Dear Editor,
The African Cultural & Development Association (ACDA), despite torrential rain, held one of its best ever Emancipation Day Festivals at the National Park. Attended by an extremely large and late-arriving crowd, this year’s extravaganza exceeded all expectations, due much in part to the hundreds of individuals who were involved in putting this logistically complicated event on this year.
ACDA thanks the Creator for this achievement. We also thank all the different races and cultures that made this event what is was. Truly our 3.2 million year old ancestor, Lucy, who was found in Africa, would have smiled to see all of her descendants showing respect to each other. Indeed Guyana won yesterday against the odds as all races enjoyed themselves in many different ways and forms.
This year, apart from being the 173rd anniversary of Emancipation, was also the UN International Year for People of African Descent. We at ACDA are thankful that our festival, was made a success by Guyanese from all parts of our beautiful nation, and the performers from Canada, Suriname, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, the United States and Africa.
Our thanks begin with acknowledging the presence of Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, his lovely wife and cute grandchild, who was having a ball. Prime Minister Hinds religiously attends every Emancipation Day Festival and his arrival brings our formal programme to a start. We at ACDA wish him and his family, as well as all Guyanese, well.
This year we are also thankful for the ambassadors who attended and especially for the Mexican Ambassador whose visiting group of Mexican folk dancers graced us with their presence. They were magnificent.
Thanks also to the Mayor who attended with his family, Dr Yesu Persaud and the members of the private sector who braved the rain to be there.
Special thanks to all the performers who did a splendid job to make this year’s cultural segment hard to beat in the future. To our international guests: Beyond Sound (Afiwi International of Canada), of Suriname, the Nazarene Steel Orchestra of Trinidad & Tobago, the Mexican Dance Troupe, and Livia Prescott of the USA (Guyanese born); you were magnificent.
To our local performers: as usual you gave us your all and we appreciate the expense some of you went to through to impress the crowd. Thank you and may this experience and the exposure to our foreign friends, strengthen our local technical approach to our individual crafts.
Brother Andrew Irving, The Hebrew Family of Guyana, Nzingha of ACDA, Lisa Punch, The National School of Dance, Crystalite Dance Company, South Stars Dance Group, Mystique Dance Group, Divine Stars, Ras Aaron Blackman, Queen Makeba, Gadkid & Benji Diamond, X Factor, Young Bill Rogers, Kenneth Chance and the Mocha Group all did Guyana proud.
Thanks to Mondale and Latoya for a magnificent job on stage .
A very special thank you to Natural Black who was sponsored by GT&T, for making Emancipation 2011 special.
ACDA is also grateful to all our sponsors. To our traditional sponsors who have been with us for years, especially Banks DIH and GT&T, you have been the shoulders on which we have stood and for this year’s event during the UN International Year, you stepped it up. Thank you very much.
Banks, thanks for sponsoring the children’s tent, among other things.
The Heroes event sponsored by GT& T was a massive educational event that will encourage Guyanese to ‘Know Thyself.’
The twelve members of Beyond Sound (Afiwi International) thoroughly enjoyed their brief stay in Guyana and wowed the crowd with their special brand of drumming and dancing. ACDA thanks Digicel for helping to bring this group to Guyana.
ACDA is also grateful to Demerara Bank and DDL for their kind contributions. DDL has also signalled that they will sponsor a village-based Metemgee competition that will have a grand cook-off at the National Park. We look forward to this as it will encourage our villagers to get more involved in agriculture and local sustenance.
We thank the many individuals who support ACDA’s events. Though not visible in many ways, your support allows us to work for a more inclusive Guyana. We are forever grateful as Brother Stanley Cooke will certainly tell you.
This year ACDA received contributions from the Private Sector Commission and the Guyana Manufacturers Association. ACDA hopes through the African Business Council to work with both the Private Sector and the Guyana Manufacturers Association to develop and nurture new entrepreneurs in Guyana.
To the new companies who supported us for the first time, we are thankful for your donations, however great or small, as you join the ranks of such long-time supporters as Mings Products & Services, Courtney Benn, Nigels and GiftLand Officemax who have supported Emancipation Day for quite some time.
The President of Guyana, the Leader of the Opposition, the presidential candidates of the PPP, APNU, the AFC and Guyanese Youth Council were all in attendance at the festival. ACDA thanks them individually and collectively for any contribution made to the success of Emancipation 2011.
Annually, ACDA is asked to participate in Courts Guyana African Wear Competition. This event is second to none as the competition is stiff and the drumming, dancing, poetry and African foods present an exciting event which hopefully Courts will air on TV one day. Thanks to Orlando Primo and Majek Fingers Drumming School for the energy and style they bring to this event.
Our thank you will not be complete without saying how much ACDA deeply appreciated the efforts of the Guyana Police Force, the St John’s Brigade, and the many other individuals and volunteers who worked to make our event logistically smooth and safe for the many parents who bring their children and grandchildren to the National Park.
ACDA would also like to thank the media houses of Guyana for the impressive role they played in this year’s Emancipation Day celebrations. Relentless at times, our media had a special maturity this year and their tireless efforts to promote the event will not be forgotten. ACDA’s advertising programme is very involved by itself, but this year’s event, in spite of the rain, was a major success because of the interviews, positive comments, seeking of information and general interest of the media. Guyana needs a media that informs us, educates us and makes our democracy – political, social, cultural and economic, stronger. Their coverage this year should make them proud. Thanks to Venessa Deosaran and Andrea Ally for a wonderful Emancipation insert.
We also thank Jenny Daly and her staff at the Museum of African Heritage for their cooperation and partnership through the Commemoration Committee and Christobel Hughes, Sam London and crew. Thanks also to Region 7 RDC Chairman Holbert Knights, John Mitchell and their planning committee in Bartica for having us on Saturday July 30. Thanks also to Sister Yvette Herod and the First of August Committee in Buxton for having us on August 31.
ACDA would like to thank its own. Often times we forget to congratulate our own because we take for granted the dedication and hard work undertaken by them. ACDA thanks Sister Violet Jean Baptiste, Vonetta April, Clemintine Marshall, Tacuma Ogunseye, Barry Barrington, Brother and Sister Guyan, Sister Ingrid Goodman, Brother Stanley Cooke, Brother Anderson, Shaun Caleb, Brother Bacchus, Brother Patterson and our guards for their significant contributions to the event. ACDA will host a Naming ceremony later this year as well as African Holocaust Day, a Leadership Awards ceremony and Kwanzaa. The Naming ceremony will be some time in September which will allow time for those interested to visit ACDA to research the name they would like to use.
We hope all Guyanese celebrate with us in the spirit of our common Ancestor, Lucy. ACDA will also through Nzingha and our culture programme support schools and communities that request us. Nzingha will be in Linden this Saturday, August 13. Nzingha is also seeking youth, male and female, who are interested in the performing arts – dance, poetry and drama – as well as those interested in learning more about their history and culture. Anyone desirous of joining ACDA can reach us at Thomas Lands.
Our school for 2 to 7 year olds will also open in early September. We have 10 scholarships for bright and needy young people. Our school has a 10 to one student to teacher ratio and is one of the best equipped of its kind. For those interested in these scholarships which are granted on a first come basis, kindly contact Desilyn at 2258420 for more information.
Finally, this year’s event for ACDA was a ‘Rites of Passage’ event. This is also International Year for Youth and ACDA’s youth took on the challenge of being strong future leaders of the organization with a gusto and commitment that made their elders very proud. Beginning with a spectacular African wedding in July to the management of the entire Cultural Show at the National Park, our young leaders will make the organization much stronger and very vibrant in the future.
Thank you Aisha, Ayanna, Deslyn, Dion, Fabian, Kwame, Marisa, Nicola, Kwame, Rihanna, Shabakie, Shaquille, Tomeisha and Vonetta for taking the baton and running a strong race. Thanks also to the Corlette sisters and others who helped us at the Park on Emancipation Day itself.
Yours faithfully,
Eric Phillips
Executive Member
ACDA
