00:00Born in Guyana, Dr. Joseph Retz Pereira went on to become a cricket commentator, sports broadcaster and journalist.
00:07Cricket connoisseurs and even fans in general would have heard his voice on radio while he was doing cricket commentary
00:13before the start of the 21st century.
00:15Residing in St. Lucia for decades, it wasn't exactly an easy journey for him.
00:21It was a struggle because I didn't get off the mark very easily.
00:32As you mentioned, I stammered very badly, down to the point that as I grew up and I moved from
00:40my hometown in the Pomeranon River to Georgetown,
00:44started to go to parties and didn't have the confidence sometimes of asking a girl to dance because it might
00:54not come out.
00:56One person in his life who gave him a lot of confidence was his mother Claudia.
01:00He described her as a warm person and his dad a more serious individual who was busy finding ways to
01:06support the family.
01:07My mother would allow me to lie in bed as I grew up and fantasy.
01:19I would do a couple of overs of a test match with Truman coming to Bull to Worrell or Jim
01:27Laker to Walcott to the KSBB or Statham to Christiani.
01:34And she allowed the fantasy. In that fantasy world, I never stammered.
01:39Having had the opportunity to travel the world to cover many events, it was a fulfilling life for the veteran
01:45broadcaster.
01:46But he always remained grounded, seeing others played a part in making it happen.
01:51Anything that you achieve in life, if you believe you achieve it by yourself, you are a liar.
01:58Is it seeming not being honest? It is people who help you to achieve.
02:03They give you the opportunity, you make sure you prepare yourself and take it.
02:08But other people give you the opportunity.
02:11I came to live in St. Lucia in 1984.
02:14I was going to the Olympic Games. The telephone rang in Barbados with Dr. Von Lewis.
02:19Dr. Pereira is still active as a sports journalist and conducts his own interviews during the CPL.
02:25He said, You are 10 and a half of the law scheme, you are 10 and a half.
02:29You are 10 and a half right now.
02:30You
