Point Fortin, Grenada celebrate roots on May 1

The Point Fortin-Grenada Ancestry Awareness Day will be observed on May 1 at the Victor Chin Kit Park, amid the ongoing Borough Day celebrations.

The event, which will highlight the links between Point Fortin and Grenada, is the brainchild of the NGO Back-Ah-Yard. It will be held under the theme Teaching our Youth to Reconnect to Roots, a media release said.

Activities will run from 9 am-5 pm and will include brief lectures, displays, an open public signing of an official Grenadian diaspora registrar to assist with helping families trace their roots and reunite, and cultural items.

Founder and president of Back-Ah-Yard Dixie-Ann Joseph said the event has received the support of the Grenada government and Trinidad and Tobago sponsors and agencies.

It will be the first-ever ancestry-based community event broadly targeting the Grenadian diaspora in Point Fortin, and was born out of Back-Ah-Yard's double anniversary celebrations held between March 27 and April 1, the release said.

The double celebrations comprise the NGO's 18th anniversary and the tenth anniversary of the Point Fortin Grenada Ancestry Project and Regional Cultural Exchange, which began in 2013 with Back-Ah-Yard and the Tivoli Drummers of St Andrews, Grenada, the release said.

“Neither our double anniversaries, nor the upcoming Back-Ah-Yard Point Fortin-Grenada Ancestry Awareness Day on May 1, would be possible without our partnership with and full endorsement by the Government of Grenada," Joseph said in the release.

Elwyn Mc Quilkin, Grenada's high commissioner to TT, as well as the Grenada Cultural Foundation's CEO Livingston Nelson, are invested in the project, the release said.

Locally, Joseph has received support from the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts, Atlantic LNG, Peiping Supermarket, the Ministry of Sport and Community Development, MP for Point Fortin Kennedy Richards, Point Fortin mayor Clyde James and the borough corporation.

“Back-Ah-Yard is excited to work with both Grenadian and Point Fortin stakeholders to assist the extremely large Grenadian diaspora in Point Fortin to reunite and reconnect with their loved ones in Grenada, especially face to face,” Joseph said.

“That’s why we see the Back-Ah-Yard Point Fortin-Grenada Ancestry Awareness Day as the ideal catalyst that encourages families to engage in discussions about their Grenadian roots, especially by passing on such knowledge to Point Fortin’s youth.

"It is documented that in the early 1900s and after Hurricane Janet, Grenadians left areas such as Sauters, Tivoli, River Sally, Hermitage, La Poterie and left Grenville Harbour in their thousands, seeking a better life in Point Fortin and environs. More than 100 years later, Back-Ah-Yard is immersed with pride, to recognise the sacrifice, discipline and achievements of Grenadian immigrants and their generations in Point Fortin, who continue to make a critical contribution to the overall development of our beloved borough."