Children enjoy youth day at Emancipation Village

Scores of children from a number of vacation camps gathered at the Emancipation Village, Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain yesterday, for the Pan African Festival TT Youth Day.

Among the participating camps were the Flying Fish Swim Club Trinidad, Sangre Grande Public Library, Little Mr and Miss Africa, Oxford Street and Little Dancers.

Kadija Dyer, programme officer and youth education development officer at the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC), spoke to Newsday about the youth day.

“Usually we have individual youth workshops but because we were displaced by the Carifesta set-up, we are having the workshops outside, and instead of having individual workshops we are having interactive sessions where all the camps are coming together to do the workshops at the same time, so no one camp gets left out.”

TT is the host nation of Carifesta XIV (Caribbean Festival of Arts), which will be based at the Savannah from August 16-25.

The children enjoyed their outing, as they were exposed to theatre, drama, storytelling, capoeira, Malaika – Chaba Nale (South African zumba/dance fitness routine), dancing, drumming, rapso, face-painting, stilt-walking and limbo.

Facilitator Auntie Thea (Theodora Ulerie), the Mystic Storyteller, opened the workshop by displaying a rain-stick or rain-shaker. She engaged the children, guiding their thoughts as to how the instrument is made.

They eventually learnt the rain-stick is a long, hollow piece of bamboo partially filled with small beans that has small nails arranged helically on its inside surface. When the stick is upended, the beads fall to the other end of the bamboo, making a sound reminiscent of rain falling.

Auntie Thea followed with the story of Anansi, the trickster spider from West Africa and the Caribbean, which the children liked, before Kyle Cox and Tica Phillips led them in drama.

Other workshop facilitators included Amunwah Sekhetneb (capoeira), Reflex Dance Group (limbo), Nelsion Phillip (face-painting), Rhingo (rapso), Anna Maria Mora and Mariama Cab (stilt-walking), as well as Junior Bisnath and his Kaiso Moko Jumbie from San Fernando.

Facilitators used both the stage and the tent facing it for their demonstrations when rain started to fall.