‘I want to be king’

Jaden Rogers, seven, wants to be a Carnival king when he grows up. That is what he told Newsday Kids at the Augustus Williams Park on Murray Street, Woodbrook as he practised walking on stilts, as a moko jumbie, on a Tuesday afternoon recently.

He is a natural stilts-walker, and he’s been fascinated with moko jumbies since last year when his aunt, Jenny Rogers took him to the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain where he met designer Alan Vaughan, leader of the mas band, Moko Somokow.

Vaughan became quite fond of Jaden because of his friendly and chatty nature. Jaden has been Moko Somokow’s mascot ever since accompanying their kings and queens on stage.

“I want to be a junior king when I grow up. Then I’ll have a big costume and big head piece. Mr Alan said he will make a big costume for me,” Jaden told Newsday Kids. “When I was in the savannah I met Mr Alan, and he told me I could become a moko jumbie. It is awesome to be a moko jumbie. I have so much fun. I get to do tricks. I get to walk and practice on sticks. I like to be very high.”

Newsday Kids first met Jaden in Belmont for Moko Somokow’s band launch before Carnival. There, the group held a moko jumbie parade through the streets. Jaden had only walked in stilts four times before. Much to his aunt’s surprise, he put on the sticks and walked the whole parade. He stumbled and wobbled at times, but that did not deter him from walking along with his moko jumbie friends.

On Carnival Tuesday, Jaden walked from Victoria Square to downtown Port of Spain, onto Piccadilly, and then to Belmont where Moko Somokow has their mas camp on Erthig Road.

“I wasn’t tired. My feet were kinda hurting, but not very much. I felt strong and walked straight,” he said.

Moko Somokow’s Carnival presentation this year was called Palace of the Peacock, inspired by late Guyanese writer Wilson Harris’ book. In the novel, a group of explorers travel through one of Guyana’s rivers.

For the stage presentation, Jaden was the boat. Vaughan crafted it out of branches and other light materials. He did not wear his sticks but was a ground-walker for that presentation. Vaughan was concerned about Jaden being able to balance on stilts with the boat on his head.

“I was wearing a gold strap around me while I carried the boat. When I was walking up the steps, I felt kinda funny because it was tickling my head,” he said.

Jaden is currently practising on two-foot stilts. He desperately wants to graduate to the taller stilts so he could sit on walls, but Vaughan told him to become comfortable and competent walking on the shorter sticks for a year to build his confidence, ensuring he does not frighten himself on the taller stilts.

Jaden still needs to learn how to do tricks on stilts. Though he could balance on one leg, he cannot do the butterfly.

“I like doing tricks on sticks. One of the things I cannot do is the butterfly or stoop down. I have to practice that but I like doing one leg. I’m going to practice more often in Alice Yard.”

Vaughan intends to design a junior king costume for Jaden next year, so he has an entire year to practice stilt-walking.