• Royal Cabana Casino received a "Lifetime Achievement Award" for winning 5 consecutive Iguana Awards. Congratulations are due to Managing Director Nathan Kats along with Director of Marketing Rona Coster who were presented with the award by ARTOUSA president Mrs Wichita Every.

• More than 150 windsurfers from 33 countries around the world are gathering at the Fisherman's Huts this week during the 12th Annual Aruba Hi-Winds World Challenge. With a yearly average wind speed of 14.4 knots,  Aruba is a perfect location for the sport. This year the event is hosting a special Learn-To-Windsurf party - anyone who wants to give it a shot can do so in style!

• The Mill resort recently participated in a blood donation drive. Most employees participated in the gesture. This was not a first for them - the initiative having started in 1997

• Young artist Daan Homan, visiting Aruba from the Netherlands is exhibiting his latest work at the Amsterdam Manor between 11:00am and 5:00 pm daily until June 14th. Mr. Homan's choice of subject - usually typical Aruban animals, houses or scenes stems from his interest in driving around and focusing on interesting everyday details which most people living in Aruba would take for granted.

• The Aruba Scholarship Foundation (ASF), supported by the commercial and professional community will have in excess of US$40,000 allocated to awarding scholarships during the 1998-1999 scholastic year. Anybody wanting to contribute to the foundation can contact Mr. Erwin Croes at KPMG on Tel: (297) 832098 or
  Fax: (297) 824378

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One Cool Watapana Festival

The increasingly popular Watapana Festival, part of the One Cool Summer events takes place every Wednesday evening from 6:00 - 8:00 pm through September 1998 on the paved area between the Allegro Americana Resort and Hyatt Regency. The Festival, whose main sponsor is the Aruba Tourism Authority, combines the Street Art Gallery and the Watapana Food Festival to produce an informal environment where locals and visitors alike can sample delicacies of some of Aruba's finest restaurants and enjoy the talents of local artisans.

Member restaurants Aruba’s Gastronomic Association sell portions of their own distinctive cuisine from their allotted booth.. Among the many participants are The Pirates' Nest, Pavarotti, Boonoonoonoos, La Bouillabaise , Chez Mathilde. Prices range from US$ 3.00 to US$ 6.00. There is also a bar where cocktails, beer, wine and soft drinks can be purchased. The bar is expertly handled by Aruba’s Bartenders Association.

Its important to keep in mind that the festival grounds are now usually closed to traffic after 5pm on Wednesdays.

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Aruba Business Directory Goes Online

CaribMedia Marketing & Consultancy N.V. recently added a new feature to it's Visit Aruba website - The Aruba Business Directory. With more than 3000 Aruba companies and organizations in more than 200 categories, the directory is a valuable resource for persons worldwide looking for information about businesses in Aruba.

CaribMedia regularly receives all types of email requests for addresses and contact numbers for various types of businesses in Aruba and also queries as to how to contact organizations such as the Aruba Chamber of Commerce & Industry from individuals wishing to do business in Aruba. Other requests include those from individuals enquiring about certain institutions such as cultural and educational ones in Aruba and how they can be located. This apparent need for information prompted CaribMedia to set up the Business Directory to be available to anyone with access to the Internet, an initiative that is especially valid in an age where a large amount of research efforts and commercial transactions occur increasingly through use of the World Wide Web.

Inclusion in the Aruba Business Directory is completely FREE including a listing in two different business categories and an email link (for companies who have an email address). Companies wishing to add their company to the database or modify their entry as well as choose enhanced listings and promotional banners can submit the necessary information using the Add company form. To facilitate locating the required information, a search help page is also available. CaribMedia can be contacted by email or on Tel: (297) 834144 or Fax: (297) 826102.

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The 60+30c stamp represents the Aruba Lions Club, an organization that celebrated its 50th anniversary in Aruba on January 31, 1998.

Aruba Lions Club is a service organization that affiliated with Lions Club International. This international organization exists for 81 years now and has 44,000 clubs and 1,500,000 members around the world. The main objective of the Aruba Lions Club is to identify the necessities in our community and look for the necessary ways to satisfy these necessities. On this stamp we can appreciate our country Aruba, being held in balance on one side by a wheel-chair, that symbolizes one of the main projects of the Aruba Lions Club being the continuous delivery of wheelchairs to those in need for them, and at the other end the Globe signifying that the Aruba Lions Club is affiliated to a world wide organization. In the center the emblem of Lions is reflected. The Aruba Lions Club has 70 members, all civic-minded volunteers serving the community of Aruba.

The 100+50c stamp represents the Rotary Club of Aruba, an organization that will be celebrating its 60th anniversary on December 10, 1998. The goal of Rotary International is rendering service to the community before self-interest. Rotary supports social work for groups of an early age up to those of the aged.

This stamp illustrates a continuity of life for the little ones, here a little boy is playing on the floor and his grandmother who already fulfilled her duties is now relaxing in a rocking chair observing the future of our country. In the center the emblem of Rotary International is reflected.

The Object of Rotary:

The ideals of Paul Harris and the co-founders of the ROTARY INTERNATIONAL movement have been formally worded in the following manifest.

To encourage and foster the ideal of service as a basis of worthy enterprise and, in particular, to encourage and foster:

• The development of acquaintance as an opportunity for service; High ethical standards in business and professions; the recognition of the worthiness of all useful occupations and the dignifying by each Rotarian of his occupation to serve society.
  
• The application of the ideal of service by every Rotarian to his personal, business and community life.
  
• The advancement of international understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of business and professional men united in the ideal of service.

Rotary Roots, Chicago 1905 - Paul Harris was a man of great kindness, whose ambition was to live a life of service rather than to make a fortune. To combine friendship, business and profession in a club-like atmosphere, that was the concept Paul Harris presented, in the year 1905, to some of his friends. His idea caught on, was spread in a wider circle and soon there were a dozen or so business and professional men, who formed a club based on this concept. Their weekly meetings rotated among the residences of the members, hence the name ROTARY.

Radisson Aruba is currently closed for renovation but its workers are not twiddling their thumbs! They recently set up an organization named COPERA with the scope of carrying out community projects in their spare time. 300 workers were divided into 13 groups called Villages. Each Village consists of 24 workers from all departments and positions with one Captain, a very effective "instrument" to be able to communicate and follow-up with each worker. During breaks the employees dedicate their spare time to the Aruban community. Although Radisson Aruba was Hotel number 1 last year for its good service given by its employees, the workers have other talents according to Freeman's reports. It was nice to see the waiters painting the different schools of Aruba or a time-keeper of Radisson functioning as a crossing guard at La Salle College, a Front-Desk clerk guiding the students with homework or an Accounts Receivable clerk assisting SAMBA.

This admirable initiative was warmly welcomed by our community and the workers were so enthusiastic that they suggested continuing with these projects until Radisson opens its doors in December.

Aruba's position as a top culinary destination was well catered for as demonstrated by the Food & Beverage Trade Show, The Culinary Competition and the National Bartenders Contest - three events that took place concurrently in the Seaport Conference Center.

Thursday, May 28, the first day of the two-day expo, was a lively one. Creative dishes streamed in from the kitchen area as the first half of the 26 chefs competing for spots on the National Culinary Team presented their unique creations.

According to Rene Herde, one of the event's organizers, there was a great deal of interest in this year's competition among the island's chefs. The competing chefs were pre-selected and represent only a portion of the talent here on the island. One bartender will also accompany the National Culinary Team to the regional competition to be held in Puerto Rico next month. A total of nine bartenders prepared colorful cocktails, one rum-based and one vodka-based. A "mystery basket" competition, where competitors are required to concoct a drink from the ingredients provided, also took place.

The different booths found at the trade show displayed the diversity of products available on the island. Peter Rooyakkers from Caribbean Overseas Ltd. presented a true cornucopia of diverse fruits and vegetables, including the "ugly" fruit (a citrus fruit from Jamaica), white asparagus, kumquats and Del

Monte Gold (an extra sweet pineapple which Rooyakkers claims will supplant regular pineapple in six years).

Licores Aruba also proved itself to be on top of the latest trends by displaying this season's most popular wines including the Italian S.Magherita, California's Fetzer and Australia's Sea View. Clive Faustin also announced that Licores Aruba will be bringing Mateus back to the island.

June 5th to June 12th is World Environment Week. The environmental committee of AHATA has prepared the following events. On Thursday the 4th of June the AHATA environmental committee will hold a lecture for 100 children at the Macuarima School. Mrs. Muller from the Costa Linda Beach Resort will do a presentation to the children followed by 2 videos on the environment.

On Friday June 5th an "Environmental Awareness March" will be held between 10 and 11 a.m. in front of Parliament. About 200 school children and teachers will be attending this. Your green team Sponsor a mile members should be encouraged to attend as well. At this event the environmental committee will be handing over a "resolution" to parliament. The resolution addresses some of the burning issues affecting the environment on our Island.

On Saturday the 6th of June a Family Day Beach Cleanup will be held. As in the past each AHATA member should pick a location/beach and clean up. Family members of the green team/sponsor a mile team should participate and afterwards a Picnic or pool lunch should be held to encourage attendance. This event is organized by the "sponsor a mile Chairlady" Ellen Wouters from the Aruba Marriott. On Monday June the 8th the environmental Committee will present Aluminum Recycling drums to all the schools who have requested them. AHATA, Clean Master and the Coastal Refinery sponsor the drums.