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Thursday, January 30, 2025

John Rahael: Arima boy at heart

by

20100414

Promi­nent Arim­i­an busi­ness­man turned politi­cian John Ra­hael says he had a dream that didn't ma­te­ri­alise. "I al­ways want­ed to be the may­or of Ari­ma. But I be­came the may­or of Port-of-Spain." Nev­er­the­less, the Roy­al Char­tered Bor­ough of Ari­ma re­mains near and dear to his heart. Rum­mag­ing through his trea­sure trove of child­hood mem­o­ries, Ra­hael, a dis­tin­guished mem­ber of the Syr­i­an/Lebanese clan, shared some of his vi­gnettes. "I went to Ari­ma Boys' Gov­ern­ment. I was born on Colum­bus Street, Ari­ma and I lived there till I was about 20. Then, the fam­i­ly moved to Wood­brook. We opened a busi­ness in Port-of-Spain," said Ra­hael.

"I have fond mem­o­ries of Ari­ma. In those days, you were free to go any­where. I grew up lim­ing on the block and vis­it­ing friends in all dif­fer­ent parts of Ari­ma. We felt com­fort­able and safe. The Di­al Cen­tre is the cen­tre and I worked with my fa­ther Michael on Broad­way Street," added Ra­hael. "I went to the race track. At one time, it was in the heart of Ari­ma, where the Velo­drome is right now. Then it was moved to San­ta Rosa park. I used to walk from the Di­al to the high­way. I can't do that now," he said. Ra­hael says he was pro­mot­ed in the fam­i­ly busi­ness on mer­it and not be­cause he was the boss' son. "I start­ed as a porter for many years, and then he made me a sales clerk and then the man­ag­er. It was be­cause of the work I did. It had noth­ing to do with be­ing the son of the own­er."

Ari­ma res­i­dent Pe­ter Black, who lives at Green Street, at­tend­ed Holy Cross Col­lege with for­mer Port-of-Spain May­or John Ra­hael.

San­ta Rosa RC

Ra­hael says San­ta Rosa RC Church is still spe­cial to him.

To­day, it is the mec­ca for par­tic­i­pants in the San­ta Rosa fes­ti­val, which is of­ten led by Fr Chris­t­ian Per­reira. It is a cal­en­dar event in Au­gust when Carib Queen Valenti­na Med­i­na, her at­ten­dants and the Ari­ma com­mu­ni­ty pro­ceed through the streets. "We went to San­ta Rosa RC Church. I did the Sta­tions of the Cross up to Cal­vary Hill. I at­tend­ed mass every Sun­day. I re­cit­ed the Hail Marys and I sang Ave Maria," added Ra­hael. The road still leads the for­mer Health Min­is­ter to Ari­ma.

"I still go to Ari­ma as of­ten as I can. I have some busi­ness in­ter­ests there still. Two of my sis­ters op­er­ate busi­ness­es there." The mem­o­ries of fam­i­ly and the friend­ships they have forged still sus­tain the Ra­hael clan. "We will al­ways be grate­ful for the peo­ple of Ari­ma who em­braced us and loved us. Whether it was the Leza­mas, Drap­ers, or Chungs, Ab­bas Ali and Ru­pert Clo­vis–once a may­or of Ari­ma. "When I met Clo­vis, I got the no­tion I want­ed to be may­or of Ari­ma, but I be­came may­or of Port-of-Spain." These days, he's busy work­ing in the fam­i­ly busi­ness. "When I was in pol­i­tics, I didn't re­alise how many oth­er projects they had tak­en on. They are quite am­bi­tious," he said.


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