Vergenoegen, designated as this year’s Emancipation village by the African Cultural Development Association (ACDA), has not been able to host many activities to celebrate the 172nd Emancipation anniversary.
“Our problem is the lack of cooperation,” Coreen Tieshmaker, Chairman of the Vergenoegen African Cultural Group said of the lacklustre celebrations that were hosted.
The community hosted a church service as well as a candle light vigil on the eve of the Emancipation anniversary. It also distributed hampers to senior citizens.
Tieshmaker noted the group comprises about 150 members. “But when it comes to doing, you can’t find them,” she said. While she was disappointed about the quality of the activities, she added that the group could not afford to do much with the money it was given for the celebrations.
“If we had more money, we would have done so much more,” she said, adding that efforts at fundraising did not net many donations. “Imagine, when you ask people to donate, they give you $100. What we supposed to do with that?”
Eric Phillips, executive member of ACDA, said that funding for the village’s activities are subject to the Association’s budget. Funding from government is about a fraction of the total cost for Emancipation events and this works out to about $30,000 per village. Phillips said that it was hoped that Vergenoegen would have been able to host a full week of activities; however the lack of funds determined otherwise.
According to Tieshmaker, on July 31, a sizable crowd had turned up for the activities. However, many of them soon left because the drummers showed up forty-five minutes late—a “classic example” she said, of the villagers’ attitude towards cultural activities. Nevertheless, about 100 persons attended. Also, 22 youths from the village participated in the “Hello Africa” parade at the National Park as part of ACDA’s cultural programme on Emancipation Day. The group also manned a booth there.
Meanwhile, Tieshmaker said the community urgently needs a multi-purpose centre for the youths to practice their talents and for recreational purposes. She hoped that lobbying the private sector for assistance could make it a reality. She suggested that the lack of accommodation was another reason why other activities were not organised by the community. “While we are interested, there is no place to hold activities; the space does not exist,” she said.
Tieshmaker noted that “some are eager and some are not” where African culture is concerned. “The church is one of the reasons why people are pulling away from their culture,” she said, relating that some persons have been told that if they participate in cultural activities they will be barred from church. Further, she said there are African traditions which have been referred to as “obeah” or practices in “witchcraft.”
Through her work with youths in the community, Tieshmaker said she found most of them are interested in learning about their culture and as such she hopes, after the centre is built, to teach them more about their heritage.
