blue and grey shawl. Then followed a hearty meal of: chicken stew, broccoli and cauliflower pie, roast potatoes and pork and chestnut stuffing. Adding in the continental touch, Alex put together an excellent cheese board accompanied by freshly baked pieces of French baguette. I was in total cheese-heaven! A fridge-chilled raspberry Pavlova was the ideal dessert to round off the meal.

Being so far from all that is familiar, it could be easy to complain about what seasonal traditions might be missing. But just the simplicity of having good people around you to share experiences with, despite not being obvious family, does make the feeling of gratitude all the more vivid. I’m thankful for life, thankful for my wife and thankful that I do have such wonderful people both physically near and far. Thank you Lord!

Originally at RMB 480 (£48) they were asking for RMB 300 (£30). Still way above what we wanted to spend. We had our sights set on a RMB 100 (£10) budget.

The concert was due to start at 7:30pm and it was already 7:25pm. The rest of the group of friends had gone in. It was cold, damp and my patience was wearing thin. A group of 15 very loud middle-aged Chinese ladies walked past and by some miracle I overheard one of them saying they had some extra tickets to hand. I grabbed Sandy by the sleeve and soon we were in the centre of a lot of hand waving and over-expressive chatting. It turned out the ladies were teachers from a local public school which had been allocated some complimentary tickets of which they had a surplus.

Matching their hyped conversation, I expectantly said, “Wo yao san ge!” (I need three). This then spurned off into series of questions of where was I from, what did I do in Shanghai and having to hear their mini life stories. Inside me, I was stomping impatiently with a precious few minutes (and seconds) until kick off. The ladies reconvened and the petitioned three tickets were presented to us. They were good seats officially priced at RMB 280 (£28). “Duo shao qian yi ge?”(How much for one?) I frantically asked them in my messed up Chinese. “Yi bai” (one hundred). Sweet! Bang on budget.

The New York Harlem Singers have been going since 1996 with a number of members, coming and going. That night the six singers, one percussionist and a director-cum-piano player entertained us for two hours. The main billing of Whitney Houston songs wasn’t the attention grabbing item I was expecting. All the ballads were there: ‘I Will Always Love You’, ‘Run To You’ and ‘Greatest Love Of All’. Plus extras like ‘Saving All My Love For You’ and ‘Didn’t We Almost Have It All’. But somehow, despite the emotional interpretations by the singers, the crowd was somewhat unresponsive.

The artists managed to get more of an audience participation in their Christmas medley of songs, especially on ‘We Wish You A Merry Christmas’ where we suddenly became one mass choir being led by our energetic hosts on stage. There were other musical genres featured with Negro Spirituals and Gospel songs sounding richly vivid with incredible harmonies. There was also an excellent tribute to Ella Fitzgerald on ‘You’ll Have To Swing It (Mr Paganini)’. “Oh Happy” closed out the entire night by which time the majority Chinese crowd had got the hang of clapping gospel style – on the off beat! The Harlem singers then did a CD signing and photo op. It was great to chat with them in person and I particularly enjoying stealing a few minutes with vocalist Clare Bathe. It turned out this was her first tour with the group, having already carved out a career doing other shows and performing as a solo act in her own right. She exclusively mentioned that she had her first solo album out in January. Which then begged the obvious question: “Do you have a copy with you?” In no time, copies of ‘I Met A Man’ were handed over and signed.

The venue where the Harlem Singers concert took place was a short 15 minutes walk from another musical place – the Penthouse Bar at the Hilton Hotel, otherwise known as Lezil’s old job. So it made perfect sense (pushed by an overwhelming sense of curiosity) to drop a sneaky peek. We hadn’t stepped foot there since Lezil’s very last performance at the end of August.

The sound was completely stripped down with only the grand piano providing the melodies. The lead singer, who we later learned was called Jo Jo, performs at the Hilton four nights a week and one night at another five star hotel The Peninsula Hotel. She had punchy edge to her singing and carried the jazzy numbers well, but of course she was no Lezil!

During the band’s break I had to slip into the conversation that we had recently celebrated a special someone’s birthday and immediately, the next song the band performed was “When I fall in love” (Nat King Cole) which was publicly dedicated to my darling wife. The rest of the Hilton staff got wind of the birthday girl and surprised us with two complimentary glasses of champagne. It was very strange sitting there – being on the ‘other side’. Here was a place where I had admired my wife’s musical talent for more than three years. But somehow it felt like closure as if to confirm that the baton had been passed on. Who knows where 2013 might see Lezil perform once again…

Quietly tip-toeing up the three flights of stairs to our apartment, I hid a bouquet of red roses and carnations behind my back as I balanced a boxed-up gateau of chocolate and cream with the other hand. “Happy birthday mi amor!” I shouted as a surprised Lezil stood back to let me in. It was just the start of a weekend full of birthday-related activities. Friday night it was down to The Spot – a happening bar/restaurant in Shanghai’s Jing’an disctrict.

We were out to support Jamar – the 13 year old son of our friend Shanae from the US. It was the bar’s annual mock X Factor competition and Jamar was one of the eight finalists.

And just like the real TV show, there were emotional tears from Jamar’s proud mom, Shanae, as her son stepped off stage to rapturous applause. The moment came to announce the runners up and winner but as a teaser, a couple of santa’s saucy dancers bounded in front of the audience, booty shaking to Don Omar’s ‘Danza Kuduro’ – the massive 2010 reggaeton hit. Jamar came in a respectable fourth with the singer of the Craig David cover coming first.

Fully recharged after a good night’s sleep, Saturday afternoon saw us celebrate another birthday. In honour of her special day Christina, from Germany, had organised a get together of drinking, eating and carol singing. The food spread was incredible and it was hard to believe that she prepared and cooked it all herself that same morning. The seasoned Middle Eastern chicken rice was particularly appetizing as was her delicious selection of cheeses.

With the elastic stretch band holding her kids birthday hat in place, Christina opened up the food table and it wasn’t long before people were socialising and tucking into their stacked plates of flavoursome bites. Steaming cups of Gluhwein (like the British Mulled Wine) went around, which I was sure was meant to mellow us out for the next part – the singing.

A trained musician, Christina is an accomplished harpist. Her arms gracefully flowed as a musical extension of her harp. Her strumming was mesmerising and certainly added that much-needed musical touch, herding in our often out-of-tune singing. It was like a karaoke carol session as requests came in thick and fast. There was no automated machine to line-up the next tune, but we ran an efficient mental-note service ensuring everyone’s desired song was sung.

One of my favourites was ’The Twelve Days of Christmas’ with Christina making sure we all knew the actions for each of the twelve lines. Accompanying her on flute and piano was her ex-colleague and friend Maggie and together, they weaved that magical Christmas sound. The only thing left was for Santa himself to drop through the non-existent fireplace. But then again, I’m not sure if Santa has a high enough demand in a country like China where Christmas isn’t even a public holiday.

The very last place I would ever expect to celebrate a national Ecuadorian holiday would be in China. Let alone be in a South American restaurant, eating South American delicacies and being surrounded by familiar dialects from a tiny north western Latin American country.

Three bold blue coloured balloons attached to white plastic sticks clung next to the bamboo fenced entrance. The restaurant’s sign read ‘Ceviche’ – a popular Latin American seafood dish – and the decorative balloons were branded with the unmistakable Ecuadorian tourism logo. With no official Ecuadorian eatery established (yet) in Shanghai, the Consulate General Office of Ecuador chose a Peruvian outlet to host its event to celebrate the Fiestas de Quito. The occasion marks the founding of Ecuador’s capital, Quito, in 1534. Traditionally the week long activities include lots of drinking, bullfights and fiercely-fought rounds of the national card game cuarenta (‘forty’).

There were certainly no bullfights, not a lot of heavy drinking but the entire afternoon was dedicated to Shanghai’s first ever cuarenta championship. How I even ended up receiving a personal invite to the event showed the closeness of the Latin American community residing in Shanghai. It had only been three weeks earlier and through a mutual friend from Honduras I was introduced to María Gabriela Fernández (Gaby) who just happened to work at the Ecuadorian Consulate.
Immediately latching on to the fact that I was from Ecuador, I got a text followed by an email for me to join other fellow Ecuadorians in Shanghai for a day of national pride. Apart from one other good friend from Quito (who incidentally has now moved to Guangzhou in south China) – my path had never crossed with others from my homeland.

Ushering us in from the cold, host Gaby was efficiently pre-checking her checklist of food, music and games items. Ceviche’s décor was distinctively Peruvian with paintings showing Andean imagery, not unlike what you’d see in places like Ecuador’s famed Indian market Otavalo. Sitting down to glasses of freshly made limonada – a Latin American lime drink, the feeling of nostalgia was unstoppable as melancholic songs like from one of Ecuador’s iconic singers, the late Julio Jaramillo, were playing.

The Ecuadorian Consulate estimates that there are about 55 Ecuadorians living in Shanghai and out of that, 25 odd were present that afternoon. Those were the few precious needless plucked out of a hay stack of millions.

To put it in perspective, Ecuador’s total country population of 14.5million doesn’t even come close to Shanghai’s city of 24million residents. So it was to be expected that practically everyone had met everyone else before – except for the newbies Lezil and myself.

And the inevitable happened. Yours truly with my white, more British-looking face, as opposed to Lezil’s more tanned, exotic appearance had everyone assuming that Lezil was the compatriot and I was the foreigner husband tagging along. Chatting with Ecuador’s Consul General Jorge Hidalgo who, upon hearing my naturally-tinged serrano Spanish accent, said that he had thought that Lezil was “one of us”. He then switched over to English looked Lezil square in the eyes, gesturing towards me, and said, “Please look after him. He is one of our country’s assets…”.

It’s not every day you hear a remark from someone who is representing your nationality in a colossal Asian country in a way that truly makes you feel proud of your heritage. Señor Hidalgo wasn’t the only diplomat in attendance that afternoon. Jackie Eldan, the Consul General for Israel, came with his wife, an Ecuadorian national from Quito, and their adorable two children. These two kids are what I would call, global identities. With their fascinating Israeli/Ecuadorian mix, already at such a young age they have mastered four languages: Hebrew, Spanish, English and Mandarin.

Standing in the middle of the cosy restaurant the Eldan kids were in obvious Ecuadorian mode dressed in traditional attire. The young girl was later crowned in a mock La Reina de Quito ceremony, a take on the actual beauty pageant which happens annually in Ecuador.

I had to keep peeping outside the door towards the busy Shanghai high street to remind myself that this indeed was still China. Local Ecuadorian slang like que bestia and de ley peppered people’s banter as we spoke about our families in various cities like Guayaquil, Cuenca, Riobamba, Ambato and of course the capital itself.

Bottles of imported Cristal – an Ecuadorian fermented liquor drink made from sugar cane – were used to make a cocktail called ‘Cristal Sour’ (essentially Cristal and lime juice). Appetising dishes of ceviche, empanadas de carne (meat patties) and mini orange tarts just kept coming.

Each table also had a good helping of chifles (plantain chips) which is now being imported into China, thanks to a young Ecuadorian entrepreneur living in Shanghai. That, I have to admit, made my day. Plantain is non-existent in shops and so the luxury of being able to feast on a snack that I grew up with on the streets of Quito was an utter treat.

Gaby announced the start of China’s first official cuarenta card competition (all very grand sounding). Everyone paired up. I was with Lezil and we went up against Carlos and Jaime who had some considerable card-playing experience as opposed to Lezil the complete novice and myself who could barely remember the rules.

After a couple of test runs, we started the game in earnest and by some fluke Team Freeman got off to a blazing start. In a nutshell, the first pair to amass 40 points wins – hence the name of the game ‘forty’.

It was a fluid succession of caídas (card sweeps) for Lezil and I as we stormed to a surprise victory of 40-22. We eventually reached the semi-finals but were convincingly beaten by a couple of young chicas who might as well have been seasoned pros. In the end, the winners turned out to be the Consulate General himself, Jorge Hiraldo, and another young quiteña.

I long for the day to take Lezil to Ecuador to introduce her to my huge family and to experience the incredible diversity of the land and culture. But as a one-day teaser, the Ecuadorian Consulate did me proud in embracing my South African wife so warmly and showing just how life-loving and hospital Latinos are. So proud of mi gente Ecuatoriana (my Ecuadorian people).

‘Lee Ang’ has been the buzz name in China for the last four weeks. The Academy Award-winning director has had his latest movie, ‘The Life of Pi’, released nationally on the mainland. For a country that only provides 34 authorised foreign movie slots per year, it’s a big deal to get your international production into Chinese cinemas. And those prized screened movies, Chinese or foreign, are vetted and even parts deleted if they are deemed not suitable for Chinese viewing audiences.

‘Lee Ang’ has been the buzz name in China for the last four weeks. The Academy Award-winning director has had his latest movie, ‘The Life of Pi’, released nationally on the mainland. For a country that only provides 34 authorised foreign movie slots per year, it’s a big deal to get your international production into Chinese cinemas. And those prized screened movies, Chinese or foreign, are vetted and even parts deleted if they are deemed not suitable for Chinese viewing audiences.

Here was a boy who so open heartedly wanted to experience God and by doing so ended up actively seeking three faiths – Hinduism, Christianity and Islam. There was one very poignant moment in the movie where just before going to bed he thanks Krishna for introducing him to Jesus Christ. Lezil and I chuckled loudly but all around us, nobody so much as breathed audibly. The movie may have been produced by a talented Taiwanese filmmaker, but considering its content and geographical setting – ‘The Life of Pi’ couldn’t have been less Chinese.

EnjThis was made glaringly obvious when, during the following days, the topic of the movie came up in conversation with local friends. Without fail, the single most mentioned comment was that the God-references were confusing.

One Shanghainese buddy went as far as pointing out: “You see, in China we don’t believe in God, so I didn’t really understand why the boy wanted to find God.” It then spun into a very interesting chat about world faiths and if one person could really adopt elements of different God-concepts and be spiritually-fulfilled.

In China, Lee Ang’s Academy Award is widely celebrated but not the movie which brought him that crowning glory – ‘Brokeback Mountain’. Aside from progressive cities like Shanghai, homosexuality is still seen as an uncomfortable taboo and as a result the cowboy gay-tinged romantic release could only be accessed via pirate DVD when it came out (no pun intended) in 2005. In contrast, ‘The Life of Pi’ is everywhere. Mass media outlets have covered its release, advertising has gone into overdrive and online Chinese sites are amassing incredibly positive viewer reviews.

And I would have never expected that a story of a young Indian boy shipwrecked at sea with a slim selection of left over Noah’s-Ark animals would put faith into Chinese dialogue.

It turned out to be a week of double-screenings. Interestingly enough, it was another holistic subject. To quote the Bible: “Do you not know that your body is a temple…” (1 Corinthians 6:19) and to be good stewards of any dwelling, you have to look after it. Sprout is a newly launched lifestyle centre in Shanghai which focuses on eating and living well. Opened last month it shares a slick-looking premises with environmentally conscious household brand Eco-More at the trendy Surpass Court in the former French Concession.

Aside from stocking a number of healthy food options like chia beans, organic teas and cacao powder, the Sprout team also host a number of monthly workshops and events. We attended their screening of the 2008 documentary ‘Food Matters’. Three rows of neatly placed chairs faced a dropped down screen where Sprout co-founders Kimberly Ashton and Chiara Squinzi were busy brewing a pot of organic peppermint tea for the 16 attendees.

Living in China is not without its health scares. I don’t even have to mention that fact that we live in a city with one of the highest air pollution rates in the country. Over the last ten years there have been various food scandals to hit the headlines from poisonous baby powder milk to exploding watermelons, fake eggs and glow-in-the-dark pork. It’s scary. Many of us want alternatives to ensure we try and at least feed our bodies with relatively healthy stuff.

During the hour and a half movie a number of experts were interviewed from the fields of medicine, nutrition and alternative therapy. The crux of it was the ever-increasing clash of the pharmaceutical industry versus the use of natural vitamins and nutrition to heal and maintain the human body.

The two slogans went head-to-head: “A pill for an ill” or “You are what you eat”. It was extremely insightful and there were many challenging ideas including one advocate for raw food dieting saying that as much as we see it necessary to spend money upgrading our cars and houses, why not see good eating as a must-do investment also?
Lots of facts and figures were presented and the one that stood out to me most was that in order for the body to be functioning at its optimum, we should ideally be eating a raw food diet 51% of the time. Looks like we’ll have to double the lettuce orders!

The movie concluded and both Kimberly and Chiara held a relaxed Q&A afterwards offering advice on various vitamins and their benefits, the definition of ‘superfoods’ and their own personal lifestyle changes when it came to eating. It was so totally doable.

And despite that there are often many misconceptions and mistrusts about Chinese food production, Kimberly pointed out that many of the international brands of healthy food products actually are originally grown in China for export.
 The very fact that Sprout is a mere 15minutes walk away from where we live, Lezil and I have no excuse but to adopt a more concise approach on how we consume food. Plus you can’t really go wrong with workshops like 'Healthy Breakfast Eating' and their often over-subscribed 'Raw Chocolate Demo & Tasting' session. My mantra for 2013 is that 'food does matter'!

Web: www.sproutlifestyle.com
Visit: Sprout, Surpass Court, 570 Yongjia Lu, Ground Floor, Unit #412. Xuhui District, Shanghai 200031
Tel: 021 3250 9103
Metro: Hengshan Road (Line 1)

The key to any good party is the music, especially where Caribbean people are concerned. This year’s annual Caribbean Association in China (CAC) Christmas event had all the makings of a heaving downtown club with 300 revellers bringing the energy and positive spirit from the islands. It all happened at the CAC’s venue of choice – the Crowne Plaza Shanghai.

From the moment the doors opened at 7pm, already a sizeable crowd had entered taking advantage of the Caribbean buffet spread which this year had some additional new recipes. There were the stable rice and peas, salt fish and jerk chicken offerings. And coinciding with the event’s theme, there were debuts dishes like stewed pork in rum sauce, rum baked fish, lamb seasoned rum and melon soaked in rum. You guessed it, was all about the rum.

That sugarcane produced liquor culminated in the much in-demand Caribbean rum punch which had queues of up to thirty people all eagerly waiting to quench their dance-induced thirst. A number of raffle prizes were given out throughout night varying from homemade Caribbean bread, a home furnishing hamper and restaurant vouchers, to stays in five star hotels and leading French skincare products.
As opposed to previous CAC Christmas celebrations where there were a number of entertainment items woven into program, this year was kept simple.

 "We wanted to change things up a bit and give people a chance to really let their hair down and party," said CAC President Byronie Richards.

And the gamble paid off. Once the buffet line had petered out, people were in gear and ready to rev up their starting engines. Taking centre stage was invited guest DJ Laoban, and from the moment he spun his first reggae track not one bit of the dancefloor became visible. It was a sea of bodies swaying to pulsating rhythms. The atmosphere was electrifying.

Of Japanese/Korean decent, DJ Laoban first stumbled across reggae music when he accidently purchased a copy of Shaggy's 'Oh Carolina' when he was just 14 years old spurring his lifelong passion for the genre. "It was during 1998 when Mr Vegas 'Heads High' was a big tune and I really got into MCing and DJing. At the start it was just for fun because turntables at the time were way too expensive for me," explained Laoban.

He then moved to China in 2002 and has since become an unofficial pioneer for Caribbean music. “Everyone knows that Japan is huge on reggae music. Jamaican artists perform in Japan every year. In fact, we have many Jamaicans living in Japan and increasing number of Japanese people visiting Jamaica each year. Now China is a new market for us. It’s small but growing and I have already played in cities like Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen,” he said.

Laoban drew curious glances from a number of guests arriving at the Christmas party, all probably wondering if he could really play to a majority Caribbean crowd. Any question  marks were instantaneously erased with his first power punching set which riled up the dancers with one 90s hit after another. Terror Fabulous ‘Action’, Red Rat ‘Tight Up Skirt’ and Shaggy ‘It wasn’t Me’ – Laboan was on fire. There was also a nod to some home-grown Japanese talent by way of Barbie Japan and her 2010 soca hit ‘I Miss You’.

The night continued to pick up speed as Bahamian MC Clarence called on people to take on various dance challenges on stage. People jiggled and let loose with ‘Wok Up’ and displayed some hinge-bending neck swirls on ‘Dutty Wine’ which brought on ecstatic reactions from partygoers. Then the limbo pole was thrown in the middle of the crowd which prompted the annual dance-off. Soca music kept the atmosphere on a high as that pole kept going lower and lower. There was only one name that people had to beat – the CAC’s very own Christal Oliver.

Unbeaten now in four years, she had a glint of sheer determination in her eyes as she wrapped a coat around the bottom part of her just-too-short dress. The fiery red of her clothing seemed to match her smoking hot performance. As each contender withered out (and probably waking up the next morning with an almighty backache) Christal just kept going. It was an inevitable game, set and mach to the Antiguan beauty.

When the party was about to end and people were still sweating out their dance moves, that was clearly a huge compliment to the DJ to maintain such momentum. After all, who could resist the remix version of Psy’s monster South Korean hit which Jamaicans Mega Banton, G Loc and Singer J remade as ‘Gangnam Badman Style’.  Laoban my selecta, wheel and come again!

“First I want to big up President Byronie and Vice President James for giving me such a great experience at the CAC Christmas party. Big up everyone from the Caribbean and Africa who came out tonight. God bless you all every time,” closed Laoban.

As corny as it may sound, it was the warmth and sense of unity that made the event such a huge success. Practically every Caribbean identity was present that night and if not, the decorative flags placed all around the venue ensured each nation was represented.

Many were meeting each other for the first time.  But the very fact that we were all foreigners in China with a common cultural thread uniting us – meant that it was like meeting up with long-established friends. And as a member of the CAC executive board, I couldn’t have been prouder of what we all achieved as a team.

Laoban put it best when he said: “I may not be Caribbean, but the culture has taught me everything from love, unity and respect.” A true dat!