Talented teen champions multiple causes

CHERYL METIVIER

Jayda Ramjattan is an outstanding teenager with quite a number of accolades to her name. She is an artist, a singer, an environmentalist, child rights advocate, a spoken word artiste, a youth ambassador, and the list keeps growing.

When she was seven, her parents noticed her gifts and took that as a cue to expose her to activities to refine her skills. Now 13, she continues to be very receptive – a trait that has won her numerous awards over the years. With notes in hand when she arrived for her interview with Sunday Newsday, and her mother Sharmela Rampaul in tow for support, Ramjattan courteously introduced herself and hit the ground running.

She said she tries to find a common thread through her causes and tries to link them as much as possible. For example, she said, her artwork always includes some element of recyclable material and always has a theme that points onlookers in the direction of being environmentally responsible.

“I use my art to bring awareness to the protecting the environment...When I participated in Twelve and Under, I sang We are the World to highlight the plight of children…when I competed in SanFest 2022, I sang Heal the World.”

She said the costume she designed for her SanFest performance was "green" and was intended to remind her audience that we need to work together to save the world.

Ramjattan’s love for the environment seems to come from her mother, who is herself involved in volunteerism and environmental advocacy and was raised in a home where water and energy conservation were a way of life. The family practices subsistence farming which jump-started Ramjattan’s entrepreneurial spirit during the covid19 pandemic, leading her to start her own business rearing free-range chickens and selling eggs.

Ramjattan is a form one student at Parvati Girls Hindu College, Debe, and an active member of the TT Art Society, the Field Naturalist Society and the Wild Fowl Trust. She plays the steelpan, designs costumes using re-purposed clothing, and is also involved in theatre. On May 19 she will take the spotlight as Urmilla, one of the leading females in the Iere Theatre Productions Ltd's production of Samuel Selvon's A Brighter Sun, at the Naparima Bowl, San Fernando. She started off as an understudy but, "they thought she was good enough for a lead role," Rampaul told Sunday Newsday. Ramjattan was recently part of a team that represented her school at the Hodder World Poetry Day Competition. The team placed first with a spoken word version of David Rudder’s Hammer. The competition was hosted by Nalis' Educational Library Services Division in collaboration with Hodder Education and the Ministry of Education.

And like any other teenager, Ramjattan is heavily into tech. She is a student of technology and coding, and has participated in the Cariri Computer Engineering Concepts for Industry course as well as the IBM’s Skills Build. She said selecting pieces to showcase at the DigitAll exhibition at the Rotunda Gallery in March was relatively easy for her, because she was able to draw from her personal experiences and present work that would resonate with her audience as well as send a meaningful message consistent with the theme of empowering women in the field of ICT.

The pieces she chose to exhibit were Estrogen in the Gender Gap; TechGirls for Change, Scan me; and TechGirls for Change, Girls can too.

“My artwork is to encourage girls by busting myths and stereotypes…this art is my face, and the face of all the tech girls…I am actually a Stream and Stem girl. I am a member of the Shell Stream and Tech Club.”

She said she prefers mixed medium, incorporating acrylics, and to a lesser extent, water colours, and often defers to collages. So far, her work has also been exhibited at Nalis and at the Creative Arts Centre, in San Fernando.

Last month she was a volunteer at the 2023 World Congress on Art Deco in Miami Beach, Florida, where she was an assistant tour guide. The event explores the early 20th century architectural heritage and richness of the art deco style in the host cities, while also presenting lectures and exhibits by world authorities on the period.

"While we were there, World Earth Day was celebrated and she signed up as a volunteer with a company called Blue Scholar Initiative to clean up Collins Park, South Beach, Miami," Rampaul said.

And still the accomplishments keep rolling in. The teen has been selected as a Hey (healthy environmentally-friendly youth ) Caribbean ambassador, for the Barbados-based Ashley Lashley Foundation which focusses on raising awareness of major social, environmental and health issues, such as the health impacts of climate change, particularly in Small Island Developing States. She has also been awarded a certificate for her participation in the Cotton Tree Foundation’s youth wellness (Intervention) and resilience building in times of covid programme. This week she will participate in the Eco Restorers Project, hosted by the Caricom Youth Ambassador Corp.

While all this may seem overwhelming for the average teenager, Rampaul said her daughter understands that life is about balance.

"In between she takes the time to just to relax. We, her parents are supportive, her teachers are very supportive...We don't let her burn out.She does all these things, she keeps up with her academics and she gets to rest and be happy."

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