If your code is exactly as yo uentered here then you made one little mistake. Your error revolves around the fragment of code "$DBI:errstr". Now perl interprets this as (Contents of the variable $DBI)(the string ':errstr'). What I think you want is $DBI::errstr (note the second colon). This corresponds to tthe contents of the variable $errstr in the package DBI.

$japh->{'Caillte'} = $me;