Thoughts On The Garifuna Retrieval Workshop

After what turned out to be three weeks of intensive activities in this year’s inaugural Garifuna Cultural Retrieval Workshop, skills learnt were showcased in three separate presentations featuring the many participants.

Presentations were held on Friday, 19th in front of the headquarters of Lime in Kingstown; on Saturday, 20th, at the Peace Memorial Hall; and on Sunday, 21st in Greiggs – a community regarded as the home territory of the Garifuna.

At Greiggs, many participants were eager to express their enjoyment and pride of participation to THE VINCENTIAN.  They felt that they were Garifuna.  The views below are representative of the entire body.


ANTON LEWIS:

I live at  Arnos Vale.  I am fifteen years old and will be going to Form Five at the St. Vincent Grammar School.  My mother actually forced me to attend this workshop.  I didn’t want to go so I looked for excuses, but my mother kept me in the programme.  She is very persistent.  God works in mysterious ways.  Now, I am glad.  I learnt discipline and how to put your all into what you are doing, even if you didn’t like it.  It was a real good experience and I’m glad I came.  Thanks, Mom!

SEAN ROACHE:

I graduated from the SVG Community College Division of Arts and Sciences this year.  I am eighteen years old and I live at Prospect.  I’m part of the drumming group called “Heartbeat Drummers”.  They invited us to come to the workshop.  I rather liked the variety in the programme: the music, dance and language through the use of songs.  I’m not a dancer but the dances were not too hard to learn.  I find that the routines were quite adequate, not complicated at all.  I am looking forward to next year’s workshop, if I’m still here.

OMEGA ST. HILLAIRE:

I attend the C. W. Prescod Primary School.  I am in Grade Three.  I am eight years old and I live at Sion Hill.  I am glad that I came to the workshop.  I learnt the Garifuna language.  I was having a lot of fun.  I love the ‘Punta’ dance the best.  It’s fun and easy to do.  Now, I want to join the dance group at my school.

NNEKA MCMILLAN:

I am a Grade Five student of the Kingstown Preparatory School.  I live at Prospect.  I really enjoyed the workshop.  I got to experience different types of things in the Garifuna culture, for example the spirituality, the dance and the drums.  We got to learn how to say “Good morning”.  We learnt a song about what the British did to the Garifuna, when they put them on Baliceaux.  I had heard about Garifuna before the workshop and I had read about it somewhere in a book.

DENICIA BROWNE:

I am from Sandy Bay.  I am unemployed.  I teach Garifuna dancing in Sandy Bay.  We have a group called the “Calinago Cultural Movement” (CCM) and we want to start something from this.  This is like a foundation for us.  We want more young people to continue in this kind of thing.  We travelled all the way from Sandy Bay to be here.  It was great.  We had fun.  I was impressed by everything, and I made new friends.  I most like the ‘Punta’ dance because it makes you have a lot of fun.  That’s what the ‘Punta’ is all about; having fun.  It’s like a party dance.  I look forward to next year’s workshop.

Source of article:
The Vincentian
by: Gloriah...
26/08/2011
www.thevincentian.com